A few serious issues that need to be answered and addressed :
1.'The Irish government has told Aer lingus that unless it re-instates the snn to Heathrow service, there will be substantially more support among TDs for the ryr takeover bid.' - And look what just happened!Most people on here are not fools ,so dont even attempt to believe Mannions spin at his press conferance(blushfully gobbling that it was due to costs and oil).Please dont insult me or your fellow peers.The reason EI left Snn was to cut costs . The argument runs Aer Lingus thought its Shannon fees were essentially subsidising Ryanair's supercheap deal, which is linked to the huge volumes of ryr traffic that go through the co.clare airport.The question must be asked - how can EI(in this far more challenging climate then august 07) run routes from snn AND belfast.Heathrow isnt cheap??Belfast is also not performing to hot
2.How in the hell can EI survive and establish a base in Gatwick or 'Fortress Easyjet'.Ryr havent even attempted this - for obvious reasons.EI are now trying to rerun the SNN service and build a base?Too much going on at once without much clear focus if you ask me.Some people are spouting on about ryr cutting routes in a panic(due to cost cutting and recession obviously) however surely this is A LOT more wise then making hasty decisions to open routes and rerun routes(most of which are highly competitive)!!i think cutting routes to save cash in this period is far more prudent then establishing routes and bases in a panic to fend of a takeover attempt.
3.Over the past few days the take over attempt has caught the spotlight.EI have focused on short haul boasting about reopening the snn service and opening gatwick(god help us
).Lets not forget- the dwindling Long Haul service will end up being the final nail in the coffin
Lets hope EI refocus on a few routes and airports rather then a futile attempt at expanding there short haul network in the midst of a serious serious recession,ie focus on fixing long haul.