Good afternoon everyone and I wish you all a very happy 2023 and hope all your plans and hopes (especially the aviation related ones!) come to fruition.

It's been a pretty good year, especially compared to the two that went before it. I'd like to say we've seen the last of Covid, though what we're seeing in China might make that a bit optimistic. Almost deja vu, though hopefully not!

We've seen a lot of positive developments during the year, as more and more routes have been either reopened or have been entirely new; airlines have restored services and capacity and pax numbers now seem to be close to the levels last seen in 2019.

Of course, it's not been without its troubles and this summer was a bit of a mess, with long delays and overstretched handling companies (and personnel!). We've also seen how the Dublin Airport, if not others, seemed to fall flat on its rear at the smallest hint of very cold weather. Who'd have thought the bitter cold would result in a need for de-icing trucks. Hopefully the next dose of cold weather will see the airport better prepared. What happened earlier in December was a shockingly poor show.

We can look forward to a very good 2023 and I hope it's a safe one for Irish aviation and all involved in it. And as the saying goes, go mbeirimid anseo ag an am seo aris. (May we all be here this time next year)!

Here's the thread for this December (so last year!): viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1478969

Aer Lingus staff offered 10pc pay hike following WRC talks

https://www.independent.ie/business/iri ... 53311.html

Information on the proposed pay deal for Aer Lingus employees . Hopefully it will lead to a calm 2023.
They are also being offered pay increases in 2024
and 2025.

When can we expect the rest of the EI fleet to receive the new livery? Still a fair few A330s and 320s sporting the old colours.

AirBourne wrote:

When can we expect the rest of the EI fleet to receive the new livery? Still a fair few A330s and 320s sporting the old colours.

Repaints have only just restarted after a two year beak. EI-DEO (the rugby jet) and EI-DEJ both received the new livery in recent weeks.

shamrock350 wrote:

AirBourne wrote:

When can we expect the rest of the EI fleet to receive the new livery? Still a fair few A330s and 320s sporting the old colours.

Repaints have only just restarted after a two year beak. EI-DEO (the rugby jet) and EI-DEJ both received the new livery in recent weeks.

Shame about EI-DEO. That leaves EI-DVM (retro) as the only special livery?

AMP44 wrote:

shamrock350 wrote:

AirBourne wrote:

When can we expect the rest of the EI fleet to receive the new livery? Still a fair few A330s and 320s sporting the old colours.

Repaints have only just restarted after a two year beak. EI-DEO (the rugby jet) and EI-DEJ both received the new livery in recent weeks.

Shame about EI-DEO. That leaves EI-DVM (retro) as the only special livery?

EI-DEI is also in the rugby colours, at least for now.

A mate of mine was on EI EIK and said that in both J & Y the wifi was broken .

OA260 wrote:

A mate of mine was on EI EIK and said that in both J & Y the wifi was broken .

As with EI-EIL (which I had the misfortune of being on a few weeks back), I don't think the Wi-Fi was broken, it was just never installed on them. The video on demand system on EI-EIL was not working on some seats and this was one of a few "cosmetic" problems (i.e. not affecting the operational aspect) of that particular airframe. Both EIK and EIL are the infamous ex-QR birds.

I was flying out of DUB 2 weeks ago and an announcement was made at the gate next to mine that the EI aircraft flying to JFK had no IFE working on any seats and that people should consider downloading movies etc on devices prior to boarding. A big sigh was let out by the passengers, it didn't make EI look good at all. Assuming it was the ex-Qatari aircraft.

IFE broken on about 50% of seats in Y on EIL. Booked DL for my next trip

EI321 wrote:

... Assuming it was the ex-Qatari aircraft.

What's the deal with these leases/wet leases from QR - are they just for a few months? Seems to have not been a great move.

S0Y wrote:

IFE broken on about 50% of seats in Y on EIL. Booked DL for my next trip

Wouldn't it be great if EI would share their intentions with their guests.

planemanofnz wrote:

EI321 wrote:

... Assuming it was the ex-Qatari aircraft.

What's the deal with these leases/wet leases from QR - are they just for a few months? Seems to have not been a great move.

They have had them since before the pandemic.

planemanofnz wrote:

EI321 wrote:

... Assuming it was the ex-Qatari aircraft.

What's the deal with these leases/wet leases from QR - are they just for a few months? Seems to have not been a great move.

