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

kevinandrew

Focusing or retreating to where you make the most profit is a great strategy in the short term but leaves them wide open to competition with nowhere to else to go. The current short haul strategy means they can't compete with the European legacies on product, loyalty or frequency, and can't compete with Ryanair on cost.

The summer sun market is big enough for two major carriers, a third would likely devestate Aer Lingus. Even then, any new summer routes Aer Lingus attempt, Ryanair quickly replicates.

Returning to Central and Eastern Europe or Scandinavia in their current form would obviously be a disaster but the fact they couldn't make these routes work or felt the need to retreat to reliable markets proves there's an underlying issue with the business that needs to be adressed or they'll eventually face them again in the remaining markets they've become reliant on.

Fleet, product and brand position all need attention in Europe. Unfortunately IAG only wants to see the bottom line, they'll never want to invest in Aer Lingus short haul enough to see the significant change needed imo. The drip feed of A320neo's, just 8 in 5 years and almost exclusively for Heathrow, speaks for itself.

Shamrockj

And yet LOT didn’t last on WAW-DUB with either the E190 / 737. Ryanair is extremely aggressive on flights to Eastern Europe and will just drop prices to run away competition the same as they did with Wizz out of Cork.

john boye

I'd imagine it's partly to put football fans from countries they don't want visitors from off going to the World Cup.