"Tell me more, tell me more, like did he have a plane?"

Sorry, got carried away there for a moment!

Anyway, welcome to our fourth instalment for 2019. It's been a busy, though not a very happy month. The month was dominated by the tragic loss of ET 302 and the resulting grounding of all 737 Max aircraft. Current expectations are that while Boeing is about to finalise a fix for the problem, it could be quite a while before the grounding order is lifted outside the US. Turkish, Icelandair, Norwegian and of course Ryanair will be most affected, since they had planned to operate and/or take delivery of Maxes this Summer. Icelandair will likely continue to operate 757s; Norwegian is combining its PVD and SWF ops out of Dublin and busing pax from ORK and SNN to DUB; they are currently using an Evelop A330, having used a 787-9 for two weeks.

This month also saw Wow disappear, having flown into Ireland for the last several years, their bright pink aircraft adding a very welcome dash of colour.

Other stories of note:
- Ryanair reducing BFS schedule
- ORK traffic rising 10%
- DAA releases tender for eateries at DUB.
- Air starter unit fire incident at DUB
- New airlines flying to DUB: TAP and Air Baltic
- Aer Lingus introduces Apple Pay payment method.

Here's a link to the last thread:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1416755&start=50

Thanks for a new thread.

With regards Apple Pay people are still having issues with it. Hopefully its sorted soon as it is a handy method to have.

CX mentioned they want to increase DUB-HKG according to one of their Sales execs recently interviewed. The demand for the CX route has exceeded expectations. They can be around EUR100 more for the direct service compared to one stop carriers but people are willing to pay it. Then of course a lot of connecting traffic to OZ/NZ and people love to stop in HKG.

OA260 wrote:

Thanks for a new thread.

With regards Apple Pay people are still having issues with it. Hopefully its sorted soon as it is a handy method to have.

CX mentioned they want to increase DUB-HKG according to one of their Sales execs recently interviewed. The demand for the CX route has exceeded expectations. They can be around EUR100 more for the direct service compared to one stop carriers but people are willing to pay it. Then of course a lot of connecting traffic to OZ/NZ and people love to stop in HKG.

That's great news; hopefully we might see the A350-1000 an odd time!

Does EI ever fly their A321s to LGW or only to LHRs? So far from LGW i've only flown A320s...And about those RJ85s from Cityjet..Although i love them,they're a great silent little jet, from an economic point of view,i can't, for the life of me, understand why are they still keeping them,when quad jets are supposed to be so uneconomical..Why haven't they replaced them with E-jets that do fly from LCY? Everyone else in Europe has gotten rid of them (except for BRA i think)

marcogr12 wrote:

Does EI ever fly their A321s to LGW or only to LHRs? So far from LGW i've only flown A320s...And about those RJ85s from Cityjet..Although i love them,they're a great silent little jet, from an economic point of view,i can't, for the life of me, understand why are they still keeping them,when quad jets are supposed to be so uneconomical..Why haven't they replaced them with E-jets that do fly from LCY? Everyone else in Europe has gotten rid of them (except for BRA i think)

The A321 is actually quite rare on LHR these days and even rarer on LGW, frequency tends to win on these routes. The A321 is most common on sunshine routes such as Malaga, Faro and the Canary Island but it’s also almost certain to be found doing Rome most days.

With regards to the RJ85, it’s not an easy aircraft to replace, particularly with its LCY steep approach capabilities making choices quite limited. CityJet did try to replace them with the SSJ and we all know how that worked out so they’re left with only two options, the EJet or the A220, neither are exactly cheap. At the moment the RJ85 can probabaly solider on until CityJet is in a better position to start thinking about replacement.

marcogr12 wrote:

Does EI ever fly their A321s to LGW or only to LHRs? So far from LGW i've only flown A320s...

Last time I got a 321 LGW-DUB was Aug/Sep time. Very rare although the one I flew on was packed with no free seats. It was an evening flight Mid Week. I wish it did turn up more often. The majority of times I get a 321 these days is DUB-ACE.

I got EI-CPH on the EI245 in February

Are Aer Lingus maintaining the same baggage allowance and free drink + snack that cityjet offered under it's own brand on the Avros or has it reverted to the same levels as EI mainline? EI website seems to suggest it's the same as the basic EI product now.

