XA-GMO on fuel stop at Shannon

An interesting visitor to Shannon this evening was Cessna Citation Sovereign registered XA-GMO. The aircraft is one of the first Sovereigns built with msn 680-0004 and stopped off for fuel on it's eastbound leg. Pictured above XA-GMO is seen on finals to Shannon's R24.

Aer Lingus loses HR boss

Aer Lingus have lost HR boss Liz White to insurer Hibernian Aviva. Liz who has been with Aer Lingus since 2002 and has seen the airline through several industrial relations situations in recent years has been appointed director of People and Leadership at the insurer.

Aer Lingus announce new CEO

Aer Lingus announced today that it had appointed Christoph Müller as the airline's new CEO to succeed Dermot Mannion who resigned in April of this year. Mr. Müller (47) who will join Aer Lingus on October 1 was most recently Aviation Director at TUI Travel PLC and will also be appointed to the Aer Lingus Board.

Cristoph Müller has extensive experience in the airline industry and has held senior positions with Daimler Benz Aerospace, Lufthansa AG, DHL/ Deutsche Post and Sabena.

Colm Barrington, Aer Lingus Chairman commented, "We are delighted to announce the appointment of Christoph Mueller as our new Chief Executive. We conducted a thorough and rigorous recruitment process and have chosen a candidate with a proven track record within the aviation industry. Christoph has the experience and the skill-set to lead the Aer Lingus team through what is an unprecedented operating environment and to make the changes that are required at Aer Lingus.

Ryanair announce Norway expansion

Ryanair has announced a route expansion at two of Norway's regional airports.

Commencing October the airline will commence seven new routes to / from Rygge airport which is 50km south of Oslo. The airport will be linked to Alicante, Girona, Charleroi, Bremen, London Stansted, Milan and Madrid. the airline forecasts that the new routes will bring 500,000 passengers through Rygge Airport. A total of 35 return flights will operate from Rygge as a result of the expansion.

From September the airline will add four new routes from Torp to Lodz, Beauvais, Rome Ciampino and Krakow which will bring it's passenger figure at Torp to 1.3m. An increase of 17 flights per week will operate from Torp arising from this expansion.

UK CAA June Passenger Figures

The UK CAA has published traffic figures for June 2009.

From Dublin, Gatwick traffic which is split between Ryanair and Aer Lingus showed a 4% YoY growth at 97,184 which was roughly 10% up on the May figure. Heathrow and Stansted both showed negative trends with LHR down 14% to 140,688 passengers and Stansted (a Ryanair preserve) down 18% to 70,745. Luton was up 3% YoY at 30,782. In total, Dublin's traffic to the 'Big 4' London area airports was down 8.9% which is a smaller YoY decline than that recorded in May at 13.8%.

At Cork, Gatwick traffic was up 1% to 9,880. Heathrow was down 9% to 42,992 while Stansted, a Ryanair route was down 2% to 25,916. In total, Cork's London traffic was down 5.6% YoY for the month, again a smaller decline than the 12.6% YoY reduction noted in May.

Shannon has fared similar to Dublin and Cork with Gatwick traffic down 2% YoY at 17,158 and Stansted down 16%, to 24,781.

On the reinstated Heathrow - Shannon route, a total of 12,370 passengers were carried for the month of June as against 11,838 in May which had one more calendar day.

In Belfast City Airport, passenger numbers on the Heathrow route, for a second consecutive month bucked many months of decline on the key LHR route (a BMI domain) with numbers growing 1% YoY to 45,314.

On the Belfast City - London Gatwick route, operated by FlyBe, passenger figures are up 26% YoY at 20,304 whilst the Belfast International - Gatwick route served by easyJet is down 22% YoY to 25,173.

Aer Arann's Cork - Belfast City route saw passenger numbers drop 21% YoY to 3,082. This route may be suffering as a result of the vastly improved road network linking Belfast-Dublin and Cork which has greatly reduced the driving time between the three cities.

At Belfast International, Aer Lingus LHR figures have shown a 13% gain YoY to 23,715.

Ryanair, Aer lingus figure in TPC top 10

Aviation Week & Space Technology has published it's TPC (Top Performing Companies) ratings for 2009. The ratings cover airlines under four categories - Legacy / Mainline Carriers, Low Cost Carriers, Regional Airlines and Freight Carriers.

