Airline Alliance in the Making? :)

patsryan

Aer Lingus for all the world seem to be creating themselves a nice little alliance with Aer Arann and JetBlue in the US. There is also codesharing in place with BA, KLM and United.
Anyone got any info on there Asian Parter? :rolleyes:

Smellsofsoap

patsryan wrote: »

Aer Lingus for all the world seem to be creating themselves a nice little alliance with Aer Arann and JetBlue in the US. There is also codesharing in place with BA, KLM and United.
Anyone got any info on there Asian Parter? :rolleyes:

Eh, no is the correct response to your query/troll.

There are 3 Global alliances in the aviation sector. (Star, OneWorld, SkyTeam) EI will join an existing alliance. This choice will allow them access to an Asian carrier/market.

P.S. Codesharing is different to being in alliance with another airline.

saeglopur

Smellsofsoap wrote: »

There are 3 Global alliances in the aviation sector. (Star, OneWorld, SkyTeam) EI will join an existing alliance.

One interesting point is that as EI currently have successful codeshare agreements with airlines in all 3 alliances, if they are to join an alliance they may have to cancel their agreements with the other 2 airlines.

Jim236

saeglopur wrote: »

One interesting point is that as EI currently have successful codeshare agreements with airlines in all 3 alliances, if they are to join an alliance they may have to cancel their agreements with the other 2 airlines.

No they won't. Plenty of airlines in One World, Star Alliance, and Sky Team have codeshare agreements with airlines not in their alliance.

@patsryan

Like Smellsofsoap says, a codeshare agreement is different to an alliance. Aer Lingus have already said they'll be joining one of the three existing alliances, and my moneys on Star Alliance or Sky Team.

Smellsofsoap

Jim236 wrote: »

Aer Lingus have already said they'll be joining one of the three existing alliances, and my moneys on Star Alliance or Sky Team.

I would disagree. I think OW or * are the odds on favourites.

EI were already in OW, pulled out in 2004 I think it was. The OW option gives EI the link to Asia via LHR (BA,QF), FRA (CX, QF), to S America via MAD (IB) I think they could also link with JAL in LHR.

Star (*) give the option of linking into United in the USA and Lufthansa/Singapore in Europe and onwards to Asia/Africa. Star is the largest alliance so offers more connectivity in more airports.

Skyteam offer EI connections through CDG and AMS. While very comprehensive the Irish market is less inclined to these 2 hubs. Also Delta compete with EI on the Ireland-US market.

I think that the Irish market will always have a dependance/susceptability to using LHR for connections. These I think limits EI options to 2 alliances. OW may want to get EI to join as a way to protect their dominance of LHR. BA state that the Irish market accounts for 10% of their business, if EI provide half of that then thats a lot of passengers to try to keep in the OW stable. My fear with this is that joining OW could force EI into just a feeder airline for BA, rather than allowing them to develop Dublin as a mini-hub.

Star on the other hand may want to counterbalance the OW dominance at LHR. If EI joins the can slowly start to channel their onward connections via FRA and onwards to Asia. EI could offer Dublin as an alternative to LHR for flights to USA from UK regional markets. These people already have to travel to LHR, why not go to Dublin first instead? Already the codeshare with UA has shown how much transfer potential EI has in Dublin. (recent results say 30% of longhaul pax are transfers) In addition the EI slots in LHR could be traded (only 2-3 per day) to an alliance member or even used by EI to offer more * longhaul flights from LHR, EI already have a market presence in London. The UA/EI flights from Dublin could be re-timed to offer an unbeatable combination of cost and frequency, in order to dominate US/DL.


These are but the rambling of an aviation enthusiast. I am sure EI are closely looking at their options and will chose the alliance that offers them the best potential revenue stream and potential for growth in the future

Jim236

Smellsofsoap wrote: »

I would disagree. I think OW or * are the odds on favourites.

EI were already in OW, pulled out in 2004 I think it was. The OW option gives EI the link to Asia via LHR (BA,QF), FRA (CX, QF), to S America via MAD (IB) I think they could also link with JAL in LHR.

Star (*) give the option of linking into United in the USA and Lufthansa/Singapore in Europe and onwards to Asia/Africa. Star is the largest alliance so offers more connectivity in more airports.

Skyteam offer EI connections through CDG and AMS. While very comprehensive the Irish market is less inclined to these 2 hubs. Also Delta compete with EI on the Ireland-US market.

I think that the Irish market will always have a dependance/susceptability to using LHR for connections. These I think limits EI options to 2 alliances. OW may want to get EI to join as a way to protect their dominance of LHR. BA state that the Irish market accounts for 10% of their business, if EI provide half of that then thats a lot of passengers to try to keep in the OW stable. My fear with this is that joining OW could force EI into just a feeder airline for BA, rather than allowing them to develop Dublin as a mini-hub.

Star on the other hand may want to counterbalance the OW dominance at LHR. If EI joins the can slowly start to channel their onward connections via FRA and onwards to Asia. EI could offer Dublin as an alternative to LHR for flights to USA from UK regional markets. These people already have to travel to LHR, why not go to Dublin first instead? Already the codeshare with UA has shown how much transfer potential EI has in Dublin. (recent results say 30% of longhaul pax are transfers) In addition the EI slots in LHR could be traded (only 2-3 per day) to an alliance member or even used by EI to offer more * longhaul flights from LHR, EI already have a market presence in London. The UA/EI flights from Dublin could be re-timed to offer an unbeatable combination of cost and frequency, in order to dominate US/DL.


These are but the rambling of an aviation enthusiast. I am sure EI are closely looking at their options and will chose the alliance that offers them the best potential revenue stream and potential for growth in the future

Actually less and less Irish people are using Heathrow and are increasingly opting for other European hubs such as Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Paris-CDG.

I agree with most of what you've said, particularly on Star Alliance, the only reason I mentioned Sky Team was because of comments made by Aer Lingus' CEO Christoph Mueller, in particular this remark from an article in the Indo 2 months ago:

"Oneworld, say, might be the best alliance on paper, from the connectivity we gain and cost synergies," said Mr Mueller. "But if we have to pay more for a seat to Melbourne or Hong Kong than I currently pay with KLM, I can be a member of an alliance until the cows come home but my Irish customers will book themselves on KLM."

Source: http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/aer-lingus-may-line-up-walshs-ba-oneworld-alliance-as-partner-2337820.html

It'll be interesting to see which one they go for, but I really can't see them going back to OW, not unless BA put some serious offer on the table.