Emerald Airlines CEO comments on operational complexity of dual Ireland and UK operations

Emerald Airlines CEO Keith Butler commented (09-Oct-2026) on the operation complexities of "essentially running two separate AOCs under one roof", as part of its 10 year franchise agreement with Aer Lingus. The carrier launched operations in Feb-2022, operating services from Dublin to the EU under one AOC and operating UK domestic services from Belfast under another. Mr Butler stated: "In aircraft on ground situations, we've got to hire in an aircraft from ourselves if we want to have operational robustness, and that's a burdensome process. We can't interchange our crew between bases in any way". He added: "It has affected the number of flights we've been able to operate. Ideally, there would be a resolution to this for all UK operators, in terms of mutual recognition between European and UK licences for both engineers and pilots, or some sort of fast qualification recognition". He concluded: "It's been a real challenge building up to 20 aircraft over a three to four-year period. We've done that and achieved profitability within year two of operation". [more - Aviation Week]