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

Stevek101

Anyone know what happen to Split?

Was on sale this morning now sold out till October. Has it been cancelled?

HTCOne

I wonder if the announcement today will result in any of the airframes currently in deep storage to be returned to airworthiness or if they'll play things safe in case there's more lockdowns in the winter.

Jack1985

Statement from EI this evening:

Today’s announcement by Government is a first step on the long road to rebuilding aviation in Ireland. This future lifting of travel restrictions will give the opportunity for people to see friends and families and enjoy a much needed holiday over the latter weeks of the summer.

For a considerable period of time the Irish aviation sector has been seeking a data-driven, risk-based Irish roadmap to reopen international travel and to enable the restoration of connectivity.

The narrative from Government – until today - was that people should not book flights or plan future travel and this has had a profound impact on bookings, and in turn, on Ireland’s international connectivity.

Today consumers have finally been given a green light to begin booking future travel and at Aer Lingus we will be ready to welcome as many customers on board our aircraft as is possible. The reported proposed removal of the US from the Mandatory Hotel Quarantine list from tomorrow is particularly welcome and is sensible. It is now critical that there is a timely and flawless technical implementation by Ireland of the EU Digital COVID Certificate.

However, flying schedules will be a fraction of normal levels for some time to come. While Aer Lingus welcomes the easing of travel restrictions announced today, it will not facilitate a significant level of travel to and from Ireland during the critical summer months of 2021. It is also disappointing that the reopening of the Common Travel Area is delayed and that EU approved rapid antigen testing has not been approved as a standard of pre-departure testing.

With restrictions in place until late July, Aer Lingus will continue to burn a significant amount of cash over the coming months. The cumulative consequences of the crisis over the last 15 months leaves Aer Lingus facing significant restructuring to rebuild its network and financial strength.

Ends/

https://mediacentre.aerlingus.com/news/28052021/aer-lingus-response-to-government-announcement

While relief is palpable that recovery can now get underway, weeks of critical revenue importance have been missed and this is an unwelcome fact. It means after 15 months of significant cash burn, that EI will be subjected to a peak period of 11 weeks also with much smaller levels of capacity than 2019 before arriving into Winter season that generally is loss making particularly on Short-Haul.

Regardless of lockdowns there probably will be significant prolonged or temporary parking during Winter as the unknowns of return of Business Travel and in what quantity remains and many routes would be unjustifiably operated at loss without it.

I've noted that AerClub is being deployed on more routes, US carriers have noted an increase in premium demand post Covid so this is a good move - There is always that segment of the market prepared to pay more for more.

The next few weeks will be interesting.

HTCOne

Winter months are indeed traditionally loss making for most airlines but hopefully this one may be different with all the pent up demand. Fingers crossed. Deciding how much capacity to bring to the market is potentially a difficult call. Not enough and they won't get as much cash in as they could, too much and they'll lose even more money if restrictions are reintroduced at any point.

Jack1985

HTCOne wrote: »

Winter months are indeed traditionally loss making for most airlines but hopefully this one may be different with all the pent up demand. Fingers crossed. Deciding how much capacity to bring to the market is potentially a difficult call. Not enough and they won't get as much cash in as they could, too much and they'll lose even more money if restrictions are reintroduced at any point.

Yep, nightmare to plan with the very variables you outline, but particular moves are being made and will further be announced as EI drifts further into Long-Haul leisure and rightly so. Barbados ex-Manchester is doing well, with Irish punters. December a big date for Long-Haul announcements shortly. I had heard template schedule blocks of e.g., 40%, 50%, 60% etc have been prepared so relatively quickly can be deployed to match demand, more aircraft will be brought back online to make sure the assets are ready and there are lots of resources available to crew services.

I'm slightly nervous as to what axes are going to appear for Staff, they've had as rough a ride as anyone over the last year, any moves to attempt to restructure pay as lean as EI is and remains in the group will be a big stumbling block. More productivity seems inevitable, outsourcing of ground operations unwelcome for a lot of people but pressure being applied regards the latter.

Will SNN ops return this year or will they be canx?

Bitter sweet announcement, good to get a return date but the Aviation industry has been treated so bad during the last year to say the least. Hope things pick up sooner than expected and employees are all ok there.

Jack1985

Avgeek2101 wrote: »

Will SNN ops return this year or will they be canx?