EI321 wrote:

Are Aer Lingus maintaining the same baggage allowance and free drink + snack that cityjet offered under it's own brand on the Avros or has it reverted to the same levels as EI mainline? EI website seems to suggest it's the same as the basic EI product now.

It's consistent with Aer Lingus mainline.

An error/experiment in the booking system prior to Aer Lingus taking over the route suggested they might keep the complimentary aspects of CityJet's offering but in the end stuck with their own "unbundled" product. There were a few grumbles at the start but doesn't seem to have much of an impact either way.

DY to use A333 on SWF until 30 June.

I'm assuming that this would likely mean that passengers being bussed from SNN and ORK to DUB will also continue!

EI321 wrote:

Are Aer Lingus maintaining the same baggage allowance and free drink + snack that cityjet offered under it's own brand on the Avros or has it reverted to the same levels as EI mainline? EI website seems to suggest it's the same as the basic EI product now.

I have flown the route a few times its the standard BOB EI product. An IT glitch at the start allowed people on Saver tickets to select a seat free which then fuelled rumours that they would keep the WX product but this was never the case or intention.

Most people on this route are on Plus or Advantage fares anyway so the only thing they are not getting is a free drink/snack which most are not bothered about anyway.

From 'Blood Orange' to 'Bright White': New Aer Lingus mood lighting to minimise jet lag

A new palette of customised LED lighting could add comfort to the flying experience, Aer Lingus says

Goodbye garish lights and simple dimmings. Hello 'Blood Orange', Dim Lavender, 'Teal Green' and 'Strong Blue'.

The delivery of its new A321LR 'neo' aircraft may be delayed, but Aer Lingus is keeping its mood up with a bespoke new customised lighting set-up.

The LED lighting aims to improve in-flight ambiance and "minimise the effects of jet-lag" by subtly shifting with each phase of a journey, it says.

‘Strong Blue’, ‘Bright White’ and 'Blood Orange' (see full list below) are among the curated light settings chosen with passenger wellbeing in mind.

www.independent.ie/life/travel/travel-n ... 75386.html

—-

Disruption fears for Aer Lingus Regional passengers as Stobart Air cabin crew ballot for industrial action

Aer Lingus Regional passengers could have to brace for strike action as cabin crew employed by Stobart Air, which operates the service, ballot for industrial action.

Trade union Fórsa claimed that Dublin-based Stobart Air has refused to recognise the union and negotiate with it on staff pay and working conditions.

The union insisted that a recent pay proposal at Stobart Air "fell short of recent airline industry norms", and was rejected by a majority of cabin crew eligible to vote.
A Fórsa spokesman said there are between 130 and 140 directly-employed Stobart Air cabin crew working out of Dublin and Cork. It employs a total of about 600 people.

https://m.independent.ie/business/irish ... 71607.html

OA260 wrote:

I have flown the route a few times its the standard BOB EI product. An IT glitch at the start allowed people on Saver tickets to select a seat free which then fuelled rumours that they would keep the WX product but this was never the case or intention.

Standard including the hot options like breakfast?

KIRFlyer wrote:

DY to use A333 on SWF until 30 June.

I'm assuming that this would likely mean that passengers being bussed from SNN and ORK to DUB will also continue!

That is exactly what is looks like. They duped Cork and Shannon last week with their announcement that flights would resume on April10/11. Then 3 days later they said they would continue to bus folks. Cork airport must be fuming after all the campaigning they did to get Norwegian approved to fly the routes into Ireland. I totally understand that DUB is a bigger market but still...

Just noticed on Twitter that some Norwegian passengers who were scheduled to travel DUB-PVD had their flights changed and some of the changes were to a day time PVD-DUB flight.D81847, leaves PVD at 12.35pm and gets into DUB at 11.45pm.(D81846 leaves DUB at 8.10 and arrives 10.15am) Was this rotation always planned? Or is this a result of the MAX grounding? (not sure how as it doesn't gain anything)

ClassicLover wrote:

OA260 wrote:

I have flown the route a few times its the standard BOB EI product. An IT glitch at the start allowed people on Saver tickets to select a seat free which then fuelled rumours that they would keep the WX product but this was never the case or intention.

