So with Stobart absorbed into this new entity, what happens to those aircraft flying branded as Aer Lingus Regional?
If that arrangement is allowed to expire, it shouldn't make a massive difference to the Cork routes, other than losing the Aer Lingus sales platform in Ireland; they are largely point-to-point thin routes. For the Dublin routes, feeding Aer Lingus long-haul is part of the bread and butter. Aer Lingus certainly won't want to lose the feed, but it may not match what Virgin want. Working things through, Delta will fundamentally own 15% of the new company and they aren't going to be happy feeding a transatlantic competitor.
Another question will be if IAG are happy to let a competitor feed its hub in DUB?
As for fleet reductions, I expect that to be achieved in the form of ditching the E195's and maybe some of the Q400's. Can't see the E175's going and there's 4 more on the way soon.