OA260 wrote:

Watch: Impromptu trad gig breaks out on Aer Lingus flight to New York

https://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/video- ... 07639.html

A bit of alternative IFE onboard

VanBosch wrote:

Will the potential growth at MAN be point to point? Or could you see it becoming a Mini hub with EI Regional feeding it?

BrianDromey wrote:

EIDL wrote:

They'd have been rightly screwed since Feb 2022 with no support/parts available due to sanctions; I expect.

I think the SSJ screwed CityJet long before that. The initial 15 aircraft order should have covered all of their fleet needs for the coming decades. Reliability, lack of spares and maintenance support and never getting certification for LCY were all issues. I suspect the failure of the SSJ pushed WX into the franchise/wet-lease with EI, perhaps so they could re-fleet. This approach worked for Stobart, so maybe that was the hope for cityJet?
Im sure you could argue that the SSJ order of itself was a sign of their financial weakness. The E170/E90 was already certified, in operation around the world and already operated by their biggest competitor at LCY. Once the SSJ gamble failed, the future of WX branded operations was sealed.

nickya340 wrote:

Because of the A332s fuselage length I’d say the new livery will be slightly less bare-looking than the -300. A bit like the A320 vs A321LR new livery. I’m sure the 332s will stay in the old livery for the summer season though.

Maybe it will look OK. I still think the titles are too small on the livery, they are barely legible from a distance. Lufthansa have similar placing and sizing of the titles, but the bold Ariel-type font stands out more. Its a shame as the overall livery is quite pleasing to the eye in person. The tail, winglet and engine colours are eye-catching.

Speaking of engines. EI-NSA appears to have had an engine change and is flying around with the No2 engine cowling painted white. Maybe white engines were a better idea for EI?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen an FR engine cowling that doesn’t match the livery? Even EI-DCL, the Dreamliner 737 manages to look consistent. It does have a white nose randome for a long time.

shamrock350 wrote:

... MAN ... could cannibalise the DUB operation

nickya340 wrote:

It’s a growing trend to at Ryanair to keep planes for longer now I see. ‘DCL is 18 and presumably they plan to keep it for a while longer hence the repaint. It also shows that the new max 8-200s are generally for expansion and not replacements.

Eirules wrote:

It appears the start date of the El Al flights from TLV has been brought forward. It was originally due to launch 26th March but the first flight was today!!! Great to see another airline in Dublin

thesupersaiyann wrote:

David_itl wrote:

planemanofnz wrote:

However, perhaps they could switch MAN-IAH to DUB-IAH. IAH is the biggest US city without a DUB service. Meanwhile, SQ is already well established in MAN and has less of a need for a tag to support it there now.

What is your fixation on stopping MAN having an IAH route? When SQ wanted to change it's SIN-DME-IAH routing a few years ago, if what you say it so obvious, why didn't they announce that and keep MAN as a terminator service? There's absolutely no reason to think that the Irish Government would automatically allow SQ 5th freedom rights when they wouldn't even allow ET rights to DUB-MAN, As for the statement "less of a need", we know that they planned 5 weekly SIN-MAN-IAH for the summer is now a 3 weekly SIN-MAN-IAH and 2 weekly SIN-MAN. The MAN service is not in dire need of having a stop-off point By your reasoning, why don't you get SQ to alter it's SIN-FRA-JFK routing to SIN-DUB-JFK instead after all FRA is already established route and has less of a need for a tag to support it there now.

I'd hardly call it a fixation, he merely suggested it?
As above, DUB-MAN is fairly contested to say the least, and additionally I remember hearing that part of the reason Ethiopian was rejected on that route was due to their country's stance on the Russian invasion? I'm not entirely sure, though. If they permitted MAD-DUB in the past, I wonder why they rejected MAN-DUB otherwise.

berari wrote:

thesupersaiyann wrote:

Maybe ET's application for DUB-MAN is seen.....

berari wrote:

thesupersaiyann wrote:

David_itl wrote:

What is your fixation on stopping MAN having an IAH route? When SQ wanted to change it's SIN-DME-IAH routing a few years ago, if what you say it so obvious, why didn't they announce that and keep MAN as a terminator service? There's absolutely no reason to think that the Irish Government would automatically allow SQ 5th freedom rights when they wouldn't even allow ET rights to DUB-MAN, As for the statement "less of a need", we know that they planned 5 weekly SIN-MAN-IAH for the summer is now a 3 weekly SIN-MAN-IAH and 2 weekly SIN-MAN. The MAN service is not in dire need of having a stop-off point By your reasoning, why don't you get SQ to alter it's SIN-FRA-JFK routing to SIN-DUB-JFK instead after all FRA is already established route and has less of a need for a tag to support it there now.

