Aer Lingus Fleet/Routes Discussion

Van.Bosch wrote: »

That’d be a lot of growth in a small window. Could allow new routes or possibly speed up ending the 757, although would be a huge increase in seats if not needed.

I hope they have lie flat business class seats, not sure we could handle another EI-GEY situation!

Same seats as EI and I think they also have 1-1-1 herringbone.

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Post elsewhere suggesting EI might be in line for a few Jet Airways A330s. The A333 fleet are about 6.5 years old while A332 are more like 10-12. Would do well to secure the 3 300 versions.

I heard last week 2 are lined up....can ya imagine the countless posts here about cabin reconfigs .....be a grand standby cover if they could get them quick

alancostello wrote: »

Do people not read the earlier posts in the thread? This was literally discussed this morning. And I'm assuming the 'elsewhere' is Airliners.net, which referenced that same original post from this morning.

Usually but when there is a Mod warning I don't bother...

alancostello wrote: »

Fair enough, anyway, there are 4 in their former fleet, but the earlier post only mentioned two for EI. With two new builds coming later in the year I can't imagine they're getting 6 total new A330s on top of the A321LRs, unless EI are trying to emulate Etihad and grow completely unsustainably.

Planespotters.net indicate 2 transferred to CDB Aviation so could be those ones.

https://m.planespotters.net/airline/Jet-Airways

The talk I'd heard was that they were two GECAS owned frames that had been signed for by Aer Lingus, haven't heard anything about whether they'd be given the full Aer Lingus kit out and used to launch new routes or if they'd keep their Jet Airways cabins and be used as spares for the time being.

They're apparently booked in for C-Check maintenance as we speak prior to handover so the potential exists to switch them to Aer Lingus standard when that happens, though if the talk surrounding GEY is to be believed there's a global shortage of business class seats at the moment so they may keep the 9W cabin, on the other hand if one is used to replace EI-EWR then perhaps EWRs cabin could be used in one of the new aircraft.

3 extra A330s? But sure they can’t even crew the ones they have already?

Bussywussy wrote: »

4 A330s plus 1 retirement....well what management want and what they get is another issue and it's not just crew

Then however many extra 321LRs too....it's a good thing there's plenty of Crew and Marshallers and Baggage Handlers and gates and apron space already, I mean imagine if lack of these was already causing delays on the winter schedule before the addition of all these new aircra......oh.

sherology wrote: »

When would rumor (all of the above) be confirmed as reality?

Would it make sense to replace all the -200s with the 2 newbies and 2 proported Jet airways leases?

In Toronto on EI-DAA... Perfectly fine aircraft... Toilets though show the frames age... Ick. May be time/opportunitically-the-time to flip to all -300? Would part-solve the crew issue also... Expand seats, not frames.

Anywho... Do let us know if it turns out to be true.

There are a couple of ways to know the ex Jet Airways frames are joining EI, the first would be that the aircraft shows up on property at DUB, the second is that we see the registration change, the third is that EI confirm they’re getting them, the fourth is that they show up in the EI livery somewhere while getting their C-check, and finally we could get a leak from someone at EI that they’re coming (though that is taken at face value until one of the others occurs). Until one or some of those things happen we won’t have any type of confirmation, and all of those could happen up to days before entering service, maybe weeks.

The two new birds are already on the Airbus production list so at a minimum we know they’re coming.

HTCOne wrote: »

Then however many extra 321LRs too....it's a good thing there's plenty of Crew and Marshallers and Baggage Handlers and gates and apron space already, I mean imagine if lack of these was already causing delays on the winter schedule before the addition of all these new aircra......oh.

Haha very true add engineers to that little list too

goingnowhere wrote: »

EWR is a -200 but can only run -300 routes due lack of crew rest and is a bit of an odd ball, same for GEY. Get rid of them ASAP and get a -300

The two new -300's should be HGW with crew rest so can cover LAX/SFO/SEA, that gives 4 -300 to cover 3 9+ hour destinations

Add in the need for a on the ground spare hull in Dublin to avoid the pain of a tech issue messing the schedule up, would likely be a -200.

There is a need for -200's though. Stephen Kavanagh before he left nominated 8 cities on EI's wish list, four of them are 9 hour + (which my understanding of the chat on range is A321xlr territory). '300's might be a bit big to launch to some of these cities.

Sk's interview: https://www.thejournal.ie/aer-lingus-new-canada-flights-2-4234167-Sep2018/

The A319/B737 have flopped for the same reason in recent years, and their NEO/MAX equivalents are sales disasters. The saving in fuel is negligible compared to the lost capacity and increased complexity in fleet planning etc.

The B788 is suffering a similar fate now vs the B789, and the A338 is the most glaring example.

alancostello wrote: »

People seem to forget that the A319 came out 8 years after the original A320, and most deliveries were in the early 2000s so airlines aren't yet considering their replacement as they are for their older A320ceo. Not having many current orders does not mean the A319neo is or will be a flop.

The fact is there were 1,470 A319s delivered (with 1,443 still operational), while the A321 has 1,687 delivered (with 1,665 still operational), a difference of less than 13%, and I don't see anyone calling the A321 a flop? The A319 is valuable to many airlines, EasyJet, the US3, BA, let alone the dozens sold as ACJs.

In recent years airlines have been phasing out A319s in favour of 320s/321s. There's been a general move towards larger aircraft for a number of reasons, such as scope clauses, capacity issues both en-route and at the airfields, pilot shortages and the general health of the aviation market. The 319ceo offers a roughly 12% fuel saving for a roughly 20% reduction in capacity vs the 320ceo. When the market is healthy it doesn't make financial sense to make that sacrifice, especially if you have the scale to justify a second fleet e.g. A220 or Embraer E2 in conjunction with your 737/320 fleet.

If the market tanks, maybe we'll see a resurgence in 319/737 sales. For now the market has spoken...A319neo orders: 55, A320neo orders: 4154, A321neo: 2292

goingnowhere wrote: »

EWR is a -200 but can only run -300 routes due lack of crew rest and is a bit of an odd ball, same for GEY. Get rid of them ASAP and get a -300

I was on EWR this morning. It's better than smelly old GEY but is an obviously inferior aircraft for the consumer, e.g. films were skipping and pausing on everyone's screen.

Aside: the ground staff at IAD were laughably bad. My boarding pass didn't initially print out my Aerclub status and so I couldn't get into the BA Lounge, and when I queried it the gate agent told me the only option was for me to ring Avios. Not even Aer Lingus... Avios! (I disabused him of that notion fairly sharpish.)