EIR was superb in its first year. I was a regular on the DUB-MME flight when the brand was established. It was run by the 4 72-500's and I've never experienced such super punctuality and reliability with any other airline. In the whole time the MME flight ran, I was probably on 80 trips and only was delayed once. The troubles began as the brand started to expand. This meant that the older RE aircraft had to be utilised and the introduction of those awful american birds (sll/m/n). Since then the fleet has been stretched and stretched to a point now where I think there is very little slack in the system creating delays on a daily basis. Having said this, I'd chose EIR over FR anyday!! Hopefully I will have such a choice for a long time to come!