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Which regional airports have Emerald Airlines Avios flights to Ireland and Northern Ireland?

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Emerald Airlines may not be a familiar name to you, but Aer Lingus will be.

Aer Lingus has operated its smaller regional routes under a franchise model for many years. The contract was held by Stobart Air until Aer Lingus awarded it to Emerald Airlines, a start-up carrier, in 2021 under a 10-year deal.

It has taken a while for services to build up, and of course the tail end of the pandemic didn’t help, but Emerald Airlines now has an established route network.

Where does Emerald Airlines fly>

As you can see from the image above, aircraft and crew are Aer Lingus-branded. Tickets are sold at aerlingus.com and you can book Avios seats as you would with any standard Aer Lingus service.

Emerald Airlines will operate from 15 UK airports this winter. It primarily serves Dublin and Belfast City, apart from a one-off route between Bristol and Cork. There is one intra-Ireland route which is not listed below, from Donegal to Dublin.

It uses a modern fleet of ATR72-600 aircraft. These can seat up to 72 passengers and have a range of 1,500km.

This is the schedule for winter 2023, running from late October to late March 2024. Flights from the UK to Ireland and Northern Ireland operated by Aer Lingus itself are not included.

The frequency number is for the peak week or day during the winter timetable and is not necessarily available every week or every day.

Aberdeen

  • 6x weekly to Dublin

Birmingham

  • 2x daily to Dublin
  • 5x daily to Belfast City
Where does Emerald Airlines fly?

Bristol

  • 3x daily to Dublin
  • 6x weekly to Cork

Cardiff

  • Daily to Belfast City

East Midlands

  • 2x daily to Belfast City

Edinburgh

  • 5x daily to Dublin
  • 4x daily to Belfast City

Exeter

  • 5x weekly to Dublin
  • 5x weekly to Belfast City

Glasgow

  • 4x daily to Dublin
  • 2x daily to Belfast City

Isle of Man

  • Daily to Dublin
  • 3x weekly to Belfast City

Leeds Bradford

  • 3x daily to Dublin
  • 3x daily to Belfast City

Liverpool

  • 2x daily to Dublin

Manchester

  • 3x daily to Dublin
  • 4x daily to Belfast City

Newcastle

  • Daily to Dublin
  • Daily to Belfast City

Newquay

  • 4x weekly to Dublin
  • 4x weekly to Belfast City

Southampton

  • 3x daily to Dublin
  • 3x daily to Belfast City

You can book for cash or Avios on aerlingus.com here.

You can find out more about the airline (but not book) on the Emerald Airlines site here.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

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There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

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The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

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There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Category

Aer Lingus and AerClub

Comments (46)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • John says:
    16 Sep16 September 06:32

    If you wish to book any Aer Lingus flights using Avios you need to book via Avios.com or BAEC. You can only book Cash flights at Aer.Lingus webpage.

  • Donna says:
    16 Sep16 September 07:14

    Emerald Airlines ignore all compensation claims for delays; the equivalent Irish regulator are very opaque regarding their process too. In the event of a lengthy delay, there is absolutely no help provided.

  • Paulw says:
    16 Sep16 September 07:18

    Shows zero avios availability of Cardiff-Belfast…

  • Paul says:
    16 Sep16 September 07:23

    Can the same be done for Logan

  • BJ says:
    16 Sep16 September 07:29

    I’ve never been able to find award seats on Emerald at BA.com. Searches have been on connecting flights with Aer Lingus.

    • Mikeact says:
      16 Sep16 September 10:20

      Wouldn’t you think IAG would get their act together, and make AerLingus Avios bookings more simple…..and you probably have to move Avios over to Avios.com. Must be totally confusing to those who don’t know….having to open up an Avios.com account and AerLingus account and then be told to use your BA Exec account….just adds more stress.
      And of course, DON’T forget, you don’t have the luxury of 24hr cancellations etc., if booking on Avios.com..just amazing this day and age to rile people up.

