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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 (May 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:

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Barclaycard Avios card

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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card

30,000 Avios and the famous annual Companion Voucher voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express Credit Card

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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.

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The Platinum Card from American Express

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Run your own business?

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

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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.

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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.

  • BJ says:
    16 Sep16 September 08:56

    If it bothers people that much I suppose, going forward, they could refer to it as British Isles which includes ROI. Spare a thought for those of us in Scotland and Wales, to much of the world we’re nonexistent with many equating UK with England and many not even recognising UK only England. Personally none of this bothers me.

    • NorthernLass says:
      16 Sep16 September 10:18

      Not me, @BJ, having been completely obsessed with the Stuarts and Tudors from an early age I’ve always thought of England and Scotland as separate countries! In the event of independence, though, you have to take the royals as they are Stuarts … 😂

      • BJ says:
        16 Sep16 September 11:54

        It’s not anything like that Anna, I’m just referring to people outside UK and especially outside Europe nit recognising tge UK or the political and geographical nature of it. It’s just lack if education in this respect in many places so not anything I think we should ve bothered about. In Europe I think most get it
        But further afield many don’t.

  • Sking1 says:
    16 Sep16 September 09:06

    Believe that they also operate another Irish domestic service from Dublin to Kerry.

    • Rob says:
      16 Sep16 September 09:14

      Emerald provided the list to us.

      • EvilDoctorK says:
        16 Sep16 September 10:36

        I don’t think they do Kerry any longer .. Ryanair operate the DUB-KIR subsidised route now afaik

        • Will says:
          16 Sep16 September 14:09

          Correct that service hasn’t operated since stobart air ceased ops. It was run a part of a PSO contract. It was a good route for me during lockdown when SNN was closed when i needed to get to west limerick (LHR-DUB-KIR). Most of time I had plane to myself on DUB KIR.

          Ryanair operate a double daily but not sure if it run as PSO but open to correction on that

          • Rob says:
            16 Sep16 September 15:06

            I seem to remember Ryanair launched it as a semi-joke to show up the stupidity of the PSO system, since they knew they could run it profitably with no subsidy.

  • Rich says:
    16 Sep16 September 09:30

    I used them from Birmimgham to Belfast city, was quick flight, friendly crew and you got a free hot drink, what’s no to love.

    What does annoy me is they are not full one world so no tier points..

    • Richie says:
      16 Sep16 September 09:47

      What’s “Not to love” is when your flight is cancelled and they say claim from AerLingus who say claim from Emerald.

    • Save East Coast Rewards says:
      17 Sep17 September 15:08

      Aer Lingus is not oneworld so Emerald wouldn’t be either.

    • Ironside says:
      18 Sep18 September 11:43

      I think the free drink has gone. I’ve done the same route as you, BHX-BHD, twice this year. In February we got a tea or coffee. In June the only option was buy-on-board.

      And it was a slight irritation to be charged in Euro. I wouldn’t have minded but for some reason I didn’t think to pack my FX card for an intra-UK flight…

      Otherwise it’s a good service. Excellent range of flight times, friendly crew, and there’s something quite fun about taking a turboprop from time to time.

  • Cuchlainn says:
    16 Sep16 September 11:15

    Emerald Airlines question – Can I use a new BA Amex Premium Plus Companion Voucher on a 2-4-1 basis ? ( Have one expiring in next 6 months very unlikely to use properly )

    Emerald Airlines availability ( 4 seats ) only seem to appear on Avios.com at quite short notice but do offer excellent value for money ( 8K return Avios ) on short notice bookings ( including your 20kg hold bag ).

    Also included is nostalgia with flying out of Belfast City in a modern propeller aircraft vs a Shorts 360 with a can of Tartan beer in the late ‘80s to Edinburgh.

  • TooPoorToBeHere says:
    16 Sep16 September 13:04

    Mixed bag, these.

    On MAN-DUB, EI-branded and EI-numbered flights are a mixture of A320 and these things. Care needed as – per the above – the overhead bins are tiny in these things. EI cabin bag rules are quite restrictive anyway. Legroom is fine.

    Timekeeping on some routes is atrocious; I’ve never been less than an hour late on an afternoon flight.

    Crew never amazing, never awful.

    You’re better off on Ryanair IME.

  • William says:
    16 Sep16 September 14:15

    Emerald also run a domestic pso service between dublin and donegal

    supposedly the scenery on approach to donegal is spectacular.

    The 3 letter airport for donegal airport escapes me

  • LittleNick says:
    16 Sep16 September 15:35

    Slightly related, take it avios can’t be used on Logainair in anyway as I know can buy Loganair tickets via BA?

  • Stuart says:
    16 Sep16 September 21:28

    Have done 20 GLA-DUB and return over 5 years probably more. No problems. Stop moaning.

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

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