Aer Lingus

[IanFarquharson]

We all know how this story ends, sadly.

Passengers 'devestated' as Aer Lingus cancels Manchester to New York flights

The airline has issued an apology to passengers, stating the cancellations are due to 'technical and operational issues'

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

Running it down. Not intentionally, but with less enthusiasm to resolve the issues.

The damage was done last month by announcing a possible base closure, the travelling public are not going to book with a high chance their booking will be cancelled or routed via DUB

 

[Scottie Dog]

As I am sure the majority of forum users know, Aer Lingus UK has just 2 aircraft registered to it.

G-EILA had been at Dublin for maintenance from 2nd December until 22nd, when it returned to Manchester.

During this period an Aer Lingus "mainline" aircraft, EI-IEK, has been based at Manchester since 12th December however it has never been fully utilised. It operated a return flight to Orlando on 13th December but spent 14th on the ground at Manchester before once again departing to Orlando on 15th and arriving back on 16th. The next flight was not until 18th when it again visited Orlando before flying to Barbados on 19th and landing back on Manchester on 20th. The aircraft then sat on the ground until 23rd when it departed to New York, however the inbound flight then shows as having been cancelled.

G-EIDY departed from Manchester on 22nd December to Bordeaux, presumably for maintenance.

What an apparent shambles with less than one and a half aircraft being available from the Manchester base. My records appear to show that between 5th-12th December the airline managed to operate just 1 return trip per day on dates after that the majority of sectors were 3 per day although the 17th was back to 2 sectors, then 4 on 19th.

 

[Jerry]

Confirmation of the base closure

https://twitter.com/x/status/2009332768078221641

 

[Seasider]

It is a sad day that it comes to this. Obviously not a "bargaining tool" with the Unions.

 

[ian_h]

This was always only ever a typical IAG spoiler to stop Virgin getting a decent foothold.

Covid did that for them, so the stagnation was inevitable.

This could have worked so much better as a Level style operation and a dohop partnership giving easyjet and jet 2 feed on the MAN side and a US southwest/spirit/frontier feed in the US.

As others have said, neither Virgin or Norse have the frames and it would be a HUGE punt for norse, I suspect a good move for them but a risky move.

AA might jump back in to keep a "oneworld" presence in the JV, but you would hope that Virgin under its new leadership might reinvigorate the "Home in the North" mantra especially as they have virgin holidays to support some routes and the benefit of Delta feed and connections in the US.

Add in a dohop partnership on the MAN side and you get Loganair, easyJet, Jet2 feeding the routes without the operational complexity.

Theb dd the IndiGo & Skyteam partner routes into the mix and this could be a boost and finally realise the potential for MAN as an alternative connection point.

I do think MAG / GMCA / Visit England need to put some effort into raising awareness of not just routes but the existence of a quality, friendlier entry point to the UK perhaps add train connections to make a 1 ticket seamless trip from US > MAN > LPL / EDI / LON etc

Will United come back and enjoy links to Star partners ? - less convinced tbh but Turkish, Egyptair and Singapore *might* just make it workable.

Other than that we are left with JetBlue who are certainly not to be sniffed at, none of the EU groups have any appetite for "LoCo" transatlantic and JetBlue have a great product.

Jet2 maybe one day, but tui seem to be retreating, might we see condor?

MAG need to lobby HARD to get the additional re-screening rules removed to ease connections and 5th freedom flights, if the connection Product could be as good as MUC (another secondary airport albeit with a home based carrier), they would have something pretty special to sell airlines especially as they have 200+ destinations served.

Maybe add US pre-clearance back into to Pier 3 plans or even add it to part of Pier C as an interim and then they become a real contender.

A punt that needs investment yes, but all doable and with Mike Kane as local MP, surely he, and the Mayor will have the ear of Heidi Alexander.

Very interesting times ahead, but the priority of course is the EIUK team who are affected and whatever happens i wish them all the very best.

 

[Jerry]

As others have said, neither Virgin or Norse have the frames

With Virgin Atlantic Delta could be a factor ie take over Atlanta to free up aircraft for New York and Orlando.

 

[BlueManc]

Very interesting times ahead, but the priority of course is the EIUK team who are affected and whatever happens i wish them all the very best.

Would be great is some sort of TUPE happened with someone stepping in, but just don't know who has the frames unless bold decisions to redeploy happen.

 

[marni1971]

Twitter/X:

https://twitter.com/x/status/2014787417950072993

 

[Seasider]

It will make people think twice before booking with them via DUB.