I didn't actually see why the last thread went off course; sure, we got into talking about long haul routes and pre-clearance, but this was not irrelevant. There are MASSIVE opportunities on long haul routes from Ireland, once we get the O/S in place, particularly now that the customs pre-clearance consent has been given. This means that any US airport with a runway long enough is theoretically accessible from DUB. Who has 40 years of t/a experience? Aer Lingus. Who has the experience of developing new markets aggressively (and more importantly, the dosh)? Ryanair.
OK, that's simplistic and I know there's a lot of obstacles, but that is still what it comes down to. When the ratio of flights changes next year (between DUB and SNN), US carriers will also be able to expand on Irish routes and effectively treble services to DUB. Is EI in a position to cope with this? Is 12-14 acft going to be enough to exploit and develop all the opportunities ahead? If the answer is "no", then hobbling on is NOT the answer; the answer is to find a partner that can help and that's FR. EI may not like them, but if the alternative is being snowed under by the big US carriers, then it's worth going for. It would be an appalling oversight to just fritter away the opportunities ahead. Change is painful, but obsolescence more so. We've done it so often in the past - and so casually; let's not let it happen again.
With all of the parties lined up against FR seemingly focused on that one goal - being anti-FR, I feel the real danger is that these parties aren't seeing the long term goal; that's why I would like to see the govt, as a minority shareholder convene a meeting of all interested parties, starting with one simple goal: what is your vision for EI. Once common ground has been identified, then it should be less difficult to agree on some of the means to achieve this? Is that too much to ask, particularly for a govt that has managed to bring SF and the DUP together?