Aer Lingus Fleet/ Routes Discussion Pt 2 (ALL possible routes included)

Tea2

Flightradar24 shows what plane will operate what flight the day before and the full route plan for the plane for the day. This means that by about lunchtime you can usually work out which flights are going to run late, hours ahead of any announcement by EI. (It’s not perfect as they will often to a last minute switch when a plane is running late to get back on schedule)

i typically only fly to LHR on EI Mainline, which is essentially hourly, so if i spot my flight will be NSC, I plan to call and ask to switch to an earlier or later flight (I’m Concierge on EI, so same day flight changes are free).

fly with EI almost every week, so it’s worth the small effort of my part to do this to minimise the risk of delays. Their on time performance is appalling this year, so scraping out an hour or two every week like this adds up over time. Not sure I’d bother if I wasn’t flying constantly

Tenger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120908976#Comment_120908976

Aer Lingus never ever announced a route to Vegas. So they never changed their mind.

About 8 years ago, an Indo journalist asked the then CEO about a route to Vegas. He responded with ".....it's certainly an interesting route, and we are looking at all options for new markets...."

Marcusm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120905966#Comment_120905966

If you have a passport card you also have a passport. Just register tha passport details on the app and they never question which document you use!

VG31

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120910326#Comment_120910326

That's why I do and I've never had an issue. They're only really interested in checking that your name matches the boarding pass and that the document hasn't expired.

Murph85

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120908976#Comment_120908976

Yes ... the busiest non served route between Europe and North america, both ways ... It is surprising...

I'd imagine the risk 0f launching it, 3 or 4 times a week, through their dublin hub , while its a massively popular destination, served by four or five other airports from Europe, maybe 2 or 3 of them being hubs, is so risky, it could sink the IAG group...

Van.Bosch

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120911163#Comment_120911163

If they can make more money flying an extra rotation to JFK or SFO that’s what they will do. They have buckets of data on Europe to US demand, people thing it’s a lack of ambition but it’s all about maximising profit.

now you could argue the lack of ambition is not growing faster and adding more planes. Maybe with 5 or so more LH planes, LAS would be the next best option for them.

kevinandrew

Speaking of more planes, I saw an old fleet plan recently from around 2015-2016 which showed the airline had intended for 12 A321LR by 2022.

Obviously the pandemic interrupted things but the fact they had no options or at least haven’t been able/allowed to convert some is a shame, they’ve already had to cut back, postpone and juggle some routes due to this long range narrow body shortage. The likes of DUB-YUL/PIT and MAN-BOS could be operating this summer with that original plan.

Even with the arrival of the A321XLR, by the end of its delivery schedule they’ll only have two more transatlantic narrow bodies than they planned to have in 2022.

Overall, while there appears to have been route and capacity growth across the network, the fleet has remained at around 50 aircraft for the past ten years.

Gary walsh 32

Ei dem still in lanzaorte apparently has avionics problems

SeeMoreBut

Is there any reason why you can’t book more than 330 days in advance on ei unlike fr?

L1011

Their booking computer system being over 60 years old is the limiting factor there I believe.

cson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120911756#Comment_120911756

Growth will be limited by pre clearance capacity imo.

They can launch the likes of CLE/PIT etc with a mid day arrival/late afternoon departure but they'd be mad to put those arriving into the morning bank.

MICKEYG

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120918953#Comment_120918953

It's the departure bank that will have the CBP constraints.

Other than that you have the usual gate issues in the morning. Will be years before that is sorted

Shamrockj

If CBP constraints becomes an issue to growth they could just operate some flights as non CBP and passengers would clear customs in the US

EchoIndia

They could, but that would be to forfeit one of Dublin's advantages for connecting passengers. There would be potential for confusion too as no doubt some passengers would book, assuming they were getting pre-clearance and then find out too late that they weren't.

Shamrockj

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120920706#Comment_120920706

Absolutely it would not be ideal. But if it was between that and not expanding I’m sure they would pick to expand.

possibly Orlando could be non cbp as it’s more leisure based passengers. It doesn’t seem to bother people too much ex Manchester

sherology

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120921243#Comment_120921243

LR/XLR routes to smaller US airports would likely be less prone to stateside CBP delays as one would assume those locations have few international arrivals. CLE/PIT/Hartford etc with ~180 passengers arriving, many US based so less delay again.

moonshy2022

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120921243#Comment_120921243

The last thing parents with kids need after a 9 hr flight is a 60-90 minute wait with exhausted kids waiting to do CBP. I had to do it years ago ex uk and it’s no fun.

Any of the NEO trips should/could be CBP stateside due to lower pax numbers and arriving potentially in to smaller airports.

x567

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120921243#Comment_120921243

Or move it to Shannon. Plenty of CBP capacity and cheaper parking for the leisure market. (Dons tin hat…!)

Noxegon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120920393#Comment_120920393

They used to do that with afternoon flights as I recall; at one point CBP was only available in the morning hours. I seem to recall it on a MCO trip.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120920706#Comment_120920706

I agree, though I'd be quite surprised if that bothered Aer Lingus given that they're willing to put up with the confusion caused by EI-EIL/EI-EIK 😀

Gary walsh 32

Looks like duo is stranded in seattle and dem is still stuck in lanzaorte and I also seen ei daa on flight ei494 to faro does it mean they are short and had to fill in for the a320

kevinandrew

DUO is currently operating back to Dublin as EI990.

dublin12367

I wonder what Aerlingus’ plans are regarding the latest development in Dublin with max 65 nighttime flights. Aerlingus are going to be the most effected by this with late arrivals from Europe, early morning arrivals from US and early morning departures to Europe.

EchoIndia

What about Ryanair? They have lots of late and early flights and were at the forefront of maximising utilisation of their fleet.

dublin12367

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120930269#Comment_120930269

Yes, both are. But this is an EI thread that’s the only reason I focused on Aerlingus. I should have said one of the most effected, rather than most effected. Anyway, if this gets brought in (hopefully not) , I could see Ryanair removing a number of planes from its base in Dublin to other areas. I could also see Aerlingus maybe focus more on Manchester regarding the transatlantic operations.

Locker10a

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120930269#Comment_120930269

No doubt they will go mad over it too but in the winter especially EI have a lot of transatlantics that benefit from favourable winds across the Atlantic and land very early in the morning.

what will they do now?

EchoIndia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120930315#Comment_120930315

It's a movements cap, not a ban. I don't think the transatlantics are the primary issue.

sherology

I don't agree with the restriction especially the 7am morning time limit at a national gateway, as it's totally out-of-line with how airports work and get their fleet into the sky's in the morning; but knowing it exists and allowing a schedule that breaks it is a bit stupid (DAA); unless they're trying to goad action on its change via the media.

I thought this planning rule was changed/relaxed, but then further contested by the residents associations... (Update... Fingal CoCo recommended it be changed but it's still in the planning 'ether'... Jaysus).

What an f'ing mess in what's already a very slow airport. Are they're plans to allow both runways work in parallel for take-offs and landings... During morning first wave at least?

goingnowhere

DAA will go to the high court and get an order and demonstrate the planning condition cannot apply to 28L and no material change has occurred, and undertake to cap the movements at 2019 levels etc..

Gary walsh 32

Looks ei dem is having more problems took off back to dublin but returned back to lanzaorte

bikeman1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120930334#Comment_120930334

Every single flight in or out between 23:00 and 07:00 is an issue. The early transatlantics are exactly the problem. EI have a very near 24 hour operation in the summer months and need to operate without restrictions to make hay while the sun shines.

For the sake of thousands of jobs in Ireland, this ridiculous order must be removed.