Good afternoon everyone and welcome to our third thread of the new year.

It's pretty cold out there and of course, the snow is affecting flight operations. As I write this, DUB is open, but was closed until about 10.50, with several flights (especially DL 44 from JFK) having lengthy holds; Delta 44 was one of a number of flights which nearly diverted to SNN. More delays and closures - possibly lengthy - are expected through the day and it may well get worse before it gets better.

Much like Brexit, really.

So, what's happened in February?

- Ryanair is hopeful, subject to computer systems talking to each other, to have a feed to EI in place by year end.
- Turkish looking at the possibility of a fifth freedom route to MEX, presumably using 777s. Aside from this, it's also expected that one of the existing flights will be upgraded to a widebody.
- Qatar's Ali Al Baker has said that he hopes to upgrade Dublin to an A350 service.
- Etihad is expected to reduce its DUB service to 12 times a week for a six week period.
- Waterford based Aer Southeast is hoping to start services later this year.
- Aer Lingus will axe its late night DUB-LHR/early morning LHR-DUB, with BA operating that service; EI is already operating the early morning BA flight from DUB (among others), will also bring an A330 onto one of the DUB-LHR routes.
- Ukraine International has listed DUB as a possible route, using E-jets, from 2019/20.
- Italian carrier Ernest Air is expected to start services to Dublin later this Summer.
- The new national plan has been launched and DUB is expected to get an underground link to the city (leading south, as well as north to Swords) by 2027.
- No DEN service this year, so A332 (MSN 535) which is being acquired this year will be retained as an operations reserve aircraft for the Summer.

OK folks, here's the link to the old thread: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1385321

Wrap up well; it's cold out there!

Ryanair and Aer Lingus have cancelled their short haul flights (which in FR's case means all!) for the rest of the day.

Ryanair is to increase Palma Mallorca services to Irish airports in June and July; SNN and ORK go from 2 to 3 weekly, while Dublin goes from 6 to 10 weekly.

kaitak wrote:

Ryanair is to increase Palma Mallorca services to Irish airports in June and July; SNN and ORK go from 2 to 3 weekly, while Dublin goes from 6 to 10 weekly.

Typical PR spin, annual schedule increase for the most part.

" - Aer Lingus will axe its late night DUB-LHR/early morning LHR-DUB, with BA operating that service; EI is already operating the early morning BA flight from DUB (among others), will also bring an A330 onto one of the DUB-LHR routes. "


Ah where did you get that information from? All the flights are for sale until January next year and both flights (ei149/51) still for offer. Plus, those 2 slots are really valuable for Aer Lingus/ IAG. Don't really see the airline axing them. The lease agreement for British Airways is expiring on the 23rd March. It's already showing for sale as a BA metal flight from the 24th onwards.

1st March- Storm Emma Update- Aer Lingus will retime the afternoon US flights and all operations will cease at 1500hrs today. Please refer to the website for list of European flight cancellations. All guests can make a change within 7 days or request full refund. Please see www.aerlingus.com for latest news

The following flights have been retimed for Thursday 01 March:

EI 145 - Dublin 13:15 - Los Angeles 16:15
(Retimed 2 hours earlier than originally scheduled)

EI 109 - Dublin 14:10 - New York (JFK) 17:05
(Retimed 2 hours earlier than originally scheduled)

EI 139 - Dublin 14:20 - Boston 16:40
(Retimed 2 hours earlier than originally scheduled)

Update at: 13:15

Dublin Airport has been operational from 5.20 this morning following snow and ice clearance.

However there were significant cancellations due to the impact of adverse weather here and also at a number of airports in Britain and continental Europe.

Aer Lingus has indicated that it will to suspend its flight operations at Dublin Airport from 15.00 today due to the bad weather. It plans to resume flight operations on Saturday morning.

Ryanair has said it will suspend flight operations to and from Dublin Airport by 16.00 today. It plans to resume operations on Saturday morning.

All other airlines are suspending operations from about 15.00 today.

Given the Red Weather Alert for later today and tomorrow, it is unlikely that other airlines will operate to or from Dublin Airport on Friday and they are likely to resume operations on Saturday morning.

We will have snow crews working today and tomorrow to continue to clear the runway, taxiways, aircraft parking stands and apron areas for our airline customers’ planned resumption of services on Saturday morning.

https://www.dublinairport.com/latest-ne ... -emma-Mar1

The Etihad reduction is confirmed over part of May/June with Tue/Thu evening flgiht dropped. Isn't this the quiet travel period from the ME, loads accross all carriers drop significantly during the period.

