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N272WA in full Aer Lingus colours. Photo (c) Aero Icarus
Irish national carrier Aer Lingus has long been at the forefront of transatlantic travel. The location of the island nation in proximity to North America, not to mention the millions of people with Irish heritage living in the USA in particular, means it has always offered flights across the Atlantic.
But did you know that for a while the airline flew using leased McDonnell Douglas MD-11 aircraft? Read on for the full story.
Aer Lingus Long Haul Fleet
Steve Williams, CC BY-SA 4.0
Since the early days of air travel, Aer Lingus has sought to add aircraft to its fleet that are capable of crossing the Atlantic.
Early aircraft included the Lockheed Constellation and Super Constellation in the 1940s and 50s.
Then, with the advent of the jet age, the Boeing 707 and 720 were added in the early 1960s, followed by the classic Boeing 747-100 from 1970.
It also briefly flew the Lockheed TriStar and Boeing 767 during the 1980s and 90s.
EI-XLR at Dublin. Photo (c) Mark Willis
Today, Aer Lingus’ fleet centres around the Airbus A321neo and XLR, and A330-200/300 for its long haul routes, which emanate out of Dublin and Manchester.
The MD-11 at Aer Lingus
A hybrid Aer Lingus and World Airways livery. Photo (c) Aero Icarus
For two brief spells, Aer Lingus was in need of extra capacity during the busy summer months to cover its long-haul routes.
It sought to lease in additional aircraft to cover this gap in capacity, particularly on the Dublin to Newark route. To do this, a single McDonnell Douglas MD-11 was leased from World Airways.
This aircraft, N272WA, flew with Aer Lingus on two separate periods – in the summer of 1998 and 2001.
During this time the aircraft was painted in the full colours of Aer Lingus, making an interesting sight for those used to seeing only Airbus A330 aircraft.
This particular MD-11 was built in 1992 and spent most of its life with World Airways. In between leases to Garuda Indonesia, Malaysia Airlines and the two spells at Aer Lingus, it flew in the colours of World and operated their own charter services.
Wearing full World Airways livery. Photo (c) Eddie Maloney
In later life, N272WA became N584FE and was converted to a freighter, flying in the colours of FedEx Express. It was ultimately retired in 2014 and scrapped a year later.
Do you remember seeing the Aer Lingus MD-11 aircraft? Did you ever fly on it? Leave a comment below!