  • Steve says:
    16 Sep16 September 07:41

    Awful aircraft, all boarding is done through a single rear door so, if you sit in the front half of the plane, you will be waiting a long time to disembark. Guess which are the most expensive seats to book? Yep, the rows are the back closest to the door!
    I flew with them a few times but skipped the last flight I had and went back to EasyJet. Crews were never that friendly and I found their practice of re checking your boarding card at the top of the very steep steps upon boarding when it had literally been checked 60 seconds before at the gate, very pointless and irritating.

    • BJ says:
      16 Sep16 September 07:54

      I have to disagree, I like the things. I like that seating is 2+2, and the seats are quite comfortable and the pitch decent ( I’m short though) but I’ve only flown the Bangkok Airways variant. I like that they fly lower affording better views on good days, and I like the fact you actually feel like you’re flying in them which is not the case with a large jet.

    • Andrew. says:
      16 Sep16 September 10:40

      Isn’t the the door check so that the crew can do a physical analysis of the passenger?

      These wee planes often need the self-loading cargo redistributed to be weight balanced.

  • ukpolak says:
    16 Sep16 September 08:13

    I’m doing SOU to Dublin in a few weeks, for 2 nights. I found the fare difference booking via Aer L vs BA interesting albeit via BA there was no HLO fare. I wanted to book via BA and on a BA Amex but the difference was too large to justify (even if it’s not on my dime).

    For HLO via Aer L it was something like £80 return. The only issue was that the booking confirmation didn’t arrive and necessitated a call to their (disinterested) US help desk. It arrived a day later.

    Now I need to find a piece of hand luggage which is 48x33x20 and no more than 7kg. Any tips?

    • BJ says:
      16 Sep16 September 08:24

      If you’re using car or taxi at either end a nylon bag will be as good as anything.

    • lumma says:
      16 Sep16 September 08:48

      If you can find one, as I think the brand might have been discontinued, the Lowe Alpine AT carry on 45 is the perfect travel bag. It’s soft sided so fits in smaller overheads despite being the full size of a regular cabin bag and converts into a backpack if you want (I always just use the shoulder strap however). I’ve used mine extensively since 2015 and it’s still in perfect condition.

      They even made a version with wheels if that’s important

      • ukpolak says:
        16 Sep16 September 11:21

        Many thanks – I had seen a B&R traveller backpack at JL alas it’s out of stock and a little pricey. Will see if I can find the Lowe one – much appreciated!

    • Mikeact says:
      16 Sep16 September 10:26

      @ukpolak And another stupid example of pricing etc……You would also think it would be reasonably easy to book a couple of Avios seats out of SOU to DUB…try it.

      • ukpolak says:
        16 Sep16 September 11:27

        Yeah I didn’t check Avios availability however from memory here were the fares..

        1. Via Aer L and HBO return £80 (what I went for)
        2. Via Aer L but with baggage c.£140 IIRC
        3. Via BA (same flights!) and only option with baggage c.£200

        A colleague of mine did the late DUB – SOU flight a few weeks back; flight cancelled last minute so she was put on a late late departure to LHR instead, and promised a coach down to SOU which never materialised. Got a £300 black cab down the M3 which she is still trying to claim back from Aer L..

    • @mkcol says:
      16 Sep16 September 11:58

      I don’t get your gripe about the booking confirmation not arriving, when you yourself say it arrived 🤷🏼‍♂️

  • Tony Ella says:
    16 Sep16 September 08:21

    It really irks me to point out to a site dedicated to travelling that Belfast is part of the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man isn’t in the UK.

    If you wanted to lump Belfast, Dublin and Cork in fine as they’re on the same landmass. 14 sites referred to that you can fly from are therefore in GB and the Isle of Man is a self-governing British Crown Dependency – although I’ll admit that this is a more difficult distinction to make all the time.

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