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

Indeed they are however I think a wet lease would be possible in these exceptional circumstances. Lets assume its not possible the cost/benefit of an aircraft doing nothing for the summer over the option to route passengers via DUB/LHR just doesn't stack up. This is IAG we are talking about. DUB didn't have an idle aircraft for the summer when EI had a full fleet in operation over the past few years. Hard to see bean counters changing that policy!

Might get an idea of the fleet for 2022 on Friday with IAG results.

Has there been any update on the wet lease for Vueling at Paris Orly? I can’t see any EI / A330 on the flights I have searched.

Correct hence why the spare is over there. Same goes for crew on UK licences. Cannot sub in IAA pilots/ccms if anyone goes sick - has to be from the locally based pool. Its a stand alone base.

Maybe the gap until emerald is up and running is killing them. How many aircraft do they have doing routes the EIR used to cover?

There are the 3 A321 CEO's, 2 appear to be stored, 1 either scrapped or on the way to scrap, all 3 are owned outright. Only 2 A320's left the fleet

So -5 aircraft, but could get 2 back if required, but a fairly heavy check likely required as the plan was pull the A321 CEO's by now

There are now 8 NEO A321's and these will operate first wave flights to LHR/CDG/FCO and possibly others so that provides cover for what was lost, obviously 1 is going to MAN. A330's can trip to Faro, Malaga etc

You got to be able

1. The crew the aircraft, so pilots and cabin
2. Maintain, the IAA needs to be shown there are enough engineers and technicians to maintain the fleet
3. Make money, a full flight doesn't mean profit especially if you are in a scrap with FR
4. Handle the transition to Emerald

Maybe EI is working on getting a A330 down to Alicante?

EI had problems in 2018/19 keeping up with growth on the A330 fleet, having enough staff to support the fleet. It was routine to arrive on stand and wait 5-10 minutes for someone to show up to move the jet bridge or move steps

The problem is getting enough people trained up after having run a skeleton service, there is only so many sims available, only so many trainers etc. You also have to factor a higher absentee rate due COVID isolation and illness so you need more folks on call to come in.

The big factor is uncertainty, we hope we are over the worst.

“Aer Lingus will fly to 15 destinations in North America next summer, compared with 16 in summer 2019.”

This is part of the Indo article today. Would the 1 less destination be BDL?

Aer Lingus makes ‘ambitious’ plans for transatlantic traffic next summer

https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/aer-lingus-makes-ambitious-plans-for-transatlantic-traffic-next-summer-41022976.html

Lazy journalism on behalf of the Indo – the average Irish reader will only care about what's going from Ireland.

(It's worth pointing out that the 15 figure is wrong anyway – BDL/MIA/MSP is a loss of three, BGI is a gain of one – so they're actually only serving 14 destinations in North America unless I'm missing something.)

Anyone have an idea when they'll start adding routes onto S22, and have them available for booking? Looking at going to Alicante in July, and even though the times are good with Ryanair, I'd rather go with EI!

I do sometimes wonder what EI are up to these days. They put a 321lr on to Manchester yesterday morning (first visit to Manchester?) for the Derby demand but had no flight back in the evening. Meanwhile Ryanair put on 3 flights back in the evening and all were presumably full of City/United fans.