Bitter sweet announcement, good to get a return date but the Aviation industry has been treated so bad during the last year to say the least. Hope things pick up sooner than expected and employees are all ok there.

SNN-LHR will at some point via W-pattern, regional ops later in 2021 I'd image. No TA for 2021.

Focus is on getting Dublin firing on all cylinders and getting the DUB Hub recovered before additional capacity deployed. Summer 2022 for Boston/JFK ex SNN. This may change should demand warrant it, but as present the above would be the current view.

Regrettable to see the loss of such great people in Shannon.

Jack1985

Jack1985 wrote: »

SNN-LHR will at some point via W-pattern, regional ops later in 2021 I'd image. No TA for 2021.

Focus is on getting Dublin firing on all cylinders and getting the DUB Hub recovered before additional capacity deployed. Summer 2022 for Boston/JFK ex SNN. This may change should demand warrant it, but as present the above would be the current view.

Regrettable to see the loss of such great people in Shannon.

Definitely regrettable. Flew SNN JFK with EI pre Covid and the SNN crew were so helpful and great.

Van.Bosch

Jack1985 wrote: »

Statement from EI this evening:



While relief is palpable that recovery can now get underway, weeks of critical revenue importance have been missed and this is an unwelcome fact. It means after 15 months of significant cash burn, that EI will be subjected to a peak period of 11 weeks also with much smaller levels of capacity than 2019 before arriving into Winter season that generally is loss making particularly on Short-Haul.

Regardless of lockdowns there probably will be significant prolonged or temporary parking during Winter as the unknowns of return of Business Travel and in what quantity remains and many routes would be unjustifiably operated at loss without it.

I've noted that AerClub is being deployed on more routes, US carriers have noted an increase in premium demand post Covid so this is a good move - There is always that segment of the market prepared to pay more for more.

The next few weeks will be interesting.

Even though the peak season is much smaller, the fact people are booking again will get cash flow going again which must be a good thing. Some bargain fares to London seem to be gone which indicates demand or a perceived demand. The ambiguity around the UK won’t help though - there was talk that PCR would still be needed from UK if vaccinated, although I see the undo said they were “recommended”.

Jack1985

Van.Bosch wrote: »

Even though the peak season is much smaller, the fact people are booking again will get cash flow going again which must be a good thing. Some bargain fares to London seem to be gone which indicates demand or a perceived demand. The ambiguity around the UK won’t help though - there was talk that PCR would still be needed from UK if vaccinated, although I see the undo said they were “recommended”.

The requirement that Children 7-18 be subject PCR unless vaccinated will be an expensive stumbling prohibition to travel for families. It's quite remarkable that the West seems intent on vaccinating this age cohort as older people around the world remain unable to get access to vaccines, an MEP stated last night that this is not acceptable and that Children should not be subject to testing.

It's deeply frustrating that even Antigen testing still remains off the Gov's radar at the behest of NPHET.

duskyjoe2

Jack1985 wrote: »

It's deeply frustrating that even Antigen testing still remains off the Gov's radar at the behest of NPHET.

It’s a smoke and mirrors block or impediment- this 17th July freedom to travel is not what it seems….. lots of barriers remain in place

VG31

MXP seems to have been dropped completely. I was looking at flights from there yesterday and they're gone now.

Jamie2k9

VG31 wrote: »

MXP seems to have been dropped completely. I was looking at flights from there yesterday and they're gone now.

They have taken most regional Italian, French and Croatian routes off sale so clearly going to do a schedule reshuffle.

Poor from EI considering all the certainty calls, they got it and immediately zeroed out routes. They knew about 18th well before yesterday and are still not prepared.

VG31

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

They have taken most regional Italian, French and Croatian routes off sale so clearly going to do a schedule reshuffle.

Poor from EI considering all the certainty calls, they got it and immediately zeroed out routes. They knew about 18th well before yesterday and are still not prepared.

I ended up booking with LH instead. Linate is still there but the times don't suit.

I probably would have booked with LH anyway as there is a far lower chance of the flights being cancelled (and it was cheaper). The same goes for AF and KL. It's really putting me off booking EI flights for the time being.

IngazZagni

VG31 wrote: »

I ended up booking with LH instead. Linate is still there but the times don't suit.

