Aer Lingus Fleet/Routes Discussion

kevinandrew

Certainly is... 

https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/8528285

And here it is with EI-GAL in Ostrava back in March. 

https://www.planes.cz/en/photo/1220417/a320-214-ei-gam-aer-lingus-ein-ei-ostrava-osr-lkmt

Interestingly, it looks like 'GAL had quite a lot of work left to do whereas 'GAM appears ready, at least externally in comparison to its sister aircraft.

john boye

kevinandrew wrote: »

Certainly is... 

https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/8528285

And here it is with EI-GAL in Ostrava back in March. 

https://www.planes.cz/en/photo/1220417/a320-214-ei-gam-aer-lingus-ein-ei-ostrava-osr-lkmt

Interestingly, it looks like 'GAL had quite a lot of work left to do whereas 'GAM appears ready, at least externally in comparison to its sister aircraft.

In the first pic, does GAM have a much bigger than normal nose gear door or am I losing it?

TheFitz13

Anyone know when it's due??

kevinandrew

john boye wrote: »

In the first pic, does GAM have a much bigger than normal nose gear door or am I losing it?

The nose gear doors are open, usually only see this when the gear is being retracted/extended on take off/landing or during maintenance.

john boye

kevinandrew wrote: »

The nose gear doors are open, usually only see this when the gear is being retracted/extended on take off/landing or during maintenance.

Ah yes that makes sense now, it looked deceptive on first look.

steokeogh

Anyone tell me what air craft is scheduled to fly EI 129 to Toronto on Friday 19th??

jimbis

While we're asking, can you tell me what aircraft will be bringing me to LA on Monday 22nd? EI145 I think.

goingnowhere

One of DUO/DAA/LAX

colbarr

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Hopefully the poster will not experience any eifng delays with the eifng flight!

Hey, mind your Linguage!

lambayire

jimbis wrote: »

While we're asking, can you tell me what aircraft will be bringing me to LA on Monday 22nd? EI145 I think.

Fire Aer Lingus a tweet.
They were very helpful with an Orlando flight for me last year.

JCX BXC

lambayire wrote: »

Fire Aer Lingus a tweet.
They were very helpful with an Orlando flight for me last year.

Surely they won't tell you what aircraft they will be on?

I doubt the customer service even have access to this information anyway.

lambayire

JCX BXC wrote: »

Surely they won't tell you what aircraft they will be on?

I doubt the customer service even have access to this information anyway.

They surely did. The kids wanted to know which of the 330's they were going to Orlando on. I sent Aer Lingus a tweet about 10 days ahead and they came back to us telling us that we would be flying on Caoimhe.
Very impressive service!!:)

jimbis

lambayire wrote: »

They surely did. The kids wanted to know which of the 330's they were going to Orlando on. I sent Aer Lingus a tweet about 10 days ahead and they came back to us telling us that we would be flying on Caoimhe.
Very impressive service!!:)

They actually got back to me the other day on Twitter regarding my fear of flying (yes I'm a regular here but still don't like flying) saying their staff will do their upmost to look after me when on board.
I think a bump up to business class would help

TheFitz13

Wonder when we will hear about the EI A350 order. I really hope they get them. I think they could work well in EI's fleet.

Cloudio9

TheFitz13 wrote: »

Wonder when we will hear about the EI A350 order. I really hope they get them. I think they could work well in EI's fleet.

No one here seems to think it's happening.

Probably just makes everything a lot simpler and more efficient for a small airline to have one wide body and one narrow body.

zone 1

A350 order is gone thats the talk.. A330 is the way forward for AL maybe 330NEO

Tallseabird

I'm flying to Orlando in September and I thought I was going to be on an A330-300 but all the flights seem to A330-200's at the minute. Is it simply an A330 and they decide which version when they know the final loads?

Cloudio9

Tallseabird wrote: »

I'm flying to Orlando in September and I thought I was going to be on an A330-300 but all the flights seem to A330-200's at the minute. Is it simply an A330 and they decide which version when they know the final loads?

No it rarely changes. The larger business class cabin on the 300 is probably wasted on Orlando

kevinandrew

I'd say the order A350 will never really be gone until someone officially says so. With IAG's buying power and existing order book it'll always be possible that when Aer Lingus appears ready to take on the A350, IAG will allocate it to them. The same can be said for any aircraft currently on IAG's order books, Willie Walsh himself has mentioned A380s as an extreme example. 

The A330neo doesn't appear to be selling as strongly as initially anticipated and progress towards its first flight has been painfully slow, I'm sure orders will pick up as on paper its set to be an excellent aircraft but that doesn't mean its the perfect fit for Aer Lingus. The A330neo offers little to no growth on current A333s, it's the same size so you're literally banking on its improved efficiency to be profitable, not such a big deal when oil remains low.