Open to more informed correction here but I believe they were leased pre pandemic, then restrictions hit so were stored and then were hurried into service when restrictions went from 100 to 0 all of a sudden. I will be the first to criticize the fact that their interiors haven’t been updated but I do think EI had their backs to the wall and had to rush them in which given the attitude towards air travel in this country and the impact that had on EI and staff does deserve some understanding. The subsequent handling of this poor customer experience however certainly does not.

I’ve been stuck on EIL/K many times, in my cases no prior information about lack of IFE/Wifi was provided and passengers even found EI ground staff to make complaints on landing. It’s a really bad look and needs to be addressed ASAP if the aircraft are to be flying for EI going forward. I’m aware that a poster mentioned that the leases expire in 2024 but it is unacceptable to have aircraft in that condition flying around for 1-2 more summer seasons. They at least seem to tell passengers beforehand now what the situation on board is which is an improvement.

YUAND wrote:

planemanofnz wrote:

EI321 wrote:

... Assuming it was the ex-Qatari aircraft.

What's the deal with these leases/wet leases from QR - are they just for a few months? Seems to have not been a great move.

Open to more informed correction here but I believe they were leased pre pandemic, then restrictions hit so were stored and then were hurried into service when restrictions went from 100 to 0 all of a sudden. I will be the first to criticize the fact that their interiors haven’t been updated but I do think EI had their backs to the wall and had to rush them in which given the attitude towards air travel in this country and the impact that had on EI and staff does deserve some understanding. The subsequent handling of this poor customer experience however certainly does not.

I’ve been stuck on EIL/K many times, in my cases no prior information about lack of IFE/Wifi was provided and passengers even found EI ground staff to make complaints on landing. It’s a really bad look and needs to be addressed ASAP if the aircraft are to be flying for EI going forward. I’m aware that a poster mentioned that the leases expire in 2024 but it is unacceptable to have aircraft in that condition flying around for 1-2 more summer seasons. They at least seem to tell passengers beforehand now what the situation on board is which is an improvement.

They don’t intend to change the IFE (inflight entertainment) or cabins until at least Q1 2024 and that’s if these aircraft stay. So no, they won’t address this issue ASAP I am afraid. Aer Lingus is launching customer service day trainings to staff and emphasis the difference staff can make on board to passengers and at the same time doesn’t give any tools to provide this same customer service. No matter how good or nice the crew are if you have 50% of the screens broken or without a remote, on a 8h flight, or if the food is of poor quality. The management in Aer Lingus have only become worse since IAG took over but even worse now since Covid.

I would have thought a rather simple solution to the IFE failures on EI-EIL/EIK would be pre-loaded tablets, at least for business class passengers. It was done during the 767 leases, and with such frequent issues on these two particular A330s, it would show some willing to make up for the shortcomings. Failing that, vouchers of some kind should be issued to those who haven’t received the service and product advertised.

While there are a number of reasonable excuses (the rush back into service, lack of parts etc.) there doesn’t seem to be any attempt to properly inform, compensate or solve the problems these aircraft create. That’s my biggest problem with Aer Lingus at the moment, management know the issues but appear to be making zero progress in correcting any of them.

No doubt within a year we’ll hear of Lynn Embleton’s promotion to British Airways after doing such a great job Aer Lingus while another suit from IAG Cargo or Level gets the top job at Shamrock House and the cycle begins again.

I have seen a number of tweets from Aer Lingus customers questioning why they have received an email about no IFE or Wi-Fi…So although unacceptable Aer Lingus are informing people in advance that the service won’t be available.

I get that it's not easy to refurb an aircraft with short notice (i.e. within months or even a year), supply chain issues etc. obviously make for a long lead in time. That being said, there definitely are solutions available, providing tablets might be logistically challenging however afaik it would be relatively quick to install a system [onto just 2 a/c] to allow pax to stream content to their own devices (not useful to all, but would do for the majority imo). There are several provides of this service and airlines which offer it to pax.

I agree that the least they can do is notify pax in good time of the issues. The crew must dread boarding these a/c

EI321 wrote:

I was flying out of DUB 2 weeks ago and an announcement was made at the gate next to mine that the EI aircraft flying to JFK had no IFE working on any seats and that people should consider downloading movies etc on devices prior to boarding. A big sigh was let out by the passengers, it didn't make EI look good at all. Assuming it was the ex-Qatari aircraft.