Standard including the hot options like breakfast?

Not sure if they offer hot options. Never ordered one. Someone did suggest something about ovens onboard the aircraft but cant remember.

—-

Ryanair asked the EU to use its 'influential voice' to pressure Paschal Donohoe in a tax law dispute
The airline had launched a High Court challenge relating to tax laws for Europe-based workers.

RYANAIR BOSS MICHAEL O’Leary wrote to the European Commission last year asking for its help in resolving a legal dispute with Irish officials over where it taxes European staff.

In November 2018, the airline launched legal action against Revenue and Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe over laws the company said require it to put European staff on Irish contracts.

The budget carrier has had a long-standing practice of putting some direct and agency staff on Irish contracts even if they live and work elsewhere.

https://fora.ie/ryanair-tax-eu-commissi ... 6-Apr2019/

——

Ryanair has become the first non-coal producing company to enter Europe’s top 10 carbon emitters.

New EU figures reveal that the airline has officially entered a league which, until now, had been exclusively occupied by coal plants.

The 9.9 megatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions the airline declared last year is up 6.9% on the year before.

https://www.newstalk.com/news/ryanair-c ... ons-843810

—-

Just saw D-AIHT A346 Lufthansa lift off from Shannon. It was operating the JFK-MUC flight, and diverted back to Shannon from over the Irish Sea this morning.

EIBoston wrote:

KIRFlyer wrote:

DY to use A333 on SWF until 30 June.

I'm assuming that this would likely mean that passengers being bussed from SNN and ORK to DUB will also continue!

That is exactly what is looks like. They duped Cork and Shannon last week with their announcement that flights would resume on April10/11. Then 3 days later they said they would continue to bus folks. Cork airport must be fuming after all the campaigning they did to get Norwegian approved to fly the routes into Ireland. I totally understand that DUB is a bigger market but still...

Further family booked on SNN-PVD-SNN on April 14th and back on the 21st/22nd, they've been moved to DUB-SWF-DUB.

Just flew on the A3 service DUB-ATH. Flight was very full and mostly 75% Greeks 25% Irish with quite a few connections beyond Greece. Good to see route doing so well. Crew very good as usual with spotless clean aircraft and Wifi IFE and free drinks and hot meal.

The SU SVO flight departed before us at the next gate and it was equally full.

Only downside was Swissport check in which was so badly organised and staffed by just 2 check in agents who did not seem confident in what they were doing and took ages to check each passenger in. Also despite there supposed to be a dedicated Star Gold check in one was not there. Quite a few Star Golds were left waiting for around 30 mins . I just don't know why Swissport frequently get it wrong when it comes to handling Premium passengers.


A few pics from the journey :



.

.

.

KIRFlyer wrote:

EIBoston wrote:

KIRFlyer wrote:

DY to use A333 on SWF until 30 June.

I'm assuming that this would likely mean that passengers being bussed from SNN and ORK to DUB will also continue!

That is exactly what is looks like. They duped Cork and Shannon last week with their announcement that flights would resume on April10/11. Then 3 days later they said they would continue to bus folks. Cork airport must be fuming after all the campaigning they did to get Norwegian approved to fly the routes into Ireland. I totally understand that DUB is a bigger market but still...

Further family booked on SNN-PVD-SNN on April 14th and back on the 21st/22nd, they've been moved to DUB-SWF-DUB.

Looks like no flights out of ORK or SNN until July at the earliest. Neither airline or airports will confirm though. They would have better off if they had just announced that from the start and not messed people about.

Record Summer Expected At Dublin Airport

Dublin Airport will welcome a total of 23 new routes and four new airlines in the coming weeks, making this the busiest summer in the airport’s 79-year history.

More than 1.3 million extra seats have been added across the airport’s route network, which is a 6% increase in capacity when compared to last summer.

Four new airlines, airBaltic, Great Dane Airlines, SunExpress and TAP Air Portugal are joining Dublin Airport’s growing list of airline customers.

Six long-haul routes and 17 short-haul destinations are being added to Dublin Airport’s flight schedule this summer.

