What would you do if you were Aer Lingus CEO.

Shannon757

What would you do if you were Aer Lingus CEO?

I would completely overhaul the fleet.
Replace the short haul fleet with Embraer 170/190
Replace the long haul fleet with 787s

(In an ideal world):D

Busted Flat.

I would ask Mick O'Leary for advice on how to run an airline. Mobile calls are free if you with the right company.

b757

Shannon757 wrote: »

What would you do if you were Aer Lingus CEO?

I would completely overhaul the fleet.
Replace the short haul fleet with Embraer 170/190
Replace the long haul fleet with 787s

(In an ideal world):D

Have lower PAX numbers and drive the cost's up the wall? I don't think so.

The idea of the common TR around the whole fleet is genius. I'd leave the fleet the way it is, bar from getting in some extra 332's and 321's for short term expansion. All well and good having a fleet of the aircraft you would like, and not have to worry about costs.

The one thing I would try to sort out those unions and the pension deficit, don't ask me how though. :P

afatbollix

Id open more Long haul to USA using pre clearance.

I like the idea of using small prop planes to keep the frequency up between Dublin and the UK. If you lived in New castle you might as well fly to Dublin first to go to the states.

I would also up the stakes with the luxury market. Emirates just opened a first class seat that costs $55,000 to fly in and people will pay that! Even if they went with a good first class and did it well they would have best first out of Ireland. I think they have the best business class on a plane out of Ireland at the moment but they do lack in the airport.

highlydebased

I wouldn't replace the A320s but I think there is a place for the likes of the E190s and most probably operated by ASL or whoever.

man98

I'd order the A321NEO-LR to replace 757s as thry age and possibly get A318s in for the short term, base in Knock/ Shannon/ Cork to up frequencies (LGW probably, probably pioneer some new routes).

Tenger

b757 wrote: »

....The one thing I would try to sort out those unions and the pension deficit, don't ask me how though. :P

Pretty much already done. Hence the IAG bid, they were waiting for the pension deal to go through.
As for unions....it takes 2 to tango. Some people are good at leadership and influencing....others are worse mngrs than David Brent.

man98 wrote: »

I'd order the A321NEO-LR to replace 757s as thry age and possibly get A318s in for the short term, .....

I predict a confirmation of this sometime in 2015. I expect it will be part of a new A320 family order for fleet renewal over the 2019-2025 timeframe.
A318's are not in the mix, they are not cost effective.
A320/A321/A319 is enough capacity flexibility. Shorthaul fleet numbers to remain stable till 2020.

daveyeh

<SNIP>

Thanks for your input, it was in no way constructive. Anymore and it will be a ban from A&A

Jamie2k9

man98 wrote: »

I'd order the A321NEO-LR to replace 757s as thry age and possibly get A318s in for the short term, base in Knock/ Shannon/ Cork to up frequencies (LGW probably, probably pioneer some new routes).

Sorry I may be mistaken but the title is how would you run EI and Not how would you run EI into the ground! :rolleyes:

I don't believe there is major difference between A318/9/20 from an operational view, yes some crew savings.

EI need to improve LF's by 10%+ outside of May-September!

TheBoss11

I'd definitely expand my fleet. Bring in 10 new aircraft on lease and test new routes to see how profitable they are. A couple of long haul routes to south africa, Brazil, Asia ect. Make a few more destinations in Europe. Offer first class on the long haul. I'd definitely be taking in a regular amount of cadets each year too

ProfessorPlum

If I was EI CEO - I'd be finding a nice luxury city pad in KL, and a knock out beach house down the coast.