This year's TPC analysis is intended to give an accurate measure of the airline's financial viability, under the headings of :

Liquidity

Financial Health

Earnings Performance

Fuel Management

Asset Management

In the Low Cost Category, Ryanair scored 45 out of a possible 100 points which placed it in 6th place, 3 places ahead of rival easyJet and 4 places ahead of mentor Southwest. The category is headed by air arabia (74), Allegiant (61) and Air Mauritius(52).

In the Legacy / Mainline class, Aer Lingus scored 51 out of a possible 100 which placed it in 9th place in a category which was headed by Singapore Airlines (75), Lufthansa (65) and Malaysian Airlines (63)

The regional airlines category covers only North American regional carriers.

Ryanair to install self service payment kiosks

Ryanair has announced that it is to install self service payment kiosk at airports to allow passengers pay for services at airports. The initial roll out will see 250 kiosks installed at London's Stansted Airport with the second phase covering Frankfurt Hahn, Marseilles, Barcelona and Belfast City. In total the airline intends to install 450 kiosks throughout it's network.

The kiosks which have been developed in conjunction with Ingenico covers the payment terminal, computer hosting and pin pads and are compliant with Visa and Mastercard's guidelines for payment security.

Primera TF-JXG flight diverts to Rome

Icelandic charter operator Primera's Dublin based B737-700 registered TF-JXG was involved in a diversion to Rome's Fiumicino airport last Friday, July 3. The aircraft was operating flight JXX 362 from Zakynthos to Dublin with 153 passengers and 6 crew when the crew requested an emergency landing due to a technical problem.

Two Italian Air Force Eurofighter aircraft were scrambled to escort the aircraft. According to reports TF-JXG had made an unauthorised decent, without declaring emergency from it's cruising altitude to FL200. With the G8 summit in Rome taking place the Italian Authorities would understandably have been sensitive to unusual aircraft flight patterns. Memories of the Helios B737 which crashed in Greece in 2005 may well have also played a role in the decision to deploy the Italian Air Force in this instance.

Initially the Italian authorities requested that the flight divert to Capodichino Airport, Naples in order to keep the aircraft away from Rome and the G8 summit. The aircraft commander refused the suggestion insisting that the longer runway length in Rome was required.

After burning fuel off the west coast of Italy the aircraft landed safely at Fiumicino. Passengers were held in Rome for ten hours while a replacement aircraft was sourced. The exact nature of the technical problem has yet to be identified although some passengers reported flaps being inspected which would be consistent with the commander requesting the longer runway length which was available at Rome.

TF-JXG has 'form'. The aircraft is currently the subject of an investigation by the Irish AAIU after an in flight engine shutdown in March of this year. The aircraft had departed the Air Atlanta hangar in Shannon on March 28 last on delivery to Primera when the crew declared 'Mayday' and returned to the airport. The March incident was previously reported here at : Primera.

Turkuaz Airlines takes delivery of TC-TCF

After just over 4 months with Shannon Aerospace, A321-211, msn 775 was delivered to Turkish operator Turkuaz airlines today. The aircraft which is formerly Air Jamaica's 6Y-JME has taken up Turkish registration TC-TCF and uses hex code 4BD066 with the new operator.

Pictured above, TC-TCF is seen back tracking R24 this evening for it's departure to Istanbul.

Air Dominicana take delivery of N279AD

Air Dominicana took delivery of B737-4Q8 today when the aircraft routed through Shannon on it's delivery flight.

The aircraft registered N279AD, msn 26279 is no stranger to Shannon having been a maintenance visitor many times during it's previous life as SX-BGS with Aegean Airlines.

Although Incorporated since 2007, Air Dominicana which is owned by Air Europa in partnership with the Government of the Dominican Republic has yet to start operations. From September 1 the airline intends to link Santo Domingo with New York and Miami.

Pictured above N279AD is seen exiting R24 in the midst of a summer deluge after it's arrival from Amsterdam. After refueling it departed Shannon again for Keflavik using the VHF route.

Real Madrid jet into Dublin in Style

Spanish giants Real Madrid arrived in Dublin this evening for a 10 day pre season training camp which includes a friendly against Dublin club Shamrock Rovers to be held this day week. The team travelled on Privilege Style B757 EC-HDS, using trip number PVG 7995 which arrived in Dublin just after 7pm local. The team's schedule while in Ireland can be seen at : Schedule.
Pictured above in the copyright picture by Colin Keogh, EC-HDS, complete with 'Real Madrid' titles and crest is seen on finals to Dublin's R28.