Of the six new long-haul routes, Hainan Airlines and Norwegian have already launched new services to Shenzhen and Hamilton Toronto respectively. WestJet will start a new service to Halifax, Nova Scotia in April and a new route to Calgary in June. American Airlines will launch a new service to Dallas-Fort Worth in June and Aer Lingus will operate flights to Minneapolis-St. Paul from July.

Dublin Airport Managing Director, Vincent Harrison said the airport is preparing for another busy summer and will have extra staff on duty in key areas. “We have a fantastic range of new destinations for passengers to choose from this summer connecting Dublin Airport to even more locations across Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific region,” Mr Harrison said.

“Additional capacity and frequency have also been added on over 70 existing routes giving our customers much greater choice, flexibility and more options, whether they are travelling for business or leisure purposes this summer season.”

The number of seats to and from North America is up 3% this summer, with an extra 91,000 seats this year. The peak summer months will see nine airlines flying 464 flights per week to and from 18 destinations in the US and six destinations in Canada, which equates to an average of 66 flights daily to and from North America.

www.dublinairport.com/latest-news/detai ... in-airport

---

Aer Lingus flight from Dublin Airport to LAX made emergency landing after receiving fire warning 15 seconds after take-off

The Air Accident Investigations Unit has issued a report on the incident

A flight from Dublin Airport to Los Angeles International Airport had to make an emergency landing in Shannon after systems showed one of the engines was on fire.

The Air Accident Investigations Unit has issued a report saying no fire had actually found and that the probably cause for the warning was fatigue failure.

www.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-news/aer- ... t-16077754

---

Loganair still flying high 40 years on at City of Derry Airport

There were celebrations at City of Derry Airport this week as the team there and Scottish airline Logan Air marked 40 years since the inaugural commercial flight from the airport to Glasgow in April 2, 1979.

Loganair’s Managing Director, Jonathan Hinkles and Commercial Director Kay Ryan commemorated the occasion by once again flying the route on the original, 19 seater, Twin Otter aircraft used for the flight four decades ago.

www.derryjournal.com/news/loganair-stil ... -1-8878947

EIBoston wrote:

Looks like no flights out of ORK or SNN until July at the earliest. Neither airline or airports will confirm though. They would have better off if they had just announced that from the start and not messed people about.

It's a tough one for Norwegian, they just don't know the the MAX-8 will be back in the skies. Originally the routes were operated with the -800. I guess the combination of peak summer schedules, a sizeable MAX8 fleet and low utilisation make these routes difficult to cover. Especially when they can just operate one larger aircraft and bus passengers. Its a poor experience, but gets passengers to/from their destinations.

Four Aer Lingus A350s will go to Iberia: https://www.flightglobal.com/news/artic ... 0s-457264/

seansasLCY wrote:

Four Aer Lingus A350s will go to Iberia: https://www.flightglobal.com/news/artic ... 0s-457264/

No surprise there .

Ryanair have brought forward their route reductions at Belfast International, originally planned for the Winter schedule but now being implemented from the start of June.

Best check your bookings because people I've seen affected by this haven't received any notifications of cancellations, until they check the website.

Usual Ryanair MO, throw the toys out of the pram when the airport route incentives dry-up. Shame the airport management haven't got the spine to rip-up the contract and throw THEM out.

BrianDromey wrote:

EIBoston wrote:

Looks like no flights out of ORK or SNN until July at the earliest. Neither airline or airports will confirm though. They would have better off if they had just announced that from the start and not messed people about.

It's a tough one for Norwegian, they just don't know the the MAX-8 will be back in the skies. Originally the routes were operated with the -800. I guess the combination of peak summer schedules, a sizeable MAX8 fleet and low utilisation make these routes difficult to cover. Especially when they can just operate one larger aircraft and bus passengers. Its a poor experience, but gets passengers to/from their destinations.

What you say is correct. I think it also speaks to the volume of bookings that were from ORK and SNN too. They could have used the -800 to cover the PVD flights to both airports but given that plane would cover only 2 sectors a day, it makes more financial sense IMO to use it in Europe for 4-6 sectors a day. The lack of clarity though from both airline and airports is very poor.

