JetBlue and Aer Lingus partnered up almost 12 years ago, since then, they have been offering passengers connections on each others’ flights from Irish and US airports for those travelling between North America and Europe.
JetBlue and Norwegian have reportedly taken the first step towards striking a deal that will allow passengers to book connecting flights through both airlines on one single ticket.
In August of this year, Norwegian Air had previously announced it would cut all transatlantic services from Ireland but would continue flight schedules to North America from Europe.
Aer Lingus and Norwegian Air both service low cost flights to North America from cities throughout Europe, putting them in competition with each other.
Norwegian’s outlined deal with JetBlue will help in attracting US passengers to its services.
Norwegian’s former chief executive, Bjorn Kjos, said the company needs to entice more US travellers to justify its budget transatlantic services in what will be the first deal with a US carrier.
Aer Lingus’ transatlantic business over the last five years has been growing and it offers connections between Europe and North American via Dublin Airport, servicing necessity for travel between the two continents.
JetBlue has a large network of domestic US routes. These services feed passengers into Aer Lingus flights from the 13 US cities that it currently serves, including New York, Washington, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Aer Lingus said that this new potential deal will not effect their relationship with JetBlue: “There are no changes to our relationship with JetBlue as a result of this announcement and we look forward to many more years of success working together.”
