Aer Lingus plans to jettison Stobart Air as the provider of its regional services, with the Irish national carrier opting to transfer the service to a start-up operator.
Aer Lingus has been granted tentative approval to join an existing antitrust-immune transatlantic joint venture that includes American Airlines, British Airways (BA), Iberia and Finnair.
International Airlines Group has admitted that Airbus A321neo delivery delays have forced it to reshape its network, particularly on transatlantic routes. Chief executive Willie Walsh has also confirmed that the group has expressed an interest in some London Gatwick slots vacated by the demise of leisure carrier Thomas Cook.
As IAG’s pursuit of Scandinavian low-cost carrier Norwegian continues, Routesonline examines the current network competition and why a deal will give the British Airways owner immediate scale in the long-haul low-cost market.
IAG, the owner of British Airways and Aer Lingus, is to expand its presence at Gatwick Airport after striking a deal to buy the majority of slots vacated by the collapse of Monarch. Hungarian carrier Wizz Air is also set to take Monarch's former slots at London Luton.
The confirmation of this deal follows extensive discussions between the management of Aer Lingus and its parent company International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) over the growth of the Dublin-based carrier’s long-haul network and the value IAG places in Ireland’s growing hub at Dublin Airport, one of fastest growing transatlantic departure markets of the current decade.
Barcelona seemingly has a good mix of the ingredients needed for IAG to make this new long haul low cost business work. It is a growing market in terms of demand and passenger flows are dominated by IAG airlines Vueling and Iberia providing a strong connecting feed into the long-haul operation to complement local traffic.
Ireland’s flag carrier has announced yet another American link. From September 2017, Miami will be served from the carrier’s Dublin hub three times a week.
Maximising Dublin’s connectivity potential is the focus for Ireland’s two largest carriers. Speaking at the Phocuswright Europe conference in the Irish capital this week, Ryanair’s chief marketing officer, Kenny Jacobs, has hinted that flight connections with Aer Lingus could be a reality within the next 12 months.
Aer Lingus is understood to be wet-leasing at least one aircraft for mainly Saturday operations from Dublin between the end of May and early September this year. The aircraft will operate weekly flights from Dublin to Bilbao, Bordeaux, Lyon, Nice, Perpignan and Santiago de Compostela, our Airline Route blog has revealed.
Around 14 million annual seats are available between Ireland and the UK with this year’s offering the largest this decade and up 4.8 per cent on last year. Ryanair is the dominant carrier with a 53.7 per cent capacity share, ahead of Aer Lingus (including its Aer Lingus Regional operation) with a 32.4 per cent share.
