Goodbye Aer Lingus

Kermit.de.frog

Looks like Willie Walsh has finally got his target.

Aer Lingus is set to accept IAG's latest takeover offer

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/transport-and-tourism/aer-lingus-set-to-accept-iag-takeover-bid-reports-1.2078736

On the one hand this is a bit sad because I think most Irish people have a very high regard for Aer Lingus as the national carrier but ultimately it's the right thing to do. I hope they keep the airline's identity, keep it Ireland based and use the extra largesse to create a lot more routes from Ireland.

As long as they don't replace the shamrock on the tail with a union jack I think people can live with it:pac:

Kevin McCloud

Thanks for that and now the weather.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

We have not had a "national carrier" for years. That entity disappeared on privatisation. Just another airline now.

Due to get wetter I think.

connundrum

Supposed to hit 12 degrees tomorrow though. Winter me hoop!

chrysagon

and what about the staff?

WoollyRedHat

connundrum wrote: »

Supposed to hit 12 degrees tomorrow though. Winter me hoop!

Bring out the sunbeds and the fake tan!

swimming in a sea

I wonder will they rejoin the one world alliance, so I can have more options for my frequent flyer points or s*it I hope they don't cancel the loyalty program...better spend my points quick.

Are loyalty programs of taken over companies always honored by the takeover company I wonder?

Kermit.de.frog

connundrum wrote: »

Supposed to hit 12 degrees tomorrow though. Winter me hoop!

Ellis Purple Coriander wrote: »

We have not had a "national carrier" for years. That entity disappeared on privatisation. Just another airline now.

Due to get wetter I think.

Kevin McCloud wrote: »

Thanks for that and now the weather.

WoollyRedHat wrote: »

Bring out the sunbeds and the fake tan!

Weather forum

---

>>>>>>>>:cool: (you are more likely to be dressed like an eskimo later next week than a sun seeking holiday maker incidentally ):pac:


Of course it's not a national carrier anymore but it's still important to Ireland and the economy. My worry is the government wouldn't mind the extra dosh for the next election and a long with Ryanair might accept an offer that is bad for Aer Lingus and ultimately Irish aviation in the long run. Aer Lingus has to join a bigger group - just make sure it's on the right terms.

corner of hells

chrysagon wrote: »

and what about the staff?

All to have their contracts broken , made or asked to sign New contracts , large scale recruitment on contract , New pilots to be trained ,parachutes to be purchased, lots of new elastic bands to be purchased, future plans to have a combined civil and defence airline .......I'm making this all up.

oppenheimer1

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Weather forum

---

>>>>>>>>:cool: (you are more likely to be dressed like an eskimo later next week than a sun seeking holiday maker incidentally ):pac:


Of course it's not a national carrier anymore but it's still important to Ireland and the economy. My worry is the government wouldn't mind the extra dosh for the next election and a long with Ryanair might accept an offer that is bad for Aer Lingus and ultimately Irish aviation in the long run. Aer Lingus has to join a bigger group - just make sure it's on the right terms.

The fear would be that any takeover would be detrimental to the Irish economy since it could potentially make Ireland harder to access. The Heathrow slots are the jewel in the crown of Aer Lingus and this is the main reason IAG want to buy it.

The major risk is that IAG would use the Heathrow slots on its larger more profitable routes, with Ireland ultimately being relegated to using London's other airports. This would have connectivity implications for the Irish economy as like it or not, Heathrow is still probably Irelands largest transfer airport.

It would be disappointing to see it sold on a more emotional level too. I've always had the feeling of being "home" once I boarded an Aer Lingus flight.

Robsweezie

more of a cunni fan myself

Jakey Rolling

swimming in a sea wrote: »

I wonder will they rejoin the one world alliance, so I can have more options for my frequent flyer points or s*it I hope they don't cancel the loyalty program...better spend my points quick.

Are loyalty programs of taken over companies always honored by the takeover company I wonder?

Good news for me - myself and the wife have loads of BA points, have been holding off on using them but can now hopefully use them for DUB-JFK on Aer Lingus.

