Airport tax to stop LCY service ?

A report in today's Irish Times suggests that the decision by the Government to impose a travel tax in this month's budget could prevent CityJet from launching a Shannon - London City service. It appears from the report that CityJet have been looking at the possibility of launching a London City service from the mid west airport for some time but the lack of aircraft capacity has prevented the service from taking wings. The decision by the UK's OFT which clears CityJet's takeover of Dutch airline VLM would have created the required capacity but a rethink is now on the cards as a result of the budgetary tax. In response to the suggestion that passengers on an LCY route would be mostly business passengers who wouldn't notice the tax, CityJet CEO Geoffrey O'Byrne-White responded that the tax alters the economics of the route compared to other routes they might serve. 

Falcon visitor

Today saw a visit to Shannon by German registered Falcon 20, D-CMET, msn 329. The aircraft which was built in 1976 is operated by the DLR, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft und Raumfahrt, the German Centre for Air and Space Travel. 

Visits by Falcon 20 aircraft are becoming a rare event and even more so in the case of msn 329.

D-CMET which is based at the DLR flight facility in Oberpfaffenhofen is one the most important European research aircraft used in atmospheric research. The aircraft has been extensively modified to suit it's applications. Some of these modifications include :

• New engines with additional power generators to handle the higher than normal electrical load of the scientific payload.
• A nose boom with integrated probe for measuring airspeed and direction.
• Four underwing hardpoints for carrying external payload.
• Central and aft hardpoints for carrying external payload.
• Special optical windows for camera and radar operation on the top and bottom of the fuselage.

The aircraft which normally has capacity for 10 has had it's seating reduced to 6 due to the space taken up by the scientific payload.

This is  the second time this year that D-CMET has visited. It spent two days over May 13/14 when it was accompanied by G-LUXE operated by the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurement. A previous visit was noted in Shannon in November 2003.

D-CMET is pictured below on climb out off Runway 06 at lunchtime today. It is intended to retire CMET and replace it with HALO, ( High Altitude and Long Range Research Aircraft ) based on the G550 platform which will take to the air in 2009.

New Irish Hawker

A new Irish Hawker 800XP was added to the Irish register yesterday. EI-ECE is the latest aircraft to be added to the Airlink stable, delivered to Shannon from Farnborough last night using fixed callsign HYR 27A. The aircraft is msn 258496 and was previously registered G-RDMV to Clearwater Loigstics in Antrim. Hex code for the aircraft is 4CA720.

Credit to Malcolm Nason for unearthing this one !

Maintenance Departures

The past two days have seen some maintenance departures from Shannon.

Yesterday, Wednesday October 29 saw the departure of B767-204(ER) msn 24757. The aircraft, registered JY-JAG went on delivery to Jordan Aviation and is ex Silverjet G-SLVR. The aircraft was in full Silverjet titles and colours on it's departure.

Today saw the departure of another long term resident in the shape of Boeing 737-36E msn 27626. The aircraft which had been operated by Air One, arrived in Shannon on July 24 this year in full BMI Baby colours and wearing registration EI-CSU. It's intended registration with BMI was G-TOYL.  Since it's arrival in Shannon, very little work appeared to have been carried out on the aircraft. It was test flown on Tuesday of this week prior to it's departure today to it's as yet unidentified new operator. Today's routing took the aircraft to Bermuda via Santa Maria.

Pictured below, EI-CSU arrives in Shannon on July 24 2008.

IAA issues second Performance Report

As required under the Single European Sky regulations the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) is required to publish an annual Performance Report. This report covers  a five year Business Plan, an annual Business Plan and an Annual Report.

Today, The IAA issued it's report for the calendar year 2007.

The bullets on traffic figures read as follows :

• En route traffic for 2007 was forecast to grow by 2.7% in 2007 but the final figure at 310,831 represented a 5.5% increase, the variance being attributable to the Open Skies policy and favourable weather (certainly not on the ground !)

• Terminal movements were forecast to grow by 4.8% in 2007. The year end figure 0f 267,828 represents a 6.6% increase over 2006 with the growth coming almost exclusively from Continental Europe.

• Ballygireen handles 414,645 flights in 2007 which, represented a 6% growth in line with projections.

