Aer Lingus - 6

[El Bunto]

So, they're going back to San Francisco.

The airline will have an uphill battle to regain trust in the tech and pharmaceutical sector after pulling the San Francisco service. A service which was said to have been 'exceeding expectations' and then suddenly wasn't.

Most of those I know rebooked on United and BAW through Heathrow and committed to travel packages with them. So there will be additional ramp-up lag as those expire.

[EI-A330-300]

EI will use T3-F in SFO same as United for most flights and not the International T1-A.

Also T1 at YYZ

The airline will have an uphill battle to regain trust in the tech and pharmaceutical sector after pulling the San Francisco service. A service which was said to have been 'exceeding expectations' and then suddenly wasn't.

Most of those I know rebooked on United and BAW through Heathrow and committed to travel packages with them. So there will be additional ramp-up lag as those expire.

Its these IT companies who are paying for x amount of seats per flight each over a 3 year deal as far as I know.

[MCDU2]

It's a different business model now. The numbers of non Irish connecting through Dublin from the UK and Europe on a daily basis is enormous. Many of these pax will be enticed with clearing CBP in Dublin and avoiding the nasty big European hub airports. As mentioned its targeted at the IT fraternity who were approached by AL for assurances on filling the business cabin. Add into the mix a possible code share on the route and a bit of cargo and there is nothing to say it won't turn a tidy profit. After a while the pax that took their business elsewhere may well be forced to bury the hatchet when the accountants do the cost/benefit of a direct versus indirect service.

[EISNN]

yup. I'm hearing from pals of mine that there is a daily total avergage of about 40-50 pax from Italy alone transferring onto the later ORD and JFK flights. Spain, France and the Netherlands proving very popular also.

[Skipness One Echo]

the numbers of non Irish connecting through Dublin from the UK and Europe on a daily basis is enormous

It's not enormous, it's really not. 6-7 flights each day to a whizz bang total of four, soon to be five US destinations isn't huge. It's niche and it's well marketed and it supports a large P2P operation, however it's barely a hub and spoke. By way of comparison, BA long haul at unloved LGW is bigger.
Kudos for still being in the game though.

Telegraph Article
Dublin airport 'an alternative hub to Heathrow', says Aer Lingus - Telegraph

[MCDU2]

No one was comparing to the likes of BA and the big legacy airlines. That would just be silly. But the game has changed. Think the figures are now a mix of 55/45 of non Irish inbounds. The Irish market which has for so many years driven the airline is becoming less of a factor. Expect that ratio to widen.

[EI-A330-300]

1,044 million passengers in June up 3.1%

Short Haul LF was up to 81.6% while passengers numbers increased 1.7%
Long Haul LF was up to 94.5% while passengers increased 17.2%

Very impressive Long Haul Load factor considering the major increase in capacity.

http://corporate.aerlingus.com/media..._June_2013.pdf

[Shamrogue]

Credit where it's due

Fairplay to Aer Lingus.

Also on the inbound traffic. I've flown EI a couple of times in the last few months TA - and I've found the whole T2, wifi on board, lovely crew ......the whole package to be excellent.
I've also passed through LHR.......OH Dear lord........And I suspect Aer Lingus will continue growing TA traffic on that basis.

Regards
Shamrogue

[MCDU2]

The following article highlights why Willy was happy to jump into bed with MOL over the carve up of Aer Lingus. That plus being able to hold up a finger to the Irish government. Would have been a win/win for him.

Have always thought that the retrenchment by BA to be a predominantly London based airline made them susceptible to attack on all fronts. What with the 3rd runway seemingly on hold permanently its a sticky wicket for him.

Dublin airport 'an alternative hub to Heathrow', says Aer Lingus - Independent.ie

[EI321]

I just saw an all-white painted 757 take off from Dublin (10.30pm). Its dark outside and most of the window shades were down so Im assuming it was not a passenger flight. Could this possibly be pilot training for the new EI 757s?

[Dontgothere]

Probably a Titan Airways 757 covering for a shortage of serviceable Shamrock aircraft, wouldn't surprise me, it's a fairly frequent occurrence

[Jamie2k9]

Aer Lingus confirm discussions with Airbus for A320NEO order and drop a hint about growth from Turkey.

Aer Lingus Reboots Flights to West Coast US, Eyes Turkey

I just saw an all-white painted 757 take off from Dublin (10.30pm). Its dark outside and most of the window shades were down so Im assuming it was not a passenger flight. Could this possibly be pilot training for the new EI 757s?

The 757's EI are getting are still flying for Finnair.

[bannercounty]

@EI321

It was an A320 you saw, It also flew the LHR- SNN on Wednesday late afternoon.

[El Bunto]

I just saw an all-white painted 757 take off from Dublin (10.30pm). Its dark outside and most of the window shades were down so Im assuming it was not a passenger flight.

Your deduction was correct. It was TAY031W using unliveried 757 OO-TFA on the TNT cargo run to Liège

Departed directly south bang on 22:30.

Edit: it's a combi 757 and the windows ahead of the wing are permanently blanked.

[Fairdealfrank]

connections over the DUB hub

Quote: "It's not enormous, it's really not. 6-7 flights each day to a whizz bang total of four, soon to be five US destinations isn't huge. It's niche and it's well marketed and it supports a large P2P operation, however it's barely a hub and spoke. By way of comparison, BA long haul at unloved LGW is bigger.
Kudos for still being in the game though"

Doubt if it's too avoid LHR as all domestic routes are at LHR-5 and connecting is dead easy if staying on BA and relatively easy otherwise.

