Originally Posted by NickB
Why? What would be in it for them? Ireland is a minor market, with low margins on point-to-point thanks to FR, and AF own Cityjet, an Irish airline, which runs 7 daily DUB-CDG flights for them (and a few other secondary routes). I really can't see what interest they might have in EI. It is not like the odd SNN-CDG flight is going to bring in millions in AF coffers.
EI runs many more flights that just DUB/CDG
It depends on what EI wants to do as a company. There was some discussion of the issue on
another thread.
EI is in good shape. It's financials are reasonable. I like its long-haul market. It's not a major player, but is does have a complementary route structure. So far, the AF/KL merger seems to have worked well. It won't be the last. The European industry is too fractious--and has too much government involvement. There will be more mergers; IMHO EI will be a target. If the Irish government became agnostic on this issue, I would expect it to happen in the next 12 to 24 months.