• Delays to terminal traffic for 2007 were forecast at 37,294 minutes. The end of year figure recorded by the Central Flow Management Unit (CFMU) reported delays at 29,136 minutes to 1438 aircraft. The IAA note that these delays are almost entirely attributable to Dublin airport and show a 22% improvement in the number of aircraft experiencing a delay over 2006. The 2007 figure represents 3.95 aircraft per day being each delayed by 80 minutes.  

In terms of infrastructure the report highlights the following which were undertaken in 2007 :

• In Dublin Airport, planning commenced on a new control tower which will be used as part of the twin runway operation.

• In Cork Airport, construction commenced on a new stand alone control tower which is planned to be operational by May 2009.

• The radar replacement program is expected to be completed in 2009. This program sees the replacement of primary and secondary surveillance radar with Mode S secondary and solid state primary systems.

• A new surface movement ground radar system is expected to be operational in Dublin by the end of 2008.  

• The report also notes that the program to replace all ILS, DVOR/DME and runway IRVR systems at the three State airports on course for completion in 2008 with the bulk of the work having been carried out in 2007

IAA report traffic figures for September

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) today published the traffic figures for September 2008.

Overflights for the month at 27,048 were down 3.6% YoY over 2007.

Shanwick Oceanic traffic at 37,210 shows a comparable 3.9% YoY reduction over the 2007 figure of 38,722.

In terms of terminal movements at the three State airports the picture looks like this :

Dublin Airport is down 3.0% YoY over 2007. The September '08 figure is 18,531 movements.

Shannon Airport is down 23.8% YoY over 2007. The September '08 figure is 3,548 movements.

Cork Airport is down 33.4% YoY over 2007.  The September '08 figure is 5,230 movements.

Although no explanation is given, it would appear that the reduction in Dublin is line with the global picture but the very large reductions at Shannon and Cork are harder to explain.

Ryanair cancel plans for Forli base, switch to Trapani

Ryanair announced today that it had reversed it's earlier decision to open a base at Forli in Sicily. The decision results from the withdrawal by the management at Forli airport of the agreement which it had made with Ryanair.

Instead, a new base will be established at Trapani in Sicily with two new aircraft to be based there from May 2009. A total of fifteen routes to / from the Sicilian airport are expected to deliver almost 1 million passengers per year.

Aer Lingus pull out of talks with SIPTU

Aer Lingus would appear to be on a collision course with union SIPTU after it withdrew today from talks at the Labour Raltions Commission and said that it was would push ahead with it's decision to outsource jobs at the three State airports.

The airline pulled out of the talks after it said that the union had 'failed to engage in any meaningful way' to provide alternatives to it's outsourcing plan. The talks had been set up by the LRC four weeks ago to explore alternatives to the airlines proposal to outsource 1,250 jobs at Dublin, Shannon and Cork airports.

The decision to withdraw from the talks has angered SIPTU who had attempted to secure the terms of redundancy for the Aer Lingus workers before embarking on discussions to explore alternatives. The failure to agree on such terms was the trigger for Aer Lingus to leave the negotiating table.

The airline had offered employees the option of transferring to the outsourcing company or taking redundancy at nine weeks pay per year of service and capped at 130 weeks. SIPTU had been attempting to raise the terms to ten weeks per year of service with no cap.

Aer Lingus have now decided to proceed with the selection of an outsource provider by the end of next week. Meanwhile, SIPTU are awaiting the outcome of the ballot for strike action at the airline. The ballot closes on November 7. 

A winter of discontent lies ahead with the possibility of strike action once again looming over the heads of Aer Lingus passengers. 

 

Strike at Galway Airport deferred

The strike by ground crew, fire crew and check in personnel at Galway Carnmore Airport which was due to start on Thursday October 30 has been deferred.This comes after management at the airport agreed that it would not unilaterally implement cutbacks in pay or hours of airport workers ahead of a Labour Relations Committee meeting to be held on November 6.

SIPTU's Paul Galvan said that "Our 45 members' rates of pay range from €11 to €14 per hour which hardly makes them high earners. While we are willing to agree cost cutting proposals, as we did at Knock Airport, it must be on the basis of equity".

