Aer Lingus has insisted that its inclusion in a transatlantic alliance with British Airways and American Airlines cannot result in the Irish airline’s slots at London Heathrow being altered. Irish carrier Aer Lingus is returning some of its slots at London Heathrow to US carrier Delta Air Lines. Slots at the airport are very hard to come by, and these precious ‘commodities’ can sell for millions of dollars (if anyone is willing to sell).
Clare’s Michael McNamara, who had the Labour whip withdrawn from him after voting against moves to sell the Government’s 25.1% stake in the airline to British Airways-led consortium IAG, is demanding clarity from ministers on the issue.
- Aer Lingus’s Heathrow slots to Dublin, Cork, and Shannon could be under threat despite Government assurances, a TD has warned. Mon, 13 Jul, 2015 - 01:00 Shaun Connolly, Political Correspondent.
- Palate of finishes and colours inspired by the Irish landscape, all continuing the theme of the Dublin Aer Lingus flagship lounge. A special feature of the new T2 Heathrow Lounge is the 5m high external glass wall offering relaxing views to the airfield.
- These included a guarantee that the 23 slots controlled by Aer Lingus at Heathrow cannot be sold, including to IAG airlines. IAG also pledged that Aer Lingus’ name, head office location,.
The move follows reports that the European Commission will only approve the €1.3bn takeover if IAG sheds some of its London slots to comply with competition rules.
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The Government says the special share it obtained in Aer Lingus guarantees the Irish-Heathrow slots, but Mr McNamara say such devices have proved ineffectual in the past.
“Long-haul flights out of Heathrow are much more profitable than flights to Dublin, which in turn are much more profitable than flights to Shannon or Cork,” Mr McNamara told RTÉ.
He said that if IAG gives up some London slots, it could replace them with some of the ones Aer Lingus uses for Irish routes.
“The particular concern is that at the time of the Dàil vote we were told that the minister and his officials had already been in extensive negotiations with the European Commission, yet now for the first time when the deal is about to go through we are learning that there is a suggestion that slots will have to be disposed of,” said Mr McNamara.
“What we need to know now is was that mooted at the time, was it proposed by the Government in return for acceptance of the deal, did the Commission indicate that slots would have to be disposed of, and if slots are to be disposed of by IAG which part of IAG is it going to be?
“Is it going to be the British Airways side of it, which has a market capitalisation of €10.8bn and where long- haul flights from Heathrow are the core of its business, or is it going to be Aer Lingus, which is less than 10% of the new IAG group?”
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As we reported last month, Aer Lingus has applied to the ACL slot coordinator for more slots to fly new routes from Manchester Airport. It is now understood that Aer Lingus will set up a subsidiary company called Aer Lingus UK. There will be two Airbus A330-300 aircraft (EI-ELA and EI-EDY) placed on the UK aircraft register along with two Airbus A321-253NX aircraft which are due for delivery in February and March 2021.
According to filings with the US Department of Transportation (DOT), Aer Lingus has applied for rights to fly from Manchester to New York JFK, Boston and Orlando. They plan to operate a daily service to JFK year-round, daily summer service to Orlando with a four times per week in the winter. Boston will operate as a daily service for the summer season. It is expected that these will be operated on a code-share basis with British Airways as they have no long haul routes from UK airports outside of London Heathrow. It is likely that the Airbus A330’s will be used on routes to Orlando. This would fill the void left by the collapse of Thomas Cook in 2019. Virgin Atlantic are currently the only operator on these routes from Manchester.
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It is also understood that Stobart Air who operate the Aer Lingus Regional flights will transfer some of their aircraft onto the UK aircraft register and operate on the Stobart Air UK AOC as they continue to fly routes from Belfast City Airport. The first two aircraft expected to change registrations are EI-FMJ and EI-FSK.