I probably would have booked with LH anyway as there is a far lower chance of the flights being cancelled (and it was cheaper). The same goes for AF and KL. It's really putting me off booking EI flights for the time being.

Ryanair now operate Malpensa on top of their Bergamo route and are putting loss leading fares on it.
Didn't Aer Lingus get more Linate slots? They may stick with multiple daily Linate vs splitting between Malpensa and Linate.

Jack1985

IngazZagni wrote: »

Ryanair now operate Malpensa on top of their Bergamo route and are putting loss leading fares on it.
Didn't Aer Lingus get more Linate slots? They may stick with multiple daily Linate vs splitting between Malpensa and Linate.

I was thinking as much, EI may be deferring the following routes that had been planned for the reduced S21 schedule which are now currently off-sale until possibly Summer 2022 when the market should be more resilient;

DUB: AHO, BDS, BLQ, CTA, GVA, MXP, PSA, PUY, SPU, ZRH
ORK: ACE, AMS, DBV

VG31

Jack1985 wrote: »

I was thinking as much, EI may be deferring the following routes that had been planned for the reduced S21 schedule which are now currently off-sale until possibly Summer 2022 when the market should be more resilient;

DUB: AHO, BDS, BLQ, CTA, GVA, MXP, PSA, PUY, SPU, ZRH
ORK: ACE, AMS, DBV

ZRH is an odd one. I would have thought there'd be enough off-season demand. It's not exactly a summer destination by any means.

Jack1985

VG31 wrote: »

ZRH is an odd one. I would have thought there'd be enough off-season demand. It's not exactly a summer destination by any means.

Same, here as it stands no service at all to Switzerland. No Canaries services offered by either EI/FR from Cork this Summer.

LXFlyer

Jack1985 wrote: »

Same, here as it stands no service at all to Switzerland. No Canaries services offered by either EI/FR from Cork this Summer.

SWISS are still serving Zurich from Dublin.

Jack1985

EI have GVA/ZRH now resuming from 27/08, all of the other routes referred to remain off sale UFN. There are Long-Haul services also resuming on that date, so they appear to be aligning heavy connecting European services with TA resumption that don't particularly rely on leisure travel.

For long haul will EI resume LAX & SEA for W21/22? I see EWR,IAD,SFO & YYZ resume before that.

Is it a case of getting the routes the NEO can operate going first?

blackwhite

Jack1985 wrote: »

I've noted that AerClub is being deployed on more routes, US carriers have noted an increase in premium demand post Covid so this is a good move - There is always that segment of the market prepared to pay more for more.

Not hard to imagine that more people will be willing to pay a premium for an empty seat beside them for some time to come.

Stevek101

Any update on the routes that were taken off sale.

Some seem to be getting refunds when calling support. Doesn't look good taking bookings for cancelled flights and leaving them off sale rather than cancelled.

Tenger

Saw on twitter earlier that EI-LRF is in full colours and was taxiing around XFW. (presumably was on a pre delivery test flight)

That the 8th and last of the current batch of A321LR for Aer Lingus.

Astral Nav

Tenger wrote: »

Saw on twitter earlier that EI-LRF is in full colours and was taxiing around XFW. (presumably was on a pre delivery test flight)

That the 8th and last of the current batch if A321LR for Aer Lingus.

6th surely?

Tenger

Astral Nav wrote: »

6th surely?

You would think that. (6th in sequence but 8th delivered)

LRG and LRH were delivered a few weeks ago.
Unspecified additional work needed.

California Dreamer

Side note seeing as how she had a direct line to EI.

Ingrid Miley retiring.

Some personal news ... today is my last day with #RTE after too many years to count. Thanks to all the wonderful colleagues and friends I’ve worked with in radio television and news - and to all who trusted me to tell their stories. Still excited to go to work on the last day...

Jamie2k9

The next A321 NEO European routes are:

Rome - 06.20
Paris - 06.40
London LHR - 07.30 (already operating)
Lanzarote - 14.40

Extra A333 to Faro also.

Nibs05

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

The next A321 NEO European routes are:

Rome - 06.20
Paris - 06.40
London LHR - 07.30 (already operating)
Lanzarote - 14.40

Extra A333 to Faro also.

Any dates for commencement ?

trellheim

I see a 330 on DUB-LHR this evening - freight ? looking at the history on FR24 it did the same run last Monday too (EI-EIM)