Hello my Irish (and non-Irish) aviation buddies! Welcome to August at your favourite aviation forum.

For what would normally be a quiet time of the year, with holidays and everything else, this August has seen quite a few interesting (albeit not all positive) developments:

Here's a few, looking back through the July thread:

- Norwegian axes ORK-PVD, but increases SNN-PVD to five weekly
- Air Nostrum (which is involved in the new Irish airline, Hibernian, to merge with Cityjet)
- FR pilot woes continuing; moods not getting better with FR threatening some pilots with dismissal if they don't move to Poland
- HU decreases to 3 weekly (but maintains two weekly n/s from DUB)
- EY decreases to one daily for Winter (and also Summer 2019); equipment will be 77W
- SNN on track for busiest year in a decade
- LH adds fifth daily DUB-FRA, increases MUC to 13 wkly
- Passport queues at DUB continue to cause ructions
- Still no finalised outcome re flights after March next year, as EU/Ireland hint that all flights may be grounded
- Pobeda to start DUB-Moscow next year (Vnukovo?)
- DEN back on for Summer 2019

So, let's hope August is a positive month, with positive developments. Enjoy!

Here's the link to the last thread, for reference: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1397979&start=250

Have Eurowings dropped both CGN and DUS to Dublin from next April?

BestWestern wrote:

Have Eurowings dropped both CGN and DUS to Dublin from next April?

Unlikely they have been growing at DUB in summer and over winter. Germanwings were always slower to release the following summer so guessing the same with Eurowings.

kaitak wrote:

- Passport queues at DUB continue to cause ructions

I think its time to bring in Fast Track arrival lanes and gates for those paying an annual subscription. For those of us that are regulars it would be well worth it. As long as it was policed and placed somewhere away from bottle necks.

Interesting idea OA260
However it seems a bit like sweeping the actual problem under the proverbial carpet and paying more for a service that should be a no brainer anyway
Not sure I would trust the DAA to police anything - not even a rope on polls!

Fast Track wouldn't be within the control of the daa with passport control.

I was referring to the policing of the fast track lane. We all know who controls immigration. To open a fast tracj lane an extra booth would need to be open and even one extra booth would make a difference, so why pay extra?

On EI356 to MUC 31-7-18 boarding from 416 in DUB and witnessed the most appalling treatment of a young female solo traveller by the gate agent. Evidently an issue regarding the bag belonging to the young lady and its onward travel (from accent it may have been to N America), the lady was reduced to floods of tears by the interaction and complete lack of care from the EI employee whom evidently didn't get the memo that passengers are 'guests' who just stood and watched her. If that's how EI treats their 'guests' then I don't want to go to their parties. Having flown with EI on an unhealthily regular basis over the past 6 years I have noticed a progressive but steadfast decline in the standard of their service (they have plastic cheese from the Netherlands in the lounge these days - what's wrong with Irish cheese in the flag-carrier lounge?), including having my seat reassigned at boarding on a Regional flight so FA's could sit in the seat rather than their jump seat. Timings may not be as great, but LH standard of service is by far superior, and for my €500+ I can fly Business with LH and have the marginally better DAA lounge. Flying to to YVR in Sept in F with BA, would rather transit in LHR than fly EI (with the advantage that i. LH fly to a proper terminal @ MUC, ii. Star Alliance perks are a bonus compared to the pitiful AerClub). What's gone wrong at EI? it's certainly not down to IAG alone.

BA not much better
So it might well be an IAG thing!!!
A race to the bottom even though fares are on the up and up!
The EI guest moniker makes me cring much in the same way the FR fanfare does!

Does Aer Club ever work? Having spent ages chasing outstation points, they finally arrived! Now the math don't make sense - total balance displayed for avios and tier points do not equal the individual transactions listed - and not in my favour of course!
It truly cannot be that difficult!

Agreed the Aer Lingus use of the term "guest" is cringy and doesn't bring much to the brand.

I have also finally been granted my missing Avios from 2 years ago but like that, there are a few flights missing. I've given up on it to be honest - it's not worth wasting my time on it.

For anyone in the vicinity, there are both a A359 and A339 doing circuit training at SNN right now. They both flew in from TLS earlier.

Detroit-Dublin is “Skyscanner Unserved Route of the Week” with over 21,000 searches.

