Rumor going round that O'Leary will up bid shortly. Didn't think he can do this re his recent offer?

Game on

Aer Lingus- Belfast City
 

BHD has now appeared on the EI website.

Routes from BHD include:

London Heathrow (from 28 October 2012)
London Gatwick (3 Daily from 28 October 2012)
Malaga (Daily from 31 March 2013)
Faro (Daily from 26 March 2013)

You must have a different web site or I am looking in the wrong place. I cant seem to find any departure from BHD.

I just replied to you on the BHD thread. :ok:

Got it in one ;) just to point out too SAS has reported 12% growth so far this year on its DUB-ARN route and seem's to be relatively unaffected by Aer Lingus' competition.

Don't think this would be the case, even though Lufthansa's FRA Hub offers significant benefits. I believe LHR services would be unaffected.

Has nothing to do with that, at all.

Nothing has actually been said but look at the recent developments,

1) BA/EI now head to head on BHD/DUB-LHR.

2) BA no longer offering onward connections from the above Aer Lingus flights, using its own metal. ORK/SNN so far unaffected.

3) Willie Walsh's recent comments on Ryanair's take-over attempt.

I think it would be wrong of BA to overlook the current codeshare with Aer Lingus, hopefully though following Aer Lingus decision regarding Belfast the two will come to a better arrangement.

With BA now carrying all connecting traffic on its own craft, and an outside possibility of Aer Lingus joining Star. What do people think the likelihood would be of them starting FRA from BHD?

BA are still selling EI flights from Dub on their website though, alongside their own service? Is this due to end?

I'm glad you bring this up!

Unless it is to be updated, booking Belfast - long haul via LHR on ba.com, still offers flights on EI as well as BA metal. This includes flights for the winter timetable.

Will BA cut all ties with EI from Northern Ireland???

That is not true. Aer Lingus codeshares still bookable and interline still in place.

BA has never had any issue with who fed their long haul flights, and were quite happy for BD to also do so from DUB. Have you any evidence to show that this will change?

Etihad CEO has said in London yesterday that he expects an imminent expansion of its relationship with Aer Lingus in the comming weeks.

When Aer Lingus confirmed Etihad had taken a stake in them a few months ago, they said they'd be announcing a new code share deal within months, so my guess is that's what it is. It'll be interesting to see how far they go with it though, it could involve Aer Lingus operating some flights to Abu Dhabi, and Etihad feeding Aer Lingus' USA routes.

Please try and book a flight from Belfast or Dublin to London/Heathrow and tell me when your being offered flights on EI metal? If you had read what I said from the beginning I also pointed out flights from Cork/Shannon remained on-sale.

Your right there that's probably the gist of this new relationship. Should we now expect an improvement to Aer Lingus Business class product then?

Your assertion was about connecting flights. Example: You can book BA flights from Dublin to Singapore with DUB-LHR leg on EI metal with either EI or BA flight numbers. Nothing has changed. Fare is the same regardless of whether DUB-LHR is on EI or BA metal or EI or BA flight number.

Fair enough on reflection I just realized I did mislead in what I said.

Full article regarding Etihad's interest in Aer Lingus on ATW for anyone interested: Etihad predicts Irish expansion | ATWOnline

Etihad Codeshare with EI
 

It makes perfect sense to me that Etihad would want to codeshare with EI to give it a competitive advantage over Emirates. The media is a wash with statements like Dublin/Dubai and Dublin/Abu Dhabi have been an overwhelming success etc.

The detail does go so far as to say the loads in each direction, if I was a betting man I would say the loads outbound (towards Australia, NZ especially) are far more attractive than the inbound. I.e. going well on the back of huge emmigration. So strip that away how viable are these routes added to news that Turkish will increase Dublin to 10 weekly (so total capacity with onward flights EY 10, EK 7, TK 10).

If Etihad can secure some sort of exclusive deal with EI to feed pax via Dublin from both sides it's future is much more secure at Dublin. What does anybody else think?

EI-BUD

whilst there is a lot of emigration from Ireland I don't imagine it would be filling planes! Once people settle they will still return for holidays and families and friends will visit, also business links will develop. From what I gather there are many Irish living and working in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

We all thought we would have to wait weeks or months for news, but here is the announcement:

Aer Lingus to share flights with Ethiad Airways in new commercial agreement - Irish, Business - Independent.ie

To take effect from Q3 2012. (can I assume this means from Oct?)

Aer Lingus will cooperate with Etihad Airways on flights between Abu Dhabi and Dublin and have full access to flights across the network beyond Abu Dhabi, to points including Australia , Asia-Pacific, the Indian Subcontinent and the Middle East.

In addition, Etihad will cooperate with Aer Lingus on services to a total of 18 destinations, including Dublin to New York, Boston, London Heathrow , Amsterdam, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Lisbon.