Originally Posted by
SENChris
I haven't been following the passenger figures but could we be heading for the long rumoured 4th daily flight (on the days where there are currently 3 flights), or even an up-gauge to an A319 on Aer Lingus mainline?
Upgauge to an A319? You're having a laugh, surely?
The DUB-SEN route is a great deal more important to Stobart than to Aer Lingus. I'd imagine that Stobart is happy to underwrite the route, but why would Aer Lingus increase capacity at their own risk? The only real interest for Aer Lingus is the potential US connecting passengers, and they can get those with the existing ATR service at someone else's commercial risk, thanks very much.
Here's a quick experiment. Say I want to fly from Dublin to London on Aer Lingus next Tuesday morning (just after the long weekend, so a reasonably busy day for business travel).
Some one-way prices for you, courtesy of Google Flights just now:
Departure time from DUB One-way fare
06.40 LHR €306
07.10 LGW €236
07.40 LHR €306
08.50 LHR €306
09.00 LGW €206
09.10 SEN €30 (yes, thirty euros. This is not a typo.)
09.50 LHR €306
If Aer Lingus offered sightseeing flights around Dublin I think they'd achieve a better yield than that. The fact that the DUB-SEN flight is on sale at €30 implies either that loads are dreadfully low or that the revenue management is totally screwed up, and neither of those is an encouraging foundation for a switch to a larger aircraft.
I know that's only one morning (though the evening flight is €30 too!) but it's hardly an encouraging sign. But don't worry, I think Stobart will keep writing the cheques for a while...
On another note, though, I was puzzled to note when extracting the above information from Google Flights that it doesn't recognise SEN as a London airport. You ask for
flights from DUB to LON, and it shows all the usual London airport suspects, but not SEN. I had thought the airport had resolved this issue (having SEN recognised by IATA as a London airport) some time ago.