Yamanoto

Jakey Rolling wrote: »

Good news for me - myself and the wife have loads of BA points, have been holding off on using them but can now hopefully use them for DUB-JFK on Aer Lingus.

You're already able to redeem Avios on EI - it actually makes real sense to do so, as you avoid the prohibitive surcharges BA load onto reward tickets on their own metal. The DUB - BOS route for a Business Class reward is considered one of the best mileage redemptions out there - using just 50,000 Avios + €100 or so.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/aer-lingus-gold-circle-club/1508856-bos-dub-dub-bos-using-avios.html

metrosity

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Looks like Willie Walsh has finally got his target.

Aer Lingus is set to accept IAG's latest takeover offer

..

On the one hand this is a bit sad because I think most Irish people have a very high regard for Aer Lingus as the national carrier but ultimately it's the right thing to do. I hope they keep the airline's identity, keep it Ireland based and use the extra largesse to create a lot more routes from Ireland.

As long as they don't replace the shamrock on the tail with a union jack I think people can live with it:pac:

from the Irish Times:

"EVMcFinnity
The government turned down an offer of €2.80 per share from Ryanair when the airline was in rag order. Now operating efficiently and the pension problem solved, it will now be getting less from IAG (really British Airways). The Heathrow slots will at last be surrendered. Unlike Bertie and the protection bosses who shot him down and bankrupted the country, O'Leary is a patriotic Irishman."

This!

oppenheimer1

metrosity wrote: »

from the Irish Times:

"EVMcFinnity
The government turned down an offer of €2.80 per share from Ryanair when the airline was in rag order. Now operating efficiently and the pension problem solved, it will now be getting less from IAG (really British Airways). The Heathrow slots will at last be surrendered. Unlike Bertie and the protection bosses who shot him down and bankrupted the country, O'Leary is a patriotic Irishman."

This!

The Ryanair bid, if it had been successful, would have been detrimental to competition.

SEPT 23 1989

British Airways now owns Aer Lingus

never thought i would see the day

dimsumss

will Europe allow it

Bigcheeze

Yamanoto wrote: »

You're already able to redeem Avios on EI - it actually makes real sense to do so, as you avoid the prohibitive surcharges BA load onto reward tickets on their own metal. The DUB - BOS route for a Business Class reward is considered one of the best mileage redemptions out there - using just 50,000 Avios + €100 or so.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/aer-lingus-gold-circle-club/1508856-bos-dub-dub-bos-using-avios.html

Yeah Dub-Bos Business class is always half full of Brits.

Bigcheeze

oppenheimer1 wrote: »

The Ryanair bid, if it had been successful, would have been detrimental to competition.

And this doesn't impact competition with ba's seven return flights Per day between DubLin and Heathrow.?

Sheep Shagger

Bigcheeze wrote: »

And this doesn't impact competition with ba's seven return flights Per day between DubLin and Heathrow.?

Loads of competition on other London routes (Gatwick, City, Luton and Southend)

metrosity

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

British Airways now owns Aer Lingus

never thought i would see the day

BA and Iberia to be exact, .. and whoever eventually buys them out.

wretcheddomain

BA bid for Aer Lingus - then why is it in the AH forum, I didn't realise Bargain Alert members had amassed such a fund.

wendell borton

The EU kicked up a stink when ryanaer tried to buy them out, yet they have no problem with BA doing the same.

corner of hells

wendell borton wrote: »

The EU kicked up a stink when ryanaer tried to buy them out, yet they have no problem with BA doing the same.

IAG has way more Spanish subsiderys in it than anything else , in excess of ten or so.

AlanS181824

Keep the Aer Lingus brand and I think everyone'll be happy!

cruais

wendell borton wrote: »

The EU kicked up a stink when ryanaer tried to buy them out, yet they have no problem with BA doing the same.

The reason being, Ireland is a small island. If another irish carrier was allowed purchase Aer Lingus, our airlines Would dwindle from 2 down to one, thus, sky rocketing the price of an airline ticket. Ryanair would have a monopoly as strictly speaking, their would be no competition.

Iag are english branded.

