Aer Lingus chief executive Lynne Embleton believes the airline can double its share of the normally lucrative transatlantic market in coming years as the pandemic fades.

Before the pandemic, the carrier held about 3pc of the multi-billion euro market between Europe and North America. Ms Embleton’s predecessor, Sean Doyle – who is now CEO of British Airways – predicted in 2019 that Aer Lingus could capture up to 6pc of the market.

“We will grow our market share… by a few percentage points at least,” said Ms Embleton. “Aer Lingus is really well placed to do really well in the North Atlantic market. We’ve got a customer proposition out there that allows us to have great fares and a good product.”

Monday marked the easing of travel restrictions to the United States. Aer Lingus flights to the United States and Canada were sold out, with the airline carrying about 1,100 people to the US and an additional few hundred to Toronto.

Before the pandemic, Aer Lingus – which is part the IAG group that also owns British Airways, Iberia and Vueling – had rapidly expanded its route network to the US, adding or relaunching destinations such as Seattle, Los Angeles and Minneapolis-St Paul.

For next summer, it expects to be operating 90pc of its pre-pandemic capacity on all transatlantic services combined, including 90pc of 2019 capacity out of Dublin.

“If we can get our costs competitive, and as we look at the customers and build the brand, that should give us the platform to be able to really grow our long-haul business and get that market share number,” said Ms Embleton.

Aer Lingus has racked up losses of €271m so far this year as the pandemic continues to wreak chaos on airlines.

Aer Lingus and trade union Fórsa are due to continue negotiations today at the Workplace Relations Commission as the two sides try to thrash out an agreement with ground staff and cabin crew over changes to work practices.

“There’s no hard stop,” said Ms Embleton in relation to how long the talks might last. “We hope the unions are willing to work with us to get the kind of competitive cost base that does enable Aer Lingus to be successful. If that takes a little longer in the WRC, then we can give it a little longer.”