Kaitak From Ireland, joined Aug 1999, 11361 posts, RR: 40 Posted (7 years 8 months 3 weeks 2 days 7 hours ago) and read 1049 times:
According to a report in the Irish aviation magazine, Irish Air Letter, the Aer Lingus business plan does not include any increase in Aer Lingus's long haul fleet until 2007, due to the problems with US access. (This also suggests that expansion on other long haul routes is out of the question during this period - such as CPT, SIN, HKG, as had previously been rumoured).
This, to use an American expression, sucks. :-(( In fact, "sucks" just doesn't cover it. We handed over authority (not that we had much of a choice) to the EU in the hope that it would come to an agreement with the EU; instead, it got bogged down in cabotage and between one thing and another, the whole thing got caught up in the US election and probably won't come to a conclusion until next year at least.
Aer Lingus had hoped to introduce new US flights in the near future and had even said it would increase its US routes with three new daily flights if it got the green light.
So, where does this leave us? What are the options. Well, first of all, it means that US carriers like US, CO and DL are stuck operating into Shannon for the next three years (assuming US lasts that long). Are they happy to do this? I think not; all three would rather fly to Dublin alone and perhaps increase services to this airport. If these three carriers (or even DL/CO alone), it might put the Irish government in a position where it had to do something and therefore had to enter into emergency negotiations with the US. The effect on Irish tourism of both these carriers pulling out (and US collapsing) would not be acceptable. There is an EU regulation which relates to individual EU states entering into negotiations with the US (or indeed, any other country), but it relates to a situation where EU negotiations are ongoing. Are they now? Are they talking? No - the whole process is stopped, so it should be possible for the Irish government to enter into negotiations with the US, particularly if it were forced by circumstances to do so - realistically, they will only act if forced to do so.
MAH4546 From Sweden, joined Jan 2001, 30437 posts, RR: 77 Reply 1, posted (7 years 8 months 3 weeks 2 days 7 hours ago) and read 1008 times:
Aer Lingus has been wanting to add Miami and San Francisco to their US network, but they are not allowed to under the US-Ireland bilatteral. If Ireland would agree to drop the 50/50 Shannon rule, then this would likely change.
Whitehatter From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 3, posted (7 years 8 months 3 weeks 2 days 6 hours ago) and read 973 times:
El-Al
To put it simply it's a rule that states
"If you want to serve Dublin you mist also serve Shannon"
The Irish Government established it many years ago for mainly economic reasons. That part of Ireland was extremely poor, and direct air service to SNN was perceived as helping the local economy.
Trident2e From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2003, 1327 posts, RR: 10 Reply 4, posted (7 years 8 months 3 weeks 2 days 6 hours ago) and read 962 times:
Kaitak - I think your criticism of the EU is a little too harsh. MAH4546 highlights the real problem here and that is entirely within the control of the Irish government. If Ireland wants to protect Shannon then it has to accept the negative aspects of doing so.
Kaitak From Ireland, joined Aug 1999, 11361 posts, RR: 40 Reply 5, posted (7 years 8 months 3 weeks 2 days 6 hours ago) and read 932 times:
I wish it were, Trident2e, but the reality of the situation is that the Irish govt CANNOT enter into negotiations with the US without the approval of the EU, which it is unlikely to obtain; thus, the only way forward is to find a way to force the issue. I don't think the government is going to do this, so how do we find a way forward? Get the airlines to act.
JoFMO From Germany, joined Jul 2004, 2211 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (7 years 8 months 3 weeks 2 days 5 hours ago) and read 900 times:
Maybe it's a little bit late for the Irish government to cry! They had enought time to overcome their silly Shannon rule. Now its too late and they have to wait for an EU/US bilateral agreement.
Like Mr. Gorbatshow said: "Who comes too late is procecuted by live!"
PHLapproach From Philippines, joined Mar 2004, 1131 posts, RR: 28 Reply 7, posted (7 years 8 months 3 weeks 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 858 times:
I remember hearing a while ago about EI being interested in coming to PHL. All of us over here would love to have them. Do any employees or anybody know how this route is coming along. I would greatly appreciate it.
ERJ170 From United States of America, joined Apr 2004, 6511 posts, RR: 21 Reply 8, posted (7 years 8 months 3 weeks 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 848 times:
Bring the Green Clover to RDU!!! Nothing but Green lights all the way.. and that would be teh honest truth!
Trident2e From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2003, 1327 posts, RR: 10 Reply 9, posted (7 years 8 months 3 weeks 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 841 times:
JoFMO - I think you're absolutely right. Successive Irish governments have had years to do something about the Shannon situation and now they can't we have Irish citizens blaming the EU!
MAH4546 From Sweden, joined Jan 2001, 30437 posts, RR: 77 Reply 10, posted (7 years 8 months 3 weeks 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 840 times:
I remember hearing a while ago about EI being interested in coming to PHL. All of us over here would love to have them. Do any employees or anybody know how this route is coming along. I would greatly appreciate it.
Philadelphia, Dallas, and Orlando have been the other three destinations EI has shown serious interest in. However, as long as US Airways is flying to Ireland, it is unlikely.
If you notice, on EI's website on the first page, if you book a flight, they restrict the destinations on the drop down list to city's they serve. However, they make four exceptions: MIA, PHL, SAN, and SFO. No doubt about it, they probably are looking closely at just how many people select those destiantions.
SHUPirate1 From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 3628 posts, RR: 21 Reply 11, posted (7 years 8 months 3 weeks 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 811 times:
Question about US/Ireland-what if US Airways tried some flights such as the following, with an A-319 (I'll explain why the routing in a second):
Friday: BOS 1900-DUB 0730+1 US126
Saturday: DUB 0830-SNN 0915 US 147
Saturday: SNN 1045-LGA 1305 US 147
Saturday: LGA 1350-IND 1550 US 147
Saturday: IND 1635-LGA 1835 US 142
Saturday: LGA 1920-SNN 0640+1 US 142
Sunday: SNN 0810-DUB 0855 US 142
Sunday: DUB 0940-BOS 1310 US 129
The idea here is that the BOS-DUB and DUB-BOS flights would have their own flight number, whereas DUB-SNN-LGA-IND would have a flight number for themselves, and the same for IND-LGA-SNN-DUB...the reason for the routing is because LGA can only fly outside of their "perimeter" on Saturday, and only to Shannon, which has pre-clearance facilities...
[Edited 2004-09-03 21:57:42]
Burma's constitutional referendum options: A. Yes, B. Go to Insein Prison!
Bartond From United States of America, joined Jul 2003, 778 posts, RR: 3 Reply 12, posted (7 years 8 months 3 weeks 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 789 times:
Aer Lingus lists San Diego as one of their "destinations?" San Diego wouldn't be on their radar so that's interesting why it would be on there.
Has there been any more talk on possibly starting up a DUB-DFW flight? I hadn't heard anything about it until about a year ago, and that was just some people on here saying that Dallas would make sense because of AA's presence here. I'm thinkin it might work 3-4x a week. Does EI have any/enough available aircraft for the possible expansion to MIA, SFO, and..........DFW?!?
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From Ireland, joined Aug 1999, 11361 posts, 
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