That same announcement was made before my trip on EIL but I was "pleasantly" surprised when the IFE at my seat was actually working (albeit on what seemed like an ancient system and screen). You'd think that during the current winter downtime (now to March/April) it would be relatively quick to withdraw these two aircraft from service at some stage and at the very least install Wi-Fi. At least then the passengers at seats not equipped with working IFE could be given a free Wi-Fi voucher...that's if they intend keeping them for another year or more.

I made my first visit to 28R for a photography trip yesterday, which was a beautiful, clear day. I have to say I was quite impressed and happy with the results. A few observations:

- Unlike the road parallel to 28L/10R, the road parallel to 28R is very quiet; hardly any large/tall vehicles/buses, so you don't get large vehicles suddenly entering your picture.
- There is a low "berm", about 5' high, easy enough to climb up; that might sound low, BUT the level of the runway is well above the road, so the aircraft on takeoff aren't that high when they clear the fence. A small step-ladder would help, but I didn't bring one yesterday and I did fine without it.
- Once you turn onto the road parallel to 28R (coming from the Boot Inn/ATC end), there berm runs for a good distance; there's a blast fence about half a mile along, but the bigger aircraft - EI A330s/EK 777s/QR 787 are well airborne before that and getting nice photos is not that hard.
- I have a 28-300mm lens which is fine, but a longer lens is required to catch some of the larger aircraft as they turn; some, like a Swiss A321, turned early and looked great with the afternoon sun on them.
- Once I was finished there, I went to the far end to scout locations for landings on 10L and there's plenty; turning right immediately at the end of the runway, you have ample space to park a car off the road and the terrain is quite undulating there, so you have plenty of places where you can stand, to get arrival shots; there is also part of the fence that is at chest height, which will help. I haven't tried this, of course, but I think it's going to work quite well for arrival shots.

I was worried about the effect 10L/28R would have on photography, but after yesterday, I'm actually looking forward to more photo opportunities there.

kaitak wrote:

I made my first visit to 28R for a photography trip yesterday, which was a beautiful, clear day. I have to say I was quite impressed and happy with the results. A few observations:

- Unlike the road parallel to 28L/10R, the road parallel to 28R is very quiet; hardly any large/tall vehicles/buses, so you don't get large vehicles suddenly entering your picture.
- There is a low "berm", about 5' high, easy enough to climb up; that might sound low, BUT the level of the runway is well above the road, so the aircraft on takeoff aren't that high when they clear the fence. A small step-ladder would help, but I didn't bring one yesterday and I did fine without it.
- Once you turn onto the road parallel to 28R (coming from the Boot Inn/ATC end), there berm runs for a good distance; there's a blast fence about half a mile along, but the bigger aircraft - EI A330s/EK 777s/QR 787 are well airborne before that and getting nice photos is not that hard.
- I have a 28-300mm lens which is fine, but a longer lens is required to catch some of the larger aircraft as they turn; some, like a Swiss A321, turned early and looked great with the afternoon sun on them.
- Once I was finished there, I went to the far end to scout locations for landings on 10L and there's plenty; turning right immediately at the end of the runway, you have ample space to park a car off the road and the terrain is quite undulating there, so you have plenty of places where you can stand, to get arrival shots; there is also part of the fence that is at chest height, which will help. I haven't tried this, of course, but I think it's going to work quite well for arrival shots.

I was worried about the effect 10L/28R would have on photography, but after yesterday, I'm actually looking forward to more photo opportunities there.

I agree it is generally fine, though smaller aircraft such as bizjets are usually airborne and climbing fast before they get near to the photographic locations. Also, for commercial types, their altitude at the runway end will to an extent depend on whether they get a full-length or intersection (N2) departure. ATC tend to mix and match a bit to ensure efficient runway use. Landings on 10L can also be photographed from the grass bank, though I would recommend a small ladder to minimise intrusion of the perimeter fence into the shot.

https://twitter.com/dublinairport/statu ... eaTIlGg7yg

Airport worker really lifting the mood at DUB,
What a legend!

nickya340 wrote:

https://twitter.com/dublinairport/status/1610211415532441600?s=46&t=RqexGmkgFb-qeaTIlGg7yg

Airport worker really lifting the mood at DUB,
What a legend!

Haha, that's brilliant!

