Aer Lingus targets charter carrier routes from Ireland
Aer Lingus Airbus A330-300 This winter scheduled Aer Lingus is strategically utilizing it's fleet to further increase market share from Ireland, by further encroaching onto routes traditionally operated by charter carriers. This summer it launched a new weekly service to Corfu, Greece and from 22nd December it's Dublin to Toulouse route is being converted to a year-round service operating weekly on Saturdays using Airbus A321s. Travel Extra reported 80% of the seats will be used by tour operator Top Flight. On 19th August it announced a new weekly Shannon to Lanzarote service operating from 27th October offering an additional 8,000 seats on the route. See my blog post Aer Lingus announces new Shannon Lanzarote route Aer Lingus preliminary annual results 2012 stated "Aer Lingus gained market share in both long and short haul from LCCs, legacy, regional & charter carriers." The airline has increased it