Aer Lingus did'nt stand a chance LGW, everone knows LGW is a big holiday destination gateway in the UK but Aer Lingus would'nt pop into my mind when looking for a holiday flight ( and i know who fly where ) Mr and Mrs Joe blogs looking for fight only would look at Thomas Cook, Thomson, Ryanair-Easyjet, Flybe, BA I dont think many would even think of Aer Lingus unless traveling to Ireland but even then Ryanair would be looked at before Aer Lingus...
The only way for Aer Lingus to move into other markets (UK holiday flight only) would be a re-brand...
A new brand aimed towards your new market works a whole lot better than a brand people link with flights to Ireland .
If you asked the people on the streets of London and areas around if they know where AerLingus flys most would say WHO and the the rest would say Ireland.
Thats not forgeting the people in European Cities who wish to fly to London they probabley cant even say Aer lingus or spell it, thats nothing against them its just an un-friendly European name.
By rebranding the news spreads fast of a new player in the market even if its not new people will see a new Airline.
daz211
I agree with a lot of what daz211 has said above in the LGW Thread. How many legacy or flag carriers have successfully established bases outside of their own jurisdiction using their own brand ?? Lufthansa were creative in Italy creating the name Lufthansa Italia !!! No other airline comes to my mind. EI only seem to have strong brand recognition with Irish people in the UK.
The costs associated with setting up another airline within the EI group could well sink Aer Lingus. The capital requirements alone in terms of getting a new AOC, sourcing equipment etc. would make a bad cash situation even worse.
Papa2Charlie look at the money that has just been pissed away on setting up and marketing LGW. If EI were to set up a uk subsidiary which was on the cards they could have transferred aircraft from EI onto the new lower cost new brand subsidiary.
EI-RB; I think it is very easy to do a postmortum on what went wrong or what the state of play at LGW is, I think everyone was in agreement that EI needed to expand and open additional bases. As you advise that they were 'clowns', where else in the UK would you deem to have been a better choice?
I thought there was potential at LGW with BA pulling off so many routes. When I saw EI going head to head on certain EZY routes this was crazy and they obviously did not learn any lessons from going up against EZY in Belfast.
Remember them going up against EZY on AMS twice daily from Belfast and they got roasted. I remember thinking how can belfast sustain both of them on this route.