No it's probably more to do with:

(1) only 7 UK airports offer flights to/from LHR; and

(2) pre-clearance at DUB avoids the aggravation at the US destination (rather than at LHR).

[Jamie2k9]

Doubt if it's too avoid LHR as all domestic routes are at LHR-5 and connecting is dead easy if staying on BA and relatively easy otherwise.

No it's probably more to do with:

(1) only 7 UK airports offer flights to/from LHR; and

(2) pre-clearance at DUB avoids the aggravation at the US destination (rather than at LHR).

Aer Lingus connections are popular because,
Price, service offering, faster connection times, customer service and the ease of transfer and excellent OTP.

Pre clearance does not impact a lot as many don't know about it from Europe and the US side.

You comment about domestic UK flights to LHR being low, Edinburgh is the top UK connection point and it has over 10 flights to LHR per day. Bristol is close to LHR yet its second in line for connections. Turning to Europe Amsterdam has endless connections all over the world, yet its the top connection airport for EI to the US.

Now people are booking single tickets to DUB and then onto the US with EI and even connecting further from the hubs with JetBlue and United.

KLM or BA don't offer any advantage only higher prices to keep airport operators happy, longer flights, longer connection and poor service. Time for them to up there game.

[Fairdealfrank]

Quote: "You comment about domestic UK flights to LHR being low, Edinburgh is the top UK connection point and it has over 10 flights to LHR per day. Bristol is close to LHR yet its second in line for connections. Turning to Europe Amsterdam has endless connections all over the world, yet its the top connection airport for EI to the US."

Wasn't commenting on the frequency of flights from the seven airports linked to LHR, just the fact that there are only seven!

Compare that to DUB and AMS which are each linked to over twenty.

Travellers from most UK airports do not have the opportunity to connect via LHR, even if they want to.

Quote: "Pre clearance does not impact a lot as many don't know about it from Europe and the US side."

You sure about that? It's a good USP for EI, you imply that they're not marketing it properly.

Also bear in mind that only a few USA destinations are available from DUB.

[Skipness One Echo]

KLM or BA don't offer any advantage only higher prices to keep airport operators happy, longer flights, longer connection and poor service. Time for them to up there game.

Comprehensive frequent flyer programs and worldwide louge access? A First Class product on competing US routes? Codeshares and co-operation within Oneworld? Larger more modern aircraft with the B777-300ER already in service and the A388 and B788 arriving this week? LHR-JFK is competitive with Aer Lingus as the high yield front end subsidises the back end to maintain frequency. I know you work close to them Jamie but some balance please.

Aer Lingus long haul is nice little niche, they're not and cannot hope to be a major player. I'm old enough to remember EXACTLY all of this being said when the B737s and BAC111s were retired and the B747s were replaced with A330s. They would be fed by a fleet of Fokker 50s to build a transatlantic hub. In 1991. Here we are 22 years later and EI now have a whole seven long haul aircraft and still only five (vs BA at 18 LHR + 3 LGW to the US) destinations, one of which is literally Mickey Mouse. I love Aer Lingus and am impressed at how they've survived living at the home of Ryanair but call a spade a spade, not a professional, precision digging implement.

btw What's the deal with EI-FCC, the semi naked and leased A320? Didn't Aer Lingus return some A320s off lease just recently?

[Jamie2k9]

You sure about that? It's a good USP for EI, you imply that they're not marketing it properly.

Also bear in mind that only a few USA destinations are available from DUB

Have they ever marketed it a lot, you don't know about it until you search the website in detail.

No Boston services clear in the summer, and either does 7 of the 11 ORD service. EI are far from happy with it at the minute.

Comprehensive frequent flyer programs and worldwide louge access? A First Class product on competing US routes? Codeshares and co-operation within Oneworld? Larger more modern aircraft with the B777-300ER already in service and the A388 and B788 arriving this week? LHR-JFK is competitive with Aer Lingus as the high yield front end subsidises the back end to maintain frequency. I know you work close to them Jamie but some balance please.

Aer Lingus long haul is nice little niche, they're not and cannot hope to be a major player. I'm old enough to remember EXACTLY all of this being said when the B737s and BAC111s were retired and the B747s were replaced with A330s. They would be fed by a fleet of Fokker 50s to build a transatlantic hub. In 1991. Here we are 22 years later and EI now have a whole seven long haul aircraft and still only five (vs BA at 18 LHR + 3 LGW to the US) destinations, one of which is literally Mickey Mouse. I love Aer Lingus and am impressed at how they've survived living at the home of Ryanair but call a spade a spade, not a professional, precision digging implement.

Will agree that EI Gold Circle is very bad, its a niche market that can be grown a lot. It hurts BA more than most carriers and this will continue and BA would do anything to stop it if they could.

btw What's the deal with EI-FCC, the semi naked and leased A320? Didn't Aer Lingus return some A320s off lease just recently?

Its not in full colors because its leaving for another airline in October, they returned one aircraft and this is to cover any tech issues.

[Noxegon]

Gold Circle is probably the worst frequent flyer scheme out there. It's absolute madness that you no longer get any points at all for an economy transatlantic flight. My parents do four round trip DUB/JFK flights a year, and they're probably going to drop out of the frequent flyer programme as a result...

It's also worth noting that the Business Class product on EI is very dated; it is not a patch on BA Club World.