Dublin routes news and general chat

theguzman

Shamrockj wrote: »

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/transport-and-tourism/aer-lingus-evaluating-15-destinations-for-new-north-american-routes-1.3809575?mode=amp
Aer Lingus evaluating 15 destinations for new North American Routes

If I had to guess I would say.
DEN, YVR, CLE, ATL, IAH, DTW, SAN, TPA, LAS

Such a myopic vision, there is plenty routes to the East and Latin America that have large Irish populations and foreign expats here to serve. When the US enters recession (which is inevitable) and the Euro strengthens EI's TATL market will disintegrate.

cson

theguzman wrote: »

Such a myopic vision, there is plenty routes to the East and Latin America that have large Irish populations and foreign expats here to serve. When the US enters recession (which is inevitable) and the Euro strengthens EI's TATL market will disintegrate.

Way riskier starting a service to Latin America than any risk of US recession.

Stephen Strange

theguzman wrote: »

Such a myopic vision, there is plenty routes to the East and Latin America that have large Irish populations and foreign expats here to serve. When the US enters recession (which is inevitable) and the Euro strengthens EI's TATL market will disintegrate.

The biggest (and only slightly feasible) potential destination would be Brazil, and as stated previously it's too price sensitive to make sense for EI. TAP will have that market sown up.

It makes sense for EI to focus on the North American market, the strong connection market and USPC in Dublin are working well for them, why change it?

Shamrockj

theguzman wrote: »

Such a myopic vision, there is plenty routes to the East and Latin America that have large Irish populations and foreign expats here to serve. When the US enters recession (which is inevitable) and the Euro strengthens EI's TATL market will disintegrate.

Where is the large Irish population in the East and Latin America ?? This topic comes up all the time. It's not just about serving the Irish population either. They are focusing on connections. Why would people book mainland Europe to the East through Dublin? Their mantra in every publication is to be "the leading value carrier across the Atlantic" and that's the way it will be.

LXFlyer

theguzman wrote: »

Such a myopic vision, there is plenty routes to the East and Latin America that have large Irish populations and foreign expats here to serve. When the US enters recession (which is inevitable) and the Euro strengthens EI's TATL market will disintegrate.

Remember the overall EI strategy is to have 50% of their customers starting & finishing their journey in Ireland and the other 50% connecting through the Dublin hub.

That’s a massive change in the business model.

basill

I would echo the comments that the route structure needs to be diversified to reduce the over reliance on one market. Abu Dhabi was a missed opportunity and with Qatar being a large stakeholder in IAG I would have thought feeding a hub in the ME would provide further opportunities. Being back in One World might also have gotten HKG but that opportunity seems lost now as well.

With the hub network working so well in terms of feed from the UK it would be good to see a Cape Town route but time will tell.

kevinandrew

I think the Middle East was an inevitable failure.

Aer Lingus failed on Dubai because of a combination of poor timings, woeful product and no connections but even with all the right ingredients it would have failed eventually, the economic crash was right around the corner, they were never going have enough feed/connections and the arrival of Emirates was always going to happen. If Aer Lingus couldn't make Dubai work, with its much larger O&D potential, they were never going to make Doha or Abu Dhabi work, all three hubs are ME3 territory. 

There is potential with the A321LR, it could be the right size for an O&D based Dubai route or even Doha in partnership with Qatar to complement their operation. Question is, could that A321LR make more money across the Atlantic or down to the Gulf?

Van.Bosch

basill wrote: »

I would echo the comments that the route structure needs to be diversified to reduce the over reliance on one market. Abu Dhabi was a missed opportunity and with Qatar being a large stakeholder in IAG I would have thought feeding a hub in the ME would provide further opportunities. Being back in One World might also have gotten HKG but that opportunity seems lost now as well.

With the hub network working so well in terms of feed from the UK it would be good to see a Cape Town route but time will tell.

In what way was Abu Dhabi a missed opportunity? That traffic is there cos of the onward connections, not people going to AD.

basill

Allegedly EI were asked to operate for EY early on to cover their lack of crews/airframes. At the time EY was a significant shareholder. There were even rumours doing the rounds of green airframes plying routes further afield than Abu Dhabi. EI said no thanks.

kevinandrew

basill wrote: »

Allegedly EI were asked to operate for EY early on to cover their lack of crews/airframes. At the time EY was a significant shareholder. There were even rumours doing the rounds of green airframes plying routes further afield than Abu Dhabi. EI said no thanks.

So it was essentially just Etihad leasing Aer Lingus crews and aircraft, not Aer Lingus' own chance at eastbound success. 

I'm not aware of any time in recent history where Aer Lingus has been flush with aircraft, particularly A330s, for them to be going spare. There was the A332 leased out by Novair for two consecutive winters and the short lived MAD-IAD venture with United but I don't think there's ever been the spare capacity at Aer Lingus to cover Etihad's requirements. 

Looking back at Etihad's track record with their investments, Aer Lingus may have had a lucky escape!

theguzman

Would there be a large enough African diaspora in Ireland to warrant say a weekly flight to Lagos? I'm sure a weekly flight to the likes of New Delhi and a once weekly to Sao Paolo would give some diversity to the route network and help spread brand Ireland and as people can see from the A380 failure that Hub and Spoke is not the preferred choice and people will fly direct if given the option.

