AER LINGUS has abandoned plans for a new service to South Africa as the state airline prepares to finalise a decision on five new American routes.

The decision to scrap plans to fly to Cape Town will be a disappointment to the estimated 35,000 Irish holidaymakers who fly to South Africa every year.

Last week Aer Lingus decided to put its plans on hold. It is working on the assumption that talks between the Irish and US governments aimed at phasing out the Shannon stopover may allow Aer Lingus to open up two new American routes as early as this winter. It hopes to add a further three US routes over the next three years.

A service to Cape Town would have been Aer Lingus’s first long-haul offering outside the US.

Although Aer Lingus executives are meeting with executives from Kuala Lumpur airport in Dublin tomorrow, they have also decided to put proposals for a hub to service Asia, Australia and New Zealand on hold in favour of their renewed focus on the American market. The airline had shortlisted Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, and Dubai as potential hub sites.

Aer Lingus currently operates transatlantic flights to New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Baltimore. According to industry sources, the US State Department and department of transport have reacted positively to suggestions by Seamus Brennan, the transport minister, that the Shannon stopover be phased out.

Last week Aer Lingus officials met with representatives of Miami airport, which is in line to be one of the first new destinations to be opened up. Aer Lingus has decided in principle to fly to Florida with Miami and Orlando airports among the main airports vying for the new route.

The Irish airline has also advanced plans to add a further route to the west coast of America as early as this winter. The new destinations being considered are San Francisco, San Jose and San Diego, with San Francisco the current favourite with the airline management.

Opening up a Cape Town route would have allowed Aer Lingus to pull its Airbus A330 jets off transatlantic routes during winter months when traffic to and from America tends to fall off. According to Aer Lingus, had the Cape Town service proved popular it would have allotted new jets to the service throughout the year.

The airline said: “There is definitely a market to South Africa and we’ll return to the idea next year. We also think that there is an existing market for 10,000 to 20,000 seats to an Asian hub. But then once you start to operate a direct service it stimulates demand and so the actual figure could be much higher.”

Aer Lingus currently carries about 1m passengers to the US every year. According to the airline, that number could double within three years were it allowed to open new routes.

The company is set to stop offering services to Gatwick and to London City airport. The Gatwick service is being dropped because Aer Lingus is not picking up passengers from other airlines, while services to London City airport are being stopped because the airport cannot accommodate Aer Lingus’ larger jets.