Aer Lingus Regional, operated by Aer Arann, is to expand its services at Shannon Airport, including the addition of 100,000 passengers, new and expanded routes, and the creation of 20 jobs, the airline announced earlier.

The airline said it expects as a result to grow total passenger numbers from Shannon to 200,000 by the end of 2014, rising to 240,000 passengers by the end of 2015.

The airline confirmed that the decision to expand its services to and from Shannon was directly related to the government’s budget announcement to abolish the travel tax from April 2014.

The new daily Bristol service, commencing on April 3rd next, builds on expansion at Aer Lingus Regional over the past 12-months.

Further announcements regarding new routes and services from other airports will be made shortly.

In addition, the airline unveiled that it will double capacity on its Shannon Birmingham route, and an additional service on its Shannon Manchester service. Shannon Manchester will now operate three daily flights, with two daily flights on the Shannon Birmingham route. 

Aer Lingus Regional is offering preclearance connectivity from Birmingham and Manchester onto Aer Lingus’ expanding services to New York and Boston via the Shannon morning services.

Aer Lingus Regional, which aims to double passenger numbers to over two million over the next five years, has overseen a ten per cent rise in its passenger numbers in 2013 compared to the previous year.