Aer Lingus axe Orlando service from 2006

[orlandodaze]

Aer Lingus have announced they are to axe the Dublin - Orlando service due to Cabin crew union issues from January 2006..[msnsad]

Full story available at:
http://www.rte.ie/business/2005/0511/aerlingus.html

Other reports:
http://tinyurl.com/7shvl

From the RTE website:

'Aer Lingus said today it is to axe its service to Orlando from 14 January 2006, and has blamed the union representing cabin crews following the failure to agree to necessary work practice changes, though IMPACT denies this is true.

Aer Lingus management had been in discussions with Impact on the cabin crew aspects of the airline's Business Plan since September 2004.

The airline says the union IMPACT would not agree to commercially viable work practices and say this will also affect further expansion into other long haul routes.

Speaking on RTE radio this evening John Sharman, Chairman of Aer Lingus said he was dissappointed with the rate of change in respect of the business plan and the necessary work practice changes had not been achieved.

He said earlier in a statement that ' the airline will, of course, immediately review the action reluctantly taken in respect of Orlando in the event of a mutually acceptable long haul flying agreement being reached with Impact'.

Christina Carney of IMPACT, also speaking on RTE this evening, said the decision to cancel the unprofitable service had nothing to do with the cabin crew's refusal to change and that the decision to fly to Orlando was taken long before the business plan was developed.

Passengers who have bookings on Wednesday flights during September and October will be accommodated by Aer Lingus on its Tuesday or Thursday flights, and passengers booked on flights to Orlando after January 16th will be accommodated with other airlines. AerLingus said it will contact all passengers regarding the changes.

The Orlando route was launched in December 2004 on the basis of implementation of the Business Plan. It was envisaged that it would be the first of a number of such routes, which the airline would introduce.

The airline said in a statement it will use the aircraft to increase services on New York and Boston. This will maintain the same capacity between the US and Ireland but on a more profitable basis for the airline.'

[TINAPETERS]

What a shame, I was considering using this route next year.
Just bought some smaller suitcases as well for the flight into Dublin. Looks like trip to Gatwick again.

[E. Cosgrove]

We were considering this route for next Feb.
Looks like it's back to the drawing board[msnsad]

[fereday]

What a shame we used this sevice Dec 2004 and have just booked Nov. this year and were lookig for Jan - May next year. As we are close to Birmingham the service is ideal for the winter months as the charters only operate during the summer and we can hop over to Dublin with ease.Lets hope they can reach an agreement with thier staff.

[joseph mclarnon]

i live in belfast and this would have been a great route to florida,sure it could only happen in ireland
joe

[domster]

We would have probably used them too.

[pepsi]

We were also considering using them for next Easter as one of our friends is using this airline in a couple of weeks. Hope they resolve the problems and decide to operate this route again. From what we have heard it seemed a good airline to use.

[drew2]

I think they'll be back. I used the route earlier this month and both flights were full.
Drew