Ryanair berate Aer Lingus for fuel surcharge reduction

Aer Lingus today announced that they were reducing their fuel surcharge on flights to the US. The reductions range from €5 per sector on Dublin - Washington to €20 on Dublin - Orlando.

Commenting on the reduction, Dermot Mannion, Aer Lingus Chief Executive, said "This is good news for passengers. We have consistently reassured customers that the fuel surcharge would be kept under active review and as part of Aer Lingus' continued commitment to it's low fares strategy. We are pleased to honour that commitment now that oil prices have fallen."

Responding , Ryanair slammed the decision as a token gesture, pointing out that the last time oil was trading at under $65 per barrel the Aer Lingus surcharge was €50 per sector compared to the new revised October 2008 surcharge of €99 per sector, when oil is again trading at under $65 per barrel.  

Ryanair loses High Court action against DAA

Ryanair today failed in it's High Court action to prevent the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) from making it sign a licensing and fee agreement before the airline installed 44 self service kiosks in the airport. 

The airline said that the terminal floor space at Dublin is already being double charged to airlines, firstly through the €15 departing passenger fee at Dublin Airport (which pays in full for the terminal space) and secondly through an annual €25,000 check in desk rental on every check in desk. The fee that the DAA was attempting to impose on Ryanair for the use of the SSKs was €52,000 per annum in total. During the two day hearing, the High Court heard that Ryanair had withheld payment of €8.4m in fees owed to the DAA in the row over the kiosks. The airline only paid over the sum due before proceedings in the Commercial Court got under way to recover the money. Mr. Justice MacMenamin said in the High Court that the decision by Ryanair to withhold the money had constituted a 'grossly disproportionate response'.

Following the decision in the High Court, Ryanair's Michael O'Leary said that the airline's "response  to this overcharging is we won't install these kiosks in Dublin. We will now bring forward plans to migrate all our Dublin passengers to web check in, so that we can avoid these abusive monopoly rentals."

The airline will now proceed with plans to install SSKs in Shannon Airport and also in Cork if it can reach an agreement with the Cork Airport Authority.

Aer Lingus cuts back on BFS - LHR flights for summer 2009

Aer Lingus today announced nine new routes for summer 2009. The routes are Dublin to Catania, Newcastle and Sofia, Cork to Lanzarote, Lisbon and Rennes and from Belfast to Milan, Munich and Lanzarote.

In addition the airline announced that it is increasing frequency on seventeen routes, including Paris, Faro, Edinburgh, Barcelona and Malaga.

Since the Belfast base is approaching it's first year in operation it would appear that the opportunity is being taken to tweak the schedule.

Checking the Aer Lingus on line timetable for next summer and comparing to the current schedule and schedule to year end the following changes are worth noting for summer 2009

Belfast - Amsterdam drops from a full daily service to 4 days per week. 

Belfast - Rome goes from four days per week to three.  

Belfast - Lanzarote drops from three days per week to twice weekly.

Belfast - Heathrow which would drop from four flights per day on the summer schedule to three flights for the winter period stays at three flights per day from March which represents a 25% cut back on the Heathrow route for summer 2009.

Belfast - Malaga goes from 4 days per week to five.

CityJet select CTC as preferred training provider

CityJet have selected CTC Aviation Group as a preferred training provider after visiting their Crew Training Centres in both the UK and New Zealand. CityJet wanted to demonstrate a commitment to their cadet pilots throughout their training - this desire led to 'CityJet Wings', a program established in May of this year by CTC to suit CityJet's requirements.

The first 'CityJet Wings' course of 2008 consists of four students, one from France and three from the UK. The students arrived in Hamilton, New Zealand earlier this month to start the initial phase of their airline training program.

Four bodies recovered from crash site

Four bodies have been recovered from the crash site of a British registered PA-28 which had disappeared en route Gloucester airport to Kilrush Airfield in Co. Kildare. The aircraft, G-BGTJ, msn 28-7405083, had departed the UK airport on Saturday morning just before 10.00am but failed to land at Kilrush.

It is understood that the dead are pilot Sharif Booz, his wife Margaret, their teenage son and a friend of the family. Mr. Booz had made regular trips to Kilrush airfield over the past 6 or 7 years to visit relatives in Newbridge.

