A new airline has been granted an air operators certificate from the Irish Aviation Authority.
Emerald Airlines is now set to take up the Aer Lingus Regional contract, which had been held by Stobart Air.
It was set up last year, but had not been granted an air operators certificate to fly.
CEO Conor McCarthy believes now is the best time to get into the aviation business:
"The availability of talent, largely due to the huge fall out from Covid, the actual franchise itself, and the availability of aircraft has never been better.
"You can get aircraft for a much better price than you would normally.
"So in terms of timing for a start up, it's actually ideal."