One A330 or better still A350 could rotate between Lagos, Sao Paolo, New Delhi and provide a capacity boost to the likes of Malaga, a weekly rotation to Singapore would provide a nice stepping stone to Australia also for all the Irish expats there.

MICKEYG

theguzman wrote: »

Would there be a large enough African diaspora in Ireland to warrant say a weekly flight to Lagos? I'm sure a weekly flight to the likes of New Delhi and a once weekly to Sao Paolo would give some diversity to the route network and help spread brand Ireland and as people can see from the A380 failure that Hub and Spoke is not the preferred choice and people will fly direct if given the option.

One A330 or better still A350 could rotate between Lagos, Sao Paolo, New Delhi and provide a capacity boost to the likes of Malaga, a weekly rotation to Singapore would provide a nice stepping stone to Australia also for all the Irish expats there.

Once a week long haul is expensive for crewing (you need to deadhead a crew each way) plus very unattractive for business flyers who make a route profitable.

Idbatterim

"Airport's role as transatlantic hub 'can be enhanced"

https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/airports-role-as-transatlantic-hub-can-be-enhanced-37874470.html

Shn99

Montreal postponed until S20

Stevek101

Ryanair ending Stuttgart in June. They seem to have ended their other two services also, Manchester and Marrakesh, with all remaining routes swapping to Lauda.

kevinandrew

Shame to lose Stuttgart, didn’t Aer Lingus recently end it as well? Maybe a case of “job done” on Ryanair’s part.

Stevek101

Aer Lingus were on and off with it as well, it went seasonal before Ryanair started. I'd say its just them tidying up their network along with poor loads. Maybe Lauda will take it over.

rivegauche

Stevek101 wrote: »

Aer Lingus were on and off with it as well, it went seasonal before Ryanair started. I'd say its just them tidying up their network along with poor loads. Maybe Lauda will take it over.

Laudamotion are moving in.
http://www.airliners.de/stuttgart-lauda-motion-zielen-winter/49109

Not surprised Stuttgart route is gone. Difficult airport to get to if not from the city or south of city. expensive parking. no direct train link, just tram.

Laudamotion will served Holiday destinations i.e. serving the local population.

Conor84

Shn99 wrote: »

Montreal postponed until S20

Any idea on the reason for that? Delays with delivery of the new A321s or poor bookings or something else. I know there had been a few changes to the planned schedule of this.

kevinandrew

Conor84 wrote: »

Shn99 wrote: »

Montreal postponed until S20

Any idea on the reason for that? Delays with delivery of the new A321s or poor bookings or something else. I know there had been a few changes to the planned schedule of this.

A321LR delays most definitely. It has reportedly had very strong forward bookings.

Such a major postponement is somewhat questionable but the lack of suitable aircraft is a very plausible explanation.

Tenger

Conor84 wrote: »

Any idea on the reason for that? Delays with delivery of the new A321s or poor bookings or something else. I know there had been a few changes to the planned schedule of this.

Saw it posted on Facebook earlier, EI published a statement on their website that it was solely due to delayed delivery of aircraft. No mention of which aircraft but it’s very obviously the A321LR as that was due to start on July 1st and the amended schedule are all current B757/future A321LR routes.

IMO it very much looks like it’s a longer delay than a couple of weeks/months.
August 2019 launch pushed backed until “Summer 2020”, my guess that means April/May at the earliest?

L1011

Loganair to Carlisle not mentioned as far as I can see. Don't see it working unless they agree a deal to sell onward connections

Noxegon

kevinandrew wrote: »

There is potential with the A321LR, it could be the right size for an O&D based Dubai route or even Doha in partnership with Qatar to complement their operation. Question is, could that A321LR make more money across the Atlantic or down to the Gulf?

I can’t imagine anyone in their right mind choosing EI over EK for a flight to DXB.

mmclo

embraer170 wrote: »

I don't believe this is accurate. You should get a Schengen visa from the country where you expect to stay the longest. Your initial point of entry is not relevant.

Certainly on Eurostar the checks in St Pancras are French even if you are going to Netherlands or Belgium even if it’s not identical situation

Van.Bosch

TK seem to be upguaging the afternoon flight to Istanbul to an A321 from May, the first flight seems to be changing to a Max9.

Marcusm

mmclo wrote: »

Certainly on Eurostar the checks in St Pancras are French even if you are going to Netherlands or Belgium even if it’s not identical situation

That’s because you enter France first.

Idbatterim

US to expand pre-clearance facilities at Dublin, Shannon airports

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/us-to-expand-pre-clearance-facilities-at-dublin-shannon-airports-1.3823238?mode=amp

IQO

https://twitter.com/NorwegianUKI/status/1105811116918276098

Good news, also a good chance they'll put on extra sales to fill the extra seats.

Idbatterim

https://www.dublinairport.com/latest-news/detail/new-february-record-at-dublin-airport

Passenger numbers up 9% in February...

L1011

IQO wrote: »

https://twitter.com/NorwegianUKI/status/1105811116918276098

Good news, also a good chance they'll put on extra sales to fill the extra seats.

They're merging PVD and SWF so there won't be that many extra seats.