I assume that although commercial flights won't be operating until Saturday morning, the airports (particularly SNN) will remain open - weather permitting. With all three major Irish airports (and BFS too) being closed (probably airports in Scotland, too), isn't that going to cause issues for transatlantic ETOPS planning?

kaitak wrote:

I assume that although commercial flights won't be operating until Saturday morning, the airports (particularly SNN) will remain open - weather permitting. With all three major Irish airports (and BFS too) being closed (probably airports in Scotland, too), isn't that going to cause issues for transatlantic ETOPS planning?

SNN has closed until 05.00 on 3 March. DUB can/will accept an emergency diversion.

kaitak wrote:

I assume that although commercial flights won't be operating until Saturday morning, the airports (particularly SNN) will remain open - weather permitting. With all three major Irish airports (and BFS too) being closed (probably airports in Scotland, too), isn't that going to cause issues for transatlantic ETOPS planning?

No, SNN closed this evening at 18:00 and will re-open (weather permitting) on Saturday at 05:00. All scheduled flights including transit stops by KU and OY were cancelled by the airlines prior to the closure.

kaitak wrote:

I assume that although commercial flights won't be operating until Saturday morning, the airports (particularly SNN) will remain open - weather permitting. With all three major Irish airports (and BFS too) being closed (probably airports in Scotland, too), isn't that going to cause issues for transatlantic ETOPS planning?

My understanding is that Shannon and Dublin are both open and available for use, it's the airlines that are not operating, due to the Red alert, and this has more to do with the ability of staff to travel, which is obviously not recommended. I believe Cork is having it's own difficulties with snow clearing.

Edit: as per the post just ahead of me, Shannon is closed apparently.

kaitak wrote:

I assume that although commercial flights won't be operating until Saturday morning, the airports (particularly SNN) will remain open - weather permitting. With all three major Irish airports (and BFS too) being closed (probably airports in Scotland, too), isn't that going to cause issues for transatlantic ETOPS planning?

Latest I heard BFS BHD operational. The weather has not hit them that hard yet.

Around 50 flights cancelled tomorrow morning according to Aer Lingus.

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2018/03 ... s-country/

Both Aer Lingus and Ryanair have cancelled flights out of Dublin tomorrow morning. As always, intending passengers advised to check with their airline before traveling to the airport.

Gonna be quite the operation to repatriate - reaccommadate disrupted passengers. I’m guessing a fair few would’ve been weekends away so these will likely be simple refunds or reaccommadated at a later date, but for those who still need to travel, what’s the likelihood of them getting out before, say, Monday?

On a side note, a Titan Airways aircraft has positioned to Chicago for EI.

mast2407 wrote:

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2018/0302/944619-transport-services-country/

Both Aer Lingus and Ryanair have cancelled flights out of Dublin tomorrow morning. As always, intending passengers advised to check with their airline before traveling to the airport.

Gonna be quite the operation to repatriate - reaccommadate disrupted passengers. I’m guessing a fair few would’ve been weekends away so these will likely be simple refunds or reaccommadated at a later date, but for those who still need to travel, what’s the likelihood of them getting out before, say, Monday?

On a side note, a Titan Airways aircraft has positioned to Chicago for EI.

Actually the ones on short breaks away are going to be hard hit. Those that are due back to work Monday and had their flights cancelled today and tomorrow are finding next available flights are 2-4 days away and are having to fork out for extra hotel nights.

OA260 wrote:

mast2407 wrote:

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2018/0302/944619-transport-services-country/

Both Aer Lingus and Ryanair have cancelled flights out of Dublin tomorrow morning. As always, intending passengers advised to check with their airline before traveling to the airport.

Gonna be quite the operation to repatriate - reaccommadate disrupted passengers. I’m guessing a fair few would’ve been weekends away so these will likely be simple refunds or reaccommadated at a later date, but for those who still need to travel, what’s the likelihood of them getting out before, say, Monday?

On a side note, a Titan Airways aircraft has positioned to Chicago for EI.

Actually the ones on short breaks away are going to be hard hit. Those that are due back to work Monday and had their flights cancelled today and tomorrow are finding next available flights are 2-4 days away and are having to fork out for extra hotel nights.