According to anna.aero:

Skyscanner demand on this week’s unserved route shows a slight preference towards the Irish end of the city pair. With 15.3% of the Skyscanner searches for these indirect Detroit to Dublin services converted into ticket sales – that’s more than the average 8.2% achieved for Skyscanner conversion rates for all direct routes available from either Detroit or Dublin.

See: https://www.anna.aero/2018/08/01/detroi ... -us-route/.

Is this something that EI or DL would be more likely to launch? Perhaps EI on a 757?

Cheers,

C.

kaitak wrote:

- Norwegian axes ORK-PVD, but increases SNN-PVD to five weekly

ORK-PVD is not being axed, its just going seasonal, its bookable at 3x weekly from April 2019 onward. SNN is 4x and DUB is daily for a total of 14 weekly flights between PVD and Ireland for Spring/Summer 2019.

New look unveiled at Knock airport

Work has just been completed on the first phase of Ireland West Airport’s €15m facilities investment plan – aimed at further improving the customer experience for passengers and transforming the airport over the next three years.
Over €4.5m has been invested in the first phase of improvements, which have been underway for the past 18 months covering new passenger facilities, terminal upgrades and infrastructural works across the airport facility and runway
The airport continues to invest, with the support of the Department of Transport, Department of Community and Rural Affairs, local authority stakeholders and customers – through their development fee contributions.

https://connachttribune.ie/new-look-unv ... rport-123/

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British Ryanair pilots issue ‘failure to agree notice’

Airline to meet British pilots’ union on Thursday

British Ryanair pilots have taken a step closer to joining Irish and European colleagues on the picket lines adding to the airline’s mounting industrial relations woes.

Ryanair is facing a fourth one-day stoppage by members of the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association on Friday, August 3rd, while the company acknowledged that unions in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden could all strike seven days later.

www.irishtimes.com/business/transport-a ... -1.3583527

RL757PVD wrote:

kaitak wrote:

- Norwegian axes ORK-PVD, but increases SNN-PVD to five weekly

ORK-PVD is not being axed, its just going seasonal, its bookable at 3x weekly from April 2019 onward. SNN is 4x and DUB is daily for a total of 14 weekly flights between PVD and Ireland for Spring/Summer 2019.

Good; thanks for clarifying and glad to hear it.

Profits soar at Aer Lingus and parent group, IAG

Aer Lingus has reported an operating profit of €104 million for the first six months of the financial year.

That was almost double the figure of €53 million reported for the same period last year.

It came on the back of passenger revenue of €867 million, up from €803 million reported in the first six months of 2017.

Aer Lingus's parent group, IAG, reported an operating profit of €1.735 billion for the first six months.

www.rte.ie/news/business/2018/0803/9828 ... group-iag/

---

Aer Lingus doubles first-half profit but Vueling loss deepens

Aer Lingus doubled its operating profit to €104 million ($120 million) over the first half of the year, the strongest interim result of the four main IAG carriers.

It generated 8% higher revenues, at €899 million, for the six months to 30 June.

But Spanish budget carrier Vueling suffered an €11 million operating loss, deeper than the €7 million recorded in restated figures for last year.

www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/aer- ... os-450893/

That's great; good to hear that. Maybe this will help EI to justify investment in fleet roll-over. I understand that they were hoping to increase LF on short haul, so we'll need to see a deeper dive into the figures to see how short haul is performing (I suspect that long haul was the best performer).

They will need to be looking at the short haul fleet. My understanding is that the preference is for ceo A320s.

Norwegian Air looking to recruit 40 pilots in Ireland

Norwegian Air has launched a recruitment drive in Ireland for pilots who hold a Boeing 737 operational certificate.

The airline is looking to recruit 40 pilots, both Captains and First Officers, which it says is to support continued expansion of its operations.

That would see the airline almost double the current number of flight crew operating from the Dublin base.

The recruitment drive follows the announcement of the airline’s new expanded 2019 summer schedule with 40 weekly transatlantic departures from March next to the USA and Canada from Ireland.

Norwegian also serves the European cities of Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Helsinki direct from the Irish capital.

www.rte.ie/news/business/2018/0803/9828 ... n-ireland/

Luxair announced that flights from LUX to DUB will see an upgrade from a Q400 turboprop to a Boeing 737-700 starting for the winter season. Amazing to see this route doing well, they only restarted it a few years ago.

