aer lingus announce 7 new routes

[transatlantic.ei]

aer lingus have announced 7 new european routes.. 6 from dub (riga,fue,salzburg,bdx,krakow almeria) and ork-waw...all begin in october and ops with a320.
also on the grape vine i've heard ei are to lease a former swiss a330-200 for some new long haul flying (dubai?)...has anyone else heard this or can add to it?

[EI-MICK]

good news no doubt,expansion,id love to see transatlantic ex cork

[transatlantic.ei]

id say its only a matter of time....Once the shannon stop over is gone a whole new market will open for up for cork. The cork catchment area is far greater than that of shannon.

[Tom the Tenor]

That will be around the year 2099 then, the dropping of the stopover, and the runways at both Cork and Dublin will be just the same as they are now and the granchildren of the current lot of airport loafers will be in charge and they will still be bowing and grovelling to the mob at snn.

Try the airport way of life, my a@s! All one happy family.

[EI-MICK]

lol,maybe the next government!!! i reckon EI will have most the transatlantic services from DUB and place maybe 2/3 flights a week ex cork and shannon

[840]

Couple of questions.

What are Aer Lingus planning to do with the plane that has been operating to Orlando when the route gets cut?

What transatlantic-capable planes are capable of taking off fully-laden from ORK? 757? A330-200?

[EI-MICK]

A330-200,id say,that should have no probs

[MarkD]

I understand ACN/PCN tests were done at ORK to address the question of whether fully loaded 330s could get out.

330s and 747s have been in Cork before, just not for MTOW excursions.

[akerosid]

Good news if it happens; A330-200s are very hard to obtain now at short notice, so I guess it's a question of getting them wherever possible. Even better, the ex-Swiss aircraft will be equipped with PTVs.

I thought the recent agreement on cost cutting meant that the MCO route is not going to be axed.

As for DXB, I'd be surprised. It seems the only reason for going into DXB would be to keep EK out of Dublin, but even that is unlikely. If they did, would EI last on the route. Would EK want to codeshare with EI? Remember that if the two went head to head, EK would have much better resources to outlast EI, so why save the bother and put the 330 on another route ... CPT, perhaps?

[transatlantic.ei]

as far as im aware, aer lingus and its pilot and cabin crew unions are close to making a deal on a new long haul working agreement. EIs decsion to withdraw from orlando is based on the fact that it is not profitable under the current agreement, however according to press reports talks are at an advanced stage and an out come is expected over the next couple of weeks. thus allowing ei to retain its mco service..........
as for the previous comment about the relivence of dub-dxb service...ireland has strong links with the arab state through business and trade, also over 6,000 irish people live there and countless others holiday there. The new ei cx dermot mannion is a former ek exec, which could mean a link up or codeshare with ek, tapping into the asia and oz market.....anyway proof of a market is evident with gulf airs dec to operate non-stop dub-bah....

[akerosid]

Though this might be of interest: it's a PQ raised in the Dail on the issue of negotiations between Ireland and the US and specifically whether (as has often been suggested) the govt can open negotiations to update the current bilateral, for example to allow flights to ORK or to change the current ratio of flights from DUB to SNN. (Changing this from 1:1 to 2:1 will effectively allow EI three more daily flights ex DUB).

However, the govt has been extremely silent about this and will not say whether negotiations are ongoing with the US or have even been started.

The problem for EI is that if the govt chooses to do nothing and wait for the EU to do a deal with the US, that's a very difficult timescale to work with. It could happen later this year or in two years' time and of course, it's very difficult to plan a new fleet with so little certainty. This may well be why it's looking to CPT and perhaps more charter flights like MCO, particularly if the cost structure is sorted out.

Here's the question anyway:

*To ask the Minister for Transport if he has considered a challenge to
aviation regulation 847/04 in view of the fact that its effect is to
reinforce competitive disadvantage and could be considered contrary to EU
law.
- Olivia Mitchell.

* For WRITTEN answer on Tuesday, 14th June, 2005.

Answered by the Minister for Transport
(Martin Cullen)

REPLY

The aim of Regulation 847/04 is to provide for co-ordination between
individual Member States and the Commission, for occasions when Member
States may wish to amend aspects of their Bilateral agreements with third
countries.

The Commission had recognised that Member States may need to negotiate with
third countries on various aspects of their Bilaterals on issues, such as
market access, which were not the subject of the European Court of Justice
ruling in November 2002. By introducing this Regulation the intention was
to ensure that any such negotiations are done in consultation with the
European Commission, to ensure that the resulting amendments to Bilaterals
are not in conflict with European Law, or with negotiations that the
Commission itself may intend to have with those third countries.

On the assumption that this Regulation is implemented in the spirit in
which it was intended, I do not see any reason to take legal action.