Archive for the 'Aer Lingus' Category

Photos: First Aer Lingus Regional ATR (And Why It’s a Good Idea)

Published
by
Dan Webb
on March 9, 2010
in Aer Lingus
. 3 Comments

On March 28th, Aer Lingus regional starts up, with service provided by Aer Arann. The two have interlined in the past, but this brings the partnership much closer. I really think this is a good idea for Aer Lingus. Right now, the airline has a huge seat gap. The smallest aircraft it operates is the A320, with 174 seats. (It wasn’t always that way – the airline used to have Fokker 50s and BAE 146s but they were eliminated.) I think that seat gap makes them either too big for some markets or makes them serve them inefficiently.

Here’s an example – right now Aer Lingus has one A320 a day to Glasgow, while Ryanair operates two daily 737-800s. Once Regional starts up, the mainline service goes away and is instead replace with four flights with ATR s. In end, Aer Lingus will still have less capacity than Ryanair in the market, but with twice the frequency. Rynair’s flights are at the beginning and end of the day, but Aer Lingus has a schedule throughout the day, so Aer Lingus might be able to win some customers based on schedule here. The same thing for Endinburgh – right now Lingus has a lone A320 in the middle of the day (and Ryanair has two 737-800s), but now the ATRs can enhance that schedule with an earlier and later flight.

Personally, I’d like to see Aer Lingus get some other small aircraft of its own, perhaps a 319, or an E-Jet, or maybe even a CSeries. But enough about that. Check out these pictures of the first ATR72 to wear the Aer Lingus colors, snapped by photographer Malcolm Nason. I think the aircraft looks great – thanks to Malcolm for letting me post them here.

Ryanair Sale Update

Published
by
Dan Webb
on March 12, 2009
in Aer Lingus and Ryanair
. 0 Comments

Yesterday, Aer Lingus reported an after-tax loss of €107.8 million, and Ryanair started a fare sale as promised. In a press release entitled “Aer Lingus Must Apologize for Misleading Shareholders,” CEO Michael O’Leary was quoted:

Consumers can celebrate Aer Lingus’s continuing losses and failure as Ryanair this morning released 108,000 free seats – 1,000 seats for every €1m after tax losses announced by Aer Lingus this morning – for travel in March and returning in the first week of April.

Once again, these are “free” seats. There are still plenty of Ryanair fees that one will have to pay. Still a good PR stunt though.

Yay: Aer Lingus Drops Fuel Surcharge

Published
by
Dan Webb
on December 15, 2008
in Aer Lingus
. 0 Comments

Well, the headline is relatively self explanatory. On Friday, Aer Lingus said it would remove its fuel surcharge on long-haul flights. This is certainly good news for consumers. The more important question, I think, is what the other airlines will be doing. Aer Lingus’ decision will most likely bring down fares to Ireland for all airlines, but it probably won’t have an effect on other international markets. That being said, I think we’ll continue to see a drop in fuel surcharges (and maybe some airlines will remove them outright like Aer Lingus), with oil under control, and more importantly, with weakened international demand.

Quick Note: I have finals this week, so my posts might be a bit short (like this one) and sporadic for the next couple of days.