Aer lingus have just announced a drastic reduction in the number of destinations served from its Gatwick base. The launch of the low cost Aer Lingus programme from Gatwick in the face of fierce competition from the incumbent carrier, EasyJet was always going to be difficult and so it has proved ! The word on the Airport tarmac is that Aer Lingus load factors were healthy to good but that the average price per seat sold was horribly low.. plus the marketing cost per ticket sold was horribly high and not coming down.. hence the cutback.

Industry veterans are saying that the return of Aer Lingus to a more historic core strategy, i.e. with Irish originating passengers as its core business, is sensible in difficult economic times, other more market savvy chaps are worried that Ryanair will make it impossible for Aer Lingus to find a niche in its home market and hence Aer Lingus has no better future with a different but fundamentally flawed new focus.

Personally I that Aer Lingus have some good minds at the top and that there are two areas to exploit. (1) Long haul   (check out the new pact with American Giant airline, United airlines as a step in this direction and (2) Thin routes were the mighty Ryanair won't venture (check out the new alliance with Irish regional Aer Arran). I am not sure that Aer Lingus be recognisable as the old shamrock covered national carrier when the changes have finished but I backing it to survive in the same way that the Irishman's hammer is everlasting..

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