Ryanair protesters interrupt Ashes

The final day of the first Test match between Australia and England was interrupted when two protesters invaded the pitch waving a banner in protest at Ryanair's employment policies.

John Foley and Anthony Lea invaded the pitch during the 51st over in protest at Ryanair's supposed practice of charging new recruits for their training, only to terminate their contracts afterwards.

Foley 43, interrupted play for several minutes before 4 security guards wrestled him to the ground. Speaking afterwards, he said that the protest had been premeditated after his daughter had had her contract terminated by the airline.

Ryanair could lose credit card charge

Germany's Superior Court of Justice ruled last month that Ryanair could not charge German residents €8 every time they book a return flight and pay by credit or debit card. The court ruled that the airline's handling fee was inadmissible because the airline does not offer a charge free way to book flights on line.

Ryanair responded by saying that it would challenge the ruling on the basis that passengers who book using Visa Electron do not pay any fees. almost on third of the airline's passengers use this method of paying.

The precedent of the German ruling means that similar cases could now be brought in other countries. Ryanair is expected to make in the region €765m in credit / debit card fees this year.

SE-RHX delivered to Viking Airlines

Following yesterday's post, Viking Airlines took delivery of B737-86N registered SE-RHX which was delivered to London's Gatwick Airport this lunchtime. The hex code of SE-RHX is 4AC918.

Ryanair aircraft to fall into Chinese ownership ?

Whilst it won't affect anyone getting on a Ryanair plane in the near future the ownership of some of the airline's aircraft is currently up in the air. The reason is the failure of Australian global financial services company Allco Financial Group which is currently in liquidation.

Creditors of Allco yesterday cleared the sale of it's aviation assets to Chinese buyer HNA which is jointly owned by Hainan Province, Hainan Airlines and US billionaire George Soros. The deal however is complicate by the fact that the 68 aircraft in the Allco portfolio were subject to loans of $3bn from 63 lenders. The lenders need to be convinced that the terms of the asset sale will guarantee them the repayment of loans due.

There has also been a dispute over the management rights over the planes and the existence of special purpose leasing companies which were created to handle individual deals. Some of the former Allco executives including David Veal who ran the company's aircraft leasing business have attempted to frustrate the deal with HNA by claiming that they have legal title over the aircraft and without their consent no deal can go through.

Once the legal red tape is cleared Allco are an attractive prospect as the fleet is of relatively young age and the client list is blue chip with Ryanair, Qantas, Emirates and Singapore Airlines among the clientele.

Ryanair's carry on bags plan knocked by Dempsey

Ryanair's proposal to have passengers carry their own baggage to and from the aircraft has been knocked by Transport Minister Noel Dempsey according to the Irish Independent newspaper.

Minister Dempsey has insisted that security measures for cabin and hold baggage are in place as part of the state's overall aviation security regime and he pointed out that there are regulations regarding what types of baggage could be brought to certain parts of an airport.

The Ryanair plan envisages a €20m per annum saving in baggage handling charges if passengers carry their own bags to the aircraft for placement in the hold and reverse the process on landing.

Just how Ryanair would accommodate current hold baggage screening methods for illicit substances (sniffer dogs) hasn't been outlined by the airline which may be just one of the objections by the Department of Transport to one of Michale O'Leary's most recent proposals.

Minister Dempsey said "While I am aware of recent press articles about suggestions by the airline concerned that it plans to stop passengers checking in any baggage from next year, my department has not received any proposal of this nature to date,"

In relation to the €10 travel tax and the 'standing seats' Minister Dempsey poured cold water on both suggestions. In relation to the travel tax he said that the tax would bring in €95m this year and €156m next year which would seem to completely contradict Ryanair's contention that the travel tax is killing tourism to Ireland.

The Ryanair cost model saw a 13% growth in passenger numbers for the month of June alone compared to a 14% decline in passenger numbers at Dublin airport for the same month.

On the subject of 'standing seats' Minister Dempsey said "I heard the suggestion about standing on airplanes some days ago. I had not been aware of it and all I could do was laugh. I am still laughing." he said.

YL-LCD on visit to Dublin

The months of June and July are always good for out of the ordinary visitors from southern Europe - especially Italy and Spain - when the student charters are at their height. An unusual visitor to Dublin today was smartLynx Italia A320-211 registered YL-LCD which was probably operating a one off student charter.

The aircraft is a reasonably early series aircraft with msn 359, being built in 1992 for Air Canada with whom it served until 2007 when it was acquired by LAT Charter before moving to smartLynx. Pictured above in the copyright picture by Michael Kelly, YL-LCD is seen on finals to Dublin's R28.

