Ok, point taken regarding the ownership of the aircraft but the question remains, could EI use the Regional brand to develop additional routes which it would find uneconomical to do so on its own? Especially to develop routes beyond the Ireland / UK axis.
@ Mart,
I think the leasing of the A319's is the path of least resistance to allow EI better manage capacity on certain routes. I'm not overly familiar with the A/C but I'm lead to believe it's not the most favoured of A/C at the moment due to having very similar maintenace costs to the A320. I assume the operating costs (fuel, crew etc.) are lower than the A320?
The purchase of any smaller aircraft by EIN will be a long term project and I really can't see them making any major purchases in the near future. The E-Jet market seems to be opening from a lessor perspective but it's arguably an unnecessary expense for EIN to take an additional type into the fleet at the moment.