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

Would Ryanair even be interested anymore? I always believed one of the major factors in the original take over attempts was O’Leary’s personal motives in eradicating Ryanair’s biggest symbolic rival. He’d have seen it as a personal victory.

Since 2006, Aer Lingus has done little outside some transatlantic growth while Ryanair has become a behemoth of European aviation, O’Leary himself says Aer Lingus is essentially meaningless to Ryanair now.

The only advantage to taking over Aer Lingus now would again be the eradication of an historically symbolic rival and the transatlantic network, the latter of which Ryanair no longer appears interested in doing. Would it be worth the hassle, the cost, inheriting a heavily unionised workforce, the higher cost base and a relatively small and awkward Airbus fleet?

Were posters/ anybody really expecting Aer Lingus to come out with some big profits for Q2 and announce everything was rosey in the garden after the events over the last couple of months?

They spent the best part of the Spring/ Summer refusing to budge in the pilot dispute and now have other unions eyeing up scope for further pay talks as a result of the pilot deal.

I don’t doubt that some routes aren’t preforming to their full potential, however some of the talk from Aerlingus in the last day or so, in my opinion was to justify their actions regarding the pilots pay dispute and perhaps warn the other unions there’s not an everlasting money pit to be handing out further pay increases or if they have to, routes will definitely be cut. They also emphasised that the higher deal the pilots got was down to a change in the work practices, (something the pilots deny) which should null and void any of the clauses in the other pay deals to reopen talks.

With the cap in Dublin, there’s going to be absolutely no further growth or new routes in the short term, unless a current route gets scrapped and replaced by a new one. Aerlingus also did not receive its full slot requests for winter so with all of the above it is only natural the routes are reviewed with weaker ones cut and replaced by stronger yielding ones.

While I categorically reject the idea of the airport having a cap and think it is a failure of the daa, the government and ABP for it even existing in the first place, and still existing when pax numbers were ~33m mark in 2019, the cap can work to Aerlingus’ advantage with its current routes in the short term. While they won’t be able to grow and add, competitor airlines also won’t be able to up capacity either or announce new routes which will lead to the current services only getting stronger as demand grows but supply remains static.

With the current slots it’s not a given JetBlue will be allowed back in next year if there’s a seat capacity for summer 2025 similar to winter 2024.

I’m sure many will disagree with points raised above but just my own €0.02

The doom and gloom comments from the CEO are just strategy, the old “we have no money, covid, “ blah blah is wheeled out every so often to suit the narrative being pushed by management.

She basically played Russian roulette with the pilots and lost big time. Said they couldn’t pay for the pay increase but now will have to pay for the increase and the costs of the cancelations.

I wouldn’t except any company to turn a profit during industrial action. Ei habit is to limp from crisis to crisis and slash and burn.
I’m sure the profits will return as always and the old we have no money will be brought back for the next crisis.

any talks of ei being sold off our wound down are utter nonsense. IAG is absolutely not going to sell any assets

There are less slots available in W24 than W23 . It's on the acl website.

The wine is certainly cold when handed out.

I don't know where the dividing line between warm and hot is but they served me a glass of bubbly that might as well have been briefly microwaved (SFO-DUB). I know it was a warm day but it's a dreadfully half-arsed first impression not helped by no amenity kits or printed menus. Haven't used them since for long haul. No plans to either.

Amenity kits in general are meh, purely just for show and add very little to the flight or your life (a tooth brush is a tooth brush, who needs a comb / eye mask / socks etc, I dont want hand / skin products). If you fly regular enough they either get dumped or thrown in a corner.

One plus for Aer Lingus is that their amenity kit makes a decent pencil case, perfect size.