Every time I make an assumption I’m wrong! Today I learnt, again! That’s quite the hit. Additional days holidays from work, hotel nights and other associated costs (food I’m guessing being the main one). Very costly altogether. Is there a benefit to the airline, other than goodwill, to bringing in additional aircraft or larger aircraft? Are fleet assignments amended to bring aircraft back into service and so on? (I’m not in the sector so all I (don’t) know is from the Telly!).

kaitak wrote:

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to our third thread of the new year.


- Aer Lingus will axe its late night DUB-LHR/early morning LHR-DUB, with BA operating that service; EI is already operating the early morning BA flight from DUB (among others), will also bring an A330 onto one of the DUB-LHR routes.
- Ukraine International has listed DUB as a possible route, using E-jets, from 2019/20.
- Italian carrier Ernest Air is expected to start services to Dublin later this Summer.
- The new national plan has been launched and DUB is expected to get an underground link to the city (leading south, as well as north to Swords) by 2027.
- No DEN service this year, so A332 (MSN 535) which is being acquired this year will be retained as an operations reserve aircraft for the Summer.

OK folks, here's the link to the old thread: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1385321

Wrap up well; it's cold out there!

Ah where did you get that information from? All the flights are for sale until January next year and both flights (ei149/51) still for offer. Plus, those 2 slots are really valuable for AerLingus/ IAG. Don't really see the airline axing them. The lease agreement for British Airways is expiring on the 23rd March. It's already showing for sale as a BA metal flight from the 24th onwards.

kaitak wrote:

- No DEN service this year, so A332 (MSN 535) which is being acquired this year will be retained as an operations reserve aircraft for the Summer.

Unless EI is planning on obtaining an extra A330-300 before summer, they're going to need this 332 just to cover the scheduled long haul flying... By my count the currently loaded summer long haul schedule would require 9 333s to operate. For example, on Monday, June 25, I see the following 333 routes from DUB: ORD x2, MCO, IAD, EWR, JFK x2, BOS x2. Wikipedia indicates there are only 8 frames in the fleet, with none on order... Is the plan to sub in the leased 332 on whichever 333 route has the weakest load factor? It seems the 4 332s already in the fleet will be needed to cover SEA, SFO, LAX, and YYZ.

FSDan wrote:

kaitak wrote:

- No DEN service this year, so A332 (MSN 535) which is being acquired this year will be retained as an operations reserve aircraft for the Summer.

Unless EI is planning on obtaining an extra A330-300 before summer, they're going to need this 332 just to cover the scheduled long haul flying... By my count the currently loaded summer long haul schedule would require 9 333s to operate. For example, on Monday, June 25, I see the following 333 routes from DUB: ORD x2, MCO, IAD, EWR, JFK x2, BOS x2. Wikipedia indicates there are only 8 frames in the fleet, with none on order... Is the plan to sub in the leased 332 on whichever 333 route has the weakest load factor? It seems the 4 332s already in the fleet will be needed to cover SEA, SFO, LAX, and YYZ.

Two will join the fleet by May, 1 required for full time usage and the other either a spare as above or potential future routes lather this year. A fleet of 14 A330 aircraft of which 13 operational. The error in your post is IAD which is not an A333.

At Frankfurt for the morning LH flight to Dublin, which seems to have grown into an A330

TC - JOG an A333 on its way to DUB to try clear the very large backlog of stranded passengers for TK.

Titan Airways B767 G-POWD enroute to DUB from ORD as EI124. Will then carry on back to STN.

As well as aforementioned widebodies, today also sees 2 x SK 738 from Oslo. 2 x WOW A321 from KEF. 2 x DL 767 from JFK. A321 LH from MUC and FRA. LX A321 from ZRH.

Long waits for gates & stands for EI140/MIA, DL44/JFK, Blue Air from Bucharest and BA830/LHR.

Seems that EI’s new A330 is making its commercial debut today. EI-GCF is operating the EI109 to JFK today.

Aer Lingus extra flights to bring those stranded home. There could be more depending on hire A/C available.

ACE-DUB 05 March
EI 2775 Depart ACE 1330 Arrive DUB 1745

FAO-DUB 05 March
EI 2497 Depart FAO 1150 Arrive DUB 1450

ASL will be operating for EI between BHD-AGP/FAO this year. Has been speculated about for months but now live on their website.

JAmie2k9 wrote:

ASL will be operating for EI between BHD-AGP/FAO this year. Has been speculated about for months but now live on their website.

Operated by 752?

Eirules wrote:

JAmie2k9 wrote:

ASL will be operating for EI between BHD-AGP/FAO this year. Has been speculated about for months but now live on their website.

Operated by 752?