Are Lingus seem to have no intention of taking any A350s at the moment. Surprusing that they havent ordered the A330NEO yet.

How can there be clarity when Boeing is just accepting a possible flaw in the software. They are airlines and not mind readers
Getting guests to their destination, all be it in a round about manner in much better than multiple cancellations

EI321 wrote:

Are Lingus seem to have no intention of taking any A350s at the moment. Surprusing that they havent ordered the A330NEO yet.

As much as I would love the see the A350 at EI, I can see why it isn't coming for the next while. The A330 has served EI incredibly well, can perform all current routes, and has a well trained pilot and maintenance crew that doesn't require additional training to handle more of the same type.

For the A330neo it's still a ways off, there are going to be a lot of A330ceo coming off lease in the next while (particularly as neo deliveries ramp up) as well as cheap end-of-line new ceo birds from Airbus themselves, so I'd imagine it'll be A330ceo for at least the next few years.

You might see the A350 in 5-10 years as they start to max out frequency on certain routes (JFK, ORD, and BOS stick out) and need to up capacity, but for the next few years they can just throw an additional A321LR on most routes where needed and/or another A330 if necessary.

eirflot wrote:

How can there be clarity when Boeing is just accepting a possible flaw in the software. They are airlines and not mind readers
Getting guests to their destination, all be it in a round about manner in much better than multiple cancellations

The clarity is about not even telling customers of the plans to change. It was clear that there would have to be changes but people were finding out that they flights were changed when checking the airlines app or online website. Getting timely information out to customers would not have been that difficult. Even if the news is that they have to share is not ideal, it gives people chance to adapt or cancel in a reasonable timeframe. The airlines and to a lesser degree the airports did a terrible job with this. The clarity I speak of is nothing to do with the Boeing issue, MCAS, potential flaws and fixes.

I imagine there were some frustrated operations meetings in a number of 737Max operators
Can't be easy to replace grounded aircraft not knowing the extent of the problem and the duration.
Never a great dan of airports but nit sure how they be ragged to this unless they own the airline, which they don't

EIBoston wrote:

eirflot wrote:

How can there be clarity when Boeing is just accepting a possible flaw in the software. They are airlines and not mind readers
Getting guests to their destination, all be it in a round about manner in much better than multiple cancellations

The clarity is about not even telling customers of the plans to change. It was clear that there would have to be changes but people were finding out that they flights were changed when checking the airlines app or online website. Getting timely information out to customers would not have been that difficult. Even if the news is that they have to share is not ideal, it gives people chance to adapt or cancel in a reasonable timeframe. The airlines and to a lesser degree the airports did a terrible job with this. The clarity I speak of is nothing to do with the Boeing issue, MCAS, potential flaws and fixes.

What exactly did you want the airport operators to do ? I am wondering why they are to blame.

OA260 wrote:

EIBoston wrote:

eirflot wrote:

How can there be clarity when Boeing is just accepting a possible flaw in the software. They are airlines and not mind readers
Getting guests to their destination, all be it in a round about manner in much better than multiple cancellations

The clarity is about not even telling customers of the plans to change. It was clear that there would have to be changes but people were finding out that they flights were changed when checking the airlines app or online website. Getting timely information out to customers would not have been that difficult. Even if the news is that they have to share is not ideal, it gives people chance to adapt or cancel in a reasonable timeframe. The airlines and to a lesser degree the airports did a terrible job with this. The clarity I speak of is nothing to do with the Boeing issue, MCAS, potential flaws and fixes.

What exactly did you want the airport operators to do ? I am wondering why they are to blame.

Maybe provide some timely updates to the public? In this day and age of social media, it really wouldn't be that difficult. Lots of folks on all social media platforms have been asking for some updates and getting nothing in reply from airline or airports. Totally get the airport are not at fault for the cancellation of flights but that doesn't excuse them from the lack of information being provided. Seems like they are very much on top of projecting good news but when difficult situations like this arise, they fall flat on their face.

