More concerning, he is also wrong about the "failure" of EI in Dubai. Contrary to many reports, the route was actually quite successful with average load factors in excess of 75%. The problem was 2 fold:
1. Absolutely no marketing in the UAE of the service - appauling management on EI's part
2. EI were in a dire state as of late 2007/early 2008 and a serious cut back was needed. So Dubai was axed. Not because the route was a failure, but because the airline was in the ****s generally.
I'm afraid the above is not entirely accurate.
If you look to 2008, we can see that Dermot Mannion was still in control. At the helm, he was obsessed with base expansion, borne out clearly by the front page of the 2008 Annual Report.
Associated with the issue of lackluster marketing, was the fact that a new aircraft, should have been assigned to the route on at least some occasions, especially for the launch flight..!
In addition, your second point is simply untrue and incorrect. Aer Lingus had an exceptional year to 30 December 2007 and to say anything otherwise is incorrect. They recorded double digit total revenue and Profit (BEPS) growth - €88.5 million! Profit before taxation was almost €125 million. H1, 2008 was also strong for the airline and it was spiralling oil prices thereafter that had a significant impact upon the overall profitability of the company, along with a commencement of a weakening in demand on TATL routes in Q4, 2008 - which accelerated across all routes during H1, 2009 and resulted in a lower fare base and sharply declining yields. Subsequent reductions in the cost base have only been necessary because of yields/revenue that weakened for at least eight subsequent quarters...
An Eastbound route to Dubai could have worked for Aer Lingus, the ''pilot'' at the helm was the problem. Now that a competitor has a foothold on the route, it would be hard to re-gain some of the lost market share, especially considering the overall macro environment.
EI Premier