Short haul will become all FR, keep the Aer Lingus brand for a big push on long haul! Be affraid!
-8AS, I think you're spot-on.
Yer man MOL may be a g*t, but when it comes to 'wheelin an dealin' he is a genius!!! No other airline would touch EIN with a bargepole, but RYR get the Irish market locked up, they get a nice integrated fleet of A320s and A330s (get a good battle going with Boeing and Airbus re future orders), AND possibly the biggest prize, they could have a go at a low-cost model into the USA.
Cross-subsidise the longhauls from the RYR revenue, pack all the punters on by flying them from all those lovely existing UK routes into DUB and then onward, and away you go! And not forgetting the LHR slots either - must be worth tens of millions alone.
And if EIN pilots, crew etc, threaten to leave - well, that's what he wants anyway. Easily replaced - and there must be RYR crew who would give their eye-teeth to 'trade up' to longhaul A330 ops.
I like to think I follow the airline biz, and I am seriously hacked off that I didn't see this coming. The question is, how come no-one else did either??!!