Ryanair and Aer Lingus to merge???

highlydebased

Public Service Obligative. Basically a subsidised service which might not otherwise make profit/operate at all

chickenhawk

Anyone see O leary on the late late? Came across brilliantly. I hope this merger goes ahead. More jobs and especially transatlantic!

Foggy43

Yes, I did see him on the Late Late. A very good performance!
He is right when he says Aer Lingus is the airline nobody wants.

opa01_2000

I thought wee Mick seemed to be getting more and more desperate to buy EI - making more and more promises as the days go by. Is there something we don't know?

I, for one, would be desperately unhappy if it went ahead. I have encountered the FR 'service' on numerous occasions - I work regularly in England and it's not pretty.

And for the prices - I was booking 4 return flights to London recently for January, leaving Monday morning and returning Friday evening, and I checked the prices for FR from Derry to Stansted against EI from Belfast to Heathrow. The total costs for FR was £342.49 including one bag and from EI £374.88 again including 1 bag. So a difference of £32.39 for 8 flights and in terms of service a difference of day and night.

I spent 6 months travelling from Derry to Stansted on FR last year and was on time returning on a Friday evening once in that whole time (a fanfare was played over the speakers when we arrived). The price averaged around £120 per week usually booked 6 weeks in advance. This year I've had EI from Belfast to Heathrow for 10 months and had 2 delays (both outside of EI's control). The average price was around £90 again booked 6 weeks in advance.

I realise others will have different experiences but I can only tell mine and believe it would not be good for consumers if there is little competition on these routes.

Ckal

I have a question. If this merger were to go ahead, what does that mean exactly? Would all Aer Lingus planes and slots be re-branded as Ryanair?

I don't understand how Airline mergers work. Sorry.

View Profile

No, as far as I know the Aer Lingus brand name, colour scheme, uniforms etc would all remain.

Ckal

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No, as far as I know the Aer Lingus brand name, colour scheme, uniforms etc would all remain.

Okay, thanks.

Tenger

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No, as far as I know the Aer Lingus brand name, colour scheme, uniforms etc would all remain.

Thats what MoL is saying but you have to take that with a pinch of salt............it would be very easier to turn around in 2-3 years and state that EI are no longer viable as a shorthaul carrier and only use the EI brand on longhaul.

FR have created a company called Coinside to buy EI shares,originally so they could do so covertly. The plan would be for FR and EI to be seperate companies under the umbrella of (for example) 'Irish Airlines Inc'. Thus MoL could state truthfully that they are two seperate airlines.

However what happens to the "legally binding guarantees" if Coinside is declared bankrupt and is liquidated?"




The interview with Mick in the Sindo was fun to read: He twists a lot of facts to make EI look to be worse than it is.

cutting flights

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EI always cut flights at this time,its called changing to the winter schedule. FR have cut more routes but haven't announced this.
cutting capacity

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EI deferred delivery of an aircraft next year,so its a temprary capacity cut from 10 to 9 aircraft. FR are grounding planes this winter,EI aren't.
high fares

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He quotes 2007 fares which are 6% higher than the 2008 fares.
FR will return to the LAX route

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EI have already booked the crew accomodation in LA from next March 28th.
FR will reinstate SNN-LHR

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EI will look at launching European services from SNN once the negotiate a new landing charges contract. Currently FR pay EUR1 per pax,the EI contract means they pay EUR10 per pax.
EI shares have plummeted to EUR1 ----FR shares have similarly dropped by 60%.
EI are contracting..........they have no expansion plans

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new A330 and A350 on order.Longer range means more options.Plan is to double the longhaul flight by 2014. While nowhere near the scale of the FR deliveries(15 B737 next year) it is still expansion!
loss making airline

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in the 10 years 1998-2007 EI make a profit 8 years.

opa01_2000

The Irish Examiner reports that Ryanair is anxious to acquire Aer Lingus because its brand is flagging across Europe.

This is according to the chief executive of Aer Lingus, Dermot Mannion, who said the Aer Lingus brand would be damaged with an association with Ryanair.

Mr Mannion also said he will keep Aer Lingus independent and plans to present a defence strategy against Ryanair’s all-cash bid of €1.40 a share.

He also cast doubt on Ryanair’s plans to restore the Shannon/Heathrow link, saying Ryanair announced it would be cutting routes at Shannon by 75% when the Government introduced the €10 air tax in the budget.

I think this is the reason wee Mick appears so desperate to secure EI. He sees that FR is on a downturn, not just because of the credit crunch but because people are fed up with being ripped off so he's got to find some other way to expand.

As for the myth that FR is cheaper I need to be in London on 30th December, single flight, no bags so I had a look at all options available. Don't really want to go to Stansted as it's too far from where I need to be but I've included it as I don't want to dismiss any alternatives.

From To With? Time Cost
Derry Stansted FR 8.50 - 10.10 £69.33
Derry Luton FR 15.30 - 16.50 £149.33
Belfast City Stansted FR 6.30 - 7.45 £64.55
Belfast City Stansted FR 15.10 - 16.25 £78.55
Knock Stansted FR No flight avail
Knock Luton FR 11.30 - 12.50 € 85.17
Belfast City Heathrow BMI 11.10 - 12.35 £108
Dublin Heathrow BMI 11.10 - 12.35 € 265
Belfast Intl Heathrow EI 12.50 - 2.15 £74.98
Dublin Heathrow EI Lots of choice € 78.98

I have added £4 and €5 for visa charges for FR as I can use Switch with EI and don't need to pay this charge.

So anybody can see the myth of cheap flights just doesn't stand up...

jmayo

Looking at this dispassionately, the only concern I would have of FR taking EI would be that loss of competition on flights out of Ireland.
Apart from that I couldn't give a toss if all the spongers in EI, who have sponged off the Irish taxpayer for donkeys of years, got their marching orders.

But what I would like to know is what assets and positives, apart from LHR slots and possibly operating out of airports with US immigration, have EI got that would make them really attractive to foreign buyers ?
Ps saying EI are know as a friendly airline with good reputation doesn't wash.

Davidth88

JMayo

You know what, you have hit the nail on the head. If Aer Lingus went BANG and changed to Acme Airlines , with the same coverage I wouldn't care less.

Reading the stuff from MOL ( and others ) in the Sindo last weekend was interesting ( although obviously you have to take some bias out ).

I was shocked ( but not surprised ) by the number of political appointees on the board of EI, as MOL said he would take them out and shoot them , but I would wonder what these guys know about running an airline.

I don't think EI have any real ' unique selling point ' , they used to be the friendly/full service airline, but with some of the odd things they do now ( like making you pay for bags ) they have lost that . Their tranatlantic offering is poor to be honest , half the fleet have no IFE to speak of , the service has dropped to US levels ( ie poor ), the only HUGE advantage they have is the INS in Dublin and the INS/Customs in Shannon.

Now saying that I always fly EI , because 90% of my flights are short notice / business / need to connect , EI are the only airline in that case ( FR are hugely expensive if you book 1-2days before the flight and they typicially don't go to airports where you can travel onwards to anywhere ) my main destinations are LHR/LGW/AMS/CDG/FCO/JFK

CDfm

I think its great.

It should unregulate the routes and see lots competition coming in if Aer Rianta handles it correctly.

Alicano

Bramble-Where do u get your info on lax return for ei?
Its my understanding that the lax route is dead in the water just like dxb.
The sfo route is a far better seller than lax.

ian_m

I think it's only a matter of time before it happens. Both of their business plans are virtually mirrored anyway. Having said that I wouldn't like to see it go ahead.