The aircraft was being monitored by Dublin ATC and was handed off to Kilrush airfield around 12.15pm on Saturday and was last seen on radar at approximately 12.30pm over the Wicklow mountains. The alarm was raised by a family member around 6pm, concerned at the non appearance of the aircraft.

At 06.30am a search involving Garadi, Defence Forces, Coastguard and mountain rescue personnel began. The wreckage was discovered shortly before 10am in a densely wooded area south of Holywood village known as Corrie Barracks and Church Mount. The aircraft had crashed in bogland and had penetrated the ground to 30% of it's length. Two units of the Air Accident Investigation Unit of the Department of Transport attended the scene. The bodies were removed to Naas General Hospital where post portems will be carried out.

OFT decision to allow CityJet / VLM merger ?

The Uk's Office of Fair Trading today approved the acquisition of VLM by Air France-KLM. The proposed deal had been stalled for several months pending a decision by Air France-KLM as to how they proposed to overcome the virtual monopoly that they would hold on certain routes in the event of the deal going through. 

The deal maker was the decision by KLM to surrender 8 slots at London City airport to Eastern Airways.

Air France said that the decision by the OFT will allow close cooperation between VLM Airlines and CityJet. Just what form this cooperation will take remains to be seen but AF-KLM have had long enough to ponder the options.

Dublin seeks Chinese link

Today's Irish Times reports that the Dublin Airport Authority has signed an agreement with Oriental Sky, a Chinese aviation services consultancy group to help the DAA secure direct air services to Beijing. The agreement was signed during the Irish trade delegation visit China this week.

As doing business in China is all about having the right contacts, Oriental Sky is the equivalent of the DAA's agent with the remit of talking to Chinese airlines on the DAA's  behalf. Oriental provided support to the DAA when they made a presentation to Air China and Hainan Airlines during the week.

According to the paper,in 2007,  47,000 passengers connected to Beijing out of Dublin with 35,000 to Hong Kong and 12,000 to Shanghai, or almost 2,000 per week. All these passengers hubbed through other airports such as Amsterdam, London, Paris and Frankfurt. In addition, almost 7,000 Chinese tourists visit Ireland each year, a figure that will only grow.

With airlines dropping like flies and those left standing cutting routes, the DAA must be nervously watching the completion of Terminal 2 at Dublin wondering who will fill it's floors when the doors open in 2010.

Outrage in Belfast

Airline operations at George Best Belfast City Airport are a contentious issue with the residents of east Belfast - not least because of the noise issue. A very strict 9.30pm noise curfew is in place at the airport with curfew busters on the wrong end of the stick. 

Yesterday's Belfast Telegraph reports that Northern Ireland Employment Minister Sir Reg Empey joined residents of east Belfast in blasting Ryanair for apparently ignoring the deadline for flights in and out of the airport by putting up seats for sale on a number of late night flights.

It appears that it had been possible to book flights on the airlines web site to and from Prestwick on May 13 next year with departure and arrival times outside curfew.

On Thursday, Ryanair said that it was a clerical error that had been corrected. The debacle occurred days after Michael O'Leary's visit to Belfast during which he predicted that the runway extension at the airport would be completed by mid 2010, although no application has yet been lodged with the planning authorities.

Campaigners have been trying for some time to limit expansion at the airport and said that the incident should be a wake up call to Environment Minister Sammy Wilson who recently announced a new planning agreement to allow passenger numbers at the airport rise by half a million a year.

The expansion is subject to the current 6.30am to 9.30pm operating hours and also establishes a method of fining curfew busters and directing the fines into a community fund.

Ryanair said that they have no intention of seeking an extension to the operating hours and no intention of flouting the planning laws in operation at the airport.

Growth at Belfast City is inevitable and the airport is central to Ryanair's growth in the province. In a story that looks like it has lots more mileage before it's finished it would appear that Ryanair and / or the other airlines operating at BHD will have to grasp the nettle sooner or later. 

Ryanair to shut Valencia base

Ryanair today put into practice the threat it issued on October 14 - the airline is pulling the plug on it's Valencia base following the refusal of the Communitat Valenciana to engage in discussions to promote the airport and it's routes across Ryanair network.

