Aer Lingus has no plans to continue operating the route linking the Isle of Man with the Republic of Ireland.

With the collapse of Stobart Air, who had previously operated the route before the pandemic, there was worry about what would happen to the route.

Stobart Air ceased operations after a takeover by Ettyl, a Manx firm, fell through on June 11.

A statement from Aer Lingus said: ’Aer Lingus has no current plans to operate the Isle of Man - Dublin Route, which was previously operated by Stobart Air.

’Last month, Stobart Air notified Aer Lingus that it was ceasing operations with immediate effect.’

They said customers who were booked to travel have been ’contacted and offered a full refund or the option of a voucher’.

They added: ’Aer Lingus apologises for any inconvenience caused as a result of the collapse of Stobart Air.’

Michael Bathgate, one of the directors for Travel Watch which educates members of the public by developing understanding of public transport issues within the Isle of Man, was ’surprised’ at the decision.

He said: ’They’re not showing any flights on their website to book, there’s absolutely nothing through the summer, so I knew it was only a matter of time before they made an announcement.’

Not only was it a well-used link between the Isle of Man and Ireland, it was popular for people travelling to America who would clear passport control and customs and then fly there.

He continued: ’I’m a bit surprised because as I understand it was a reasonably popular route, certainly with people who then connected with Aer Lingus’s transatlantic flights to the US so I would have thought that Aer Lingus would actually want to have that from the Isle of Man, to connect with their transatlantic flights.

’Maybe because everything is just so quiet at the moment, they’re just waiting until times are better.’

He mentioned the new startup airline, Emerald Airlines, and thought they may decide to take up the route after making moves to sign up some of Aer Lingus’s other regional routes.

Mr Bathgate added: ’I have no idea if anyone will take the route now, maybe Emerald Airlines.

’It will be disappointing if there isn’t anyone who comes onto the route.

’If anyone does, it will be more likely that they will have to be within Aer Lingus’s network.’

When asked if this will affect ticket prices for other airlines, Mr Bathgate felt it wouldn’t.

With the Consumer Prices Index having risen in the UK in the last 12 months, the largest upward contribution to the inflation rate coming from transport, he felt this had not affected prices of tickets either.

’I’m not sure there will be a significant impact on fares, not in the short term anyway,’ Mr Bathgate said.

He continued: ’I think airlines, at the moment, want to entice us so a real incentive to offer, I would have thought, would be fairly low fares.’

The Steam Packet has sailings to and from Dublin once a week and twice per week it sails to and from Belfast.

The only air route between the Isle of Man and the island of Ireland currently is easyJet’s service between Ronaldsway and Belfast International every Friday and Monday.