Tenger

TheBoss11 wrote: »

I'd definitely expand my fleet. Bring in 10 new aircraft on lease and test new routes to see how profitable they are. A couple of long haul routes to south africa, Brazil, Asia ect. Make a few more destinations in Europe. Offer first class on the long haul. I'd definitely be taking in a regular amount of cadets each year too

-10 new aircraft is a 20% increase: Pretty risky move in aviation, especially as short term leasing is expensive.
-New routes: Route launches are based on statistics on pax bookings. EI are all about reinforcing success at the moment. 1 longhaul per year is pretty sound.
-First Class: no need, demand is for J Class. I would have a Y+ product on shorthaul.
-Cadets: They may well keep it up,its in its 3rd year now.

N64

Start including one bit of checked in luggage for European destinations in the ticket price. SAS do this and it made me choose them over FR when I was flying to Oslo.

Cessna_Pilot

If I was EI CEO I'd be a Boeing 747-259B

L1011

I'd be seeing if going back in to oneworld would keep IAG off my back

Davidth88

I would build on the Trans Atlantic Business . Dublin/Shannon has a huge advantage because of the pre-clearance . I am not sure what the capacity is for that , or if the US would be willing to expand that .

Aircraft wise , stick with the single model they way they are .



( of course I would also be tempted to take the BA money and run to the hills !! )

AndyBoBandy

I'd call Michael O'Leary and offer him the airline, putting in place some sort of legal binding agreement that the 2 airlines cannot be merged for a period of at least 20 years.

I'd then, with the purchasing power of Ryanair behind me (or even without the Ryanair takeover), expand the long haul fleet and begin offering long haul services from U.K. airports to America & Aisa.

I'd then give all the Gold Circle members free flights for life (Can you tell I'm a member?)

TheBoss11

Tenger wrote: »

-10 new aircraft is a 20% increase: Pretty risky move in aviation, especially as short term leasing is expensive.
-New routes: Route launches are based on statistics on pax bookings. EI are all about reinforcing success at the moment. 1 longhaul per year is pretty sound.
-First Class: no need, demand is for J Class. I would have a Y+ product on shorthaul.
-Cadets: They may well keep it up,its in its 3rd year now.

It's all about moving forward, no fun playing it "safe". Ryanair wouldn't be where it is now without taking risks. I think there would be a fairly decent demand for routes like Brazil and SA. Cadets will be ending in the next year or two, it's not something that will continue every year.

jaymcg91

TheBoss11 wrote: »

It's all about moving forward, no fun playing it "safe". Ryanair wouldn't be where it is now without taking risks. I think there would be a fairly decent demand for routes like Brazil and SA. Cadets will be ending in the next year or two, it's not something that will continue every year.

Brazil definitely, Dublin is crawling with Brazilians at the moment!

L1011

L1011 wrote: »

I'd be seeing if going back in to oneworld would keep IAG off my back

Right, after the trip in to work, a few others:

1: A working FFP would be important - if these are run right they're revenue neutral or better. Long established FFPs have been sold to third parties for huge sums due to the value of the data as well as their profit margin. Critical to pull TATL business passengers via DUB from other hubs

2: A small number of EJets with a franchise carrier (either Stobart or a new one) to return some of the routes which were mainline and went Regional for frequency to jet service with existing frequency - so a minor capacity increase as well. Freed up ATRs to allow frequency or new services for Stobart under Regional.

3: An extensive sales campaign to passengers using KLM's UK regional services to connect TATL.

4: Maintain sustained growth of TATL destinations and capacity; maybe a little more than was done this year per year going forward.

5: Seriously investigate a Euro-biz product on shorthaul, or selected shorthaul.

roundymac

N64 wrote: »

Start including one bit of checked in luggage for European destinations in the ticket price. SAS do this and it made me choose them over FR when I was flying to Oslo.

You have that option with EI when you are booking. 1 bag and seat selection as well, first option flight only, second flight, bag, and seat, third flexi.

Tenger

TheBoss11 wrote: »

It's all about moving forward, no fun playing it "safe". Ryanair wouldn't be where it is now without taking risks.....

Quite a difference from "moving forward" and "taking risks". I would see new longhaul routes and upgrading capacity/frequency on existing as moving forward. More shorthaul expansion would be nice to see.