The Valencia base which opened in August 2007 will shut on November 4 with the loss of 70 weekly flights into and out of the airport. Ryanair will move it's investment in Valencia to another airport in the network ( not necessarily Spain ) with an announcement due in the next few weeks.

The operation at Valencia had grown to a yield of almost 1.5m which represented 25% of the airport's total passenger load of 6m. With all but 2 of the ten routes to close coming from international routes the closure will have a negative impact on tourism in the region.

According to Ryanair they had been seeking to work with the Tourism Department of the Comunitat Valenciana with a view to promoting the region across Europe. At the same time that the as the Comunitat Valenciana were telling Ryanair that there was no funding available they provided Air Nostrum with a €12m award of marketing support.

The continuing breakdown in communications between the two parties has led to today's announcement which will leave the airport with a limited Stansted service and the closure of the base.

Recent visitors

Thursday of last week provided Shannon with two exotic visitors in the shape of B727 J2-KBA and Gulfstream 4 VT-DLF.

The Government of Djibouti B727-191 J2-KBA, msn 19394 fuel stopped on it's way to Canada with President Ismail Omar Guelleh who was travelling to Quebec City for the 12th Francophonie Summit. The Summit is attended by French speaking nations and at this year's event there were representatives of 55 nations present.

Following the summit, President Guelleh attended a UN Security Council meeting in New York which was called to resolve a border dispute with Eritrea, so as of today the aircraft should still be Stateside.

Pictured below by Trevor Mulkerrins, the aircraft has titles on the port side only.

A larger version can be viewed at J2-KBA

The second visitor of note on October 16 was Gulfstream 4 VT-DLF, msn 1231. On it's first visit to Shannon , it has visited Ireland before. During the summer it visited Cork with relatives of Air India 182 who attended a memorial ceremony before visiting Dublin. The aircraft is owned by DLF Universal Ltd which is the largest real estate developer in Delhi. The company is owned by Kushal Pal Singh, listed by Forbes as the eighth richest person in the world.

Pictured below by Trevor Mulkerrins, VT-DLF taxis for takeoff on Runway 24.

A larger version can be viewed at VT-DLF

Maintenance departure

Today saw the departure of Airbus 319-111 N944FR from Shannon to it's new operator Bahrain Air. The aircraft is MSN 2700 and arrived in Shannon on September 30 in partial Frontier colours. Following repainting at Lufthansa Aircraft Paint Shannon the aircraft emerged on Sunday last in full Bahrain Air livery. The aircraft will become A9C-BAX with the new operator and is pictured below in the new colours. 

Ryanair call on Aer Lingus to apologise

Not mincing their words, Ryanair yesterday branded Aer Lingus as scam artists for attempting to fool passengers with so called 'free seats' when they cost at least €23 taxes and charges.

Referring to the e mail offering free flights sent by Aer Lingus to it's customers, Ryanair suggested that the only reason the Aer Lingus web site crashed on Tuesday October 21 was because so many passengers could not find any 'free' flights.

All's fair in love and war !

Ryanair add more heat in Italy

Ryanair today continued to turn up the heat on the Alitalia / Air One combo by announcing an additional eleven new routes from Bologna. From March 2009 the airline will serve seven new international and four new domestic routes from the northern Italian airport.

The increased capacity will bring an extra 800,000 passengers to the Italian airport. Ryanair said it is on target to deliver over 2m passengers per annum through the airport on 25 destinations by 2012.

Today's announcement brings to 30 the number of new routes to / from Italian airports announced this week.

Strike threat at Carnmore

A strike threat by SIPTU workers hangs over Galway Carnmore Airport from next week. Two weeks ago, as a result of the economic downturn, airport management confirmed their intention to reduce working hours by up to 19 hours per week in some cases.

This morning, Wednesday 22, SIPTU served strike notice on the airport and can go on strike from midnight on Wednesday of next week.

Airport management have reassured customers that the airport will continue to operate business as normal.

Maintenance departure

In what is a strong contender for the award of 'most filed attempts to leave', B737-36Q msn 28659 finally departed the Air Atlanta Aero Engineering hangar in Shannon yesterday afternoon on delivery to Ukranian operator Dniproavia after numerous plans were filed last week.

The aircraft painted in full Dniproavia colours left with billboard registration G-THOJ taped over it's new identity UR-DNJ.