Such a contrast to people at other airports (I'm looking at you, Heathrow) who have do these tasks!

IrishStevS wrote:

The management in Aer Lingus have only become worse since IAG took over but even worse now since Covid.

... and it's so disappointing that EI didn't end up getting the 359s it ordered over a decade ago and that the orders were transferred elsewhere instead IAG, while EI has now sourced low-grade ex-QR 330s with IFE glitches to top up its capacity.

Always interesting when state papers get released especially aviation ones :

"The Irish government opposed a call by US president, Ronald Reagan, to suspend landing rights of the Soviet state airliner, Aeroflot, in response to the shooting down of a Korean civilian aircraft by the USSR in 1983 because of its financial impact on Shannon Airport."

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41037368.html

Replacing IFE is actually a bigger job than you would think. It is normally done in conjunction with a heavy C or D check because of how time consuming it is. Remove old seats, remove carpets, remove old wiring for defunct IFE (folks trawling through the wiring looms in the cargo holds, sidewalls, under floors in cabin etc), re-wire looms with new IFE, adjust/replace floor tracks for new seats, install new controls for Cabin Crew etc, integrate it with the PA system, then replace/reinstall every panel, carpet, floor board and seat. Its a couple of weeks of work alone that is done with the heavy checks as so much needs to come out of the airframe that it lines up nicely with other required inspections and work.

Then there’s the supply chain issues. Pre Covid the wait time on those Thompson J class seats was 5-7 years, can’t imagine it is much better now. Even if seats were salvaged from the 757s, EI-EWR & EI-LAX, they might have been needed for the 321s.

EIK & EIL are 2006/2007 builds. With heavy C & D checks occurring every 4 to 6 years on average, and costing approx 12 million dollars for an A330 pre COVID at least, the decision on whether to bother holding onto them or turn them into freighters will be made in the next couple of years by the lessor and EI I should imagine. Life in the desert can be hard on airframes and engines in particular. It seems like an A330Neo order could be made by IAG within that timeframe.

HTCone wrote:

Replacing IFE is actually a bigger job than you would think. It is normally done in conjunction with a heavy C or D check because of how time consuming it is. Remove old seats, remove carpets, remove old wiring for defunct IFE (folks trawling through the wiring looms in the cargo holds, sidewalls, under floors in cabin etc), re-wire looms with new IFE, adjust/replace floor tracks for new seats, install new controls for Cabin Crew etc, integrate it with the PA system, then replace/reinstall every panel, carpet, floor board and seat. Its a couple of weeks of work alone that is done with the heavy checks as so much needs to come out of the airframe that it lines up nicely with other required inspections and work.

Then there’s the supply chain issues. Pre Covid the wait time on those Thompson J class seats was 5-7 years, can’t imagine it is much better now. Even if seats were salvaged from the 757s, EI-EWR & EI-LAX, they might have been needed for the 321s.

EIK & EIL are 2006/2007 builds. With heavy C & D checks occurring every 4 to 6 years on average, and costing approx 12 million dollars for an A330 pre COVID at least, the decision on whether to bother holding onto them or turn them into freighters will be made in the next couple of years by the lessor and EI I should imagine. Life in the desert can be hard on airframes and engines in particular. It seems like an A330Neo order could be made by IAG within that timeframe.

Good info thank you. What about installing wifi, is that as time consuming?

I would say the frames could have a few years life left in them be it at EI or elsewhere. The thing is they can’t really continue to fly around for another year and a bit with the current product. It’s doing damage to EIs brand and presents a really poor offering compared to the US carriers who have wifi and working IFE.

If a refit isn’t ideal, other options such as wifi or somehow compensating passengers stuck on that aircraft should really be explored, particularly for J class passengers.

Any word on the returning A330-200s yet?

HTCone wrote:

EIK & EIL are 2006/2007 builds. With heavy C & D checks occurring every 4 to 6 years on average, and costing approx 12 million dollars for an A330 pre COVID at least, the decision on whether to bother holding onto them or turn them into freighters will be made in the next couple of years by the lessor and EI I should imagine. Life in the desert can be hard on airframes and engines in particular. It seems like an A330Neo order could be made by IAG within that timeframe.

EIL has been in Bordeaux for the last three weeks, so we might get an indication quite soon.

shamrock321 wrote:

Any word on the returning A330-200s yet?

