Post by expressflight on Mar 2, 2014 9:58:16 GMT
The current speculation as to the branding of the planned Aer Arann SEN operation is interesting.
The options would seem to be:
1) A tie up with an existing carrier on a similar basis to the Aer Lingus arrangement.
2) To operate the routes under the Aer Arann name.
3) To operate the routes under the Stobart name, presumably by Stobart licensing Aer Arann to use their brand name.
The difficulty I have with option 1) is that I cannot think of a suitable airline which would benefit sufficiently from the arrangement as I've explained previously. It has been suggested that Cityjet is an outside possibility in view of their imminent change of ownership and a wish to perhaps maintain service to LON on thin routes that are currently uneconomic due to prohibitive LCY costs for 50-seater types. The brand would certainly be attractive to Aer Arann I should think.
Option 2) has the disadvantage that the name Aer Arann is less well known since the rebranding to Aer Lingus Regional of all their scheduled services and they would have to outsource the reservations function to someone like FlexFlight.
Option 3) would give the operation a high profile brand, albeit not previously in the field of airline operations, and I assume that Stobart would licence Aer Arann to use their brand in order to avoid Stobart Air become a 'virtual' airline and ticket seller which could prove complicated. Also Stobart could then rightly point out that they not becoming an airline and thus head off some of the negativity which their shareholders might feel otherwise; that obviously being an important consideration on their part I'm sure. Again the reservations function would need to be outsourced.
Hopefully all will be revealed in due course whichever, if any, of the above options become a reality.
The options would seem to be:
1) A tie up with an existing carrier on a similar basis to the Aer Lingus arrangement.
2) To operate the routes under the Aer Arann name.
3) To operate the routes under the Stobart name, presumably by Stobart licensing Aer Arann to use their brand name.
The difficulty I have with option 1) is that I cannot think of a suitable airline which would benefit sufficiently from the arrangement as I've explained previously. It has been suggested that Cityjet is an outside possibility in view of their imminent change of ownership and a wish to perhaps maintain service to LON on thin routes that are currently uneconomic due to prohibitive LCY costs for 50-seater types. The brand would certainly be attractive to Aer Arann I should think.
Option 2) has the disadvantage that the name Aer Arann is less well known since the rebranding to Aer Lingus Regional of all their scheduled services and they would have to outsource the reservations function to someone like FlexFlight.
Option 3) would give the operation a high profile brand, albeit not previously in the field of airline operations, and I assume that Stobart would licence Aer Arann to use their brand in order to avoid Stobart Air become a 'virtual' airline and ticket seller which could prove complicated. Also Stobart could then rightly point out that they not becoming an airline and thus head off some of the negativity which their shareholders might feel otherwise; that obviously being an important consideration on their part I'm sure. Again the reservations function would need to be outsourced.
Hopefully all will be revealed in due course whichever, if any, of the above options become a reality.