EIBoston wrote:

OA260 wrote:

EIBoston wrote:

The clarity is about not even telling customers of the plans to change. It was clear that there would have to be changes but people were finding out that they flights were changed when checking the airlines app or online website. Getting timely information out to customers would not have been that difficult. Even if the news is that they have to share is not ideal, it gives people chance to adapt or cancel in a reasonable timeframe. The airlines and to a lesser degree the airports did a terrible job with this. The clarity I speak of is nothing to do with the Boeing issue, MCAS, potential flaws and fixes.

What exactly did you want the airport operators to do ? I am wondering why they are to blame.

Maybe provide some timely updates to the public? In this day and age of social media, it really wouldn't be that difficult. Lots of folks on all social media platforms have been asking for some updates and getting nothing in reply from airline or airports. Totally get the airport are not at fault for the cancellation of flights but that doesn't excuse them from the lack of information being provided. Seems like they are very much on top of projecting good news but when difficult situations like this arise, they fall flat on their face.

The only problem I would say is legally they are not permitted to issue press releases or information that legally should be provided by the airline. Even if the airport knew of the intentions of the airline they are limited in what they can say. I would certainly agree with you that the airline is to blame for not updating their passenger in a regular and timely manner even if it was outside of their control due to Boeing's mess.

OA260 wrote:

EIBoston wrote:

OA260 wrote:

What exactly did you want the airport operators to do ? I am wondering why they are to blame.

Maybe provide some timely updates to the public? In this day and age of social media, it really wouldn't be that difficult. Lots of folks on all social media platforms have been asking for some updates and getting nothing in reply from airline or airports. Totally get the airport are not at fault for the cancellation of flights but that doesn't excuse them from the lack of information being provided. Seems like they are very much on top of projecting good news but when difficult situations like this arise, they fall flat on their face.

The only problem I would say is legally they are not permitted to issue press releases or information that legally should be provided by the airline. Even if the airport knew of the intentions of the airline they are limited in what they can say. I would certainly agree with you that the airline is to blame for not updating their passenger in a regular and timely manner even if it was outside of their control due to Boeing's mess.

That may well be the case with respect to legality. All in all a shambles. Hope they can get back to operating these flights at some stage. I feel bad for Cork airport especially as they put a lot of effort up front to secure clearance for Norwegian to fly these routes.

alancostello wrote:

EI321 wrote:

Are Lingus seem to have no intention of taking any A350s at the moment. Surprusing that they havent ordered the A330NEO yet.

As much as I would love the see the A350 at EI, I can see why it isn't coming for the next while. The A330 has served EI incredibly well, can perform all current routes, and has a well trained pilot and maintenance crew that doesn't require additional training to handle more of the same type.

For the A330neo it's still a ways off, there are going to be a lot of A330ceo coming off lease in the next while (particularly as neo deliveries ramp up) as well as cheap end-of-line new ceo birds from Airbus themselves, so I'd imagine it'll be A330ceo for at least the next few years.

You might see the A350 in 5-10 years as they start to max out frequency on certain routes (JFK, ORD, and BOS stick out) and need to up capacity, but for the next few years they can just throw an additional A321LR on most routes where needed and/or another A330 if necessary.

As far as I am aware, the 330Neo is not really in active consideration at EI; they are currently planning to take two more A330s, one later this year and one in early 2020 and possibly two more - all will be -300s and will replace the early -200s (EWR, LAX and DAA - not sure what's happening with DUO).

I don't think the 330Neo really offers them anything that the current -300 can't and then, you have the standardisation issue and all that goes with that.

Down the road, I think EI will stick with the 333 for a few years and then, when traffic problems justify it, go to something larger - most likely the A350-1000. The Boeing offerings probably wouldn't be of much interest; the 779 is "too much airplane", the 787-9/10 wouldn't offer much of a capacity boost.

OA260 wrote:

Just flew on the A3 service DUB-ATH. Flight was very full and mostly 75% Greeks 25% Irish with quite a few connections beyond Greece. Good to see route doing so well. Crew very good as usual with spotless clean aircraft and Wifi IFE and free drinks and hot meal.

The SU SVO flight departed before us at the next gate and it was equally full.