N811NW, PH-KCF in medical diversions

Today's Northwest Airlines flight NWA 811 operating from London Gatwick to Atlanta diverted to Shannon when a male passenger fell ill. The aircraft was west of Ireland when the aircraft turned back and landed on Shannon's R06 at 10.32 utc. Unfortunately the passenger was pronounced dead on arrival at the airport, having suffered a suspected heart attack. The body was taken to the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick. The flight departed Shannon again at 12:42 utc.

N811NW was a recent visitor to Shannon prior to today's diversion. The aircraft performed a technical diversion on June 12 when smoke was noted in the cabin by a crew member.

At the same time as the Northwest Airlines flight was diverting to Shannon, flight KLM 758, routing from Panama City to Amsterdam was forced to divert to Cork, also with a medical emergency. The flight operated by MD11, registration PH-KCF landed a few moments after the NWA flight landed in Shannon. The passenger on the KLM flight who had also suffered a suspected heart attack was taken by ambulance to Cork University Hospital. Flight KLM 758 departed Cork again at 11.35 utc. Shannon is the preferred diversion airport for technical and medical emergencies but since Shannon was tied up with the NWA flight the KLM flight was directed to Cork.

Pictured above in the copyright picture by Paul Daly, PH-KCF is seen on departure from Cork at 11.35 utc

EI-EFN joins Ryanair fleet

Ryanair's latest aircraft EI-EFN arrived in Dublin on delivery from Boeing Field today. The aircraft is msn 37538 and wears hex code 4CA769.

EI-DGZ unveiled as SE-RHX

Ex Futura B737-86N, msn 28592 which had been painted at the Lufthansa paint facility shed it's Irish registration today and became SE-RHX of Swedish operator Viking Airlines. Pictured above, SE-RHX is seen outside the Air Atlanta hangar this afternoon.

TC-AAR delivered to Pegasus

AS a postscript to yesterday's item covering the reregistration of Futura's EI-DGZ to TC-AAR, the aircraft departed Shannon tonight as PGT 065. The aircraft's hex code is 4B8432.

70th anniversary of Foynes landing

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the first Yankee Clipper flying boat of Pan American at Foynes, Co. Limerick on Sunday, July 9 1939. The Limerick Leader newspaper reported that the aircraft appeared over Foynes at 12.50pm, circled the harbour and landed approximately 5 minutes later. The 19 passengers, most of whom were press, and including the Vice President of Pan American Airways, G.L. Rihl were greeted by Sean Lydon, secretary of the Department of Industry and Commerce who accompanied a launch which was dispatched to collect the passengers and crew and bring them ashore.

The flight marked the arrival of the first commercial flight linking Ireland and the US. The Yankee clipper departed later that afternoon for Southampton after it's short visit but returned on the following Wednesday when it arrived at 6.10pm to refuel before departing for Botwood, Newfoundland, en route New York. Between 1940 and 1942 over 40,000 passengers passed through Foynes, a considerable number given the relatively small seating capacity of the flying boats. A terminal and hotel were added to the facility at Foynes to cater for the growing passenger numbers and communications facilities were also built. It was during this time that Irish Coffee was famously invented in Foynes for warming the passengers as they arrived to the chilly Irish winter.

By the end of the Second World War Foynes had had it's hey day and land based aircraft were landing at Shannon airport just across the estuary. By 1949 the days of the flying boat at Foynes had all but disappeared with just a few charter flights passing through.

Twenty years ago the Foynes Flying Boat Museum was established and it too is celebrating it's anniversary this week.

The Foynes Festival is taking place this week and was opened on Monday by Martin Cullen, Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism. The Festival ends on Sunday July 12. A full list of 'what's on' can be found at Foynes Festival.

Among the item of interest are an air display over the River Shannon at 4pm on Saturday afternoon and a Cri Cri on static display. The Cri Cri is the world's smallest aerobatic aircraft, pictures of which can be seen at Cri Cri. Unfortunately the Foynes web site does not list the aircraft taking part in the flying display.

Union calls for postponement of T2 opening

The Dublin Airport branch of union SIPTU has urged the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) to postpone the opening of the airport's Terminal 2 until traffic levels return to what the union calls 'realistically feasible levels'. The call comes as unions and the DAA are involved in talks to implement savings of €55m to meet a forecast €70m shortfall in the current year.

bmi extend chauffeur drive to include Dublin, Belfast

bmi's Chauffeur Drive service for business passengers flying on fully flexible fares has been extended to include a number of new airports, including Dublin and Belfast.