Irish Air Letter says that DAA and DUO are to return to service in Spring 2023. They have both been out of service since July 2020 and are both currently in storage in Nimes.

In a recent appearance of EI before the Oireachtas, a senator raised the issue of EIK/L with them and EI confirmed that they are planning to upgrade the interiors of these but lead times were an issue. They noted they would upgrade them in the morning if they could.

bx737 wrote:

shamrock321 wrote:

Any word on the returning A330-200s yet?

Irish Air Letter says that DAA and DUO are to return to service in Spring 2023. They have both been out of service since July 2020 and are both currently in storage in Nimes.

Yup, DAA and DUO back in the schedules for S23, you can see them on sale on SEA and YYZ. Both are pretty old airframes now, DAA must be the oldest WB in their fleet now?

YUAND wrote:

HTCone wrote:

Replacing IFE is actually a bigger job than you would think. It is normally done in conjunction with a heavy C or D check because of how time consuming it is. Remove old seats, remove carpets, remove old wiring for defunct IFE (folks trawling through the wiring looms in the cargo holds, sidewalls, under floors in cabin etc), re-wire looms with new IFE, adjust/replace floor tracks for new seats, install new controls for Cabin Crew etc, integrate it with the PA system, then replace/reinstall every panel, carpet, floor board and seat. Its a couple of weeks of work alone that is done with the heavy checks as so much needs to come out of the airframe that it lines up nicely with other required inspections and work.

Then there’s the supply chain issues. Pre Covid the wait time on those Thompson J class seats was 5-7 years, can’t imagine it is much better now. Even if seats were salvaged from the 757s, EI-EWR & EI-LAX, they might have been needed for the 321s.

EIK & EIL are 2006/2007 builds. With heavy C & D checks occurring every 4 to 6 years on average, and costing approx 12 million dollars for an A330 pre COVID at least, the decision on whether to bother holding onto them or turn them into freighters will be made in the next couple of years by the lessor and EI I should imagine. Life in the desert can be hard on airframes and engines in particular. It seems like an A330Neo order could be made by IAG within that timeframe.

Good info thank you. What about installing wifi, is that as time consuming?.

Installation of a full SATCOM suite for CPDLC & wifi costs approx 2 million dollars for a widebody. Cutting holes in the top of the fuselage to install the antennas is naturally a very expensive and very closely scrutinised job. Then integrating with all the avionics etc.

EIK & EIL have the SATCOM for CPDLC already though, it is a requirement to be allowed fly between FL290;& FL410 on the North Atlantic to get the best separation standards with other aircraft, so the wifi on it’s own should be cheaper and simpler to install…..but only worth doing if keeping the aircraft beyond 2024 I’ll wager in EI’s minds.

As an aside I’ve never had satellite wifi work particularly well on any airline. When over land the VHF wifi is far more reliable but beyond VHF range out over the ocean it tends to be dodgy. SATCOM is unreliable for the avionics and the CPDLC network regularly fails.


Something worth considering for them is whether they’ll go down the road of having pax access IFE via their own devices on the inflight wifi network, ie log in to the on board network and stream the airline’s IFE system on your own device. Lots of carriers are going down this route and it saves a great deal of weight and thus fuel as well as reduces maintenance costs and the cost of the seats themselves.

[photoid][/photoid]

Jake801 wrote:

bx737 wrote:

shamrock321 wrote:

Any word on the returning A330-200s yet?

Irish Air Letter says that DAA and DUO are to return to service in Spring 2023. They have both been out of service since July 2020 and are both currently in storage in Nimes.

Yup, DAA and DUO back in the schedules for S23, you can see them on sale on SEA and YYZ. Both are pretty old airframes now, DAA must be the oldest WB in their fleet now?

What about EI-GEY? As I thought just -LAX and -EWR were withdrawn/scrapped. EI-DAA is an 01’ build so must be the oldest.

GEY was leased, not sure whether EI still have the lease on it. DAA and DUO are owned outright, as was LAX.

EI710 wrote:

In a recent appearance of EI before the Oireachtas, a senator raised the issue of EIK/L with them and EI confirmed that they are planning to upgrade the interiors of these but lead times were an issue. They noted they would upgrade them in the morning if they could.

I'm sure they would.

I'm more surprised this burning issue was addressed in he Oireachtas.

Surely there are more important issues out there than the configuration of the fleet of an airline.