I'd hardly call it a fixation, he merely suggested it?
As above, DUB-MAN is fairly contested to say the least, and additionally I remember hearing that part of the reason Ethiopian was rejected on that route was due to their country's stance on the Russian invasion? I'm not entirely sure, though. If they permitted MAD-DUB in the past, I wonder why they rejected MAN-DUB otherwise.

Maybe ET's application for DUB-MAN is seen as a commercial threat more than anything. Remember how the Irish government pulled its rights to operate DUB-LAX in an effort to protect Aer Lingus? Or when Aer Lingus complained about ET's use of DUB in the wee hours of the morning as a fuel stop claiming airport congestion. Maybe it's something else like flexing muscles over an African airline that can.

thesupersaiyann wrote:

berari wrote:

thesupersaiyann wrote:

Maybe ET's application for DUB-MAN is seen.....

Yeah that seems like it's probably the case, maybe even as a result of the effect DUB-MAD had.
Thankfully nothing ever came of that complaint, I guess the occasional congestion problem is worth it considering what DUB must get out of the stopovers. Ideally when those flights are on time they shouldn't really get in the way of the morning bank. Fairly hyperbolic of Aer Lingus.

I would love to see SQ open the routing as mentioned above, considering there's no DUB-IAH route. Considering the fact that Cathay were apparently quite successful operating DUB-HKG, there has to be a market for a direct far east flight. One can dream...

LH982 wrote:

berari wrote:

thesupersaiyann wrote:

Yeah that seems like it's probably the case, maybe even as a result of the effect DUB-MAD had.
Thankfully nothing ever came of that complaint, I guess the occasional congestion problem is worth it considering what DUB must get out of the stopovers. Ideally when those flights are on time they shouldn't really get in the way of the morning bank. Fairly hyperbolic of Aer Lingus.

I would love to see SQ open the routing as mentioned above, considering there's no DUB-IAH route. Considering the fact that Cathay were apparently quite successful operating DUB-HKG, there has to be a market for a direct far east flight. One can dream...

If DUB has a capacity issue with up to three flights using a remote stand for refueling, then there's an even bigger issue. And if Aer Lingus is threatened by a third world carrier that does not even plan to operate a consistent daily 5th freedom service, then there's also a problem. In fact, there was, for Ireland revoked ET's 5th freedom to LAX when Aer Lingus decided to start its own service.

Did they actually lodge a complaint about ET refueling, or is this just a good story?

But Stephen Kavanagh told Aer Lingus investors that while he welcomes competition, he’s concerned that the airline is consuming airport resources without offering much in return.

“The real issue is the ramp space at Dublin Airport that it (Ethiopian) is consuming,” said the chief executive. The ramp, or apron, at an airport is the area where aircraft are parked and loaded and unloaded.

“We are working hard to build Dublin into an efficient hub, and ramp space and gate positions that are proximate for flowing customers conveniently to the facility are a scarce resource. That’s the headache that Ethiopian have currently given all of us base carriers at Dublin Airport,” he said. The chief executive of the Dublin Airport Authority, Kevin Toland, has dismissed Mr Kavanagh’s claims.

OA260 wrote:

Flew back LHR - BHD today with BA in Club Europe. Flights into DUB were super inflated . I know people either prefer EI or BA but I have to say BA were excellent with their inflight offering. Their afternoon tea is still great. Sadly the lounges at LHR are tired and dated but the food offering was pretty decent.

The ground product at BHD was let down a bit by Swissport baggage handlers who were on a go slow with bags taking ages and the Priority tagged bags being last.

planemanofnz wrote:

OA260 wrote:

Flew back LHR - BHD today with BA in Club Europe. Flights into DUB were super inflated . I know people either prefer EI or BA but I have to say BA were excellent with their inflight offering. Their afternoon tea is still great. Sadly the lounges at LHR are tired and dated but the food offering was pretty decent.

The ground product at BHD was let down a bit by Swissport baggage handlers who were on a go slow with bags taking ages and the Priority tagged bags being last.

Thanks for the pics. Looks great, particularly for such a short flight. If only EI were at that level too.

BangersAndMash wrote:

Looks like Vueling is dropping Orly to Cork and Shannon. ORY-ORK not bookable after 11 June, ORY-SNN stops 14 June.

