Aer Lingus to South America

Maskhadov

How come Aer lingus are not operating direct flights to Rio in Brasil and Buenos Aires in Argentina ?

I know they have plans to operate direct flights to Tokyo but we really need direct flights to a more popular destination

Hecate

Direct flights to Tokyo!? When are they planning on doing that?

Maskhadov

I think they already have.. they are just waiting until an irish minister visits Japan. I think that will happen in the next few weeks/months. They also have plans to fly direct to bang kok.

But we really need direct flights to Rio !!

BuffyBot

How come Aer lingus are not operating direct flights to Rio in Brasil and Buenos Aires in Argentina ?

Lack of aircraft, possible bi-lateral issues, lack of profitiability, lack of traffic..any number of reasons I'd imagine. I don't think Tokyo is on their hit-list at the moment either for direct flights. I'm not even sure it's in the range of the A330's they have. Bangkok has been rumoured for a while, as has Hong Kong though.

honru

I think this needs stating again:

Direct flights to Tokyo!?

Bangkok wouldn't be too shabby either.

dowlingm

some interesting comments by Martin Cullen quoted in this thread:
http://p078.ezboard.com/fdublinairportforumfrm2.showMessage?topicID=864.topic

Diaspora

In fairness to Aer Lingus Dublin airport is not as it stands a viable hub airport if it were I'd say that Rio and Mexico City or Caracas might be on the agenda. Miami would be a start as there are plenty of cheap seats onward to most South and Central American destinos.

Check out www.airmadrid.com

bryanw

But, didn't Aer Lingus do flights to Miami before... or was it Orlando?

Diaspora

Brian it was as you say Orlando which was poorly conceived given the number of cheap charters flying from Aldergrove to Orlando and Tampa and the limited market for lower end Florida holidays.

Orlando has more in common with Malaga than Madrid or Miami

dmeehan

bryanw wrote:

But, didn't Aer Lingus do flights to Miami before... or was it Orlando?

it was orlando, and i think it was a charter too, but im not sure about that

therecklessone

Maskhadov wrote:

I know they have plans to operate direct flights to Tokyo but we really need direct flights to a more popular destination

Just wondering, do you know SA destinations are more popular, or are you assuming that?

IMO, #1 priority should be SE Asia, with potential to transfer passengers onwards to OZ/NZ. There's the clearest opportunity to build a solid route structure with high passenger loads.

As for Tokyo, don't think there are plans as such, but during a recent trade mission to Japan MichaelMartin raised the possibility of a direct air link.

dowlingm

until the US bilateral is fixed EI can only go to a limited number of airports on a scheduled basis.

Maskhadov

Bertie Ahern was on the record as saying he wanted dublin airport as a major international hub. Of course at the moment that would be impossible. We would need 3 terminals and an infastructure to match the best in the world.

Direct flights to tokyo will be a reality soon. Direct flights to south america from Dublin will also appeal to other EU citizens.

dowlingm

I heard way back that EI had slots reserved at Tokyo (Narita) - but they might be long gone. Never saw it confirmed.

GerardKeating

Maskhadov wrote:

How come Aer lingus are not operating direct flights to Rio in Brasil and Buenos Aires in Argentina ?

I know they have plans to operate direct flights to Tokyo but we really need direct flights to a more popular destination

I really doubt if Rio is a more popular destination that Tokyo, and certainly BA would be well down the list of potential destinations. Will see a lot more places before those two.

Victor

bryanw wrote:

But, didn't Aer Lingus do flights to Miami before... or was it Orlando?

That was a fudge to get around the bilateral agreement.

I'm not sure if Aer Lingus' future can lie in South East Asia. For SEA, there are three markets
(a) SEA-Ireland. Is this market big enough to fill X number of planes per week?
(b) SEA-rest of Europe. Has time and (some) cost disadvantage.
(c) SEA-North America. Much of this traffic will go the other way around, via Hawaii or California.

jd

AL have only two a330s on order, which I guess would serve Dallas ,San Francisco and Miami. Or has any one more info on this.

Victor

What about, say, Seattle?

See map here: http://www.dublinairport.com/plan-your-trip/destination_map.html

dowlingm

Orlando was a "charter" which is not covered by stopover. Even then they did landings at Shannon, waited for the brakes to cool and took off again, all because of the stopover - no wonder the 330 fleet is flogged to death and breaking down! :mad: :mad: :mad:

Maskhadov

Also of note....If any business person wishing to make a buck they could do well to set up a ryan air of south america with internal fares in most countries overally expensive.

dowlingm

Maskhadov

unless the South American countries have agreed the kind of deregulation that made Ryanair really explode (i.e. a Brazilian airline can operate any services it wants between say, Argentina and Chile) then it's hard to see it happen.

Maskhadov

internal flights in Brasil are sky high and the national airline is/has gone belly up.

dowlingm

two other things -

1. Europe had a lot of recently demilitarised ex NATO airfields looking for cheap business - Ryanair obliged

2. Brazil has a left wing govt so would probably oppose a hardline FR type airline operation