Aer Lingus is scrapping its Dublin-Orlando route, citing industrial relations problems, in a fresh setback to its long-haul strategy. The airline announced last night that it was ending its service to Florida from early next year. It follows the termination of its Washington service in December.
Aer Lingus said cabin crews' refusal to make work practice changes meant the Orlando route was in danger of becoming unprofitable.
The trade union involved, Impact, strongly denied this and said cabin crew were now flying more routes than ever with fewer staff.
It is understood the airline wants to reduce the number of cabin crew per flight from 10 to eight. It also wants to change the "rest day" arrangements of cabin crew working on the route. The airline regards the service to Florida as an east coast route, whereas many cabin crew view it as more equivalent to a west coast route.
The airline flies about 1.2 million passengers to US destinations every year, but the rising cost of fuel and the failure to get a new agreement on work practice changes has made some of the routes significantly less economical.
Informed sources said the airline's most expensive route, to Los Angeles, would be under heavy scrutiny in the months ahead.
While routes to New York, Boston and Chicago contain a significant level of business-class traffic, routes to Los Angeles and Orlando are more leisure-based and consequently face bigger revenue challenges.
The airline is currently considering other long-haul options, such as South Africa, Dubai and Bangkok. But the airline said further long-haul expansion was unlikely under current agreements with cabin crew.
Chairman John Sharman said if a new agreement could be reached with cabin crew the Orlando decision might be re-visited.
British Midland disclosed yesterday that it has applied to compete for three public service obligation (PSO) routes in the Republic. The PSO routes are subsidised by the Government on the basis that they would not be economic otherwise.
The airline's subsidiary Bmi Regional has submitted a tender for the Kerry-Dublin route (currently held by Aer Arann), the Derry-Dublin route (held by British Airways subsidiary Logan Air) and Knock-Dublin (held by Aer Arann.
The airline said if it was successful it would start the new services in July. The airline said it might also operate a direct Kerry to Heathrow service if successful. Ryanair has also expressed an interest in flying the Kerry Dublin service previously.
The applications to the Department of Transport from Ryanair and Bmi Regional for some of the routes will come as a setback to Aer Arann which depends heavily on the PSO subsidies. A decision on the various routes is expected before the end of the month.
