Emerald Airlines

[wanna]

Originally Posted by SWBKCB

They dabbled in a number of ventures - most of them short term - but the major core of the business was the EI contract, and for long periods of time the only part of the business.

Presumably Emerald won't have the same ATR lease issues?

I think its fairly well established Stobarts issues started with Flybe and Connect. Then just as that all cam tumbling down COVID hit. Prior to all this and when just under the EI contract it was a profitable business that worked. Wasn't it Walsh that said they had got distracted by far away hills? Too many pies and not enough fingers.

[brian_dromey]

Originally Posted by wanna

I think its fairly well established Stobarts issues started with Flybe and Connect. Then just as that all cam tumbling down COVID hit. Prior to all this and when just under the EI contract it was a profitable business that worked. Wasn't it Walsh that said they had got distracted by far away hills? Too many pies and not enough fingers.

That was certainly mentioned at the time, can't remember by who. RE was looking to grow/merge for sometime, they had a brief tryst with Cityjet too. Stobart seemed like a good idea - but has a combined airline/airport (± a haulage business) ever worked? The truth is that airlines, airports and ground handlers have competing interests and there isn't much room for synergy. flyBe was a financial black hole for many years, but a combination of Virgin, RE and BE was sold as a cure-all. Again, there was little synergy in this trifecta and no obvious network opportunities. Worse again, EI/IAG were less than pleased about it and gave their regional flying to a start-up, the SAS contract at flyBe was ended. The future was bleak even before COVID hit.

Emerald might be fortunate in its timing. All being well travel should be strong over the summer, if they get their aircraft in the air. BHD should continue to perform well. The only fly in the ointment will be FRs increased presence on UK-Ireland routes and what EI do with teh transatlantic summer schedule - if it is significantly pruned then the transfer opportunities will be less. I wish them well though as the model is fundamentally sound.

[SWBKCB]

Tomorrow is another day - but perhaps slightly more than that if you're Emerald. Let's see whether there is genuinely a year to wait until they get flying in earnest...

.

The Aer Lingus Regional flights, operated under a franchise agreement by Emerald Airlines, will begin on March 17.

Emerald Airlines plans to fly over 340 flights per week across 11 routes from March.

It said that high-frequency routes, including Dublin-Edinburgh and Dublin-Glasgow, will be served up to four times a day.

Emerald has also established an airline company in Northern Ireland (Emerald Airlines UK Ltd) and has applied to the UK CAA for a UK AOC and Operating Licence.

"We are very confident that this will result in long-term connectivity being maintained across the Irish Sea and will boost business and leisure travel between Northern Ireland and Britain," the airline's CEO said.

"We have already reached a long-term commercial agreement with George Best Belfast City Airport and look forward to connecting Belfast to many cities in the UK as soon as possible in 2022. Further details, routes and launch dates in relation to the Belfast operation will be announced in the New Year," he added.

https://www.rte.ie/news/business/202...es-operations/

[VickersVicount]

Im surprised suggestion some routes would have mainline EI as well as Emerald operating simultaneously? Given current circumstances and international connections, surely high frequency Emerald can provide suitable capacity as before, even if some want A320s on the route (though long haul connecting luggage needs bigger bins than ATRs!)

[jmdavies86]

According to ch-aviation:

GLA - up to x4 daily from 17th March
IOM - x6 weekly from 17th March
BHX - up to x3x daily from 27th March
BRS - up to x3 daily from 27th March
EDI - up to x4 daily from 27th March
MAN - up to x3 daily from 27th March
LBA - up to x2 daily from 15th April
NCL - 5x weekly from 15th April
EXT - 5x weekly from 29th April
NQY - 4x weekly from 29th April
JER - weekly from 28th May

[inOban]

In the past, the regular Stobart flights between EDI and Dublin were supplemented with mainline EI aircraft in peak season.

[lfc84]

I don't see any Avios availability - Specifically IOM-DUB.
Does anyone know if it will be added to the reward programme?

[harriewillem]

Good for them they will start, it is super for them, but the general discussion and challenge is... this regional aviation flying is so hard if you are not 100% daughter of a main line carrier that will support you.

All these airlines don't get the economy of scale in todays LOCO 737/A320 world to be sustainable in the long run. And this franchise concept is smart of the franchiser but for the franchisee it is even worse than an wetlease deal.

So the 16M will drip empty, they will venture in non core buisness and they can join the que in a few years.. Aer Arann, Stobart, Cityjet, BMI, FlyBe the list is long and will get longer again if this C19 is not delt with propperly.

[jmdavies86]

Hardly surprising, but it's been announced that Emerald Airlines have been awarded the PSO contract on the Dublin to Donegal route.

They will take over the twice-daily operation on 26th February after the existing temporary contract, which is currently being operated by Amapola Flyg AB, expires the day before.

[Sharklet7]

Future fleet additions.....

Hi all, has anyone heard when Emerald are due to receive delivery of additional aircraft? Given they are due to start operations next month would expect to start seeing some new aircraft being delivered soon.....albeit it's a balancing act of having aircraft ready to go and having to pay leases of aircraft that are just sitting waiting.......