Wompa1

cruais wrote: »

The reason being, Ireland is a small island. If another irish carrier was allowed purchase Aer Lingus, our airlines Would dwindle from 2 down to one, thus, sky rocketing the price of an airline ticket. Ryanair would have a monopoly as strictly speaking, their would be no competition.

Iag are english branded.

Aren't Aer Arann still on the go?

Aside from Irish airlines, there's a few other non-Irish carriers that fly in and out too. Personally, I'd rather see Ryanair get Aer Lingus and make a real go of lowering long haul flights. But then, I haven't liked Aer Lingus for over 10 years

cruais

Wompa1 wrote: »

Aren't Aer Arann still on the go?

Aside from Irish airlines, there's a few other non-Irish carriers that fly in and out too. Personally, I'd rather see Ryanair get Aer Lingus and make a real go of lowering long haul flights. But then, I haven't liked Aer Lingus for over 10 years

Aer Arann are no more. Stobart air are now in existence, under owner of haulier Eddie Stobart. Its very confusing, but, Stobart Air appear to be Aerlingus, as the aircraft is coloured as per Shamrock and the crew wear Aer Lingus uniforms. This is not the case.

Stobart air are limited in destination. Its generally smaller destinations in uk such as Leeds.

Graham

cruais wrote: »

Iag are english branded.

IAG is a British-Spanish multinational airline holding company.

airuser

There is a long way to go.

Just Like Ryanair, the EU and Irish Government will have their say.

Amirani

oppenheimer1 wrote: »

The fear would be that any takeover would be detrimental to the Irish economy since it could potentially make Ireland harder to access. The Heathrow slots are the jewel in the crown of Aer Lingus and this is the main reason IAG want to buy it.

The major risk is that IAG would use the Heathrow slots on its larger more profitable routes, with Ireland ultimately being relegated to using London's other airports. This would have connectivity implications for the Irish economy as like it or not, Heathrow is still probably Irelands largest transfer airport.

BA already use some of their own LHR
slots for DUB flights. This will probably mean less regular LHR connectivity, but not none. The LHR connectivity in general is becoming less important, but I agree, it still is important.

I can't really speak for the regional, airports, but I'd imagine this will hurt them more than DUB.

keeponhurling

Not good.
I flew with BA a few years ago and it was a real pain.

He kept saying "I ain't getting on no plane, fool", and stuff like "pity the fool" every time a passenger got on. A real drama queen.

Think I'll just fly on my own next time

This could be a terrible turn of events! BA fly from Terminal 1. I only fly BA to London as I do like a smoke before my flight from Dublin.
What if they move to Terminal 2. Am stuck with Ryanair. Though they have a better service than Air Lingus, though not to LHR.

keeponhurling

Diego Simeone wrote: »

BA already use some of their own LHR
slots for DUB flights. This will probably mean less regular LHR connectivity, but not none. The LHR connectivity in general is becoming less important, but I agree, it still is important.

I can't really speak for the regional, airports, but I'd imagine this will hurt them more than DUB.

Would it just mean that we'd end up having more flights to Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam and the like, as there is naturally demand to go far flung places ?

Amirani

keeponhurling wrote: »

Would it just mean that we'd end up having more flights to Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam and the like, as there is naturally demand to go far flung places ?

Add in Madrid, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Istanbul and several East Coast US airports to the above. Dublin is very well linked to many regional and global hubs. The UAE ones in particular have really shifted the dynamics on Dublin's connectivity.

Is there anywhere really that LHR provides the only convenient 1-stop service to from Dublin?

browne_rob5

Bigcheeze wrote: »

And this doesn't impact competition with ba's seven return flights Per day between DubLin and Heathrow.?

One thing I dont get about this is if BA are buying Aer Lingus because they could use their Heathrow landing slots on more profitable routes why are they currently using some of their own Heathrow slots for flights to Dublin?

Wompa1

cruais wrote: »

Aer Arann are no more. Stobart air are now in existence, under owner of haulier Eddie Stobart. Its very confusing, but, Stobart Air appear to be Aerlingus, as the aircraft is coloured as per Shamrock and the crew wear Aer Lingus uniforms. This is not the case.

