Just received the latest Irish Air Letter, which has a few points to make:
- Talking about 5-6 years for replacement of EI long haul fleet (assuming 787/350 chosen)
- In the meantime, refurbishment will be done on current fleet, to bring it up to date. (DM reported in last Friday's IT, to be less than impressed with flat bed concept in J class, but does recognise need to make product competitive.
From the above, appears that for the foreseeable future anyway, it's going to be an Airbus long haul fleet. Of course, there are a few "imponderables" ... when will the airline have the right to launch new t/a flights? Could be in time for next Summer, or could be two years down the line, particularly if govt tries to insist on phased approach to dropping of stopover (it won't get it, but it could delay things). The big difficulty is how to get acft it needs if it gets new rights at short notice.
Also consider (as DM suggests) that the 333 with updated IFE is going to be even more range restricted than it is now. DM accepts that aircraft have a limited future, although it is difficult to regard the A330s as "old aircraft" (in the same way as the 747s before them).