anyone got any pics of the EI retro jet at BFS yesterday. It routed DUB-BCN-BFS-LHR-BFS-LHR-SNN and is now doing the SNN-LHR rotation today and possibly tomorrow. think its the first its been to BFS

I thought it visited Belfast within a day or two of delivery

not that i was aware of, i might have, not saying your wrong, jus never seen any photos of it,

Random minor EI rant based on six flights with them in the last three weeks;

Can we please dispense with the PA announcement just prior to touch down asking for one final check that your seat belt is fastened? The crew have checked it just moments before. It isn't going to magically open itself in the intervening sixty seconds. If a SLF has opened it in violation of all previous instructions the extra announcement isn't going to make them close it again...

I mean do you have anything good to talk about? you would be suprised at the amout of pax who stand up on final approach and are requested to sit down or during taxi, i couldnt give a flying f*ck how many times they say it as you have bear in mind its for each persons individual safety, have to say when people complain about someone (or company) trying to look out for their safety it really does drive me mad :mad:

No need to get personal. I travel very regularly as a SLF on a wide variety of airlines. EI is the only airline that feels the need to make this specific reminder, and as I mentioned the very people it is aimed at are the ones who are least likely to pay attention to it.

On an early morning flight with LH earlier this summer the only PA other than the safety demo was three terse words; "boarding is completed". If it works for the Germans, then why not the Irish?

If I'm reading your post correctly, can I assume that you'd be quite happy to spend a flight (lets call it a long haul one) with the safety demo playing on loop? It would be, after all, for passenger safety.

Write to Aer Lingus and vent to them...this is hardly the correct forum.

Noxegen,

You have little to worry about if you feel the need to come on here and vent your feelings about a PA. I am a regular SLF, yet I will still put down the paper, or book and pay attention to the safety briefing for the 2 minutes that it takes, and yes, just like crew, I see people get up and during taxiing, take off and landing. The most recently prime example is one french actor who thought it was ok to go to the toilet. Safety PA's are their for a reason, next time dont fly Aer Lingus and take Lufthansa instead! :mad::mad::mad::mad:

It would appear that I'm in a minority of one on this.

Apologies for the thread creep. I'll go back into my corner now.

14.2million pre tax loss for half year. higher because of cabin crew dispute.

Strong recovery in second quarter when they made a pre tax profit of 42.2million.

Airline expected to make a profit for 2011 with strong bookings for the rest of the year.

Aer Lingus upbeat despite first-half loss - RT News

12 million profit by cancelling out hedging for purchase of new aircraft is part of the profit shown in Q2.

Still tough times ahead of them but better than it was.

The UK's Office of Fair Trading are to resume their investigation into Ryanair's stake in Aer Lingus:

UK resumes probe into Ryanair's Aer Lingus stake - European, Business - Independent.ie

I still don't understand why the UK's OFT is wasting their country's taxpayers money investigating this when the UK has absolutely no say on whether Ryanair can have a stake in, or take over, Aer Lingus. The only people who can prevent this are the Irish government and the European Commission.

Because it potentially could negatively impact on competition on UK-Ireland routes.

JAS

How could Ryanair having a 30% stake in Aer Lingus have any impact on that? They don't even have someone on the Aer Lingus board. Not to mention the fact that the European Commission have already investigated this and ruled that Ryanair can hold their stake in Aer Lingus.

This is just grandstanding on the part of the UK's OFT who again have no say on whether or not Ryanair can hold a stake in Aer Lingus, or even take them over.

The UK OFT have no say whatsoever in the EI / FR debate ?
You must be joking !
I just love the way Ryanair supporters on this website consider their
far flung opinions as fact !
Are you sure ?
Really sure 'bout that ?
Perhaps you would like to call Mr. Fingleton, the head of the UK OFT,
and tell him he has no power in this regard ?
A reputable Irish newspaper published an article on this during the past
year, among which is the forced sale by FR of it's stake !!
So, dublinaviator, you are wrong.
Completely wrong.
Just because FR want something to be, does'nt mean it has to be.
If, and it may be if, you are a pilot, I think you have a nasty case of
expectation bias.
Let the OFT decide.
I think FR are worried about this, and their stranglehold on EI may be
about to be broken.
Time will tell.

That Ryanair don't have anyone on the Aer Lingus board is irrelevant. Large capital purchases have to be approved by the shareholders. So, let's say Aer Lingus wanted to buy 15 Embraer 195s so offer more frequent service to UK airports than can work in an A320, Ryanair could block the purchase. It's not like they control Aer Lingus, but they can significantly influence Aer Lingus's business strategy.

Which has absolutely nothing to do with UK Government as both are Irish companies.

UK Govt would tell French to mind its own business if 2 UK companies had stakes in each other and France wished to declare what the companies should do.

The clowns in UK Govt don't realise they are now setting a precedent that allows other Govts to interfere in UK companies.

As for large capital purchase needing to be approved by shareholders ! Fraid not always the case as that is regarded as day to day management which they can do without shareholder approval.

Perhaps UK Govt should start looking at Easyjet where a large shareholder is directly interfering publicly in the day to day management of the airline including forcing directors out.

Ryanair hasn't had to sell any of its stake in Aer Lingus so I dunno where you're pulling that from.

If you want to talk about facts, the European Court of Justice ruled last year that Ryanair can hold it's stake in Aer Lingus. So not only is the UK OFT wasting their country's taxpayers money investigating something they have no say in, they're also meddling in Irish affairs where they have no jurisdiction, regardless of what a UK court says. Not to mention they're investigating something thats already been ruled on by not just the ECJ but also the European Commission, who have the ultimate say over this.

Racedo->That is the business of the UK government as the UK government is perfectly entitled to take a stand on ownership that could give dominance over the routes from the UK to one of it's most important trading partners.

Between them Ryanair and Aer Lingus account for about 90% of UK-Dublin flights and the percentage is even higher for Irish regional airports.

The only real surprise is that Irish Authorities haven't shown more interest in the control Ryanair can exert over Aer Lingus.

Dublin Aviator:
You are correct the OFT has no teeth it cannot force Ryanair to sell its stake in AerLingus. If it finds however that Ryanair has exerted de facto influence over the company then it can refer the matter to The Competions Authority. They have lots of teeth. Ask the BAA or Ferrovial if they wanted to sell Gatwick Airport. Ryanair has already exerted influence at board level in Aerlingus by blocking Share issues on more than one occasion and blocking possible fleet changes. This was done during each AGM the company has had by Ryanair using its stake to block the special resolutions neccessary to effect these changes.
Ryanair and Aerlingus compete on a number of city pair routes between Ireland and UK. The European Competitions Committe has already found that there would be reduced competition on these routes if a merger was allowed therefore the OFT has a right to probe the matter. This has already been ruled on by the UKs Court of Appeal.
So Mr Fingleton has a lot more power than he would appear. Lets wait and see what happens. Perhaps O'Leary protests too much because he sees the writing on the wall.
Lets hope so!