[allan1987]

EI-GPP, EI-GPN, EI-FSL, painted ready for serivce

EI-FSK is at LFBF getting painted

looks like 3 ex virgin australia will be for BHD
and 2 from NAC


Emerald looks to be damp leasing few BA cityflyer E190 from end of March to end of June

For BHD operations, until they have an UK AOC

[Sharklet7]

Originally Posted by allan1987

EI-GPP, EI-GPN, EI-FSL, painted ready for serivce

EI-FSK is at LFBF getting painted

looks like 3 ex virgin australia will be for BHD
and 2 from NAC


Emerald looks to be damp leasing few BA cityflyer E190 from end of March to end of June

For BHD operations, until they have an UK AOC

Thanks for the update Allan, appreciate that. I know they are hoping for a total fleet of 15 so will be good to see more and more being added to their fleet

With regards to BHD and damp/wet leasing, does that basically mean the current set up (BA Cityflyer and Aer Lingus) will continue, albeit it will now be an Emerald service via damp/wet leases?

Is it realistic that Emerald will receive their UK AOC before the summer?

[PPRuNeUser0176]

Not sure where I read but they said they expect a UK AOC by June so all must be on track.

[BHD2BFS]

All seems very quiet on the Emerald front for operations from Belfast, has aer Lingus regional north of the boarder been scrapped?

[DUB19]

Still hiring staff based at BHD according to the website:

https://www.emeraldairlines.com/jobs

[Sharklet7]

Originally Posted by BHD2BFS

All seems very quiet on the Emerald front for operations from Belfast, has aer Lingus regional north of the boarder been scrapped?

As far as I understand operations at BHD are very much still on the table. They are still waiting for their UK AOC to be issued to allow operations to be commenced. Some have noted that this may take as long as June before being issued.

There is potential that Cityflyer may continue to service these routes in the interim.

in the background of all of Emeralds plans at BHD is the inevitable (although not yet announced) return of Flybe and their return to BHD. An announcement on their return is expected very shortly. It could create a dog fight for business at BHD, if Flybe opt to operate the same routes announced by Emerald. Hopefully announcements will be made soon and the guessing can all stop.

[jmdavies86]

According to Twitter (@SeanM1997), Emerald have now placed x6 routes from BHD on sale for S22 (BHX, EDI, EXT, GLA, LBA & MAN).

BHX & MAN are both interesting as they are due to start at the end of this month (BHX - 20th; MAN - 27th), and according to the Flybe thread, they too are/were establishing a base and looking to do multiple daily BHD-BHX/MAN flights. Surely there can't be room in the market for both players?

Also, more importantly, have Emerald now obtained their UK AOC? If so, that's been achieved a lot sooner than was originally expected as I'd read that it wasn't due to happen until the summer, and I've not read/seen any press release or news article that suggests otherwise.

[BA318]

Originally Posted by jmdavies86

According to Twitter (@SeanM1997), Emerald have now placed x6 routes from BHD on sale for S22 (BHX, EDI, EXT, GLA, LBA & MAN).

BHX & MAN are both interesting as they are due to start at the end of this month (BHX - 20th; MAN - 27th), as according to the Flybe thread, they too are looking to do multiple daily flights between BHD and these destinations.

More importantly, have Emerald now obtained their UK AOC? If so, that's been achieved a lot sooner than was originally expected as I'd read that it wasn't due to happen until the summer, and I've not read/seen any press release or news article that suggests otherwise.

They were quoted as saying they had options to launch services from the summer timetable even if they didn’t get their AOC in time. They never alluded further as to what those options were.

[jmdavies86]

Originally Posted by BA318

They never alluded further as to what those options were.

Well the only two options that I can see/think of that would make any sense is for BACF to continue using their E190 fleet until such time as Emerald obtain their own AOC and manage to get some of their proposed ATR aircraft onto the UK register, or the other alternative might be that they're going to work in partnership with Flybe 2.0...?!

[Downwind_Left]

Originally Posted by jmdavies86

Well the only two options that I can see/think of that would make any sense is for BACF to continue using their E190 fleet until such time as Emerald obtain their own AOC and manage to get some of their proposed ATR aircraft onto the UK register, or the other alternative might be that they're going to work in partnership with Flybe 2.0...?!

Or more likely, that Emerald have had a temporary alleviation from the UK CAA to wet-lease from their Irish AOC pending the establishment of the UK AOC.

Absolutely no way BACF are involved in the summer schedule from BHD to the UK regions, they need all the 190s for their own schedules. It was a symbiotic interim solution after the demise of Stobart Air and reduced business travel due to COVID.

Really can’t see IAG wanting to get involved in Flybe 2.0, they have claimed the BHD market for themselves since the demise of Flybe 1.0. Often the whole lineup on the ramp is now BA and Aer Lingus liveried aircraft. They won’t want to give that up that kind of dominence, in a similar way they jumped in to the SOU European leisure market post Flybe 1.0

I would assume most do the former Flybe network was deemed unviable, but these are the bits they wanted.