Ridiculous isn't it; why can't they have a simple majority vote and be done with it; why should everyone else be held because of SIPTU's procedures? Thankfully, it's just local issues and hopefully, these can be sorted out.
Interesting article in this month's Irish Air Letter about Aer Lingus developments, particularly in relation to long haul:
This month's Irish Air Letter has some very interesting points on EI and in particular, long haul:
- EI has reportedly identified five cities it wishes to serve - SFO, PHL, MIA, IAD and DFW. (Not news to many of us, particularly the first two, but interesting to see the list nonetheless)
- EI sees a need for 14 long haul aircraft, either 350XWB or 787, mostly likely the -9 model (according to IAL)
- Times report suggested no hurry to order, possibly 2 yrs, by which time an economic slowdown would have taken hold and manufacturers under greater pressure to give good deals (an extremely flawed argument in my view!)
- A "wait and see" strategy could involve EI constraining long haul growth, however, this might not "sit well" with investment cty and a key factor for it (investment community) will be how well EI's mgmt handles the fleet renewal process.
- EI's long haul product would have to be updated, since it's now considerably behind the competition and particularly if EI is considering eastbound growth (because t/a pax obviously don't count!
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- EI will also need to look at current A330-300s and whether these should be replaced, as they'll be nearly 20 by the time new long haul fleet is introduced in 2012-3.
- New aircraft are a -202 and a -302, not a -301 as had been rumoured (and feared). Two A320s also coming next year (not 3, as had been thought).
- New Open Skies with US may be a double edged sword, as this would invite competition from US carriers, such as US, UA, NW - the stopover acting as a barrier to most of them. However, EI's costs per available seat mile are among the lowest of any t/a carrier, at around 10.85 cents (US); Alitalia's are among the highest at 17.44. Of course, if EI starts to invest in long haul that will go up.
Interesting developments then; of course, the key to the long haul development is the govt's success in getting the green light from Brussels next month, to allow the govt to press ahead with a separate deal with the US.