Cardiff: Aer Lingus Flight Status, Hub News & Discussion

[Tinkerman]

Ouch, a huge blow for CWL this is.

It may not be in terms of overall capacity, but in terms of losing the onward connections and the brand presence of EI, this could turn into a PR disaster if the BBC or the like get hold of it, which i'm sure they eventually will.

However, a big blow always comes with caveats, and i hear the constant hum of harps becoming louder upon this news ...

 

[CraigW92]

I'm pretty sure that any return in March that has been mooted coincides with Wales v Ireland in the six nations in March next year, could well be around the 10th something like that anyway, always found the Aer Aerann, Aer Lingus regional / stobart air ( seems to have gone in that order over the years) to be an extremely good level of service, losing an airline and the brandso to speak is a very big blow, plus as I've already mentioned and others have the pre clearance and numerous one stop U.S routes, I'll be intrigued to see the reason started for withdrawal ... That indeed if there is one

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Ryanair might yet have it in mind to return to CWL on the DUB route at some point for the first time since 2006 but I don't think that they would bother waiting until EIR departed. In itself I don't believe that the EIR departure is less or more likely to mean Ryanair. If they are coming they are coming. EIR would be a minor consideration to them as would Flybe for that matter.

EIR and Flybe would do the worrying although I think there could be a place for one of them against Ryanair if MOL's lot pitched up.

I've been expecting a Ryanair increased presence at CWL for while - I thought it would have happened by now - so a return to the DUB route would not be a great surprise as the bodies are there to be harvested.

 

[Tinkerman]

Further to my previous post and replying to a few others all in one here so please excuse brevity.

If I/You were operating an airline and your product was seemingly competing directly against someone else's who had superior support from the airport in terms of hard cash, marketing and whatever else is part of a deal, then wouldn't it get your back up ? It certainly would get mine highly raised, and therefore EI's actions here if at all related to that are highly sympathised. There was too much capacity on the route and I'm with Local on the fact that I also believe if one of these carriers was FR then we'd be fine, FR seems pretty much self sufficient these days.

However, in this whole Flybe deal, that's now two airlines who have got the hump, CityJet (who of course now operate SSJ's which would have been a marvelous fit at CWL for numerous routes), and now EI, a long-serving, relatively good quality, well known brand has been effectively forced off the route with one of the factors, probably a big factor too is unequal and unfair competition.

Whilst we all support the fact that BE have the wealth of routes that they have here, CWL and the WG have set, in my opinion, a very very dangerous and precarious precedent here with BE, and for that reason can we honestly see anyone else taking up DUB or any other route where they would be in direct competition with a subsidised competitor ?

This news may be music to the ears of FR since rumours have been rife over the harps moving in for the last few months, but after this deal with BE, then i'm sure the FR i know rather well, and any other future incumbent airlines will want a similar deal.

My guess is that this situation can go two ways, it dangles the ever increasingly sized carrot for FR or the likes at CWL, or no new carrier will be found for DUB at all. I'm going with the latter for now, subject to change.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

You make some good points AG14.

It's an open secret that the CWL owners have put some big carrots in Flybe's food tray - nothing wrong with that in business - and it might well be that for whatever reason EIR hasn't been given the number of carrots it believes it is due, perhaps looking to what it thinks Flybe is getting.

We know that Ryanair will probably want a complete salad, not just carrots, if they are to return to the DUB route and also expand their presence by starting other routes. I thought that the WAG would be looking to put a large slice of its £13 million route development money (granted it's to be phased in over at least three years) towards someone like Ryanair to build footfall through the airport to feed the ancillary revenue streams such as car parking and retail outlets.

If APD is devolved then Ryanair will likely be very interested and might then settle for a smaller salad given its record of publicly supporting countries that reduce or abolish their own versions of APD, and 'punishing' those that put additional financial impediments in passengers' (and also airlines') way: note the recent instances in Italy. Ryanair loves to be able to boast the lowest headline fares and to make a big gesture such as starting or increasing an airport presence when a country reduces its air taxation burden.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

https://twitter.com/Cardiff_Airport/status/738657933387567104

This a bit of a deceptive reply from CWL. I take it they are referring to Flybe but it can easily be read as Aer Lingus as well.

I wonder why it wasn't made clear - perhaps the CWL Twitter person isn't aware that EIR is pulling out in November.

 

[Jerry]

Looks like Aer Lingus has released flights for the Six Nations. 2 flights on the 8/3/2017, 2 flights 9/3/2017, 2 flights 10/3/2017, 2 flights 11/3/2017 and 2 flights 12/3/2017. Interestingly at the moment Stobart Air is down to operate the flights but I wonder as the demand gets bigger then the flights will be upgraded to A320's and maybe CityJets Superjet 100.

