Aer Lingus gets tentative transatlantic JV approval
 

https://www.regulations.gov/document...2008-0252-3450

After 2 years of negotiations, EI have been given tentative approval to join the BA/AA/IB/AY transatlantic joint venture

Separately (or not) Aer Lingus are set to open a transatlantic base at MAN for next summer with an A330 & 3 A321LR with JFK, ORD, MCO & one other destination rumoured

Can't help but feel this is bad from consumers. less competition means higher prices. Look at what has happened to airline prices since all the US airlines merged. Tacit collusion has resulted in airlines pulling routes to effect city pair monopolies, and prices have risen as a result.

Good news or bad news depending how you look at it.

Does EI not kind of have to join Oneworld as at least a Oneworld Connect member for this to really work out for them? Right now AA or AY frequent flyers are not exactly incentivised to book an EI service.

There’s not much incentive for BAEC either except when on a BA codeshare. I would hope something will change here.

I presume these will be codeshared with BA and sold on the BA website, EI don't have transatlantic marketing strength in Manchester. It will possibly come as a surprise to some who turn up at the airport to find it's an Aer Lingus aircraft. This may sound unlikely to us lot, and there's always someone who will say "but it's clearly stated in the booking confirmation, on page 5, paragraph 27", but I've taken Finnair from Heathrow to Helsinki and UK passengers more than once commented on "BA must be using crew from Finland", never having seen anything other than BA in the process and not seen the outside of the aircraft.

I wouldn’t worry, people in the regions will be a lot less familiar with BA aircraft, after all they haven’t seen that many of them for the last 20 years. Both carriers have a similar presence at MAN, maybe BA gets a slight edge via Sun Air but both are pretty marginal in terms of slots.

I think if EI are to be successful ex MAN then BA & BA holidays are going to be vital. Aer Lingus have limited brand recognition outside of their traditional bases and they’ll be up against an established VS/DL operation. Yes there’s demand (in normal times) given the demise of Thomas Cook but tapping into that will be challenging

It'll also be important on the AA end. When EI left Oneworld, apparently one of the accusations was the lack of cooperation from AA whereas EI have developed a good relationship with UA & B6 for connections in USA. Currently most connections on east coast go through JFK & BOS which AA aren’t the strongest in and SFO on west coast which is a UA stronghold. EI do already offer connections to AS via SEA & LAX but how those US connections pan out will be important

Fantasy time I know, but let's hope MAN finally decides to pursue pre-clearance. They have the space set aside for it in the new terminal and would be a great facility to "reverse" connecting traffic.

ORD should help in that respect. PHL might be an choice for the fourth destination?

I may be unusual, but in travelling from the UK to the USA I'm generally travelling to one of the major arrival points there (New York, Miami, LA), rather than connecting onwards. I know US-based passengers are more likely to connect on, but Manchester is not a significant US destination, and past experience is that the majority of travellers on US airlines operating out of Manchester were Brits rather than Americans. It's a very different market to London in its proportions.

One non-metropolitan place in the US I do travel to is Albany NY, which is a right pig of a place to get to, even via Detroit can be a quicker overall trip than through one of the east coast ports, but if things work out one way they typically don't the other. I commonly end up going to JFK, cab to Penn station, and chancing on whatever is the next Amtrak departure.

RJ?!
 

Can anyone more knowledgeable help to explain why Royal Jordanian feature on the JB ATI documents?

It’d be a boost for TP runs if some point in the future we could all route through AMM on an ex-inv fare 😅

Am I the only one secretly hoping the ‘one other destination’ is MHT? Or in other words, Manchester to Manchester...?

MAN - LUV would be a nice one to run during Pride

Just realised that LUV is not Dallas Love

If the joint venture partners want to convince their customers to travel with the other joint venture partners, then I think that they will have to do something about mileage accrual and status benefits. I suspect that EI will need to at least join as a Oneworld Connect member if the joint venture partners want EI flight numbers to earn tier points.

They don't need to necessarily join ow alliance.

Aer Lingus flights, at least on the Atlantic itineraries, would earn tier points (or whatever each program uses) and miles/points in all the JV partners FFP. Also, FFP elites (Iberia, Finnair, BA, American Airlines) would keep their elite benefits when flying Aer Lingus.

I think that's what is going to happen - and the initial plan.

Don't understand the role of Royal Jordanian mess in this though.