American Airlines upgrade pressurises Aer Lingus

The trans-Atlantic business of Aer Lingus is likely to come under further pressure with one of its rivals, American Airlines, set to significantly upgrade its business class offering for Irish and US passengers.

The airline, which offers a daily service from Dublin to Chicago, is planning to introduce lie-flat business class seats from early next year on all its Boeing 767-300 aircraft. The airline is also planning to upgrade its in-flight entertainment system, although it is not clear whether this will include complimentary internet access.

Business travellers, who pay a significant premium for their tickets, are a highly important group on trans-Atlantic and other long haul routes. Since British Airways first introduced its flat-bed seats, other airlines have had to respond in order to retain business class traffic. Virgin Atlantic, which also operates on the trans-Atlantic, is also offering a flat-bed product.

American Airlines, the largest airline in the world, entered the Irish market a few months ago and now operates a daily service to Chicago. This service will become a five-day-a-week service in winter. The airline also serves Boston via Shannon using an all-economy Boeing 757.

Aer Lingus is currently at somewhat of a disadvantage on the trans-Atlantic because its fleet is relatively old and the inflight system is not as modern as that offered by some competitors. The company is currently dependent on seven Airbus 330s, although if it can raise the capital it intends to renew this fleet.

The new chief executive, Dermot Mannion, said recently he believed some of the added features on some long-haul services were a little over the top.

For instance he said he was not impressed by the flat-bed seats offered by British Airways and Virgin.

"Emirates doesn't actually have flat beds and it's done pretty well without them. My own personal view is that in-flight entertainment systems, for example, have become too complicated," he told The Irish Times.

At the same time, he made it clear he was not going to let the Aer Lingus long-haul offering decline.

"Once we make a firm decision on our existing fleet, we will refurbish our long-haul aircraft. We have got to bring them up to the standard of our competitors and there is a three to four-year period in the middle when you are waiting on the new aircraft to come into commission," he said.

Aer Lingus has won favour with passengers on the trans-Atlantic by aggressively slashing its fares by 23 per cent. While passengers on long haul routes make up less than 20 per cent of the airline's scheduled passengers, long-haul services chip in almost 40 per cent of passenger revenues.

The lack of an agreement with unions on new long-haul services is being addressed by the airline in talks at present. These are reported to be making progress, but the results may need to be put to a ballot of union members.