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AER LINGUS HAS further ambitions to grow its Irish services to Canada – with Vancouver high on the hit list.
Chief executive Stephen Kavanagh revealed the expansion plans at the launch of two new transatlantic routes from Ireland.
The IAG-owned carrier will roll out summer flights next year from Dublin to US destination Minneapolis-Saint Paul and Montreal in Canada.
The daily fight to Minneapolis, which starts from 8 July 2019, will be operated using a Boeing 757 aircraft.
The Montreal route will also be a daily flight and kicks off on 8 August of next year. It will be serviced by an Airbus A321neo long-range aircraft.
Explaining the decision to select the two new destinations, which will bring Aer Lingus’s total number of North American services to 15, Kavanagh said there are significant numbers of people travelling to Minneapolis-Saint Paul on competing carriers.
He also suggested there is a business case for connecting regional France to Montreal via Dublin Airport. The Canadian city has a large French community.
Kavanagh said Aer Lingus “hasn’t finished yet in terms of our ambition in Canada”, adding that Vancouver “is an obvious candidate” for a future flight from Dublin.
He also named Las Vegas, Dallas, Denver, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Halifax as other cities on the airline’s wish list.
“We have canvassed upwards of 30 airports and metropolitan areas in North America and Canada. We will consider all of those responses,” he said.
Dublin Airport infrastructure
However, Kavanagh warned that Aer Lingus’s growth plans will be dependent on the level of infrastructural investment at Dublin Airport.
Aer Lingus and other carriers have long campaigned for improved infrastructure at the country’s busiest airport, complaining that the existing facilities are close to maximum capacity.
Dublin Airport owner DAA recently committed to a €900 million investment in improving airport stands and piers.
The launch of the new Aer Lingus routes coincided with the publication of a report on the economic impact the airport could have if it was developed into a major transport hub.
The so-called hub-and-spoke air travel model, favoured primarily by US carriers, is based on filtering traffic through a central destination and feeding passengers to onward connections.
It fits into Aer Lingus’s vision of using Dublin and its favourable geographic location to feed traffic between North America and Europe.
The report compiled by EY estimated that the development of Dublin Airport as a hub would be worth an estimated €18.6 billion to the economy and generate €6 billion additional revenue for the Exchequer between now and 2033.
Commenting on the report, Kavanagh said that Dublin has already become a hub, but it’s “an accidental hub in terms of the infrastructure”.
When asked by Fora to specify the kind of investment Aer Lingus would like to see, Kavanagh said the airline is calling for additional piers, stands for parking aircraft, apron space for planes to navigate and additional facilities to handle baggage.
He said the new facilities would cost an estimated €500 million that could be funded through airport charges, adding: “The shareholders of IAG and the capital markets, I believe, will provide funding.”
“Above all, we want, from an Aer Lingus perspective, an operation that’s capable of delivering competitive transfer connecting times.
“We are selling convenience, we are selling and advantageous geographic position … we don’t want to consume that time with an inefficient airport experience.”
Gulf carrier Emirates earlier this year revealed that it shelved plans for a third daily flight from Dublin to Dubai because of infrastructural issues at the airport.
While Aer Lingus hasn’t yet had to defer route launches, Kavanagh said “it’s becoming increasingly difficult”.
“It’s more challenging to operate efficiently,” he told Fora.
“We’re planning for the next 10 years. Very early in that time frame, we see these pinch points actually blocking us from growing … It’s why we’ve been working collaboratively with the DAA to really communicate what we require.”
Written by Conor McMahon and posted on Fora.ie
Bad a state as this nation is in, Think how much worse it would be without the likes of Intel. We must do everything in our power to keep them here! Good news for once.
Ireland has been very good to Intel equally as well. It works both ways.
Are they not all waiting for a Yes vote?? Even though it brings us closer to losing corporate tax rate..
Personally i think its great news. I just hope the current shower in government dont end up selling away our corporate tax rate to the EU. That would definitely cause a lot of multinationals to jump ship, and really leave our country down the creek without a paddle.
Enda favours Eurobonds, which may only happen in the context of ‘deeper fiscal union’ according the Merkel. Fiscal policy is the tax and expenditure policies governments use to manage the economy. Tax harmonisation will be a prerequisite for the introduction of Eurobonds, which makes sense. However, Eurobonds and a 12.5% corporation tax rate are mutually exclusive. The Irish government wants Eurobonds and to retain its corporation tax rate – The Greek government wants bailout funds without austerity. This is called having your cake and eating it, especially in today’s cutthroat financial environment.
