Originally Posted by
dg4255
While I don't see a huge market for Ireland, especially given the poor economy now, there could be some good things for both EI and AFKL if AFKL were to buy EI. I think the slots at LHR are perhaps at the top of the list. Second, if AZ were to also be bought by AFKL, surely they would have to get rid of those awful MD80s. I can see AFKL using a few EI A320s there instead. The Italian market is far more profitable and valuable.
I quite like the MD80's. A 2-3 config in Y which is ideal if there's two people travelling and of course the business class seats are much better than the convertible seats in the A321.
Of course, the MD80's have to go, they're too expensive to operate, but given a choice I'd rather fly the MD80 any day. Although the first exit row on the AZ A321 has excellent legroom.
Would buying EI be a good thing for the Irish? Would AFKL continue the existing EI codeshares (with BA and probably others) into LHR? If not then the market on that route would mostly be point to point traffic. How many LHR slots would AFKL switch to different routes?