Aer Lingus Fleet/ Routes Discussion Pt 2 (ALL possible routes included)

Further additions are to be made to EI’s schedule ex-DUB.

Great to see such an ambitious announcement. Most routes seem to be planned to operate at about the same levels as planned for 2020.

Especially good to see Marseilles, Milan Malpensa, Nantes, Pisa and Split back afer being suspended for the entire Pandemic period.

As others have said and as was stated in the press release more are to be added so that is positive.

Bourgas, I think, was missing from the published list and that is on sale at 6 per week so that seems like a definite commission.

Of the other ones that are missing when you look them up there seems to be 2 categories.

For Bologna, Catania, Montpellier, Perpignan and Pula it states that the schedule will be uploaded shortly so taking Aer Lingus at their word those routes should operate.

For Alicante, Budapest Rhodes and Santorini there is a different no flights available message. This does seem strange as all 4 of these destinations operated through the Pandemic with Rhodes and Santorini new and apparently popular. Alicante and Budaoest are both long standing routes and appear to have solid demand levels.

Interesting that Bristol, Edinburgh and Glasgow don't feature on the list and there are no flights loaded for these destinations. I assume taht bookings for UK destinations exceot LHR and maybe LGW with connections are made must closer to travel time so less need to have them finalised. Hopefully there will be profgress on the Emerald Airways situation by then. It is hard to see them walking away from those routes completely and i would be great to see some of the suspended UK routes back operating. Birmingham and Manchester both have 3 daily A320 services planned - morning, middle of the day and evening so a pretty competitive offering.

Any info on the plans for the veteran A321s 0 with such a schedule restoration you would think that they may need them back or will they be able to cover from reducing the aircraft in Cork and Shannon taking into consideration that there is an extra aircraft based in Belfast (for now)?

Usually around the last weekend in March I think.

Ryanair have been taken a huge amount of market share from Dublin helped by Aer Lingus's much reduced schedule at the same time. But in fairness pre covid the Dublin base for Ryanair was the highest yield of all their airports per passenger so they are obviously protecting AND looking to increase their hold and hence profits too.

I'm fairly sure they'll be a new deal with the DAA soon as without Ryanair's traffic at the moment and certainly over the last few months Dublin would have been extremely quiet.

So 10 A330-300's and 2 on the UK reg and no spare A321's

So that leaves them very tight is a A321 goes tech

Is there a A330-200 to come back as cover in case something goes wrong, A330-200 are fitted for crew rest which is not in many of the -300's

It can't be a PSO. Train is too fast.

17 rings a bell but I could be mistaken. EDY is missing off ya list and as you correctly stated is in MAN under a G reg at the mo.

Only one A330 is required for MAN for the summer as Barbados is only for the winter. I wonder if EIL / EIK and the -200s will make a return. If the likes of Newark, Toronto and Washington have higher bookings then the A321NEO can hold maybe they could be operated by the -200s returning. I’m sure extra A330s can be acquired fairly easily.

Could see Hartford returning, if the CT State Gov are that interested in wanting it back. EI can switch the 107 (On M-W-F-S) to an A333 and send an A321neo with 4 services per week.

As stated there's up to 7 A330s unaccounted for in the summer schedule. Plenty of room to react to an increase in demand. Latest Eurocontrol predictions are we'll be back to 2019 traffic levels by summer 2023.

I've heard talk that LAX hasn't actually been scrapped at NOC yet, and is instead undergoing storage at that location pending a final order to scrap it for parts or hold on in case demand surges next summer, does anyone know if there's any truth to this rumor or have they already started tearing it up for parts?

Sorry I was double counting EIK & EIL in my head. I thought there was 17 before LAX and EWR were scrapped.

I could about 47 Short Haul on sale from Dublin currently.

Alicante is the lowest frequency Spanish route for Aer Lingus, always stronger for Ryanair. Its generally released later but they could easily drop it when reduced fleet is taken into account.

Budapest, treated the same as Warsaw during its dying days. Not sure its got much longer.

Rhodes and Santorini, I reckon only one will return along with Perpignan and Sicily but that's pure speculation on my part. Not going to be able to operate all pre-Covid short haul routes.

They could be holding back capacity to see what Emerald will do for 2022. Is there a final number on the short haul fleet for 2022?

Have to assume they intend to fly MAN-MCO 10/11 weekly next summer if they don't add a new route. Otherwise no point in keeping an A330 on the G reg doing nothing. That level of tech cover is poor deployment of assets. Returning it to EI reg would allow them cover both DUB/MAN operations for tec cover more efficiently if they don't want the -200s in service next summer.

Where is -DUO sleeping currently?