A larger aircraft like the A350 provides growth and the ability to generate extra revenue through more seats, improved products and even another class cabin. Aer Lingus themselves prior to the IAG take over evaluated the A330neo but decided the A350 still offered a superior cost position over the A330neo even when carrying the same amount of passengers as the A330-200, this was with in service data for the A350 available to Aer Lingus. 



The A330neo would be a good aircraft if Aer Lingus saw little growth on core routes in the future, this is how Hawaiian settled for the aircraft, they originally ordered the A350-800 due to its smaller size but it was too heavy for an aircraft that carried less passengers, Airbus quietly discontinued it and HA opted for the A330neo. Aer Lingus has always had the A350-900 on order, they wanted the increased size and as recently as a 2 years ago still saw it as a better option than the A330neo. 



It's now up to IAG if and when Aer Lingus get the A350, management have to prove there's a business case for it so IAG can commit to the investment and I expected within 3-5 years the long haul network will have matured enough to provide that business case.

HTCOne

Okay, when EI first took the A330, they had 4, correct?

Then they leased in a MD-11 or L1011 for high summer, serving BOS, JFK, EWR + ORD, am I right so far? This equals 4-5 long haul aircraft depending on season.

At the end of this year, they'll have 11 A330s (EI-EWR returning to lessor I believe) plus 4 leased B752 equals 15 long haul aircraft.

2 more A333s next year I've heard?

Then 7 A321LRs replacing 4 B752s

Oil is expected to stay low for 2 reasons: 1) Fracking in North America making the US a net exporter for the first time since the 70s
2) The huge advances and subsidies for electric cars like that new affordable tesla.

As a result of low oil price, it's cheaper now for airlines to buy/lease A330CEOs, B767s, B777s than financing A350s or 787s.

The magic word is "yield". You get better yield from business and frequent travellers, who prefer frequency to make the most of their time. So for example 2 x daily A330s to JFK carry the cargo and the VFR pax + 2 x A321LR to carry the high yield pax at unusual times makes good sense.

Hubs are about frequency as much as capacity.

Ireland itself is a very seasonal market, build the hub and the A359 makes sense for EI, unti then it's too much aircraft in my opinion.

HTCOne

I see a Titan 757 on the EWR flight today, did a 330 go bang? EI-GAJ is ready for delivery since yesterday no?

Bussywussy

There's one got damaged by equipment in JFK,GAJ will be due to arrive tomorrow night or weds

alancostello

EI-GAJ arrived last night ferried in from Toulouse

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ei991#d7cbbb9

A319er

In service today EI 109

MICKEYG

A319er wrote: »

In service today EI 109

Only 6 of the 333's in service today. Will they be keeping one as a spare each day over the summer?

alancostello

MICKEYG wrote: »

Only 6 of the 333's in service today. Will they be keeping one as a spare each day over the summer?

EI-FNG is gone to Bordeaux for maintenance after an issue in New York, might explain it?

A319er

FNG out of service for a few weeks so ad hoc hire ins will occur
Damaged in JFK 20 May went to Airbus for some major repairs yesterday

!

MICKEYG

Shame. Were all 7 due to fly today?
Maybe EI-GAJ entering service early?

Asking as wondering was a frequency increase planned with new plane?

I assume another frame is needed for Miami in September,

Tenger

MICKEYG wrote: »

Shame. Were all 7 due to fly today?
Maybe EI-GAJ entering service early?

Asking as wondering was a frequency increase planned with new plane?

I assume another frame is needed for Miami in September,

I was looking at this a while back, looking at the schedule from May 26th on aer lingus site.
Double daily to JFK,BOS and ORD. Daily to SFO, EWR, YYZ and LAX. So thats 10 aircraft already, MCO has gone to 4 a week.
Looks to me like a 'spare' aircraft 3 days a week.
But the fact that you cant operate Dublin to West Coast in 24 hours means you might have a cycle of maybe 4 aircraft doing a pattern SFO/MCO/LAX/EWR/SFO etc etc to keep them covered. Perhaps the A332's are doing something like that?
B757 meanwhile are operating SNN-JFK/BOS and DUB-BDL/IAD.
Busy Summer for EI.

Schedule on website shows a drop in frequency past Sept on some routes, must be to fit in the DUB-MIA route,or just normal post peak demand reduction. No idea when the next A330 is arriving.

Bussywussy

you need downtime for maintenance.A checks etc etc..and GAJ will operate west coast ops as its HGW and fitted with crew rests

Jamie2k9

Notice the new 333 has 313 seats as opposed to 317 on the rest, few less economy seats.

Bussywussy

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Notice the new 333 has 313 seats as opposed to 317 on the rest, few less economy seats.

To allow entry to the underfloor crew rest area around door 3l

PaulKK

Any risk to the early agp runs over the next few weeks on the 330 with FNG out of action?

Specifically chose the early flight because it was the 330.

