Aer Lingus Fleet Discusion

billy few mates

It's still here.....

urajoke

Nice for a few months. Bit of a change flying to and from airports you won't see with Aer Lingus, build your experience.

CaptainSkidmark

Any sign of the first 757 being painted yet?

kub

urajoke wrote: »

Nice for a few months. Bit of a change flying to and from airports you won't see with Aer Lingus, build your experience.

It will indeed must keep an eye on the likes of airliners.net etc to see some EI planes in warmer places on this planet.

calibratedtool

CaptainSkidmark wrote: »

Any sign of the first 757 being painted yet?

Any day now

merisi

There are some pictures on Flickr: some of the patchy paintwork has been primed. She's registered EI-LBR.

http://flic.kr/p/i6Wx2S

Katunga

I believe the 757 is in the painting hangar now

Dacian

merisi wrote: »

There are some pictures on Flickr....She's registered EI-LBR.

Any day now then

NewSigGuy

Interesting comments from EI's CEO RE: the A350...

http://www.aviationbrief.com/?p=3124

LoonyLovegood

That's a two year old article though. Plus with the announced SF route it'll be handy. I could see them opening more West Coast routes with it, perhaps LAX?

NewSigGuy

CTYIgirl wrote: »

That's a two year old article though. Plus with the announced SF route it'll be handy. I could see them opening more West Coast routes with it, perhaps LAX?

Some more up to date comments, from an industry event last week:
Müller: we have 9 firm A350 orders, but aircraft is a bit overspecced for us. We were tempted to retain A330HGW instead, but: 1/2

Müller: since A350-900 REGIONAL became available, these fit us - we felt much more comfortable, so we will take 9 of these and go all-A350.

Sounds like a positive plan for EI Longhaul!

orionm_73

Just wondering if the A350 Regional will be able to do west coast from Dublin?

b757

orionm_73 wrote: »

Just wondering if the A350 Regional will be able to do west coast from Dublin?

Yes.

DUB-SFO = ~ 4450nm
A359R range = ~ 6800nm

weisses

b757 wrote: »

Yes.

DUB-SFO = ~ 4450nm
A359R range = ~ 6800nm

Ahh sheit Almost enough to reach Hawaii

Mister R

I always wondered if Houston or Dallas would be a possibility, Texas has quite a large Irish community and United have a hub in Houston for connections and the like. Also both are big cities in US terms anyway.

If they will have these A350s they must have some more LH plans in mind?

zone 1

are AL sorry they committed to the A350 and not ordered more A330 instead. i mean A350 900 REGIONAL. you either want a bigger max or you dont.

IRLConor

zone 1 wrote: »

are AL sorry they committed to the A350 and not ordered more A330 instead. i mean A350 900 REGIONAL. you either want a bigger max or you dont.

The A350-900 Regional looks like it'll have a range just short of the A330-200 with more passenger capacity than the A330-300 and a lower fuel burn than either of them. Surely that fits nicely into EI's plans for the future?

Flying from Dublin, I'm not sure what airports would be reachable by the -900 but not by the -900R where there'd also be demand for the route.

zone 1

IRLConor wrote: »

The A350-900 Regional looks like it'll have a range just short of the A330-200 with more passenger capacity than the A330-300 and a lower fuel burn than either of them. Surely that fits nicely into EI's plans for the future?

Flying from Dublin, I'm not sure what airports would be reachable by the -900 but not by the -900R where there'd also be demand for the route.

but it limits were you fly to.. its the 900r AL are buying

IRLConor

zone 1 wrote: »

but it limits were you fly to.. its the 900r AL are buying

Which airports can you fly to from DUB with a -900 that you can't fly to with a -900R? (That people in Ireland will actually want to travel to in large numbers.)

MICKEYG

With 9 A350's will we see some new routes (there are 7 A330's now)? Maybe SFO going daily if it performs well. Would love a route to either Miami or Houston which would make getting to the carribean, south and central america much easier. Houston with united is the logical one but would they try and team up with american in miami? Maybe jet blue in their expanding hub in fort Lauderdale.

Dacian

zone 1 wrote: »

are AL sorry they committed to the A350 and not ordered more A330 instead. i mean A350 900 REGIONAL. you either want a bigger max or you dont.