G-THOJ is pictured below outside the Air Atlanta hangar on Wednesday last, October 15.

Aer Lingus website collapses

The Aer Lingus website collapsed this morning as a result of the volume of customers attempting to book free flights. The airline had emailed customers with offers of free flights (excluding taxes and charges) to destinations in continental Europe. This was the first time that the airline had made such an offer to mainland Europe. The site collapsed around 11.00 am and was back 'on air' at lunchtime.

Ryanair announce more Italian bases

Ryanair today announced that they would be establishing two more bases in Italy from March 2009.

One new aircraft will be based at Alghero in Sardinia which operate 18 new routes into and out of the airport. Two aircraft will be based at Cagliari offering 19 routes. 

In addition the airline is increasing frequency on Milan Rome and adding an additional Rome - Trapani route.

Today's announcememt which represents an additional 2.5m passengers per annum will bring Ryanair's share of the Italian market to an annual 15 million passengers.

CEO Michael O'Leary said in Italy today that 'Italy is now Ryanair's second largest market after the UK'.

He also said that he did not expect the latest Alitalia rescue effort to be a success without massive job cuts, confirming that Ryanair is waiting to snap up any Rome or Milan slots discarded by Alitalia.

In typical Ryanair fashion the airline has taken the opportunity to launch a new slogan 'Love Italy, Fly Ryanair' in a parody of Silvio Berlusconi's April election slogan 'I love Italy, I fly Alitalia'. It remains to be seen if Berlusconi has a better sense of humour than French President Nicolas Sarkozy who famously sued the airline in January this year for using his image in a jocular fashion.

DAA and Ryanair in court

The DAA and Ryanair were in commercial court today in an escalating row over self service passenger check in kiosks at Dublin airport.

The court heard that earlier this month Ryanair had refused to pay the DAA €8.4m in passenger charges relating to Dublin, Shannon and Cork airports for the months of August and September. 

This happened after the airline had been informed that they would have to sign a lease agreement for passenger self service kiosks they intended to install in Dublin airport.

The day after legal proceedings were issued Ryanair paid €7.7m followed by a further €500,000 which leaves the airline owing €57,000 in interest.

A judgement was issued against Ryanair for this remaining sum. In a story which is set to run for some time yet, the airline said it would issue a high court injunction tomorrow in relation to the kiosks.

Aer Arann to reduce headcount by 25%

Aer Arann said today that it was opening negotiations with unions in anticipation of laying off up to 100 employees, or approximately 25% of the workforce.

The airline also plans to reduce frequency and cut routes in an effort to trim costs. In addition it will reduce aircraft numbers from 13 to 9 as it changes focus to wet leasing operations as a means of improving profitability. 

Aer Lingus selects Rockwell Collins for refit

Aer Lingus has selected Rockwell Collins as the supplier for a comprehensive range of navigation, communication and radar avionics for six aircraft in the A330 fleet.

The avionics suite will provide commonality with the existing fleet and includes state of the art items such as weather radar which analyses and determines actual weather hazards as opposed to traditional systems which analyse moisture content. 

There is no indication at this stage as to where the refit will take place or how long the aircraft will be out of service to allow the work take place.

Shannon and the tourist tax

Ryanair today have issued a warning in the strongest possible terms regarding the impact of the travel tax introduced in the budget. Prior to Finance Minister Brian Lenihan's budget on Tuesday, Ryanair had already sounded the first words of warning on the possible effects of such a measure.

The airline has confirmed that that it is seeking an urgent meeting with the Minister for Transport to discuss the impact of the tax on Shannon airport where the average Ryanair fare will more than double. Whilst stating that Ryanair is not opposed to the travel tax in principle - it will effect less than 15% of their passengers - the airline has called for the 

restructuring of the tax.

Among the changes to the tax structure proposed by Ryanair are the alignment of the tax with the total fare paid. They point out that a business class passenger paying a €3,000 transatlantic fare will pay the same €10 tax as a cash strapped leisure traveller on a €10 fare.

Ryanair has also confirmed that they will now enter into discussions with Shannon Airport Authority about the future viability of their 2 million passenger base there. The statement also indicates for the first time the fact that their operation in Shannon makes money in the summer but not the winter.