Jamie2k9

PaulKK wrote: »

Any risk to the early agp runs over the next few weeks on the 330 with FNG out of action?

Specifically chose the early flight because it was the 330.

No, way to late to cancel that now. Shouldn't be a problem.

joeysoap

A319er wrote: »

FNG out of service for a few weeks so ad hoc hire ins will occur
Damaged in JFK 20 May went to Airbus for some major repairs yesterday

!

Out of curiosity, if it's damaged enough to require a few weeks repairs, how did AL get it home from NY? Were passengers on board or empty?

billy few mates

joeysoap wrote: »

Out of curiosity, if it's damaged enough to require a few weeks repairs, how did AL get it home from NY? Were passengers on board or empty?

And what happened it...?

joeysoap

Bussywussy wrote: »

There's one got damaged by equipment in JFK,GAJ will be due to arrive tomorrow night or weds

alancostello wrote: »

EI-FNG is gone to Bordeaux for maintenance after an issue in New York, might explain it?

A319er wrote: »

FNG out of service for a few weeks so ad hoc hire ins will occur
Damaged in JFK 20 May went to Airbus for some major repairs yesterday

!

I don't know. Would AL have insurance for the loss of aircraft/damage repairs?

I saw a few years ago a bird strike hit a RY aircraft in Rome and it had to written off. Assume insurance covered this?

There's a lot more to running an airline than selling a few tickets.

Cloudio9

joeysoap wrote: »

I don't know. Would AL have insurance for the loss of aircraft/damage repairs?

Of course they do but in this case I imagine the insurance of whoever operates the ground equipment is covering the costs.

Bussywussy

Cloudio9 wrote: »

Of course they do but in this case I imagine the insurance of whoever operates the ground equipment is covering the costs.

only covers up-to a certain amount...which will definitely cost the airline more in lost revenue etc

Tenger

joeysoap wrote: »

Out of curiosity, if it's damaged enough to require a few weeks repairs, how did AL get it home from NY? Were passengers on board or empty?

I saw it posted as JFK-BOD with flight number of EI991 or similar. EI use fight numbets like this for empty flights. Might have just had cabin crew in addition to pilots.

Obviously aircraft was fine to fly but damage affected carriage of revenue passengers somehow.

goingnowhere

joeysoap wrote: »

Out of curiosity, if it's damaged enough to require a few weeks repairs, how did AL get it home from NY? Were passengers on board or empty?

Damage may result in aircraft not meeting ETOPS, or MEL saying cannot fly with passengers

Say someone clipped the winglet, its legal to remove the winglet and fly but could take some serious engineering to fix the mounting

Cloudio9

Bussywussy wrote: »

only covers up-to a certain amount...which will definitely cost the airline more in lost revenue etc

Source?

A319er

FNG was hit hard by JetBlue ramp equipment, baggage belt Loader
Impact was hard enough to cause severe internal structural damage to strut inside bulk cargo door, result aircraft routed JFK DUB nil pax limit 18000 ft
Then onwards to France, repairs will involve strip down and re build fuselage from L2 R2 to rear doors, major work involved and Only Airbus certified to carry this work out .

Bussywussy

Cloudio9 wrote: »

Source?

there's a certain limit of cover of insurance from contracted ramp agents..I know for this from a past incident...

Cloudio9

Bussywussy wrote: »

there's a certain limit of cover of insurance from contracted ramp agents..I know for this from a past incident...

Just because your insurance has a limit doesnt mean your liability is capped unless there's some agreement limiting liability.

goingnowhere

Oh dear, I'd imagine if it was LAX that got whacked it might not be fixed, FNG is less than a year old so no brainer to fix

Tenger

I thought it was routed JFK-BOD. Was pretty sure I saw a screen shoot from FR24 posted on facebook. Could well be wrong.

That repair sounds pretty nasty. Hefty bill handed over to JetBlue I think?

marno21

Tenger wrote: »

I thought it was routed JFK-BOD. Was pretty sure I saw a screen shoot from FR24 posted on facebook. Could well be wrong.

That repair sounds pretty nasty. Hefty bill handed over to JetBlue I think?

Went JFK-DUB and then DUB-BOD.

https://www.flightradar24.com/reg/ei-fng

Captain_Crash

goingnowhere wrote: »

Say someone clipped the winglet, its legal to remove the winglet and fly but could take some serious engineering to fix the mounting

This happened a few years ago in ORD, engineers just took the winglet off and put it in the hold and flew the aircraft back as normal. I have photos of it on my PC at home, however considering the contents, its not prudent of me to post them online.

I don't know if the passengers were kept on the flight. I pretty sure you cant take off with a missing winglet with passengers, but if one falls off in flight its ok to continue. Maybe someone else can confirm.

goingnowhere

Apparently its legal to fly

Fuel + performance penalty