Aer Lingus Fleet/Routes Discussion

adam88

Just a little side question, not worthy of its own thread. Last nights Dublin to kerry flight was cancelled on account of the weather, that’s grand. No problem there. Usually this aircraft overnights and does the early kerry to Dublin flight in the morning, this flew as scheduled. I’m assuming it was flown down empty this morning??

Suppose they have to do a cost benefit to see if it would be worthwhile to again cancel this flight and try to catch up in the afternoon.

Sorry for going off tangent.

Jamie2k9

adam88 wrote: »

Just a little side question, not worthy of its own thread. Last nights Dublin to kerry flight was cancelled on account of the weather, that’s grand. No problem there. Usually this aircraft overnights and does the early kerry to Dublin flight in the morning, this flew as scheduled. I’m assuming it was flown down empty this morning??

Suppose they have to do a cost benefit to see if it would be worthwhile to again cancel this flight and try to catch up in the afternoon.

Sorry for going off tangent.

This mornings KIR-DUB was cancelled.

marno21

adam88 wrote: »

Just a little side question, not worthy of its own thread. Last nights Dublin to kerry flight was cancelled on account of the weather, that’s grand. No problem there. Usually this aircraft overnights and does the early kerry to Dublin flight in the morning, this flew as scheduled. I’m assuming it was flown down empty this morning??

Suppose they have to do a cost benefit to see if it would be worthwhile to again cancel this flight and try to catch up in the afternoon.

Sorry for going off tangent.

Normally when the evening Kerry flight is cancelled there's a positioning flight the following morning to operate the morning flight. Didn't happen today for whatever reason

adam88

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

This mornings KIR-DUB was cancelled.

Okay. Cheers. Local radio states it was being operated as normal. Makes sense to what I thought would happen that they’d just wait and play catch up in the afternoon.

EIMH

2 new A300-300 for Aer Lingus according to Airbus a330 production list
Will be MSN 1950 & 1951

NH2013

EIMH wrote: »

2 new A300-300 for Aer Lingus according to Airbus a330 production list
Will be MSN 1950 & 1951

From the look of the list they'll be the last two A330 Ceo's produced before production goes all A330Neo.

goingnowhere

That could be interesting as EI was among the very first A330-300 CF6 operators.

Shamrockj

I've seen it discussed that one of the two new A330-300 will be replacing a -200 any guesses which one? Maybe
-LAX or -EWR. Do people think the extra 330 will be for new routes or increased frequencies?

Van.Bosch

Shamrockj wrote: »

I've seen it discussed that one of the two new A330-300 will be replacing a -200 any guesses which one? Maybe
-LAX or -EWR. Do people think the extra 330 will be for new routes or increased frequencies?

I’d guess Denver or potentially an upgrade of one of the 757/A321 routes if demand is there to free up an aircraft to start somewhere like Cleveland.

Only guessing though. If Frequency updates, what do we think would get it? Seattle?

Karl8415

Van.Bosch wrote: »

I’d guess Denver or potentially an upgrade of one of the 757/A321 routes if demand is there to free up an aircraft to start somewhere like Cleveland.

Only guessing though. If Frequency updates, what do we think would get it? Seattle?

If it’s the case that one 330-200 will make way for the new -300 would that indicate that it could be another 242 MTOW as back up for GAJ/GCF and maybe the other -300 could be 233 MTOW

Idbatterim

When are these likely to be delivered?

SweetCaliber

Anyone know the best seats on their 321's? Thanks

Locker10a

SweetCaliber wrote: »

Anyone know the best seats on their 321's? Thanks

Define “best” do you want leg room? Or quick service/ disembarkation?

kevinandrew

Idbatterim wrote: »

When are these likely to be delivered?

I believe the first is due late this year with the second following quickly after in early 2020.

goingnowhere

I'd imagine any further A330-300 will be the HGW model, the reality is every new -300 is a HGW but the cert weight can be less. The most recent 4 are all HGW frames but only 2 are certified for 242.

With SEA, SFO and LAX all needing a crew rest and only 2 -300 with the crew rest it doesn't work out as the older -200 will need to be retired.

-200 GEY and EWR don't have crew rests so they cannot fly beyond ORD but actually have the range to LA and beyond.

So you have a strange fleet with effectively no two aircraft the same which is a nightmare, I'd imagine the goal is to have a west coast -300 fleet with crew rest and east coast -300 without

Karl8415

goingnowhere wrote: »

I'd imagine any further A330-300 will be the HGW model, the reality is every new -300 is a HGW but the cert weight can be less. The most recent 4 are all HGW frames but only 2 are certified for 242.

With SEA, SFO and LAX all needing a crew rest and only 2 -300 with the crew rest it doesn't work out as the older -200 will need to be retired.

-200 GEY and EWR don't have crew rests so they cannot fly beyond ORD but actually have the range to LA and beyond.

