Originally Posted by Skipness One Echo
This is a little like basing aircraft at Gatwick (i.e. mental) unless BA are code-sharing.
Well the slots are being released by BA to begin with, so the whole point is to add competition to compensate for BA taking over BMI.
I'd say this is part of a wider strategy by Etihad on gaining a greater foothold in Europe. The first part of this strategy was acquiring 30% of Air Berlin, allowing them to better compete against Emirates in the German market. By acquiring part of Aer Lingus and developing a code share deal with them, they can use them as a way of increasing its foothold in the UK to better compete against Emirates and Qatar Airways there.
So Aer Lingus launching these new intra-UK routes would just be part of that. If Etihad code share with Aer Lingus on those routes and its wider Ireland-UK network, it'll provide additional feed to their hub in Abu Dhabi.