 

[superking]

Looks like Aer Lingus has released flights for the Six Nations. 2 flights on the 8/3/2017, 2 flights 9/3/2017, 2 flights 10/3/2017, 2 flights 11/3/2017 and 2 flights 12/3/2017. Interestingly at the moment Stobart Air is down to operate the flights but I wonder as the demand gets bigger then the flights will be upgraded to A320's and maybe CityJets Superjet 100.

a320 aircraft are used from eir mainline with stobart flight numbers.other than that the stobart flights are still due to finish. when they do a extra daily rotation is planned from brs.

 

[Jerry]

a320 aircraft are used from eir mainline with stobart flight numbers.other than that the stobart flights are still due to finish. when they do a extra daily rotation is planned from brs.

Unfortunately CWL can't sustain 2 airlines on the same route doing 4 rotations a day and as a regular flyer to the US the connections are not as good as KLM especially as they always seem to be afternoon flights to the US not morning ones.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Stobart Air is still negotiating to sell its airline to CityJet so far as I know. Aer Lingus has reportedly given its blessing to the deal - it was consulted because of the Aer Lingus Regional franchise.

If the deal does go through it's unclear which aircraft type will operate Aer Lingus Regional routes or whether current routes and schedules will be maintained.

http://www.independent.ie/business/...cityjet-plan-to-buy-stobart-air-34844252.html

 

[Jerry]

Stobart Air is still negotiating to sell its airline to CityJet so far as I know. Aer Lingus has reportedly given its blessing to the deal - it was consulted because of the Aer Lingus Regional franchise.

If the deal does go through it's unclear which aircraft type will operate Aer Lingus Regional routes or whether current routes and schedules will be maintained.

http://www.independent.ie/business/...cityjet-plan-to-buy-stobart-air-34844252.html

CityJet are starting to convert their fleet to the Sukhoi 100 but I would wonder if that aircraft would be suitable for many of the Aer Lingus regional routes. Also don't Stobart Air fly routes for Flybe? Would be interesting considering Flybe were the reason CityJet left CWL. Wonder as well if that relatoinship could lead to CityJet and Flybe having a future working relationship on other routes? ie CWL-DUB! which would allow Flybe to concentrate on other routes.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

If the purchase by CityJet goes through they would be operating as an Aer Lingus franchisee. Assuming that Aer Lingus Regional, under whatever guise, didn't to return to CWL any CWL-DUB route by CityJet would have to be for itself. They could do that now if they wished.

When CityJet was at CWL it was really two airlines merged as one but with separate AOCs. The CWL aircraft were the VLM part of the airline that had a Belgian AOC unlike CityJet 'proper' which had and has an Irish AOC.

 

[Jerry]

If the purchase by CityJet goes through they would be operating as an Aer Lingus franchisee. Assuming that Aer Lingus Regional, under whatever guise, didn't to return to CWL any CWL-DUB route by CityJet would have to be for itself. They could do that now if they wished.

When CityJet was at CWL it was really two airlines merged as one but with separate AOCs. The CWL aircraft were the VLM part of the airline that had a Belgian AOC unlike CityJet 'proper' which had and has an Irish AOC.

I do remember that before Aer Lingus dropped CWL that Flybe had dropped their morning flight to DUB and were going to operate CDG as a double daily with DUB daily late at night. Obviously that had to be changed when Aer Lingus pulled out. I think people are hoping Aer Lingus and Flybe can come to a codeshare agreement.

 

[Jerry]

It looks like Aer Lingus might not be leaving CWL at all or there could be a possible codeshare with Flybe or another airline? Even though no flight details are showing up there are prices listed on the booking engine after October through to March when the 6 nations flights start but no prices are listed after 26th March 2017. Hopefully this could mean the Aer Lingus service will still be available from CWL one way or the other!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

It is strongly suggested elsewhere that, apart from the 6 Nations where flights have been available for a while, the flights will be a Flybe code share. Still good news if this means the US connections will feature.

 

[Jerry]

Yes i'd be surprised if EI resumed flights 3 months after dropping them. Unless Stobart Air sourced more aircraft and Flybe pulled off the route then the sensible option would be to codeshare as CWL can't sustain 4 flights a day to DUB. I wonder if DSA, EXT and SOU will be included in the codeshare? It should as well improve the loads for Flybe as well and fill the aircraft up.

 

[superking]

they will do the same as last year with the rugby rotations. they used aircraft from the aer lingus main line as in A320 aircraft and used Stobart flight numbers.

 

[Jerry]

Could Aer Lingus do a U turn and keep there CWL flights going? Instead of a codeshare with Flybe?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Could Aer Lingus do a U turn and keep there CWL flights going? Instead of a codeshare with Flybe?

They could but what would change their mind? If they do operate where does that leave Fybe? There isn't room for a full schedule to DUB from both airlines. That was shown last winter.

 

[Jerry]

They could but what would change their mind? If they do operate where does that leave Fybe? There isn't room for a full schedule to DUB from both airlines. That was shown last winter.

Well it looks like it will be a codeshare with Flybe. Flybe flights are showing up on Sunday 30th October and Monday 31st October but nothing has been loaded after that on the Aer Lingus website.