"Aer Lingus was profitable from 2002 - 2007 with the A320 aircraft. A small carrier like EI needs to keep costs as low as possible and diversifying its fleet of aircraft is not an option. It would impact to much on costs. You cannot compare EI with a fleet of 40 aircraft with Jetblue an airline with over 150 aircraft. Finnair are a small airline just like Aer Lingus and they have a mixed fleet. Now just look at the mess they are in at the moment cutting 6000 jobs. It is now inevitable EI will be taken over by FR, I just cannot see anyone else come in and take them over especially with FR having a 30% stake in the company. And in my opinion any other airline would be mad to take over EI especially with FR up your backside."
They made a profit 2002-2007 when many airlines were making profits and there was a boom in global aviation travel. Thats hardly an achievement. Seriously, they could have put the A330 on some short haul routes and filled it. The point is, the A320, whilst very good works best when times are good. A smaller aircraft will have lower running costs and work better with lower load factors.
As for Finnair, sure they are cutting alot of jobs.....but what have Aer Lingus done over the past few years???????