L1011 wrote: »

......
5: Seriously investigate a Euro-biz product on shorthaul, or selected shorthaul.

Expect to see a limited trial version on EI.com over the next few weeks:
2-2 config, free checked bag, lounge access fully flex ticket, comp onboard products.

IRLConor

jaymcg91 wrote: »

Brazil definitely, Dublin is crawling with Brazilians at the moment!

Could they make that work with a 330 and reasonable loads? It's a longer hop than SFO.

If you were aiming at an immigrant market would it not make more sense to go for China? More people, probably more business travellers, probably more cargo opportunities and the chance of some codeshares to feed people onwards to Australia.

goingnowhere

IRLConor wrote: »

Could they make that work with a 330 and reasonable loads? It's a longer hop than SFO.

1000km more to get to GIG than SFO, within range of 330-200 alright
ETOPS isn't a issue as BA manage on 777's
No visa issues

Better than some other options, but as EI is running 90%+ load factors TATL even after adding 3 aircraft in a year, whats the point?

That said this business option from EI is doomed to failure, very few companies will pay for business on short haul anymore. Only really useful to drive TATL connecting business traffic.

Tenger

goingnowhere wrote: »

....That said this business option from EI is doomed to failure, very few companies will pay for business on short haul anymore. Only really useful to drive TATL connecting business traffic.

Doesn't have to be 'Business class', just a premium economy option. Offer it as a 'business flex ticket'.... lounge access, fast track, middle seat empty, free hot beverage and snack onboard, guaranteed GC points, free checked in bag. This isn't much more than what some tickets already offer you. And it has to be more than the FR option to maintain the product/airline differentiation gap.

goingnowhere

EI's flex fare basically matches Ryanair's business offering

Anything which is assigned a business class fare bucket won't appear on my corporate booking engine, anything called 'Business' with an economy class will result in a red flag later unless I can show it was the cheapest seat at time of booking.

This is the 21st century, few companies will send anyone in business for a short hop, mine would send folks to Australia in economy. Civil service rules are business only if segment is 6+ hours. So great for high rollers on TATL connecting but unlikely to a big hit.

The empty middle seat is something EI's computers appear to try to keep free if a GC member is seated in the row, if an empty row is available I'm regularly offered it after boarding complete.

EI's business sell is early morning out and evening return from many key destinations, that's what they need to focus on.

eatmyshorts

goingnowhere wrote: »

Anything which is assigned a business class fare bucket won't appear on my corporate booking engine, anything called 'Business' with an economy class will result in a red flag later unless I can show it was the cheapest seat at time of booking.

This is the 21st century, few companies will send anyone in business for a short hop, mine would send folks to Australia in economy. Civil service rules are business only if segment is 6+ hours. So great for high rollers on TATL connecting but unlikely to a big hit.

Except that not everyone travelling in business class is doing so on the back of a company account. Plenty of us do it from our own pocket so as not to have to endure cattle-class.

goingnowhere

eatmyshorts wrote: »

Except that not everyone travelling in business class is doing so on the back of a company account. Plenty of us do it from our own pocket so as not to have to endure cattle-class.

That's true, but EI has been canvasing business folks and corporate accounts recently about this.

Business folks are what generates the volume and stability, they will fly in the dead period in January and February where load factors can be 30%. The SFO route depended on corporate travel commitments to get it back to take an edge off the risk.

Deep Thought

Buy Ryanair

Locker10a

goingnowhere wrote: »

EI's flex fare basically matches Ryanair's business offering

Anything which is assigned a business class fare bucket won't appear on my corporate booking engine, anything called 'Business' with an economy class will result in a red flag later unless I can show it was the cheapest seat at time of booking.

This is the 21st century, few companies will send anyone in business for a short hop, mine would send folks to Australia in economy. Civil service rules are business only if segment is 6+ hours. So great for high rollers on TATL connecting but unlikely to a big hit.

