I am baffled how nobody has picked up on this already ...?
Ireland105, I think that many people commented when the story of Air India using T2 broke first. I remember akerosid mentioning the limitation in the runway length.
It is sad that we will have a truly world class terminal yet our runway has limitations!
If Aer Lingus get after the connections bit ie aiming to offer Dublin as the key cross roads between EU and USA they could attract good business. Dublin will have a great facility both in terminal, and in pre clearance. As well as a respectable pricing policy, these combined with scheduling could deliver good numbers particularly from airport in EU and UK that dont have direct air links to USA.
Eg Leeds/Teesside/Doncaster/Cardiff/Bristol(CO Axing route who is picking up the slick? Daily ATR72 to connect with JFK BOS etc?)/PLymouth/Exeter/SOuthampton/East Midlands/Liverpool/Alicante/Malaga/Faro/Jersey/IOM/Manston?/Derry/Valencia... the list goes on.
I realise EI/RE wont serve all of the above mentioned but if 25 airports could deliver to DUB 25 passgeners each daily that would be enough to fill at least 2 330s and also help sustain routes to west coast and also a good way to support short haul routes that suffer from intense competition with Ryanair.??
I do note that Aer Lingus have been doing a good bit of advertising for UK destinations in the US especially since Aer Lingus regional got underway.
EI-BUD