Doing a search of SNN-UK flights for a relative for next weekend and all routes seem to be coming out with fares around €200-€300 return (which would be normal for the time of year and short notice I guess) with the exception of SNN-LPL at €35 return.That's some difference. Apparently the route isn't doing well at all with passenger loads.

Maybe Norwegian can pass out applications at dublin airport this morning - I believe they have a captive audience doing laps!!!!!

AmricanShamrok wrote:

Doing a search of SNN-UK flights for a relative for next weekend and all routes seem to be coming out with fares around €200-€300 return (which would be normal for the time of year and short notice I guess) with the exception of SNN-LPL at €35 return.That's some difference. Apparently the route isn't doing well at all with passenger loads.

Timings and frequency are terrible. FR are doing similar with the ORK-LPL flights. They seem little more than placeholders in the schedules. ORK-LPL operates at 0630 on a Sunday, for example, fares are dirt-cheap, but even then loads are light.

kaitak wrote:

They will need to be looking at the short haul fleet. My understanding is that the preference is for ceo A320s.

I think there is a relatively plentiful supply of late-build CEO's coming to market, which would be a flexible and cheap option. EI are going to need a relatively large investment soon. Purely to cover obvious candidates of the A321s, -CVx A320s and the 332's I could see an order for 6 A321neo's (these would compliment the LR's) and 6 A330-900s. This would allow some growth for the wide body fleet once the A321LRs have been delivered. I wonder if EI might be interested in SpaceFlex for the A320's? I would imagine 186Y must be attractive to the accountants.

2019 will be very interesting at DUB. Between the IAPA/Forsa industrial action and the disappointment of IAG in the DAA's plans for improvements and changes at DUB, it is by no means clear that the expected capacity growth will materialise. IAG might well decide that EI's first few A321neoLRs might be better operated by Level from another base. Expect to see threats of that anyway; certainly, I agree that EI needs investment in the short haul, but it occurs to me that if the neoLRs will have a different engine from the short haul fleet, that doesn't do much for commonality down the road. It may well be that EI is taking about ceos now, but are wanting Airbus to give them a good enough deal to persuade them to go down the Neo road.

As to the long haul fleet, I still think that if the DubHub is as successful as it is said to be, they will need to look at a larger platform than the 333. The big cloud on the horizon, of course, is Brexit, and since the t/a operation gets a lot of feed from the UK, they will need to see what effect Brexit has on pax numbers & traffic feed before making decisions on this front. I don't see a shut down of air links (as many headlines have suggested) being a realistic outcome, but the economic hit to the UK and our economy as a result of Brexit could have a significant hit on traffic numbers.

kaitak wrote:

2019 will be very interesting at DUB. Between the IAPA/Forsa industrial action and the disappointment of IAG in the DAA's plans for improvements and changes at DUB, it is by no means clear that the expected capacity growth will materialise. IAG might well decide that EI's first few A321neoLRs might be better operated by Level from another base. Expect to see threats of that anyway; certainly, I agree that EI needs investment in the short haul, but it occurs to me that if the neoLRs will have a different engine from the short haul fleet, that doesn't do much for commonality down the road. It may well be that EI is taking about ceos now, but are wanting Airbus to give them a good enough deal to persuade them to go down the Neo road.

As to the long haul fleet, I still think that if the DubHub is as successful as it is said to be, they will need to look at a larger platform than the 333. The big cloud on the horizon, of course, is Brexit, and since the t/a operation gets a lot of feed from the UK, they will need to see what effect Brexit has on pax numbers & traffic feed before making decisions on this front. I don't see a shut down of air links (as many headlines have suggested) being a realistic outcome, but the economic hit to the UK and our economy as a result of Brexit could have a significant hit on traffic numbers.

With a profit figure like that in the low part of the year, those A321s won't be going anywhere but as year say there will be plenty of talking from Walsh and Stephen in the meantime.

planemanofnz wrote:

Detroit-Dublin is “Skyscanner Unserved Route of the Week” with over 21,000 searches.

According to anna.aero:

Skyscanner demand on this week’s unserved route shows a slight preference towards the Irish end of the city pair. With 15.3% of the Skyscanner searches for these indirect Detroit to Dublin services converted into ticket sales – that’s more than the average 8.2% achieved for Skyscanner conversion rates for all direct routes available from either Detroit or Dublin.

See: https://www.anna.aero/2018/08/01/detroi ... -us-route/.

