February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Ray O’Hanlon
If you are a little confused by the ups and downs of today’s airline business, fasten your seatbelt. It’s about to get even more puzzling.
As of July, Aer Lingus and Delta — partners in transAtlantic passenger sharing for the last few years — are about to go to war at 35,000 feet.
But only if their planes take off from Kennedy Airport.
A few miles away, in Newark, the Irish carrier and the Atlanta-based U.S. airline, one of the world’s biggest, will remain good buddies, sharing the burdens of cramming ever greater numbers of passengers into the crowded skies.
Delta is set to start flying from Kennedy to Shannon and Dublin on July 15.
Never miss an issue of The Irish Echo
Subscribe to one of our great value packages.
According to Aer Lingus, the "code sharing" arrangement with Delta will cease to exist as of that date.
For the last few years, every Aer Lingus flight out of Kennedy has carried a number of Delta passengers flown in to the airport from other U.S. cities in order to make the Irish connection.
On these flights, the cabin crew roster has always included a flight attendant from Delta.
But since Delta announced that its existing Atlanta-Ireland service would be matched out of Kennedy, what was once a warm relationship has cooled.
Aer Lingus and Delta are now gearing up for a round of serious competition out of Kennedy, most especially in business class.
Aer Lingus flies the Airbus A330. The aircraft has 36 business-class seats.
According to Delta spokesman Todd Clay, the U.S. carrier is planning on flying a Boeing 767 300 Series out of Kennedy with 58 "Business Elite" seats available on each flight.
For any carrier, business class is the big income earner. By offering more business seats, Delta would seem to be jumping on the back of the Celtic Tiger phenomenon. At the same time, failing to fill all or most of those seats every night would be costly.
Over in Newark, meanwhile, Aer Lingus and Delta will continue to code share. Delta is not flying to Ireland out of the New Jersey airport, where Aer Lingus is already going nose to nose with another American giant, Continental Airlines.
The fact that Delta and Aer Lingus are still planning on cooperation over competition out of Newark does appear to leave the door open for a possible strategic alliance between the Irish airline and the U.S. carrier.
Aer Lingus is due to report to the Irish government within days on its efforts to link up with an existing alliance of other airlines.
It has been reported that a short list of perhaps five contenders will be drawn up by Aer Lingus executives in April. A final decision is expected in May, just as the peak summer season is approaching.
Speculation has focused on a possible inclusion of Aer Lingus in an existing alliance led by American Airlines and British Airways.
Another possible choice is the Star Alliance led by United Airlines and Lufthansa. And, of course, there is still Delta.
It sometimes takes a good row to sort out a marriage. According to Delta’s Clay, his airline’s relationship with Aer Lingus has been and remains "very strong."
But it has undoubtedly changed in recent months. And change is being welcomed by Jack Foley, Aer Lingus executive vice president for North America.
"This is the environment we needed to get into, being targeted by carriers of high quality" Foley told the Echo.
Foley contends that Aer Lingus itself has paved the way for the now more competitive skies over the Atlantic.
"We are ready and serious about competing with the other carriers," he said.