It’s also more fuel efficient to have most of the weight down the back. Ryanair know how to watch does penny’s to be fair.

Birmingham and Manchester its in the article now……..

Commencing this Summer, Aer Lingus Regional, operated by Aer Arann, will add two new routes to its network, Dublin to Birmingham and Dublin to Manchester.

Services on the Dublin Birmingham route will go from three to six services per day while services on the Dublin Manchester routes will go from three to five per day.

The airline is also to increase frequencies on its Dublin to Edinburgh and Dublin to Glasgow routes.

Services on the Dublin to Edinburgh route will go from four up to six services per day while services on the Dublin to Glasgow route will go from four up to six per day.

Why pay more with them, when it takes nearly double the time? Give me Ryanair any day!

Competition is good. This will also bring down Ryanairs rates on these routes :)

There are two reasons to pay more.

The first is that they have higher frequency, which will suit some people better than what Ryanair can offer.

The second is that if you’re flying something like Edinburgh-Chicago, they’ll check you in for and transfer your bags to your connecting flight, removing the risk of a missed connection.

The feeder service from them is one reason Aer Lingus’s transatlantic passenger numbers have been increasing when our economy isn’t providing any demand.

Dont know why your givin me thmbs fown, was only asking!!

Who’d go to Waterford?

I’m confused as to the closure of the Waterford route to be honest , aer Arran always said it was a quiet profitable route and the numbers grew every year. It seemed to be aer lingus influence that pulled it. It’s a shame though to say the least.

Aer Arann’s new owners, stobart, own southend airport. Aer Arann moved their formerly profitable Waterford – luton route to Southend at Stobart’s request. Demand dropped because Luton is more convenient for the Irish pop in London.

EDDIE STOBART.

They have 7 routes from Cork, 3 from Shannon and one each from Knock and Kerry. They still provide a service to the regions of Ireland. Also, from Dublin, they tend to serve the UK regional destinations when Aer Lingus themselves go to London.

I can sense that you are a fan of the Waterford region. However using the ‘regional’ name is a branding issue, there are no legal requirements for using that name. RE did operate to/from Waterford,they no longer do. Obviously they found the route not profitable ‘for them’ They are a business, it is not a public transport service. If they cannot make money on the route (through people using there services) then they cannot remain on the route. Regardless of what touristic gems are to be found in the Waterford region.

They can still call themselves regional even if they don’t fly to Waterford .

This is common practice when a plane isn’t full Stephen. I’ve experienced the same with klm on more than one occasion. It makes basic sense that all the weight isn’t on one side for landing and takeoff. But don’t let get facts in the way of a good rant

Thank you Kevin. I had no idea. But made me think at the time.

It was still a noisy unenjoyable flight though.

I don’t understand why they pulled out of a very busy Waterford-London route. Flights were always pretty full. Maybe it was a dispute with Southend London airport. Flyby operate profitably on Waterford-BHM which surely can’t have as much demand as WAT-London,

I know it must be surprising, but weight and balance as its termed in aviation is important on all aircraft. Fuel, bags, cargo, and yes, even passengers, are carefully planned to ensure optimum distribution of weight. Nothing to be concerned about though! :-)

@D.A. Molony…..

The oldest Aer Arann aircraft is 23 years old. And yes it was originally used by Ryanair in the early 90′s. Aircraft are no cars, they are built to last 30 years. Properly maintained aircraft can have a useful long life…..the average age of US civilian airline aircraft is a lot closer to 20 years old than 10. Lufthansa in fact recently retired 1 of their aircraft that was delivered in 1989, are you telling me that you think LH are unsafe?

Knock about 20 years off that. By no means a young fleet but those Aer lingus jets are probably of a similar age. Ryanair actually have one of the youngest fleets in the world. An aircraft that has propellors doesn’t mean it was pulled out of a WWii scrap heap. They’re turboprops (jet engine with a prop instead of a fan) more fuel efficient than similar sized jet aircraft and equally as safe. They are designed for specific routes; shorts runways, lower passenger numbers etc. Airbus, the French lads and gals who built the a380, have designed and built new turboprop cargo aircraft but unfortunately ignorance will prevail and people will see it and think it was in the Dam Busters movie.

Aer Lingus aircraft are not a similar age – the average age of the Aer Lingus fleet is 7.2 years. The youngest aircraft is 2 years old.

I knew my wording in that comment would have to be picked up by someone. The oldest aircraft in the aer lingus fleet is over 14years old and Aer aranns youngest is over 4years. I was making a point to those people who think turboprops are these ancient wrecks flying about.