It operated scheduled services under the brands Aer Lingus Regional, BA CityFlyer and KLM Cityhopper on behalf of their respective owners.

Stobart Air had operating bases in Cork, Dublin and Belfast for Aer Lingus Regional.

[5] Aer Arann was established in 1970 by James Coen and Ralph Langan to provide an island-hopping air service between Galway and the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland.

Ó Céidigh and O'Kelly began to expand the airline's routes and fleet, launching scheduled services in 1998.

[6] In 2008, Aer Arann entered into a franchise agreement with Nex Aviation and introduced service to Amsterdam, Bordeaux, Málaga and Faro, using British Aerospace 146 aircraft during the summer months.

The company's press release stated, "we sincerely regret having to suspend these services and the inconvenience that it will cause our loyal customers on both routes.

A full hearing of the company's application took place on 8 September and Aer Arann was in interim examinership under the protection of the Court.

[14] On 8 February 2012, Aer Arann's Chief Executive Paul Schutz resigned, and was replaced by Sean Brogan, the head of Stobart Ireland.

This gave Stobart Group management control of the airline, and prompted speculation that it would exercise its option to increase its 5% stake in Everdeal Limited by a further 27.5% to 32.5%.

[17] On 12 December 2012, Stobart Group exercised its option to increase its 5% shareholding in Everdeal Limited by 27.5% to 32.5%, and acquired a further 12.5% of the company, taking its stake to 45%.

[23][24] It was further announced in November 2014 that Stobart Air was also to operate two routes from Cardiff to Edinburgh and Paris-Orly, on behalf of CityJet, from 1 December 2014.

[27] On 11 January 2019, Stobart Aviation and Virgin Atlantic formed the Connect Airways consortium to make a takeover bid for Flybe.

[28] The consortium was also to take over Stobart Air, with the aim of creating an integrated carrier operating under a Virgin brand.

[34] On 23 March 2020, Stobart Air which operated under the Aer Lingus Regional brand announced it would suspend all international flights due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stobart Group initially paid €344,000 to Connect Airways administrators EY, the deal is set to be worth over €9.45m.

[37] Following a competitive tender process, in November 2020 it was announced that Stobart Air had not been successful in retaining the Aer Lingus Regional franchise.

[38] In April 2021, Isle of Man-based company Ettyl reached an agreement to buy Stobart Air.

Stobart Air operates the respective buy on board programmes of its franchise customers on their associated services, with slight adjustments owing to aircraft equipment.