No A320

OA260 wrote:

Eirules wrote:

JAmie2k9 wrote:

ASL will be operating for EI between BHD-AGP/FAO this year. Has been speculated about for months but now live on their website.

Operated by 752?

No A320

One would suspect their own B733, the A320 probally hasn't been updated yet.

Edit - A320 seat map has been partly blocked out so looking like the B733. As mentioned already Cello Aviation taking over ASL charters at DUB.

Ryanair and Aer Lingus, once the bitter of aviation rivals, are set to start selling tickets for each other’s services on their respective websites as part of a new and unique co operation agreement.

The two airlines have signed head of terms on an agreement which will see Ryanair feed passengers from some of its European routes onto Aer Lingus transatlantic services out of Dublin. Similarly passengers flying on Aer Lingus transatlantic will be able to connect onto Ryanair services to various European destinations.

The service will packaged by a third party intermediary that will also offer the booking passenger connection insurance in the event of them missing their onward flight which will allow them compensation or be booked on the next available flight

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/aer- ... -5jnnwrmdr

Passengers left stranded at Lanzarote airport for 40 hours after Aer Lingus flight redirects at last minute

The inbound flight was forced to divert due to high winds, and then could not continue as flight staff would have been over their working hours limit.

A NUMBER OF passengers have been left stranded on the island of Lanzarote after a scheduled Aer Lingus flight diverted to another island last night.
Flight EI877, due to serve Cork from Lanzarote, was scheduled to leave the Canary island yesterday evening at 6.05pm.
The flight was forced to divert to Fuerteventura due to high winds at Lanzarote’s Arrecife Airport.
The inbound passengers who had been heading for Lanzarote were brought to their destination late last night by a combination of bus and ferry.
“I spoke to Minister (for Transport Shane) Ross who has intervened and has come back to me to confirm that Aer Lingus are hiring a Boeing 767 to fly to Lanzarote on Monday to bring the stranded passengers home,” said independent TD for Kerry Michael Healy Rae.

http://www.thejournal.ie/aer-lingus-lan ... 9-Mar2018/

Another late arrival to DUB yesterday. Another +2 hours of waiting in the line for taxis, with hundreds of passengers freezing outdoors. Agents not pushing cabs to come up, only 2-3 cars arriving every 10-15 minutes. 3rd world service indeed.

My mother and 17 friends have been stuck in Amsterdam since last Tuesday because of the snow closures and the back log of customers, they are finally flying home today and have nothing for praise for the way they have been looked after by Aer Lingus.

Jayafe
You are not allowed to use the term third world service when it comes to Dublin Airport- members here don't like it!

On this ocassion it is quite possible that there were not a lot of taxis due to the weather!!!!!

When you cancel your flight, does Aer Lingus email you? I’ve received nothing from them.

Jayafe wrote:

Another late arrival to DUB yesterday. Another +2 hours of waiting in the line for taxis, with hundreds of passengers freezing outdoors. Agents not pushing cabs to come up, only 2-3 cars arriving every 10-15 minutes. 3rd world service indeed.

I would imagine this has far more to do with the availability of drivers than it does with the airport. There were chunks of the country inaccessible by public transport until this morning (even still parts inaccessible!), shortage of drivers is to be expected, and if you don't expect it, then that's your problem, not the airport's.

mast2407 wrote:

Jayafe wrote:

Another late arrival to DUB yesterday. Another +2 hours of waiting in the line for taxis, with hundreds of passengers freezing outdoors. Agents not pushing cabs to come up, only 2-3 cars arriving every 10-15 minutes. 3rd world service indeed.

I would imagine this has far more to do with the availability of drivers than it does with the airport. There were chunks of the country inaccessible by public transport until this morning (even still parts inaccessible!), shortage of drivers is to be expected, and if you don't expect it, then that's your problem, not the airport's.

That might be true from your pov, even the when the cab drivers confirmed that the guys at the airport where NOT calling for cars.
When arriving after 23h (which I usually do) it´s usually 1.5hrs, not 2 . Anyway, if handling an airport you should be able to provide the passengers a reliable commuting service, and if not it´s the airport problem to not be able to serve the users that pay taxes for landing on it.

JAmie2k9 wrote:

FSDan wrote:

kaitak wrote:

- No DEN service this year, so A332 (MSN 535) which is being acquired this year will be retained as an operations reserve aircraft for the Summer.