Stobart air are limited in destination. Its generally smaller destinations in uk such as Leeds.

OH WOW! I honest to God never heard of Eddie Stobart then 2 years ago I noticed their trucks all over the shop.

RichieO

I get a gut feeling, if the takeover goes through, the whole country will feel sucker punched, (later on) with all the airports being badly affected, with Shannon, Cork, and Knock suffering really badly, in more ways than envisaged...

Graham

RichieO wrote: »

with Shannon, Cork, and Knock suffering really badly, in more ways than envisaged...

such as?

the_monkey

Better then Ryanair taking over

RichieO

Graham wrote: »

such as?

Like I said, it's a gut feeling not a forecast, but from past experience with takeovers, jobs, people and places don't matter one jot, profits are the only criteria.

wretcheddomain

Deleted User wrote: »

This could be a terrible turn of events! BA fly from Terminal 1. I only fly BA to London as I do like a smoke before my flight from Dublin.
What if they move to Terminal 2. Am stuck with Ryanair. Though they have a better service than Air Lingus, though not to LHR.

You shouldn't be smoking in the first place.

handlemaster

RichieO wrote: »

I get a gut feeling, if the takeover goes through, the whole country will feel sucker punched, (later on) with all the airports being badly affected, with Shannon, Cork, and Knock suffering really badly, in more ways than envisaged...

if there can be profitable runs made from these airports someone will do them. other than that your looking at the tax payer picking up another bill under a subsidy.

Valetta

RichieO wrote: »

Like I said, it's a gut feeling not a forecast, but from past experience with takeovers, jobs, people and places don't matter one jot, profits are the only criteria.

That's the way it is anyway, without any takeover bid.

It's business.

Dj Stiggie

[Deleted User] wrote: »

This could be a terrible turn of events! BA fly from Terminal 1. I only fly BA to London as I do like a smoke before my flight from Dublin.
What if they move to Terminal 2. Am stuck with Ryanair. Though they have a better service than Air Lingus, though not to LHR.

You know you can go from one terminal to the other once you're through security, right?

Kermit.de.frog

So there you have it folks

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/labours-blocking-of-aer-lingus-deal-a-muchneeded-win-over-fg-partners-30952526.html


What will be done will be in the best interest of the LABOUR party and not in the best interest of either Aer Lingus or the country.


Remember Labour blocked this when Aer Lingus next gets in to trouble and goes bust because the government won't be allowed to bail it out.

Politicians should keep their noses out of things like this.

end of the road

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

So there you have it folks

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/labours-blocking-of-aer-lingus-deal-a-muchneeded-win-over-fg-partners-30952526.html


What will be done will be in the best interest of the LABOUR party and not in the best interest of either Aer Lingus or the country.


Remember Labour blocked this when Aer Lingus next gets in to trouble and goes bust because the government won't be allowed to bail it out.

Politicians should keep their noses out of things like this.

the government can fiddle it in such a way to make it look like they didn't bail it out if it has to come to that.

metrosity

Not really. Labor don't really get to implement their policies much as they're a minority.

It's a labor-like position to take to block this takeover as there is absolutely no guarantee over job preservation through such a sale and Labour are supposed to be all about jobs.

This is Labour finally doing what they're supposed to be doing..

curioser

Good grief. Willie Walsh at Oireachtas Committee at the moment, is very restrained in the face of parish pump questioning by a host of gobsh1te parliamentarians! Even the potentially better performer, Senator Sean Barrett, had his figures filleted by WW. Willie is now confirmed in the view that Irish politics has not changed one iota since he was CEO of Aer Lingus.

And now the session has been suspended because they have to go and vote in the Dail!

Kermit.de.frog

He put together a VERY convincing case for selling the remaining stake. More routes, more jobs, more passengers through Irish airports inc developing Dublin as a genuine transatlantic hub - guarantee on brand and separate company within group - and a host of other aspects too.


If the government don't sell it now for this they will get a lot less in the future. Even the gombeens should be able to see this.

Valetta

Willie Walsh is acting as a salesman.

Should the Oireachtas Committee believe everything he says?

Do people believe salesmen? (or women )