Faced with half-full flights on its already reduced trans-Atlantic service, Aer Lingus has aggressively scaled down fares to get Americans flying to Ireland again before Christmas. The troubled State airline is also expected to announce sharply reduced rates from Dublin and Shannon to North America in the coming week.

"We want to create a reason for people to travel," Mr Jack Foley, Aer Lingus executive vice-president for North America, told The Irish Times. Aer Lingus was facing a critical six months, he said, and if the company did not get its finances in shape "we're in worse trouble than we are now". Trans-Atlantic flights account for 60 per cent of profits for Aer Lingus, and the airline has been losing heavily since the September 11th terror attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York induced widespread fear of flying. Currently, flights are only 50 per cent full and the airline is closing its Newark and Baltimore routes.

Aer Lingus is now offering a roundtrip fare of $198 (€215) from New York and Boston to Dublin or Shannon for passengers travelling between now and December 16th who buy tickets by October 10th and stay for between four and six days. This is about half the usual fare for this time of year, and does not stipulate the normal Saturday night stop-over. The roundtrip fare from Chicago has been cut to $298 and from Los Angeles to $348, under the same conditions. New York and Boston passengers wishing to stay longer than six days would be charged $298 for a roundtrip if the ticket was bought before October 19th, Mr Foley said. This offer is good for three months and requires a Saturday stopover and a maximum three-month stay. Similar deals are being worked out for Chicago and Los Angeles.

To induce Americans and Irish Americans to travel to Ireland at Christmas, Aer Lingus is introducing a special $1,999 roundtrip total fare for a group of four, roughly a third less than normal, travelling between December 17th and 23rd.

Mr Foley said the ending of the Delta Airlines service to Ireland for the winter and the reduction in Continental Airlines flights did not necessarily benefit Aer Lingus. Competition had helped. "When they started, trade rose and we had a slightly smaller share of a bigger market," he said.