Unless EI is planning on obtaining an extra A330-300 before summer, they're going to need this 332 just to cover the scheduled long haul flying... By my count the currently loaded summer long haul schedule would require 9 333s to operate. For example, on Monday, June 25, I see the following 333 routes from DUB: ORD x2, MCO, IAD, EWR, JFK x2, BOS x2. Wikipedia indicates there are only 8 frames in the fleet, with none on order... Is the plan to sub in the leased 332 on whichever 333 route has the weakest load factor? It seems the 4 332s already in the fleet will be needed to cover SEA, SFO, LAX, and YYZ.

Two will join the fleet by May, 1 required for full time usage and the other either a spare as above or potential future routes lather this year. A fleet of 14 A330 aircraft of which 13 operational. The error in your post is IAD which is not an A333.

Got it - I got confused by the aircraft codes that appear when hovering over the flight number during booking on the EI website (3E4, 3F4, 3G4, 3P4, 3S4, 3T4 - are these even aircraft codes?). So both new frames arriving will be 332s? Now that I look again, it appears that 6 332s will be needed to fly to YYZ (daily), SEA (4x weekly), LAX (daily), ORD (daily), MIA (3x weekly), MCO (4x weekly), and IAD (daily).

Jayafe wrote:

mast2407 wrote:

Jayafe wrote:

Another late arrival to DUB yesterday. Another +2 hours of waiting in the line for taxis, with hundreds of passengers freezing outdoors. Agents not pushing cabs to come up, only 2-3 cars arriving every 10-15 minutes. 3rd world service indeed.

I would imagine this has far more to do with the availability of drivers than it does with the airport. There were chunks of the country inaccessible by public transport until this morning (even still parts inaccessible!), shortage of drivers is to be expected, and if you don't expect it, then that's your problem, not the airport's.

That might be true from your pov, even the when the cab drivers confirmed that the guys at the airport where NOT calling for cars.
When arriving after 23h (which I usually do) it´s usually 1.5hrs, not 2 . Anyway, if handling an airport you should be able to provide the passengers a reliable commuting service, and if not it´s the airport problem to not be able to serve the users that pay taxes for landing on it.

Sure, except not sure if you noticed, but there was a snowfall that was unprecedented for parts of Siberia, let alone Ireland, the only thing that should be reliable is the unreliability. Besides, there's a public pay phone in the airport with a set of taxi numbers attached to it. Take some personal responsibility. Would do us all good! Peace.

FSDan wrote:

JAmie2k9 wrote:

FSDan wrote:

Unless EI is planning on obtaining an extra A330-300 before summer, they're going to need this 332 just to cover the scheduled long haul flying... By my count the currently loaded summer long haul schedule would require 9 333s to operate. For example, on Monday, June 25, I see the following 333 routes from DUB: ORD x2, MCO, IAD, EWR, JFK x2, BOS x2. Wikipedia indicates there are only 8 frames in the fleet, with none on order... Is the plan to sub in the leased 332 on whichever 333 route has the weakest load factor? It seems the 4 332s already in the fleet will be needed to cover SEA, SFO, LAX, and YYZ.

Two will join the fleet by May, 1 required for full time usage and the other either a spare as above or potential future routes lather this year. A fleet of 14 A330 aircraft of which 13 operational. The error in your post is IAD which is not an A333.

Got it - I got confused by the aircraft codes that appear when hovering over the flight number during booking on the EI website (3E4, 3F4, 3G4, 3P4, 3S4, 3T4 - are these even aircraft codes?). So both new frames arriving will be 332s? Now that I look again, it appears that 6 332s will be needed to fly to YYZ (daily), SEA (4x weekly), LAX (daily), ORD (daily), MIA (3x weekly), MCO (4x weekly), and IAD (daily).

1 is an A332, not sure about the second but chances are it will be from QR as well so probally an A332. The codes are rather confusing, EI appear to apply a different set per year at this stage before eventually returning to A330-300 etc. They represent the altered config of some of the long haul fleet.

mast2407 wrote:

Sure, except not sure if you noticed, but there was a snowfall that was unprecedented for parts of Siberia, let alone Ireland, the only thing that should be reliable is the unreliability. Besides, there's a public pay phone in the airport with a set of taxi numbers attached to it. Take some personal responsibility. Would do us all good! Peace.

Indeed. Let’s pretend the snowfall didn’t happen and we all +300 only had to wait the usual 90 min in a queue outdoors instead the +120 minutes. That would be fine at all and plenty of responsibility.