Is this something that EI or DL would be more likely to launch? Perhaps EI on a 757?

Cheers,

C.

EI could potentially make it work on narrow body but I think DL B752 is a more viable option if it was to happen.

kaitak wrote:

The big cloud on the horizon, of course, is Brexit, and since the t/a operation gets a lot of feed from the UK, they will need to see what effect Brexit has on pax numbers & traffic feed before making decisions on this front. I don't see a shut down of air links (as many headlines have suggested) being a realistic outcome, but the economic hit to the UK and our economy as a result of Brexit could have a significant hit on traffic numbers.

EI seriously needs to diversify and spread its risk more - in the GFC, its over-reliance on the US was a weakness, and now with Brexit, over-reliance on UK transit passengers could also be a weakness. I say this time and time again, but EI needs some sort of Asian presence, particularly given the internationalization of the Irish economy. Not only is Asia a high-growth market in its own right for things like Irish tourism and VFR traffic, but routes like BKK - DUB could actually feed some of EI's US routes, like DUB - NYC, reducing reliance on UK connections.

Cheers,

C.

passyflyer wrote:

Luxair announced that flights from LUX to DUB will see an upgrade from a Q400 turboprop to a Boeing 737-700 starting for the winter season. Amazing to see this route doing well, they only restarted it a few years ago.

Yet again, another city in Europe where EI has missed an opportunity. It's fantastic to see this route doing so well, particularly when, back in the day, it didn't even operate non-stop - AFAIK, it went through MAN. DUB and LUX are both asset and offshore hubs, so it makes sense that there'd be some traffic between the two, but the level of growth as evidenced by this latest upgrade is surprising, IMO. While EI seems to well and truly have missed the ball on LUX (as well as elsewhere, like Scandinavia), let's hope they don't with remaining short-haul opportunities.

Cheers,

C.

JAmie2k9 wrote:

DTW ... EI could potentially make it work on narrow body but I think DL B752 is a more viable option if it was to happen.

Why do you think DL would be more viable than EI for a DUB - DTW service? BA and IB (EI's IAG partners) don't fly to DTW, so EI could get strong connections support for a DUB - DTW service from the UK and Spain. Meanwhile, DL already serves DUB through ports like JFK, as do DL's JV partners like KL through AMS - therefore, a DL DTW - DUB flight would be more likely to erode existing corridors (albeit stimulating some new traffic with a non-stop offering), than an EI service would. Therefore, I see this as more of an EI opportunity than a DL one, to be honest.

Cheers,

C.

planemanofnz wrote:

JAmie2k9 wrote:

DTW ... EI could potentially make it work on narrow body but I think DL B752 is a more viable option if it was to happen.

Why do you think DL would be more viable than EI for a DUB - DTW service? BA and IB (EI's IAG partners) don't fly to DTW, so EI could get strong connections support for a DUB - DTW service from the UK and Spain. Meanwhile, DL already serves DUB through ports like JFK, as do DL's JV partners like KL through AMS - therefore, a DL DTW - DUB flight would be more likely to erode existing corridors (albeit stimulating some new traffic with a non-stop offering), than an EI service would. Therefore, I see this as more of an EI opportunity than a DL one, to be honest.

Cheers,

C.

There strategy to date has been feed at both ends and DTW couldn't provide it but as I said narrow body makes it less risky. DL have a big hub in DTW.

planemanofnz wrote:

passyflyer wrote:

Luxair announced that flights from LUX to DUB will see an upgrade from a Q400 turboprop to a Boeing 737-700 starting for the winter season. Amazing to see this route doing well, they only restarted it a few years ago.

Yet again, another city in Europe where EI has missed an opportunity. It's fantastic to see this route doing so well, particularly when, back in the day, it didn't even operate non-stop - AFAIK, it went through MAN. DUB and LUX are both asset and offshore hubs, so it makes sense that there'd be some traffic between the two, but the level of growth as evidenced by this latest upgrade is surprising, IMO. While EI seems to well and truly have missed the ball on LUX (as well as elsewhere, like Scandinavia), let's hope they don't with remaining short-haul opportunities.

Cheers,

C.

The change is for FR pending arrival, Luxair's days may be numbered at DUB.

