I would imagine that if expanded, it would go to increased frequency on the ATR.

ORK-BHX is up to 18 flights a week on the ATR to Birmingham and no sign of an attempt to put a jet on.

Hi Could Aer Lingus Regional not lease the bmibaby aircraft and change the colour scheme on as it would be best suited for this route

Oh well, at least it is daily. Welcome back Aer Arann. Please try harder this time.

EMA back to daily as a result perhaps? There would certainly be a market for a Friday service. Fleet capacity might be an issue this summer though.

Anybody know what the times will be for the new service.

According to Mid West online:

Hang on, that can't be right...

Wrong way around...

The flight schedule is as follows:

From To Depart Arrive

Birmingham Knock 0920 1055

Knock Birmingham 1125 1255

Oddly enough the BHX-DUB eir flight is still on sale, but the NOC isnt yet so I presume that is yet to be swapped round. Good point about it being eir is the brand familiarity in the Irish community will stand it in good stead. Hopefully it will have extra capacity on certain days. I could see some very full flights and off putting fares in place at weekends otherwise.

The most bizarre suggestion I have ever heard

I second that.

the eir BHX-DUB flights have been removed (again) from sale. That finalizes where the a/c will be sourced from. I do agree with the posts regarding lack of summer capacity, particuarly at weekends. be good if it can be increased but not sure that they would/could. It would be ideal capacity for winter however, if they maintain it.

airnoc, why didnt you go for an A380, we probably could pick up a cheap 2nd hand one, we could put a block on a few rows at the front to ensure that it can land safely at IWAK!!!

Sorry I couldn't resist...:cool:

Fantastic news about EIR on NOC-BHX !
I understand what people are saying about the ATR being to small and i would agree but i wouldnt be surprised if EI put on jet service if the demand is there!
I doubt they would increase frequency as was mentioned above with regard to the Cork route, because of the nature of the NOC-BHX route i think it would be more likely to see the flight swaped for an A319/320 on certain days,e.g. FRI,SAT,SUN to begin with if the demand is there. Fingers crossed but its still great to see EIR take on the route.

My fear would be it just lending FR a massive hand at EMA because the fares could sky rocket at weekends. That said, they are only just announcing now for a June start so they wont have months of advance bookings but any which way its roughly half the capacity. As I said before, great for winter.

Maybe something might happen in 2013 when 319s -EPT and -EPU arrive if the communities on both ends support the route heavily - unless the 319s are already spoken for?

Seems like in this case BE would have been a better result for NOC overall - looking at the BHX departures board the extensive BE network could have given NOC some marketing opportunities for Europe.

Aer Lingus have said that the 2 A319 due in December will be replacing two A320 whos lease ends so I can't see NOC going to Airbus. As was already said EI regional have 16 weekly ORK-BHX flights, approx 25 weekly on DUB-GLA route and if they can't sustain an Airbus how will NOC?

What I can see in the near future is it going two daily and this may happen for the winter schedule. At least on Fri and Sun.

thanks for the info on the 319s

EIR
 

Everyone is talking like EI and EIR are one and the same airline. I can't see EI moving aircraft onto the route in the near term, as mentioned EIR have high frequency on other routes which have not been upgraded.

We don't know the full details of the EIR agreement or what involvement EI have in planning. But why would Aer Arann open and build up routes, paying EI a franchise fee, only for EI to cherry pick once established, potentially wiping out their business? Perhaps there is some clause allowing this, anyone illuminate us on the workings of the partnership?

Does seem like NOCs plan A failed, perhaps the race to replace WW routes at EMA, BHD & BHX have left them back of the queue for aircraft?

London
 

Any word on FR winter schedule? London times are worse if anything this Summer. No early service most days (STN rotation split with BVA), lower LTN frequency. The extra FRI/SUN services failed to materialise.

This is the main complaint I hear about NOC these days from people both sides of the water, losing out on a lot of weekend and commuter demand.

On the point of EIR and EI its worth remembering that EI is the client and as its their colours and brand at stake they will have a good sway in planning. From the outset EI have stated EIR was designed to help them expand into regional routes where they couldn't utilise an A320 size aircraft and deliver high frequency, and also of course to feed transatlantic (although clearly this isn't their aim at Knock). EI have also said in recent months that one of the purposes of the franchise was to grow routes to a point where they can operate them, one quoted route was EDI-DUB, that doesn't however mean they have capacity to operate it at present or there isn't richer pickings to be had elsewhere. Whilst I'm glad to see them on the route and another carrier at Knock it is somewhat concerning to see the capacity halved and the concern would be the same effect BE have had on MAN-NOC, the best hope for the shorter term is as has been stated they top up capacity at least at weekends.

Same has happened in Cork where Aer Arann's entrance on BHK and MAN has halved the capacity althought it's debatable whether the routes would still have 2 Jets per day with the imminent demise of BMI Baby. The other problem with commuter types is that they tend to increase fares rather than capacity when demand grows before eventually attracting a low cost predator.