Silver E-Class Mercedes cars are used to provide the service in the UK, with equivalent cars used at the destination. Specially branded parking spaces are in place at Heathrow's Terminal 1 where passengers are greeted on arrival by a bmi concierge who escorts the passenger and their luggage to the new bmi Premium check in zone. Up to four transfers can be taken per return flight with the service available at both ends of the route.

US Immigration Officials take up residence in Clare / Limerick

At a meeting at the Mayor's office in Ennis today it was confirmed that 30 US Immigration staff are currently in the process of relocating to Clare and Limerick in anticipation of the CBP (Customs & Border Patrol) facility opening later this month on July 29.

Mayor of Clare Tony Mulcahy today received confirmation of the move during an hour-long meeting with the Deputy US Ambassador to Ireland, Mr. Robert J. Faucher.

Commenting on his hour-long meeting with Mr. Faucher at the offices of Clare County Council in Ennis today, the Mayor said: “We both agreed that the new facilities, once operational, will provide a significant boost for tourism and trade between the USA and Ireland. The Deputy Ambassador informed me that Ireland is the tenth highest investment location for US companies. This is especially encouraging in the current economic climate and I have no doubt that the new facilities at Shannon will further enhance commercial links between both countries.

Pictured above are on left Mr. Faucher, Deputy US Ambassador and on the right Mayor of Clare, Tony Mulcahy.

Ryanair launch poll on 'standing' seats

The last time Ryanair got wall to wall publicity for an utterance from it's chief executive Michael O'Leary the subject was pay toilets. Since earlier this week the word standing room has almost become synonymous with the low cost carrier after Michael O'Leary suggested that future aircraft deliveries could incorporate 'seats' for standing passengers. Milking it for all that it's worth, the airline today announced that it has launched an online poll to determine the travelling public's enthusiasm for 'standing' seats. The seats, illustrated above have the appearance of an upright bed with funfair shoulder restraints and are suggested for flights of one hour's duration or less, something which could affect load factor on longer sectors. For those eager to contribute to the poll, details are on the Ryanair web site.

EI-DGZ becomes TC-AAR

Former Futura B737-86N EI-DGZ finally revealed it's new identity on Monday evening when new registration TC-AAR was applied at the Air Atlanta hangar in Shannon. The aircraft had arrived in Shannon March 12 last for attention with Air Atlanta. On June 16 last it was noted with the Irish registration removed and had remained that way until Monday last, July 6 when the Turkish registration was revealed. Pictured above TC-AAR is seen outside the AAAE hangar.

Two Futuras - TC-AAR & SE-RHX

In among the wingtip clutter outside the Air Atlanta hangar at Shannon are two former Futura aircraft. On the left is the former EI-DGZ, B737-86N, msn 28624 which has now been registered TC-AAR and is scheduled for delivery to Pegasus Airlines. On the right is EI-DJT, B737-86N, msn 28592 which has been painted for Swedish operator Viking. The new Swedish identity can be seen on the nose wheel where the letters 'RHX' are visible.

Deer Jet's B-8088 visits Shannon

Shannon had what is reckoned to be the first visit by a Chinese biz jet when Deer Jet's Gulfstream IV registered B-8088 arrived this morning from Dublin. The aircraft is msn 1375 and was delivered to the subsidiary of Hainan Airlines Group in March of 2008. Pictured above, B-8088 is seen on finals for R24 as flight DER 887.

IAA publish June traffic figures

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) today published the air traffic figures for June 2009.

En route flights transiting Irish air space were down 5% YoY for the month.

North Atlantic HF communication traffic was down 8.8% YoY

Commercial air traffic movements at both Dublin and Shannon were down 17.6% YoY whilst Cork suffered a more severe decline, falling 26% YoY for the month.

Airport total terminal movements for the three state airports for June were as follows :

Dublin 15,514 down 18.9% YoY

Shannon 3,115 down 22.1% YoY

Cork 5,395 down 15% YoY

Year to date end of June there is only red ink.

En route flights are down 7.8%

North Atlantic communications are down 8.1%

Dublin commercial terminal movements have declined by 13.5%

Shannon commercial terminal movements down by 12.9%

Cork commercial terminal movements down by 25.7%

Combined commercial movements for the three airports are down by 15% YoY.