So you have a strange fleet with effectively no two aircraft the same which is a nightmare, I'd imagine the goal is to have a west coast -300 fleet with crew rest and east coast -300 without

So with that in mind and seeing that EI have -300’s capable of going to west coast now would u think they might have all 330-300 fleet and no -200 or retain a few with lower cost on running them into new destinations with reduced capacity because if what you read is correct after these 2 arrivals then next step will be for NEO’S because as you say they currently have no 2 the same and if NEO’S start arriving down the line then that’s really going to be interesting

SweetCaliber

Locker10a wrote: »

Define “best” do you want leg room? Or quick service/ disembarkation?

Bit of both tbh, one with a good view of the wing would be nice, or are they mostly all the same?

Cloudio9

SweetCaliber wrote: »

Bit of both tbh, one with a good view of the wing would be nice, or are they mostly all the same?

I guess row 1 is best.

Was in row 10 recently. Great leg room as exit but a saucer size window.

It’s a long plane so getting out can take a while if you’re far down the back.

ohigg84

It all pertains to capacity and season. During the Winter/early Spring season, the A332's DUO, LAX and DAA often ply the DUB-SFO routes, but are almost exclusively deployed on the LAX route/EI 145/44,and the Seattle route /EI 143/142.

The A330-200's are still very reliable, and are impeccably maintained.

Wouldn't it just be pragmatic for EI to replace the older A332's (LAX, EWR, DAA) and source much newer build A332's(with CF6's).

Iberia (a member of IAG) has a sizeable fleet of relatively new build A330-202s, and may replace them with more A350's..

Alternatively, although it would require a lot of training and slightly higher costs in the beginning (short term), perhaps EI would become a pivotal customer for the A330-800. (Only two customers have signed up for this version of the A330 family- Uganda Airlines (2) and Kuwait Airways (8).

I'm sure EI would get a favourable deal if it were to acquire a small batch of these models.

Of course, this is just speculation.

kevinandrew

I think Aer Lingus is likely to go for an all A333 long haul fleet in the future, operating costs between it and the A332 are so similar these days that the lower seat count is nowhere near as much of an advantage as it used to be. 
With that being said Aer Lingus have a decent fleet of -200's which probably have low ownership or favourable lease costs so they'll live on for a good while yet. 
When it comes to new build replacements however, the A333 or even A339 is the most likely winner. There's a reason the A332 and A338 aren't big sellers.

ohigg84

kevinandrew wrote: »

I think Aer Lingus is likely to go for an all A333 long haul fleet in the future, operating costs between it and the A332 are so similar these days that the lower seat count is nowhere near as much of an advantage as it used to be.
With that being said Aer Lingus have a decent fleet of -200's which probably have low ownership or favourable lease costs so they'll live on for a good while yet.
When it comes to new build replacements however, the A333 or even A339 is the most likely winner. There's a reason the A332 and A338 aren't big sellers.

Very true Kevin, but before the HGW version of the A333 was introduced, and that is only a few years ago (2016), A332s were better sellers.


Now that has changed considerably, but the only recent A332s delivered were Iberia, Level, and Tibet Airlines.


I think the A332 will see a lot more years in service with the world's airlines, and I would love to see EI hold onto their's for a few more years.


The A338 still boasts a slightly longer range than the A339, but in hindsight, I do think the A339 will be more successful.

California Dreamer

If -GEY is mainly for DUB-IAD was there a reason it was sent to MIA today and -EWR to IAD?

john boye

I'm still kind of surprised that Airbus went ahead with the A338 given the lack of interest. I'm sure they'll sell a few of the freighter version but I don't know if it'd be enough to justify it. Would the development costs have been low given the similarities with the A339?

Van.Bosch

California Dreamer wrote: »

If -GEY is mainly for DUB-IAD was there a reason it was sent to MIA today and -EWR to IAD?

It seems it doesn’t do IAD on Sundays for some reason.

marno21

Freshly painted EI-CVB re positioning SNN-DUB as EI993 right now.

smurfjed

Where is the crew rest in the A333? Our's only have business seats with a curtain surrounding them with realistically is useless.

Shamrockj

smurfjed wrote: »

Where is the crew rest in the A333? Our's only have business seats with a curtain surrounding them with realistically is useless.

There is a staircase at doors 3 to bring you down to the crew rest area in the hold with beds.

smurfjed

Is that for cockpit and cabin crew?

goingnowhere

The EI fleet is bit of a mess

Some of the -200's have a single bunk behind the cockpit others do not. This in turn means the business class galley is a bit tight and the controls for the Wifi/IFE are at L2 not L1

The crew rest is cargo container loaded which joins up with the magic door down at L3, the -300 fitted have 4 fewer seats as a result

California Dreamer

goingnowhere wrote: »

The EI fleet is bit of a mess

Some of the -200's have a single bunk behind the cockpit others do not. This in turn means the business class galley is a bit tight and the controls for the Wifi/IFE are at L2 not L1

The crew rest is cargo container loaded which joins up with the magic door down at L3, the -300 fitted have 4 fewer seats as a result

-EWR orignally had a 'shed' in the middle of the cabin in the old days before it went off to Air Asia.