Im glad to see that EI has been a bit more proactive sending messages to customers about the IFE not working. It doesn’t excuse them, but it is an acknowledgement at least that something needs to be done. I take it that the ex-QR birds have a different IFE system to EI’s own builds?

Has anyone been able to keep track of the reg’s of the FR -8200s? In days gone by FR were pretty good at blocks of sequential registrations, but with Buzz and Malta Air and the MAX groundings things are totally out of sequence. Are the ‘missing’ regs still to be delivered to FR, or have the LN’s that were pencilled in to have EI- registrations been put on the Polish/Maltese register?

ClassicLover wrote:

EI710 wrote:

In a recent appearance of EI before the Oireachtas, a senator raised the issue of EIK/L with them and EI confirmed that they are planning to upgrade the interiors of these but lead times were an issue. They noted they would upgrade them in the morning if they could.

I'm sure they would.

I'm more surprised this burning issue was addressed in he Oireachtas.

Surely there are more important issues out there than the configuration of the fleet of an airline.

I usually tune into these out of interest but it’s usually pretty painful seeing local politicians raising all things SNN and ORK over and over again but this was one of the more interesting topics that came up!!!

EI710 wrote:

ClassicLover wrote:

EI710 wrote:

In a recent appearance of EI before the Oireachtas, a senator raised the issue of EIK/L with them and EI confirmed that they are planning to upgrade the interiors of these but lead times were an issue. They noted they would upgrade them in the morning if they could.

I'm sure they would.

I'm more surprised this burning issue was addressed in he Oireachtas.

Surely there are more important issues out there than the configuration of the fleet of an airline.

I usually tune into these out of interest but it’s usually pretty painful seeing local politicians raising all things SNN and ORK over and over again but this was one of the more interesting topics that came up!!!

I find it interesting that EI is answering questions from such a committee given it is no longer state owned. Of course being the home carrier of an island nation means that it is quite important in the Irish economic and social context but interesting that such questions can be asked of private businesses. I'm surprised that IAG don't appear to have a negative opinion of such scrutiny from a government.

YUAND wrote:

EI710 wrote:

ClassicLover wrote:

I'm sure they would.

I'm more surprised this burning issue was addressed in he Oireachtas.

Surely there are more important issues out there than the configuration of the fleet of an airline.

I usually tune into these out of interest but it’s usually pretty painful seeing local politicians raising all things SNN and ORK over and over again but this was one of the more interesting topics that came up!!!

I find it interesting that EI is answering questions from such a committee given it is no longer state owned. Of course being the home carrier of an island nation means that it is quite important in the Irish economic and social context but interesting that such questions can be asked of private businesses. I'm surprised that IAG don't appear to have a negative opinion of such scrutiny from a government.

Well small island everyone knows each other and scratch each others backs so it is probably in both
sides interests to co operate. Still either the person has experienced those aircraft or a closet Avgeek.
I doubt constituents are writing in about it !

YUAND wrote:

EI710 wrote:

ClassicLover wrote:

I'm sure they would.

I'm more surprised this burning issue was addressed in he Oireachtas.

Surely there are more important issues out there than the configuration of the fleet of an airline.

I usually tune into these out of interest but it’s usually pretty painful seeing local politicians raising all things SNN and ORK over and over again but this was one of the more interesting topics that came up!!!

I find it interesting that EI is answering questions from such a committee given it is no longer state owned. Of course being the home carrier of an island nation means that it is quite important in the Irish economic and social context but interesting that such questions can be asked of private businesses. I'm surprised that IAG don't appear to have a negative opinion of such scrutiny from a government.

No longer state owned but in receipt of significant state funding and wage supports over the last few years which is probably why they are answerable to this committee.

It is a bit of an oddity but even Ryanair was in recently aswell. The EI appearances can be painful as regardless of the topic the same politicians bring up the same issues - SNN cabin crew base closure etc.

I don’t imagine there are much countries where the IFE of aircraft is discussed in parliament.

Ireland West Airport reports strong post-Covid recovery in 2022

https://m.independent.ie/regionals/slig ... 62144.html

Some very good numbers for the regional airport.
Would not be surprised if we see a few more routes
announced even if seasonal.

Jake801 wrote:

bx737 wrote:

shamrock321 wrote:

Any word on the returning A330-200s yet?

