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

Now my turn to eat humble pie. I thought it was AL who operated the journey. Am I right to say it operated for 2 seasons only. Any idea on load factors?

EDIT: I’m referring to Astral Nav’s post above. Sorry I forgot to add the link to Your post.

Is there any EI chance of a CPT route? Thought EI was primarily focused on connecting North America and Europe??

Most likely not for another several years at least. They would need to upgrade their fleet to do so, and for the meantime will most likely focus on DUB-USA or maybe YVR for A330 expansion, I wouldn’t rule it out in the long term, especially if they could feed in passengers from MAN/EDI etc. but expect them to focus on TA routes for the time being

Ethiopian via Addas would be competitive and comfortable

That is true, unfortunately I don’t see it happening for another several years, though even with less baggage allowance, many would still prefer the convenience of a direct flight, I’m not an expert, but I don’t see them extending outside North America for the forseeable future

The newer HGW 300s would happily make CPT with no performance penalties.

Yes, but do they have enough to focus on leisure routes like CPT. I’m not an expert, but they would most likely focus A330 expansion on cities such as Phoenix, Austin etc. maybe Vancouver or extra frequencies to SEA/SFO/LAX, as they know their market. I doubt IAG would allocate these aircraft to South Africa unless Aer Lingus significantly expands their long haul fleet, or maybe to JNB to feed into ComAir’s network, like BA does, but this would very much be years down the line. I would love to have a route to SA, but for the forseeable future, AL will most likely focus this on North America, where they know their market very well. Never say never, I’m not an expert but Aer Lingus doesn’t expand long haul outside North America for a reason

Where is Irish Steve when you need him to put a ban on CPT talk like the LAS ban!?!? 🤪😉

You could well be right, i know they stopped for an hour or so, but i am/was assuming they took additional/offloaded pax. Curious now myself

They did fly to Dublin from Addis Ababa which was a technical stop off, but they carried passengers from Dublin to Los Angeles (KLAX) and Washington (KIAD) circa 2017/2018.

Both flights departed DUB circa 6.30/7am.

Yes, they had fifth freedom flights on the ADD-DUB-LAX route, when they dropped it in 2018 they instead did DUB-MAD-ADD, which was later rerouted as DUB-BRU-ADD

I know when the summer season starts and I know it's winter seasonal, that's not what I was asking. I asked if AL had the 330 capacity to extend it during S25.

Ah my apologies, not too sure on that one, maybe someone more in the know can answer

Is it time Aer Lingus looked east? There’s surely demand for flights to Southeast Asia, whether for winter sun, holidays, or visiting friends and relatives (VFR). A schedule like Dublin to Hanoi (HAN) on Day 2 and Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) on Day 5 could work, especially if they partnered with travel agents to offer 7, 10, or 14-day packages.

Bangkok (BKK) is an obvious choice, but why stop there? Kuala Lumpur (KUL) and Phuket (HKT) could target holidaymakers, while Manila (MNL) could capture VFR traffic for the large Filipino community in Ireland, maybe stage length getting too long here though. A daily flight to key destinations in Southeast Asia could really open up new opportunities for Aer Lingus.

is there any open source information about passenger flow out for DUB that connect to get to South East Asia, I know GDS providers have it, but I assume that all private / paid for.

yea you are probably right, would just love to see it personally. I agree their product is sub par to any of the gulf carriers, actually nervous at the prospect of them flying to Doha, would be such a downgrade from QR metal.

that said as someone who flies a lot, I’d go direct if I can at all, I’d take ei over qr if it didn’t have a layover