When International Airlines Group (Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia) trumpeted last week that it planned to return to North America in a big way next summer, operating roughly the same capacity over the Atlantic than in 2019, the assumption was Aer Lingus’ nonstop service to Dublin—launched in 2018 and suspended during the pandemic—would return to MSP. But two of IAG’s pre-pandemic U.S. gateways were missing from the announcement map: Charleston S.C., and us.

Metropolitan Airports Commission spokesperson Jeff Lea confirmed to TCB that Aer Lingus does not plan to return to MSP next year, but the MAC hopes to convince the airline to return in 2023.

IAG’s transatlantic carriers are part of the Oneworld alliance, dominated by American Airlines, and their U.S. routes tends to be to American Airlines hubs (Chicago, Miami, Dallas) and other large tourism markets such as Orlando or San Francisco. It never had a presence at MSP, so the arrival of Aer Lingus, long courted by the MAC, was seen as a coup that could lead to service from other non-Delta affiliated carriers coveted by the airport, such as British Air, Lufthansa, or Scandinavian.

There was no intercontinental air service to MSP for much of 2020 as the federal government suspended the airport’s status as a gateway during the global emergency. That suspension ended late in 2020, but only Delta flights to KLM’s Amsterdam hub resumed. Subsequently, Delta and Icelandair operated service to Reykjavik in summer ’21. Delta has also added back Paris recently and currently operates to five Canadian and Mexican destinations. Many tropical sun destinations will resume around the winter holidays, including Turks & Caicos on Sun Country, a new destination for MSP.

Missing intercontinental destinations remain Seoul, Tokyo, and London (all Delta), plus Frankfurt (Condor). The MAC hopes all will see service in 2022, says Lea.