Irish Air Letter says that DAA and DUO are to return to service in Spring 2023. They have both been out of service since July 2020 and are both currently in storage in Nimes.

Yup, DAA and DUO back in the schedules for S23, you can see them on sale on SEA and YYZ. Both are pretty old airframes now, DAA must be the oldest WB in their fleet now?

I flew on DAA almost 21 years ago (DUB-LAX) when it still had that 'new Airbus smell'. It'll be interesting to see her back in service. I presume a new livery will be applied as part of her return to service programme ?

OA260 wrote:

Ireland West Airport reports strong post-Covid recovery in 2022

https://m.independent.ie/regionals/slig ... 62144.html

Some very good numbers for the regional airport.
Would not be surprised if we see a few more routes
announced even if seasonal.

Could Trans-Atlantic ever return?

JannEejit wrote:

Jake801 wrote:

bx737 wrote:

Irish Air Letter says that DAA and DUO are to return to service in Spring 2023. They have both been out of service since July 2020 and are both currently in storage in Nimes.

Yup, DAA and DUO back in the schedules for S23, you can see them on sale on SEA and YYZ. Both are pretty old airframes now, DAA must be the oldest WB in their fleet now?

I flew on DAA almost 21 years ago (DUB-LAX) when it still had that 'new Airbus smell'. It'll be interesting to see her back in service. I presume a new livery will be applied as part of her return to service programme ?

I doubt they will bother painting it, they have been very slow to paint aircraft into the new livery and I can't imagine they will keep the A330-200s for much longer. Will probably depend on when it's next heavy maintenence is due.

planemanofnz wrote:

OA260 wrote:

Ireland West Airport reports strong post-Covid recovery in 2022

https://m.independent.ie/regionals/slig ... 62144.html

Some very good numbers for the regional airport.
Would not be surprised if we see a few more routes
announced even if seasonal.

Could Trans-Atlantic ever return?

0 chance…

planemanofnz wrote:

OA260 wrote:

Ireland West Airport reports strong post-Covid recovery in 2022

https://m.independent.ie/regionals/slig ... 62144.html

Some very good numbers for the regional airport.
Would not be surprised if we see a few more routes
announced even if seasonal.

Could Trans-Atlantic ever return?

Maybe if Frontier do attempt transatlantic with the XLRs they have on order & decide to go for the more ‘obscure’ destinations…..

EI321 wrote:

I doubt they will bother painting it, they have been very slow to paint aircraft into the new livery and I can't imagine they will keep the A330-200s for much longer. Will probably depend on when it's next heavy maintenence is due.

Emerald haven’t painted -FAT and -FAV in new EI colours either. The other ex-Stobart ATRs have been painted, but they were all-white in their Stobart days. I don’t think painting is too high on EI’s priorities. If I’m honest, Im not sure what is. It feels like they are in crisis mode and struggling to get back on an even footing post COVID. Their fleet needs TLC and upgrading. Their soft product is still not back to pre-pandemic days. Their website and app are far from best-in-class. Even the new recruits dont seem to be getting much in the way of training beyond how to safely operate. Maybe it is “IAG’s fault” but IB, BA and Vueling are all getting new business class products on their new widebodies, have a stream on incoming MAX/NEOs and use current generation reservation systems. Even Vueling have had something of an operational transformation, they operated 82% of their flight on-time. Might be worth having a look at them again!

eicvd wrote:

planemanofnz wrote:

Could Trans-Atlantic ever return?

Maybe if Frontier do attempt transatlantic with the XLRs they have on order & decide to go for the more ‘obscure’ destinations…..

I would not count against JetBlue either. American airlines traditionally tended to favour frequency into their hubs compared to European airlines. Ryanair and easyJet etc have made point-to-point their own, but in the US the likes of Allegiant, Avelo and Breeze have shown lower frequency point-to-point has a place in the US market too. These changes and the XLR might work in favour of Irish airports outside Dublin. The LR has already secured the future of EI transatlantic services out of SNN.

Well the US/Canadian carriers have a lot of A321NEO LR/XLR on order
UA - 50
AA - 50
B6 - 26
AC - 30

I presume a a big proportion of these will see TATL ops, opening up a lof of routes which would not have been feasible before.

I wonder how this would affect EIs DUBHUB strategy. With US airlines able to offer more direct services from secondary cities in both the US and Europe?