Only downside was Swissport check in which was so badly organised and staffed by just 2 check in agents who did not seem confident in what they were doing and took ages to check each passenger in. Also despite there supposed to be a dedicated Star Gold check in one was not there. Quite a few Star Golds were left waiting for around 30 mins . I just don't know why Swissport frequently get it wrong when it comes to handling Premium passengers.


FEC73757E42F_zpsnof0lg1q.jpg[/img][/url]

Are SU and A3 the only East bound red eyes ex DUB this summer ?

I’m slightly surprised Athens and a few more destinations aren’t operated as overnights from DUB by EI

EIBoston wrote:

OA260 wrote:

EIBoston wrote:

Maybe provide some timely updates to the public? In this day and age of social media, it really wouldn't be that difficult. Lots of folks on all social media platforms have been asking for some updates and getting nothing in reply from airline or airports. Totally get the airport are not at fault for the cancellation of flights but that doesn't excuse them from the lack of information being provided. Seems like they are very much on top of projecting good news but when difficult situations like this arise, they fall flat on their face.

The only problem I would say is legally they are not permitted to issue press releases or information that legally should be provided by the airline. Even if the airport knew of the intentions of the airline they are limited in what they can say. I would certainly agree with you that the airline is to blame for not updating their passenger in a regular and timely manner even if it was outside of their control due to Boeing's mess.

That may well be the case with respect to legality. All in all a shambles. Hope they can get back to operating these flights at some stage. I feel bad for Cork airport especially as they put a lot of effort up front to secure clearance for Norwegian to fly these routes.

Hopefully they can get the routes back on track. Im in two minds though whether in 12 months time there will be TATL from ORK. Certainly would feel sorry for ORK because as you say they did work hard to get the TATL .

Galwayman wrote:

OA260 wrote:

Just flew on the A3 service DUB-ATH. Flight was very full and mostly 75% Greeks 25% Irish with quite a few connections beyond Greece. Good to see route doing so well. Crew very good as usual with spotless clean aircraft and Wifi IFE and free drinks and hot meal.

The SU SVO flight departed before us at the next gate and it was equally full.

Only downside was Swissport check in which was so badly organised and staffed by just 2 check in agents who did not seem confident in what they were doing and took ages to check each passenger in. Also despite there supposed to be a dedicated Star Gold check in one was not there. Quite a few Star Golds were left waiting for around 30 mins . I just don't know why Swissport frequently get it wrong when it comes to handling Premium passengers.


FEC73757E42F_zpsnof0lg1q.jpg[/img][/url]

Are SU and A3 the only East bound red eyes ex DUB this summer ?

I’m slightly surprised Athens and a few more destinations aren’t operated as overnights from DUB by EI

I think SU and A3 are the main ones unless there are any other charters planned for the Summer at this time band.

EI is very much point to point on ATH where as A3 are offering P2P and transfers. The overnights connect to all the Greek Islands A3/OA network as well as Cyprus,Middle East... I am not sure what addition benefit EI would have in retiming their flights to overnight. I actually think EI would be better retiming to 0800 out of DUB instead of 0545. A3 have the advantage that you can come back around 2050 from ATH too giving you the full day in ATH or plenty of time to connect from the A3/OA network.

Is there business class on the A3 to Athens?

I’ve been using A3 to Beirut but the timings are too poor over the summer season

OA260 wrote:

EIBoston wrote:

OA260 wrote:

The only problem I would say is legally they are not permitted to issue press releases or information that legally should be provided by the airline. Even if the airport knew of the intentions of the airline they are limited in what they can say. I would certainly agree with you that the airline is to blame for not updating their passenger in a regular and timely manner even if it was outside of their control due to Boeing's mess.

That may well be the case with respect to legality. All in all a shambles. Hope they can get back to operating these flights at some stage. I feel bad for Cork airport especially as they put a lot of effort up front to secure clearance for Norwegian to fly these routes.

Hopefully they can get the routes back on track. Im in two minds though whether in 12 months time there will be TATL from ORK. Certainly would feel sorry for ORK because as you say they did work hard to get the TATL .

I think the ORK TATL flight would have struggled to be back in 2020 even before the grounding of the MAX. I think this disruption to the schedule will put the final nail in the coffin so to speak. DUB is where Norwegian will focus on and it hard to blame them.

