Aer Lingus Fleet/Routes Discussion

The next A330 for Aer Lingus, EI-EIN has just completed another test flight. It now totals three test flights covering 5h 18 mins in duration. By comparison EI-EIM had two flights lasting 6h 7min in total. Pretty sure that should be it for EI-EIN and delivery will follow shortly.

No sign of EI-EIM leaving BRU yet or EI-LRD (A321LR) having its first flight.

In livery news, EI-EDS is back from Shannon in its new colours and was replaced by EI-DEC which positioned last night.

The remaining four A321LR due this year have yet to appear in the production list. The current batch first appeared in the list some time in early Spring last year, I think it was March so lets hope they appear soon!

Tenger wrote: »

No info on airframes.org.
Not that this means it isnt on the IAA register.

What is its current QR reg?

A7-AEH

LXFlyer wrote: »

DUB/LAX/DUB - EI145/144 to EI069/068

Nice.

Aviation2K16 wrote: »

Thanks-Seen SNN was meant to have 2 based from 04 March when they start to operate the morning LHR as well. It must have been pushed out.

SNN already has 2 based A321NEOs, JFK started back on the 13th of February. A321NEO is starting on the 4th of March

LXFlyer wrote: »

I see a little rejigging of the sequencing of the Aer Lingus flight numbers is going taking place when the summer timetables kick in from March 29, using free numbering that was previously used for domestic routes.

The North America west coast flights will change as below:

DUB/LAX/DUB - EI145/144 to EI069/068
DUB/SFO/DUB - EI146/147 to EI061/060
DUB/SEA/DUB - EI142/143 to EI053/052

Incidentally, the basic pattern of Aer Lingus flight numbering was established by former Taoiseach Garrett Fitzgerald when he worked for Aer Lingus donkey's years ago.

What's the significance of the decision to change these flight numbers or why would they even bother...?

MICKEYG wrote: »

Thanks for the info. Just wondering what operational benefit is it to have the flight numbers aligned like this.
Could they just not add new flight numbers ad-hoc?
Not trying to be difficult but I am interested in who benefits from aligned numbers and/or the downside of the current numbering.
It is the same number of numbers available either way.

The sequencing brings rhyme to the reasoning in flight numbers. Eastbound departures are comprised of even numbers and conversely westbound departures are oddly numbered. In addition to this, flights numbers pertaining to the same routing / point-to-point are generally numbered in sequential blocks which helps capture frequency of services. I.e. you will observe in high frequency routes that flight numbers ascend as the day progresses.

Taking your typical DUB-LHR daily schedule will kick off with the 152 early morning service ex DUB and as the day goes on each LHR flight will be numbered 154/156/158/162/164...178/184/186. Meanwhile the alternating services from LHR to DUB sequence from 149/151/153...175/177/179 etc.

You will see likewise across the network such as 602/4/8/610 for AMS. On thinner routes with just 2 services a day (morning and evening) you can observe that the morning departure is numbered at the lower end of the block whilst the late evening one is higher. I.e. morning Berlin rotation is 330/1 whereas the evening one is 338/9 - arguably having logical scope to add addition frequencies during the day within the block. Bucket and spade routes have similar convention applied such as FAO/AGP/PMI which may have seasonal frequency and capacity changes.

North American flights have a noteworthy exception to the ascending flight number practise as the corresponding return flight back to Ireland is the lower consecutive number I.e. 105 DUB JFK returns as 104 service the same day (local time). I would theory that this is to capture the local time offset for GMT as the inbound service (often landing next day GMT) has occurred prior to the departure of the daily outbound in UTC. The ascending flight number convention for departures isn’t compromised by this. I.e 137/139 for morning and afternoon BOS bound flights which conversely return to Dublin as 136/138 respectively.

kevinandrew wrote: »

EI-EIM has arrived home in Dublin.

It features the same cabin as the other newer A333s, so all over green and not grey/beige and lime trim like the A321LR which is a shame as I thought that was going to be the new standard.

Weird... Shame (with all the cost/effort with brand/repaint/uniforms)... Hoped this was the final piece of the jigsaw... But thanks

Most new widebodys of other airlines have slimline seats. I find the ones on Uniteds 787-10 to be quite uncomfortable.

To be honest I'm not a fan of the lime green piping, it reminds me of a cheap set of car seat covers from Halfords. The plain green seats will probably age better. I like the idea of an Irish tweed style pattern on the seats but I dont think the colour combo that was picked on the A321LRs works well.