I know EI is due to resume ORK-CDG in September. Presumably this will be year round?

BangersAndMash wrote:

Looks like Vueling is dropping Orly to Cork and Shannon. ORY-ORK not bookable after 11 June, ORY-SNN stops 14 June.

I know EI is due to resume ORK-CDG in September. Presumably this will be year round?

berari wrote:

If DUB has a capacity issue with up to three flights using a remote stand for refueling, then there's an even bigger issue. And if Aer Lingus is threatened by a third world carrier that does not even plan to operate a consistent daily 5th freedom service, then there's also a problem. In fact, there was, for Ireland revoked ET's 5th freedom to LAX when Aer Lingus decided to start its own service.

IrishLessor wrote:

berari wrote:

If DUB has a capacity issue with up to three flights using a remote stand for refueling, then there's an even bigger issue. And if Aer Lingus is threatened by a third world carrier that does not even plan to operate a consistent daily 5th freedom service, then there's also a problem. In fact, there was, for Ireland revoked ET's 5th freedom to LAX when Aer Lingus decided to start its own service.

As I recall ET and EI were operating DUB LAX simultaneously. I wasn't aware that ET's fifth freedoms were withdrawn. The word on the street that I heard was that ET had very poor demand for DUBLAX in Ireland and the US where most of their demand was they weren't well know and certainly for travel to Ireland. The stop was changes to Lome. The commentary at that time in the media and travel journals didn't mention any gov intervention in the change at that time ...

nickya340 wrote:

BangersAndMash wrote:

Looks like Vueling is dropping Orly to Cork and Shannon. ORY-ORK not bookable after 11 June, ORY-SNN stops 14 June.

I know EI is due to resume ORK-CDG in September. Presumably this will be year round?

I always thought the A321 was a bit big for those routes, especially since they ran simultaneously but unfortunately ORY is an A321 only base for Vueling. I wonder if FR would try SNN-BVA again, must be at least 10 yrs since that last ran.

EI710 wrote:

nickya340 wrote:

BangersAndMash wrote:

Looks like Vueling is dropping Orly to Cork and Shannon. ORY-ORK not bookable after 11 June, ORY-SNN stops 14 June.

I know EI is due to resume ORK-CDG in September. Presumably this will be year round?

I always thought the A321 was a bit big for those routes, especially since they ran simultaneously but unfortunately ORY is an A321 only base for Vueling. I wonder if FR would try SNN-BVA again, must be at least 10 yrs since that last ran.

The presence of the AF service from ORK to CDG probably hampered the ORK service also and agreed an A321 was just too much capacity in the circumstances.

No doubt there will be a lot of noise about this loss in SNN. If EI really wanted to they have a spare LR that could squeeze in CDG even a couple mornings a week but probably back to the same issue of overcapacity along with costs of sending crews down. FR to BVA is probably a more feasible proposition.

AmricanShamrok wrote:

EI710 wrote:

nickya340 wrote:

I always thought the A321 was a bit big for those routes, especially since they ran simultaneously but unfortunately ORY is an A321 only base for Vueling. I wonder if FR would try SNN-BVA again, must be at least 10 yrs since that last ran.

The presence of the AF service from ORK to CDG probably hampered the ORK service also and agreed an A321 was just too much capacity in the circumstances.

No doubt there will be a lot of noise about this loss in SNN. If EI really wanted to they have a spare LR that could squeeze in CDG even a couple mornings a week but probably back to the same issue of overcapacity along with costs of sending crews down. FR to BVA is probably a more feasible proposition.

Just a few weeks ago VY had a fairly sizable advertising campaign around Limerick (billboards, busses etc.) so the timing is a bit weird. I agree the A321 might have been a bit big of an aircraft for the route. It also launched it at a suboptimal time of year, September, when most people were done with summer holidays and the kids were back to school. I flew it twice and loads were quite poor (albeit this in the early days of it commencing).

OA260 wrote:

Flew back LHR - BHD today with BA in Club Europe. Flights into DUB were super inflated . I know people either prefer EI or BA but I have to say BA were excellent with their inflight offering. Their afternoon tea is still great. Sadly the lounges at LHR are tired and dated but the food offering was pretty decent.

The ground product at BHD was let down a bit by Swissport baggage handlers who were on a go slow with bags taking ages and the Priority tagged bags being last.

DublinPaul wrote:

Agreed, yet another reason to avoid IAG.

tibsthefox wrote:

Looks like one of the ex QR A330s are on a couple of the YYZ routes at the end of the month judging by the Business Class seat maps on the site