Well it seems Aer Lingus isn’t happy sitting out in the cold any longer as an independent airline, and is going to consider a membership of a major alliance according to ATWOnline.
And an admittance that maybe the LCC experiment started by a certain Willie Walsh is probably a bad idea as it tries to reposition itself as a higher value/quality carrier what emphasises better customer service.
With discussions at an early stage, Aer Lingus is talking to the three major alliances.
But the question who they would align with is open for debate. Aer Lingus currently codeshares with:
- United Airlines (Star Alliance)
- British Airways (and other OneWorld Members),
- KLM (SkyTeam)
In other words – all the alliances have an interest in EI’s movement and what it does with itself.
In a lot of ways, Aer Lingus is doing the right thing – getting involved with the Ryanair LCC fight is a difficult fight to win as you’re always going to be shouted down by an ODM saying everything is cheaper (except it sometimes isn’t when you’ve done the maths), and from my experiences Aer Lingus always seemed like a full carrier “faking” being an LCC.
Whilst I could see a return more than likely OneWorld (least of all because of all the older partners it has there), would OneWorld be willing to open up their arms and welcome back an old carrier or will there be new conditions for Aer Lingus?
Or will EI’s tarting with United and KLM bear better fruit?
Interesting times…