I think 'sorry' is an overstatement. Originally (circa 2-3 years ago) the EI CEO stated that "the A350 is over-specified for the Aer Lingus route network". While this is/was true he did not state that he didn't want the aircraft. After all the only widebody aircraft in the pipeline at that time were the B787 or A350. He hinted then that they would possibly operate the A350 in tandem with the A330. Even with the unrequired range capability the reduced fuel burn would still make the A350 more desirable than more A330's.

Over the last week he has stated that the A359R is a very good fit for EI and that he could see them going all A359R. And with their recent passengers statistics EI need a larger aircraft then the A330 to carry all that transfer traffic from their shorthaul network. The A350R will offer better fuel burn network wide.

Keep in mind that EI haven't officially signed up for the Regional version. As of today they are still in line for A359 deliveries from 2016. (4 in 2016 and 2 in 2017, 3 more after 2017) They may or may not keep their delivery slots. It depends on how quickly Airbus get the Regional version speced up. (It uses a derated engine but I am not sure if they are any fuselage mods?) I am assuming that Airbus will have no problem using the same construction line for both versions, in that same way that the A340/A330 line operated. So with this in mind EI should be able to keep their current slots.

As for new destinations, I agree with IRLConnor, any high probability new routes are covered by the A350R from DUB. DUB-SYD (to use a oft mentioned route) may seem like a possibility but in reality such a route may not be profitable for any airline regardless of aircraft capability. Looking at EI it would be more efficient for them to operate DUB-AUH and allow their pax to transfer to an AUH-SYD flight with Ethiad.

Here's an A359 landing at TLS last 2 weeks ago:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aircrafts/10997849256/

IRLConor

Dacian wrote: »

It depends on how quickly Airbus get the Regional version speced up. (It uses a derated engine but I am not sure if they are any fuselage mods?)

From everything I've read it's a software-and-paperwork change. There's no hardware differences at all as far as I can tell.

It's been mentioned in a few places that if you have a -900R and you want a -900 you call up Airbus and pay them the difference in price and they'll patch the software and certify the aircraft as a -900.

Dacian wrote: »

As for new destinations, I agree with IRLConnor, any high probability new routes are covered by the A350R from DUB. DUB-SYD (to use a oft mentioned route) may seem like a possibility but in reality such a route may not be profitable for any airline regardless of aircraft capability. Looking at EI it would be more efficient for them to operate DUB-AUH and allow their pax to transfer to an AUH-SYD flight with Ethiad.

I agree. I can't see Aer Lingus doing a two-hop long haul flight any time soon. The crewing alone would be a nightmare, no? I also imagine that an aircraft breaking down on the far side of the world would cause mayhem in a fleet the size of EIs.

Strumms

I was on EI-DEM this evening and it had either come back from a heavy check, cabin upgrade or both. The aircraft looked in great shape interior wise which I have noticed is lacking as regards some of the older short haul fleet including the newer ex-Iberia birds... They even had newer seats of a lighter blue with a kind of pattern. Could have been reupholstered but they seemed super comfy and new either way. Nice if they were upgrading the cabins a little anyone in the know ?

CaptainSkidmark

still no sign of the 757 in EI Colours

Aestivalis

CaptainSkidmark wrote: »

still no sign of the 757 in EI Colours

Do they even have the 757 yet?

L1011

EI-LBR and EI-LBS are in Shannon as far as I know, with EI-LBT to arrive shortly - its still in use by Finnair.

There's a photo of 'R with its nose in the Eirtech hangar, likely having cabin fitout work done.

Razor44

im assuming we should be seeing the 757's any day now?

Tenger

Razor44 wrote: »

im assuming we should be seeing the 757's any day now?

Not sure whats going on. Last month the EI website showed flights starting on Jan 20th. (7 flights a week ending Jan 6th, 12 flights a week from 20th)
Just looked there now. B757's starting on March 30th!!!!

http://www.aerlingus.com/cgi-bin/obel01im1/bookonline/timeTables.do

EDIT: EI must be meddled with their timetable on the site. Previously showed 20 Jan, currently shows 30 March. However can see availability when I did a dummy booking on Feb 1st.

Jamie2k9

Tenger wrote: »

Not sure whats going on. Last month the EI website showed flights starting on Jan 20th. (7 flights a week ending Jan 6th, 12 flights a week from 20th)
Just looked there now. B757's starting on March 30th!!!!

http://www.aerlingus.com/cgi-bin/obel01im1/bookonline/timeTables.do

Flights with B757 start on 27/1/14.

LXFlyer

Boston is showing as starting on Jan 27th, with New York in March.