Agreed Jerry, so signing up for this treaty, means that we (Ireland) will be forced to sign up for the CCT (consolidated corporate tax) which will mean the large multinationals that are in Ireland will see no specific benefit of being in Ireland. Our corporate tax rate is the key decision point for multi-nationals to come here and stay here. If that is messed with, all hell is going to break loose in this country, as the multi-nationals will opt for countries within europe that have lower wages, as this will be the only differentiator if the consolidated tax rate is adopted in Europe and Ireland.
I agree with you Cal, and it appears the government has a contradictory policy on this issue. A ‘no vote’ will maintain the status quo.
This is great news not only is intel creating hundreds of jobs in Ireland but it is also bringing us into the future with fantastic technology that will help to transform our lives as well.
And its a beautiful day.
Things are improving every day.
Great news!
I get sick hearing about all the foreign companies and how great they are! Doesn’t anyone see that they’re bleeding us dry! Huge amounts of IDA money( taxpayers money) is handed out in grants to these companies every year, and the huge profits are taken out of the country! All you hear from this Government is FDI this and FDI that! Let’s get up off our backsides and build our own companies! What’s to stop us? We’re supposed to be a highly educated people! So let’s prove it.
Great news indeed. Rodrigo, how many small business have been spawned from the likes of Intel? Anyway hope you are taking your own advice and building your own business and genuinely hope it will be a success for you
Great news and I can’t believe some want to throw away this momentum of jobs growth by voting NO.
A YES vote is the only certain to keep this good progress going.
HP cut thousands of jobs worldwide today to prompt “growth”. I always wonder do you guys mean growth in profits or growth in employment. But then of course I realise you always mean the first.
The overall jobs growth in the IT sector is huge. One company cutting back doesn’t reflect the whole industry.
Can you spell BUBBLE David?
Here we go! FG linking this to the referendum. Didn’t take long.
Linking the treaty to the household and water charges didn’t take long from the NO side either.
This is great news and hopefully more to come from foreign investors in Ireland
Its funny how HP loses jobs and Intel creates jobs.
One situation balances out another.
RTE have had this sort of balanced reporting technique for decades.
Propaganda will balance out everything.
This is good news – the staff in Intel Ireland know their jobs are safe. There might not be redundancies in HP, but if there is it could take the shape of early retirement packages. Stop being such a pessimist…
@Barry O’Brien: You don’t understand propaganda just before a vote so that makes me a pessimist.
Your failure to understand propaganda makes you the ignorant. How did you check the validity of this information just before you vote in a referendum?
I would rather be a pessimist than in your state.
The Buddhists call it “cosmic balance”. Here we say “sure it all comes out in the wash”.
Very presumptuous of you to say I don’t understand propaganda. I can assure you I do. And if this was a propaganda piece it would have FG/Lab written all over it. Alas, this does not… This is simply Intel following their “tick-tock” method of processor upgrades. After a two generations of CPU redesign and the die size is reduced, a fab needs to be upgraded to manufacture the new dies. The manufacturing plants outside of the USA are located in Ireland and Israel. One worry was that when the Ireland fab is out of date then Intel might build a new plant in another country rather than upgrade the Irish plant. This story is Intel confirming, to our delight, that they are upgrading the Irish plant. I don’t see Bruton crawling around taking credit…
@Barry O’Brien: Over 300,000 emigrants might disagree.
I heard this months ago from a reliable source long before the fiscal treaty, in fact it was so long ago I was beginning to doubt the source. Not waiting for the result of the vote…I don’t think?
Good news will be ‘stage-managed’ until after the referendum. Watch out for “Intel may pull this investment if there’s a no vote”.
You stupid man.
the low corporation tax isn’t the only reason Intel are choosing to invest in Ireland. it’s also down to the performance of the Irish employees who have delivered best in class in quality and output and cost compared to other Intel sites. the Irish Intel employees are also compounding their reputation in america by working on new technologies with their american counterparts.
“Intel has warned that proposals are always subject to changes.”
i.e. you dare try to tax our multi-billion profits and we’ll be off to China. An economy built around this unsustainable model of investment is doomed to failure. Intel will leave eventually, might not be for 20 years but they will go.
Another stupid man.
Intel have an empty factory located in China that they’re keeping open in preparedness for any changes in taxation situation here. I have two friends working in Intel who have both been privy to this information. As said, completely unsustainable.
Intel will never put their newest processes in China, the F24 process uses old technology an practically runs itself in its maturity so that’s why these guys think that the current process could go there, Intel like many things about Ireland including our climate and education levels. P1272 is coming to Ireland supposedly as HVM2 which is good news for the confidence in the Irish plant. Also many guys who were once based in Ireland have gone up the ranks and are now very fond of Ireland.
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