BrianDromey wrote:

A330-900s

I agree. However, with capacity constraints coming to the fore at DUB, shouldn't EI be looking to trade up even more, capacity-wise, to 350-900's or 350-1000's? This would be an insurance policy for EI and IAG, with the risk of the DAA doing minimal expansions at DUB. A small 350 sub-fleet would have two purposes: i) consolidating frequency on the chunky US routes, like DUB - JFK / BOS, and ii) opening up currently impossible, but likely financially viable routes, like DUB - SIN. During off-peak hours and seasons, I'm sure that these could be rotated through some of the chunky European routes, like DUB - LHR / AGP / FAO?

Cheers,

C.

JAmie2k9 wrote:

There strategy to date has been feed at both ends and DTW couldn't provide it but as I said narrow body makes it less risky. DL have a big hub in DTW.

Eh, correct me if I'm wrong, but BDL doesn't offer significant feed at the North American end, does it? AA and B6 don't have hubs there.

Cheers,

C.

JAmie2k9 wrote:

The change is for FR pending arrival, Luxair's days may be numbered at DUB.

DUB - LUX strikes me as a very premium route - one where perks like lounge access, FFP mileage and the like would be core considerations for many customers. Add to that, FR is launching DUB - LUX during a terrible time for it - one in which it's getting negative press for its DUB hub issues. I know FR has been trying to trade up of late, but to me, LG still has the upper hand on DUB - LUX.

Cheers,

C.

planemanofnz wrote:

Detroit-Dublin is “Skyscanner Unserved Route of the Week” with over 21,000 searches.

According to anna.aero:

Skyscanner demand on this week’s unserved route shows a slight preference towards the Irish end of the city pair. With 15.3% of the Skyscanner searches for these indirect Detroit to Dublin services converted into ticket sales – that’s more than the average 8.2% achieved for Skyscanner conversion rates for all direct routes available from either Detroit or Dublin.

See: https://www.anna.aero/2018/08/01/detroi ... -us-route/.

Is this something that EI or DL would be more likely to launch? Perhaps EI on a 757?

I'd say it would be a distinct possibility for EI.

Our Skyscanner unserved routes of the week are generally pretty interesting. I think some of the routes have also been actually started, so you could well see it. I can imagine DTW will be approaching the appropriate airlines or using this data to back up their case.

planemanofnz wrote:

JAmie2k9 wrote:

There strategy to date has been feed at both ends and DTW couldn't provide it but as I said narrow body makes it less risky. DL have a big hub in DTW.

Eh, correct me if I'm wrong, but BDL doesn't offer significant feed at the North American end, does it? AA and B6 don't have hubs there.

Cheers,

C.

No feed but guaranteed money if they fail to meet expectations and they have claimed some already. I think the A321 does open DTW but not sure I see it in 2019 by EI but could be completely wrong.

FR are only offering 2w on DUB - LUX so definitely not catering to business traffic between both cities.
I doubt Luxair will see that as a threat overall. I used Luxair twice this year in Feb and March and loads were good.

JAmie2k9 wrote:

BDL ... No feed but guaranteed money if they fail to meet expectations and they have claimed some already.

The point still stands - EI's strategy with North America isn't solely to have feed at both ends. DUB - YYZ and DUB - MIA are other examples of this, which DUB - DTW may align with (albeit with lower O&D). I agree about not seeing it in 2019, though! Maybe 2020.

Cheers,

C.

planemanofnz wrote:

JAmie2k9 wrote:

BDL ... No feed but guaranteed money if they fail to meet expectations and they have claimed some already.

The point still stands - EI's strategy with North America isn't solely to have feed at both ends. DUB - YYZ and DUB - MIA are other examples of this, which DUB - DTW may align with (albeit with lower O&D). I agree about not seeing it in 2019, though! Maybe 2020.

Cheers,

C.

Air Canada and WestJet at YYZ. MIA not performing like other new routes and BDY has financial backing. With the opportunities available now I don't see DTW as a front runner but thats just a personal view and EI could well launch it.

JAmie2k9 wrote:

Air Canada and WestJet at YYZ. MIA not performing like other new routes ...

EI doesn't get feed from either AC or WS at YYZ - there's merely an interline?

Valid point regarding MIA - that may play in their minds regarding DTW in '19.

I agree that DTW may not be as pressing as elsewhere, but I think it can work.

Cheers,

C.

Two new EI t/a routes to be announced within the next 2-3 weeks. DEN a strong possibility to be one of them. The other ... ?

