Air Wales, Aer Arann and Air Southwest are all in the same cut-throught market of regional air services to and from the south Wales and the southwest of England. Naturally things are going to get bloody, but there seems to be more to this than meets the eye. When Aer Arann announced CWL-DUB & BHD, and Air Wales announced EXT & NQY-ORK, someone here suggested a possible takeover by Aer Arann of Air Wales. I poo pooed the idea, I thought it was too hasty and it was just a bit competition between the two airlines. Now however, things have changed. Air Wales has severed ties with bmibaby on all but one route. In recent weeks they have slashed fares on a number of routes, coincidently to fit better into Aer Aranns sort of price bracket. They and RR have announced the Irish routes mentioned, and now a number of routes show up on their website that look very much like Aer Arann destinations. Whats more, they have not denied the existence of these upcoming services or blamed it on system errors. Instead they have left the door wide open, and not promised anything. Now, it all fits and Aer Arann taking over Air Wales seems highly likely to me. There would be minimal changes needed; both airlines operate the same aircraft, similar routes. The fact that Air Wales is supposedly Wales’ “national airline” doesn’t really matter. Ireland and Wales are both Celtic nations and have always held very close ties. Celtic Air or Celtline, something like that, would suit both airlines perfectly. What do we all think?
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