Aer Lingus and Ryanair compete on Gatwick route
AER Lingus has plotted a collision course with Ryanair by launching a Dublin/Gatwick route that will compete directly with Michael O'Leary's airline.
The move marks the first time Aer Lingus has moved on to a Ryanair route in over a decade.
It comes less than a month after the EC shot down O'Leary's €1.4bn hostile takeover bid for the other airline. In the aftermath of the bid's collapse, the two airlines squared up for battle at Dublin Airport, with Ryanair predicting Aer Lingus's demise and Aer Lingus insisting it was ready for whatever competition Ryanair might bring.
Aer Lingus's Gatwick launch is seen as the first strike in the battle, with Aer Lingus's four flights a day going head to head with Ryanair's six a day. Crucially, Aer Lingus's offering includes the earliest Gatwick flight of the day, with their 6.40am service landing an hour and a half before Ryanair's 8am.
As well as competing with Ryanair's service, Aer Lingus's new route will also compete with the airline's own flights to London Heathrow.
A spokeswoman for Aer Lingus said she wasn't concerned the Gatwick route with cannibalise Heathrow traffic.
"We see very high demand for London - all we're doing here is broadening our offer for our passengers who fly there."
Meanwhile, Ryanair's spokesman declined to comment on whether his airline would change their Gatwick schedule to offer earlier flights than those of Aer Lingus.
"All I can tell you is that we don't benchmark ourselves against high-cost usually late airlines," he added.
British Airways, which also services Dublin/Gatwick, is likely to be hardest hit by the new service, according to Goodbody analyst Joe Gill.
- Laura Noonan