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/tra ... -1.3585382

I heard Dublin - Denver is back on for S19 and Dublin - Seattle increasing. I think Minneapolis or Detroit could be other new routes.

Hi there, I don't normally go into non US threads, but here is something interesting RE: DUB-DTW.

https://www.anna.aero/2018/08/01/detroi ... -us-route/

Hopefully this can spark some discussion about this route. Currently, it's the largest unserved US market in the range of the A321LR.

flymco753 wrote:

Hi there, I don't normally go into non US threads, but here is something interesting RE: DUB-DTW.

https://www.anna.aero/2018/08/01/detroi ... -us-route/

Hopefully this can spark some discussion about this route. Currently, it's the largest unserved US market in the range of the A321LR.

This was already posted and discussed extensively above (see post #12 from 2 days ago onwards).

Cheers,

C.

kaitak wrote:

Two new EI t/a routes to be announced within the next 2-3 weeks. DEN a strong possibility to be one of them. The other ... ?

Dare I say - Texas (IAH or DFW)? IMO, it's a major gap in in EI's North American network, geographically speaking.

Cheers,

C.

JAmie2k9 wrote:

planemanofnz wrote:

JAmie2k9 wrote:

BDL ... No feed but guaranteed money if they fail to meet expectations and they have claimed some already.

The point still stands - EI's strategy with North America isn't solely to have feed at both ends. DUB - YYZ and DUB - MIA are other examples of this, which DUB - DTW may align with (albeit with lower O&D). I agree about not seeing it in 2019, though! Maybe 2020.

Cheers,

C.

MIA not performing like other new routes and BDY has financial backing. With the opportunities available now I don't see DTW as a front runner but thats just a personal view and EI could well launch it.

I thought MIA was doing well now, it just took a while to get going.

kaitak wrote:

Two new EI t/a routes to be announced within the next 2-3 weeks. DEN a strong possibility to be one of them. The other ... ?

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/tra ... -1.3585382

Hmm. With the first batch of 321LR replacing the 757s, will IE have enough metal to cover new routes next year?

planemanofnz wrote:

kaitak wrote:

Two new EI t/a routes to be announced within the next 2-3 weeks. DEN a strong possibility to be one of them. The other ... ?

Dare I say - Texas (IAH or DFW)? IMO, it's a major gap in in EI's North American network, geographically speaking.

Cheers,

C.

It’ll most likely be dfw

Skytrax wrote:

kaitak wrote:

Two new EI t/a routes to be announced within the next 2-3 weeks. DEN a strong possibility to be one of them. The other ... ?

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/tra ... -1.3585382

Hmm. With the first batch of 321LR replacing the 757s, will IE have enough metal to cover new routes next year?

I was under the impression the first 321LRs were for expansion, with the last few to come in replacing the 757s. I can’t find it right now, but did the fleet planning from the IAG investors’ day not show the 757s staying in the fleet for a few years?

DalRiada wrote:

Skytrax wrote:

kaitak wrote:

Two new EI t/a routes to be announced within the next 2-3 weeks. DEN a strong possibility to be one of them. The other ... ?

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/tra ... -1.3585382

Hmm. With the first batch of 321LR replacing the 757s, will IE have enough metal to cover new routes next year?

I was under the impression the first 321LRs were for expansion, with the last few to come in replacing the 757s. I can’t find it right now, but did the fleet planning from the IAG investors’ day not show the 757s staying in the fleet for a few years?

The latest is one will replace the B752 with different engines, the rest will be replaced 2020/2021.

Expect A330 possibly as well.

Clydenairways wrote:

I thought MIA was doing well now, it just took a while to get going.

MIA has certainly made big gains over the last while but then again one would expect that seeing as its Peak season.

planemanofnz wrote:

DUB - LUX strikes me as a very premium route - one where perks like lounge access, FFP mileage and the like would be core considerations for many customers. Add to that, FR is launching DUB - LUX during a terrible time for it - one in which it's getting negative press for its DUB hub issues. I know FR has been trying to trade up of late, but to me, LG still has the upper hand on DUB - LUX.

Cheers,

C.

LG do offer a good product on that route and hopefully they hold their own. They do some charters out of Ireland for some Tour Operators but they sadly dont do that well when it comes to their onboard product. Especially on flights over a few hours. They should stick to what they do best in their more premium offerings.