Whilst CEO Michael O'Leary is a master of hyperbole, his comments today on the future of Shannon are stark even by his standards - 

“Our greatest concern is the devastation this regressive tax will have on our Shannon base, which we have grown to almost 2 million passengers annually over the past 5 years, but at average fares which are less than €10 during the Winter, this Government is insane if it thinks these price sensitive passengers will pay a tax rate of over 100%. If this tourism tax isn’t changed, there will be tumbleweed rolling down the runway at Shannon Airport next Winter (‘09/’10), but it is nothing more than this Government will deserve for this crazy decision to tax the tourism industry at a time of recession."

“The small revenues which this tourism tax can generate can easily be obtained by reducing spending such as cancelling the absurd waste of PSO subsidies (under which business people are subsidised to the tune of €100 per ticket on unsustainable domestic routes) or closing Failte Ireland which will save more than €150m annually for the Government by scrapping a body that doesn’t deliver one additional visitor into this country."

As the Ryanair fleet replacement program continues, aircraft with the smaller titles are becoming fewer, but are fewer Ryanair aircraft going to be seen in Shannon as a result of the Irish government's travel tax ? EI-DAG on approach to Runway 24.

Spanish Air Force F27 returns home

Spanish Air Force F27-200MPA serial D.02-3, msn 10587 returned to it's base this morning.

During the week the aircraft had flown several 'bottom' cover missions out of Shannon for other company aircraft which were being ferried across the atlantic. D.02-3 is a SAR configured aircraft and is normally to be found in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands.

During it's stay in Shannon the aircraft used callsign AME 0219. At the end of July / start of August 2007 the same aircraft was based out of  Shannon on a similar mission. No hex code was displayed by the aircraft which is seen in the picture below taxiing for departure off Runway 24 during it's visit in August 2007 in slightly brighter weather than this morning !

United 952 diverts to Shannon

Today's United Airlines flight 952 operated by B767-322ER N646UA from Washington Dulles to Frankfurt diverted to Shannon with a mechanical problem. Airport emergency services were attendance when the aircraft landed just after 6.15am.

A relief aircraft, B767-322ER, N653UA operated the delayed UAL 952 which departed Shannon for Frankfurt at 13.30Z.

N653UA is no stranger to Shannon. It diverted into Shannon on August 27 2006 on flight UAL 951. It is pictured below on finals to Runway 24 at lunchtime today, arriving on a positioning flight from Heathrow as UAL 9963.

Ryanair converts options

Ryanair today announced that it had exercised options on ten Boeing 737-800 series aircraft under the terms of it's 2005 agreement with the Seattle manufacturer. Three aircraft will be delivered in October 2010 and seven in November 2010.

Waterford Airport records jump in passenger numbers

Waterford Airport has recorded a significant jump in passenger numbers for the first nine months of 2008.

In the period January to September, 110,696 passengers passed through the airport compared to 88,431 for the same period in 2007, a 25% increase. 

Ryanair performance outstrips Aer Lingus in Belfast

Ryanair today released UK CAA Figures which showed that traffic at Belfast City has grown by 28% in the period January to July 2008. by comparison, traffic at Belfast Aldergrove has grown by only 2%.

Speaking in Belfast today, Ryanair's Michael O'Leary said 'that some of Aer Lingus's load factors at Aldergrove are truly awful running less than 50% to important European capitals like Paris and Amsterdam, where as Ryanair's load factor on it's four destinations from Belfast City are running at over 75% full. 

He also described the move by Aer Lingus from Shannon to Belfast as financial disaster. He said that Aer Lingus had halted it's Shannon to Heathrow service where the company had load factors of 80% and established a Belfast to Heathrow route where it is struggling to achieve loads of 50%.

WH Smith to open outlets in Shannon

'The Examiner' today announced that WH Smith, the UK based news and book retailer is to open two shops in Shannon Airport. In February, the company announced that Ireland was one if it's preferred target markets for expansion.

One store is to be located either side of security check and will be opened in late November or early December.

The company indicated that it's plans for Ireland could have been kept on the back burner for longer but an opportunity arose when the DAA tendered for the retail space which is to be vacated by the departure of Hughes & Hughes at Shannon.