EIBoston wrote:

OA260 wrote:

EIBoston wrote:

That may well be the case with respect to legality. All in all a shambles. Hope they can get back to operating these flights at some stage. I feel bad for Cork airport especially as they put a lot of effort up front to secure clearance for Norwegian to fly these routes.

Hopefully they can get the routes back on track. Im in two minds though whether in 12 months time there will be TATL from ORK. Certainly would feel sorry for ORK because as you say they did work hard to get the TATL .

I think the ORK TATL flight would have struggled to be back in 2020 even before the grounding of the MAX. I think this disruption to the schedule will put the final nail in the coffin so to speak. DUB is where Norwegian will focus on and it hard to blame them.

Yes ... a 787 from DUB to SWF daily looks like the way forward

EIBoston wrote:

I think the ORK TATL flight would have struggled to be back in 2020 even before the grounding of the MAX. I think this disruption to the schedule will put the final nail in the coffin so to speak. DUB is where Norwegian will focus on and it hard to blame them.

Based on? The reality is that ORK maintained the PVD route when Belfast and Edinburgh didn’t, I reckon that says something about the viability. Clearly if they are subbing a 737 with an A330, Dublin, which was daily, is the place to base it.

eirflot wrote:

Is there business class on the A3 to Athens?

No its sold as all Y . You can select ''Up front'' seats for around EUR18 and that does give you extra legroom row 1 for example as I usually choose. The route is very much diaspora and tourist with connections for those looking for cheap tickets. There is not a market for C on this route well not enough to justify 1-2 rows of C on every flight. The perks on this flight for *G are priority check in ( when Swissport bother to open it ) , lounge access in DAA until 2200 and free 23KG bag even on a HBO fare. You also get priority boarding. The timing of the flight means most people sleep so I guess the only thing you are missing is the middle seat free and a upgraded meal service.Everyone gets a pre dinner drink ( beer,wine,coke,juice etc..) then the hot meal service then another drinks run.

Got the email for LIS-DUB tomorrow night (EI487)

Dear Guest
As your flight tomorrow is heavily booked we invite you to check in your cabin baggage free of charge at the Aer Lingus Bag Drop Desk at the airport. We hope that this offer to Travel Light will make your airport experience easier and it will also avoid you having to give up your bag for check in at the boarding gate where bags will be taken due to limited cabin storage space.
Aer Lingus

BrianDromey wrote:

EIBoston wrote:

I think the ORK TATL flight would have struggled to be back in 2020 even before the grounding of the MAX. I think this disruption to the schedule will put the final nail in the coffin so to speak. DUB is where Norwegian will focus on and it hard to blame them.

Based on? The reality is that ORK maintained the PVD route when Belfast and Edinburgh didn’t, I reckon that says something about the viability. Clearly if they are subbing a 737 with an A330, Dublin, which was daily, is the place to base it.

Based on the 4 times I used the route last year to be honest. Only 1 sector I was on had more than 60% load. On 3 occasions, there was less than 60 people on board. I know that is not close to a good sampling but it made my mind up on it. I also used Snn and Dub last year from PVD and their loads were much higher. Don't get me wrong, I totally want it to stay. Of course Norwegian may not be around which is another matter!

EI321 wrote:

Are Lingus seem to have no intention of taking any A350s at the moment. Surprusing that they havent ordered the A330NEO yet.

Expect the arrival of A330-90Neo sooner than you think, order being negociated through a leasing company for delivery in about 18 months time, current talk is of 3 A333 to be delivered later this year with the third possibly in early 2020 depending on availability, the first two brand new factory fresh, kitted out similar to EI-GCF/EI-GAJ for west-coast ops with the higher MTOW and crew rest areas, the final one second hand. 2 of these for expansion, one to replace an older A332 Classic, A339Neo to start being rolled out after that as the fleet is gradually replaced starting with the remaining A332 Classics.

Norwegian should hub at DUB , makes much more sense than random P2P routes

Galwayman wrote:

Are SU and A3 the only East bound red eyes ex DUB this summer ?

Blue Air to Bacau at 01:30 and Air Moldova to Chisinau at 00:20 also