Almost 130 travel to Barbados on Aer Lingus flight from Manchester

Almost 130 people travelled on the first Aer Lingus flight from Manchester Airport in England to Barbados on Wednesday.

The Irish carrier is launching its first transatlantic services from Britain this year.

Aer Lingus said 128 people boarded its Airbus A330-300 to take off for the Caribbean island from Manchester at 10.15am on Wednesday.

The airline will begin services to New York JFK Airport on December 1st and follow that 10 days later with the launch of flights to Orlando, Florida.

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Lynne Embleton, Aer Lingus chief executive, said the flight marked the beginning of the next stage of the company's long history with Manchester Airport.

She pointed out that there was strong demand from the north of England for transatlantic services.

‘Huge boost’

Karen Smart, Manchester Airport managing director, said it was "huge boost" to the region that Aer Lingus chose the gateway as it first UK base for transatlantic flights.

“The routes across the Atlantic to Barbados and the USA will no doubt be hugely popular with the 22 million people that live in our catchment area, especially with the US opening up to British travellers next month,” she added.

Aer Lingus hopes to exploit opportunities opened by rival Thomas Cook’s failure in 2019.