Air Canada and Aer Lingus Begin Interlining, as Prelude to Codeshare Deal

Air Canada and Aer Lingus have signed an interline agreement to make flying between Canada and Ireland more convenient.

The agreement is effective immediately and is a preliminary step toward a full codesharing relationship, which the Canadian and Irish flag carriers expect to finalize next year.

Air Canada’s long-haul fleet includes 17 Boeing 777-300ERs in service and on order and the carrier also operates six 777-200LRs. Montreal-headquartered Air Canada also operates eight Airbus A330-300s and 30 Boeing 767-300ERs, which are being replaced by 37 Boeing 787-8s the airline has ordered

“Air Canada is pleased to interline with Aer Lingus as it will complement our Toronto-Dublin seasonal service to make it easy to fly year-round between Canada and Ireland via convenient connections through London Heathrow Airport, Air Canada’s largest international station,” says Marcel Forget, vice president network planning at Air Canada.

“We intend to follow through with other measures to enhance the experience for customers traveling between Canada and Ireland, including a full codeshare relationship with Aer Lingus beginning next year, the planned relocation of both carriers to Terminal 2 at Heathrow to facilitate connections, and following that the introduction of year-round flights between Canada and Ireland,” adds Forget.

“We are delighted to announce this new partnership. We look forward to working closely with Air Canada to provide our customers with seamless travel options between Ireland and Canada,” says Stephen Kavanagh, chief commercial officer at Aer Lingus.

As a result of the agreement, customers flying Air Canada and Aer Lingus are now able to benefit from the additional flexibility and ease offered by the availability of a single electronic ticket. The agreement enables customers to use both carriers’ check-in kiosks and to through-check their baggage to final destination.

Its aircraft wearing a distinctive green-themed livery featuring the shamrock, the national emblem of Ireland, Aer Lingus operates a long-haul fleet of four Airbus A330-300s (one of which is seen here) and three A330-200s. Aer Lingus also has nine A350-900 widebodies on order

Currently, Air Canada flies Toronto-Dublin non-stop daily during the summer, from June until October 13. Additionally, customers can connect through London Heathrow Airport, to which Air Canada operates from eight Canadian gateways, offering 12 daily flights in summer and nine in winter.

Aer Lingus operates a total of 23 flights daily from London Heathrow to Dublin, Belfast, Cork and Shannon.

Air Canada is Canada’s largest domestic and international airline, serving more than 175 destinations on five continents. Canada’s flag carrier is the 15th largest commercial airline in the world and in 2011 served more than 33 million customers.

The carrier provides scheduled passenger service directly to 59 Canadian cities, 56 destinations in the United States and 63 cities in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Mexico and South America.