The empty middle seat is something EI's computers appear to try to keep free if a GC member is seated in the row, if an empty row is available I'm regularly offered it after boarding complete.

EI's business sell is early morning out and evening return from many key destinations, that's what they need to focus on.

It works for BA on the London flights, and worked for Bmi before then , works for LH German routes and I see no reason why it couldn't work for EI on London, Amsterdam, Nice, Brussles, Frankfurt and possibly Malaga

markpb

eatmyshorts wrote: »

Except that not everyone travelling in business class is doing so on the back of a company account. Plenty of us do it from our own pocket so as not to have to endure cattle-class.

I suspect people like yourself are very much in the minority.

Locker10a

markpb wrote: »

I suspect people like yourself are very much in the minority.

Then I think you would be surprised !! There are many people out there who spend allot of money on travel for personal reasons ! I know passengers who travel on the same flight twice a month in the same (premium) seat they are a couple and book about 12 flights on the same route at a time, have the same drink etc. it's a routine for them they are regulars and pay for the extra comfort/convenience certain routes are notorious for these type of travellers and what had been mentioned above with Aer lings could work on certain routes

Calina

eatmyshorts wrote: »

Except that not everyone travelling in business class is doing so on the back of a company account. Plenty of us do it from our own pocket so as not to have to endure cattle-class.

Plenty of us aspire to it, maybe.

Really should try and write a best seller.

goingnowhere

Deep Thought wrote: »

Buy Ryanair

EI considered it once upon a time, believe it or not.

EI did back out of buying an unnamed EU airline recently, never been made public who, Flybe? CityJet?

A319er

CEO missed a chance I feel to really grow EI

TAP CY both for sale and even LOT and others
I was at a meeting once and FR had hit the skids for the second time
Minister wanted EI to buy it £20 mill at the time, we declined,

Then we got kicked out of STN LPL among others ah well, but it was good for competition that FR were rescued

Oh and last thing CEO should do is restore my Sunday Mass extended break time, hate skipping lunch on Sunday's ,

Tenger

A319er wrote: »

...
Oh and last thing CEO should do is restore my Sunday Mass extended break time, hate skipping lunch on Sunday's ,

How are the 80's?

Stovepipe

I'd be gone like a scalded cat; Mueller has delivered the pensions deal (mine is down by at least 20 %, so my retirement is not looking rosy), the unions are essentially dormant or bought out, despite what the Indo might claim, there's a decent cash sum in the bank and the company is ripe for plucking. Mueller wins,Govt get a few hundred million as their cut and O'Leary and the rest make millions, on top of what the increased share price has done for their original investment......downside? the Atlantic fleet is old and needs new metal, so that's got to be financed, but it's not Mueller's problem anymore.

regards
Stovepipe

Duffer2010

Stovepipe wrote: »

I'd be gone like a scalded cat; Mueller has delivered the pensions deal (mine is down by at least 20 %, so my retirement is not looking rosy), the unions are essentially dormant or bought out, despite what the Indo might claim, there's a decent cash sum in the bank and the company is ripe for plucking. Mueller wins,Govt get a few hundred million as their cut and O'Leary and the rest make millions, on top of what the increased share price has done for their original investment......downside? the Atlantic fleet is old and needs new metal, so that's got to be financed, but it's not Mueller's problem anymore.

regards
Stovepipe

The outcome of the pensions deal is very poor quite frankly.

Tenger

Duffer2010 wrote: »

The outcome of the pensions deal is very poor quite frankly.

Unfortunately it depends on your point of view....
the employers get to buy out their liability,
the LRC get to look as if they negotiated a compromise,
the Govt dont get blamed, and lose votes,
the investors dodge a financial bullet,
IAG see their lowhanging sour apple turn sweet overnight,
the unions get to say "they saved 80% of their members pension"


And the union members.....well arent they just a temporary annoyance to the middle mgmt.

roundymac

@ stovepipe, get an AVC fast and start pumping whatever spare cash you have into it. It's tax deductable, only drawback is you pay tax at the high rate when you go to draw down, if you have a good pension advisor (few & far) you should be ok though.
Apologies for going off thread.

