I said a number of weeks ago that there were to be a number of cuts and I was right. I also said that this summer would see the last of the sun routes, watch this space. When they gather the nerve to announce the plans they have already made we'll all see their true colours.
Well it wouldn't of taken the brightest tool in the box to realize it was going to happen once LGW was dropped. Why would pay a pile of staff when there is no work in winter.
Might well be last summer however I think possibly scaled down seasonal could be one the cards. Really depends if the assets deployed are making the most profit. Aer Lingus don't wast time competing in the race to the bottom with other carriers when they don't need to.
Aer Lingus recoiling back to base-camp in Dublin isn't exactly a new thing as far as their history of flirting with Belfast and Northern Ireland goes! They've had a few goes over the years in Belfast, generally BFS and lately BHD, when they thought something interesting might be afoot economically in the wee north, and they always end up on a bungee cord back to DUB. This time they've been here since 2007 and the last lot of years have spent more time promoting in NI to try to drag people south to fly from Dublin than they have offering services to allow folk the convenience of local flights! The whole fanfare when they arrived, this time around, was £100 million investment in NI with based aircraft and local JOB creation. I'm sure people will be able to draw their own conclusions.
Anything less than 2 aircraft based year round at an airport is "difficult" to justify commercially and it usually results in larger bases crewing operations. Shannon and some of Cork is crewed from Dublin as well. Nothing new or wrong if it keeps costs down.
Ironic thing here is that the majority of posters here have never or in the last couple of years flown with Aer Lingus yet you then question their commitment to NI market.