Seriously, some people are amazingly impossible to understand criticism farther than blaming the victims and justifying the status quo (caused by the management or the drivers), who are usually all the passengers arriving to Dublin after 11pm. This should be a shame for the facility, management and citizens in general, instead of confirming with a service brought from the 3rd world.

Jayafe wrote:

Seriously, some people are amazingly impossible to understand criticism farther than blaming the victims and justifying the status quo (caused by the management or the drivers), who are usually all the passengers arriving to Dublin after 11pm.

Certainly nobody should be waiting 90 minutes for a taxi. If that happens, then it needs to be looked at.

Bringing it up in the context of the weekend just gone is a bit counter productive though. That clearly was very exceptional circumstances.

In the end it is a DAA problem
Especially when the taxis are charged a significant annual fee for the privilege of pick up at the airport

If there was "regular" 90 minute queues I think it would be exposed on a very public platform (not just here) long before now. Yes it may happen from time to time but I suspect its not particularly common. Queues will be that bit longer early morning for T/A arrivals and late at night when based fleets come back. Its also an automated system AFAIK and remember there is both terminals to consider.

BREAKING: Scottish airline Loganair steps in to secure Glasgow to Derry flight after Ryanair withdraws route - new service begins in October

Scotland’s Airline, Loganair is launching a Glasgow to Derry air service after the recent Ryanair announcement to discontinue the route.

The regional carrier, which has a long history of operating between the two cities, will commence the link on Sunday, October 28 – the day after Ryanair’s service ceases.
Operating five days per week, Loganair will utilise a 33-seat Saab 340 aircraft on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday with a larger, 50-capacity Saab 2000 aircraft used for Sunday evening services.
Services will depart Glasgow at 10.55am on Mondays and Saturdays, arriving in Derry 50 minutes later at 11.45am.
The return trip from Derry will take to the skies at 12.15pm.
The Thursday, Friday and Sunday services leave Glasgow at 6.55pm, with return flights leaving Northern Ireland’s second largest city at 8.15pm.
Lead-in fares for the route begin at £49.99 each way and all Loganair fares include a 20kg complimentary baggage allowance and complimentary in-flight refreshments.

https://www.derrynow.com/news/breaking- ... ber/210646

kaitak wrote:

-Aer Lingus will axe its late night DUB-LHR/early morning LHR-DUB, with BA operating that service; EI is already operating the early morning BA flight from DUB (among others), will also bring an A330 onto one of the DUB-LHR routes.

An irresponsible post.

Aer Lingus directly employs a number of engineers at LHR primarily to service the two overnighting aircraft. In such a scenario, the viability of their continued employment would have to be questioned.

You’ve been asked a number of times to provide a source or further information to back up this claim.

I have a good source. I can't say what it is. If it's wrong, I apologise. It clearly won't happen this Summer. I don't know when it's supposed to start.

There will be A330s operating one of the early morning DUB-LHR-DUB rotations.

CarbHeatIn wrote:

kaitak wrote:

-Aer Lingus will axe its late night DUB-LHR/early morning LHR-DUB, with BA operating that service; EI is already operating the early morning BA flight from DUB (among others), will also bring an A330 onto one of the DUB-LHR routes.

An irresponsible post.

Aer Lingus directly employs a number of engineers at LHR primarily to service the two overnighting aircraft. In such a scenario, the viability of their continued employment would have to be questioned.

You’ve been asked a number of times to provide a source or further information to back up this claim.

I wouldn’t say it’s irresponsible, Iv no doubt what so ever that this is being discussed. There have been ongoing talks between BA and EI regarding synergising the LHR-DUB route especially when the joint service plan is in place. Right now for example we have EI replacing the BA night stopping services at DUB, effectively doing the same. Yes it’s only a temporary agreement whilst BA utilizes it’s own aircraft elsewhere but it is a sign of things to come.

Regarding those engineers, don’t worry just yet. EI have no plans at present to relocate from T2 at LHR air change their handling contractors. And with the potential of the 330 coming into the route there is im sure still as much a need as ever to maintain the engineer head count.

Even if EI is based at T2 and the BA engineers are based elsewhere in Heathrow, surely the aircraft or engineers can just re position for a few hours overnight if work is to be carried out. In the long term surely there is no logical reason why the EI engineers could not just transfer employment to BA?

I guess with the A330 fleet getting bigger every year there will become a point where it will make sense to use one or two on LHR or European routes during downtime in the winter, rather than mothballing it in DUB. They could possibly also be leased to IB for a few winter sun routes,