Van.Bosch

If the IAG thing didn't come off I'd look to merge with Finnair. Send pax west via Dub and East via Helsinki.

Tenger

Van.Bosch wrote: »

If the IAG thing didn't come off I'd look to merge with Finnair. Send pax west via Dub and East via Helsinki.

Both airlines are similar in terms of using their geographical position to establish themselves as an alternate hub to their main longhaul destinations.

However this alone is not a sound basis to merge or ally together.

Van.Bosch

Tenger wrote: »

Both airlines are similar in terms of using their geographical position to establish themselves as an alternate hub to their main longhaul destinations.

However this alone is not a sound basis to merge or ally together.

No but fleet commonality also is in play.

Shamrocks320

Open up the cadet pilot sponsorship to the lower class. Ie, lads who cannot get there hands on 25,000 euros. The airline is missing out on potentially brilliant future captains as a lot of poor lads want to be a pilot and aer lingus should make a stand against 9/11 and be the first to bring back sponsorship for normal lads who are not wealthy but would be good aviators. I know a good few young lads who hang out at the local airstrips who would love aer lingus but they can't even borrow 2,000 never mind 25,000.

Tenger

Shamrocks320 wrote: »

Open up the cadet pilot sponsorship to the lower class. Ie, lads who cannot get there hands on 25,000 euros. The airline is missing out on potentially brilliant future captains as a lot of poor lads want to be a pilot and aer lingus should make a stand against 9/11 and be the first to bring back sponsorship for normal lads who are not wealthy but would be good aviators. I know a good few young lads who hang out at the local airstrips who would love aer lingus but they can't even borrow 2,000 never mind 25,000.

I believe that the loan of Eur25K was backed up by EI. As in they confirm to the bank that it was for cadetship rather than getting a souped up car?

If you are good enough to get to the last 50 in a campaign of 3000 you will also be able enough to sit down and chat to your bank manager, make them see that you are a good option. And for anyone who has been looking for this opportunity for years then they will have (hopefully) made some planns to this end (as in part time work and saving for future PPL/CPL)

Stovepipe

I agree completely. Focusing on the 25K is the wrong thing to do; better to aim at getting the interview as if you have already spoken to the bank manager and the 25 is in the pocket, rather than thinking negatively. If you rock up with a cadetship offer, the bank will throw money at you, as they love EI pilots as customers. Any of the cadets that I have met since in work have said so. The 25K is a side issue.

Razor44

Stovepipe wrote: »

I agree completely. Focusing on the 25K is the wrong thing to do; better to aim at getting the interview as if you have already spoken to the bank manager and the 25 is in the pocket, rather than thinking negatively. If you rock up with a cadetship offer, the bank will throw money at you, as they love EI pilots as customers. Any of the cadets that I have met since in work have said so. The 25K is a side issue.

Just on the point of banks wanting to lone money to cadets.....id find it hard to believe and/or bad business that they wouldn't get the cash, considering im a mature law student and the bank are happy to give me 10k with out really asking questions. notwithstanding my job ops are far smaller then a EI cadet.

TheBoss11

EI didn't back any of the cadets loans in the past few years, it's totally up to the applicant and this is outlined during the process

Growler!!!

TheBoss11 wrote: »

EI didn't back any of the cadets loans in the past few years, it's totally up to the applicant and this is outlined during the process

I think what he means is, that EI will give the successful applicant a letter stating they have been accepted on a cadetship.

Shamrocks320 wrote: »

The airline is missing out on potentially brilliant future captains as a lot of poor lads want to be a pilot

Many of those who were unsuccessful over the years but were truly determined to fly commercially have gained their licences and have become captains and F/O's with other airlines.

The DE route is still open if EI is your ultimate goal.