Ryanair and Aer Lingus have signed a co-operation agreement to offer connecting flights on each other’s services.

In a first for Ryanair, Europe’s largest budget airline will feed passengers from some of its European routes onto its Irish rival’s transatlantic services, while Aer Lingus will connect onto Ryanair services to various European destinations.

Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O’Leary had long been opposed to selling journeys involving connecting flights but the company started trials on Ryanair-only connections last year.

“We will try it in the marketplace. If it’s successful, we will live with the problems of success. If not, we will learn the lessons and move on,” Aer Lingus Chief Executive Stephen Kavanagh told Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper.

The service will be packaged by a third-party intermediary that will also offer passengers connection insurance to cover missed onward flights.

The risk of having to compensate passengers for missed connections was one of Ryanair’s main reasons for shunning the idea of offering feeder flights for long-haul routes.

Source: Reuters