Dublin Airport wins Marketing Award

Dublin Airport yesterday received a runner up at the OAG Routes Airport Marketing Awards dinner which was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In the European category the joint winners were Athens and Brussels airports. Runners up were Manchester, Dublin, Charleroi and Istanbul Ataturk.

Voting for the OAG Routes Awards started in early September and was open for one month. During this period airlines nominated their preferred airports using criteria such as the airport's market research activities and marketing communications activities. The shortlisted airports then had to submit a case study to support their nominations to a panel of industry experts, who chose the winners. 

For the first time in 12 years the awards ceremony saw categories based on geographical regions rather than airport size. These categories were introduced to give all airports within each region the chance to be considered and win an award purely based on their marketing activities and their offer to airlines. 

Storm in a D Cup

Swedish politician Birgitta Ohlsson, a self confessed feminist has called for a boycott of Ryanair following the airline's refusal to apologise for ads which were deemed to be 'offensive to women in general' by the country's Trade Ethical Council against Sexism in Advertising, or ERK. 

Ohlsson called for the boycott after ERK criticised the ad campaign which features a scantily clad model dressed in a schoolgirl's uniform.

In response, Ryanair's Stephen McNamara said "This really is a storm in a D cup! We're sure that Boring Birgitta will be overrun by the flood of right minded, liberal people who support Ryanair's determination to defend the rights of girls and boys to get their kit off -- if they want to."

Ironically, Ohlsson is a member of Sweden's Liberal Party.

Once again, there ain't no such thing as bad publicity.

CAA provisional traffic figures for September

The UK CAA today released the provisional traffic figures for September.

On the DUB-LHR route passenger numbers show a 5% Month on Month (MoM) reduction but a 12.7% reduction over the same month last year. Year on Year (YoY) the route has lost 7% over 2007.

The loss of Heathrow passengers to Gatwick continues this month. The MoM reduction is a large 18% but YoY the route still shows 26% growth. DUB-STN showed a 3% YoY reduction for the month.

In Cork, Ryanair would appear to have halted the loss to Aer Lingus on the London routes. The CRK-STN and CRK-LGW routes show a similar YoY reduction at -2% and -5% respectively for the month but Aer Lingus which had shown a 16.5% YoY growth on the LHR route up to August have fallen back to 13% YoY growth. Passenger figures for September fell by 18% over August on the CRK-LHR route.

In Shannon, the LGW route shows a 67% YoY growth in numbers in absolute terms due to the second daily service. The SNN-STN route shows it''s first monthly decline in MoM numbers since April but still shows a healthy 17% YoY growth.

On the BEL-LHR route, Aer Lingus suffered a 17% drop in passenger numbers MoM over August, even though there was just one less calendar day  in the month. 

In September the number of passengers carried on the route fell back to 24,773 compared to a monthly average of just over 30,000 ( calculated over 5 years ) when the carrier operated on the SNN-LHR route.

Aer Lingus accumulated loss of passenger on the four LHR slots is now running at 66,487 since the switch in January. 

Lenihan announces tax on flights

In his first budget as Finance Minister, Brian Lenihan today announced a  new tax on air travel. From March 30 2009 a tax of €10 per person, per flight will be introduced.  'Shorter' flights, under 300 kms will be taxed at €2 per person per flight. 

The tax is payable by the relevant airport authority to Revenue which essentially means the airports have the responsibility of collecting the tax from the airlines.

The tax does not apply to passengers under two years of age or to aircraft with 20 or less passengers. There are certain other minor exclusions such as crew, flights to offshore islands or airports with less than 10,000 passengers per annum. The measure is designed to gather an additional €95m in revenue in 2009 and €150m in a full year.

A total of 15 routes from Dublin, including UK destinations in Liverpool, Glasgow, Blackpool, Manchester and Cardiff will be taxed at the lower level of €2 per person. 

By way of contrast, just three non Dublin routes from all the other airports in the state will be taxed at the lower rate - Cork to Newquay, Waterford to Galway and Donegal to Glasgow.

Prior to Lenihan's budget speech it had been widely speculated that a travel tax was to be introduced. Speaking on the lunchtime news on RTE Radio 1 today, Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary questioned why the tax was being applied to air travel only and not being levied on ferry travel.

On numerous occasions in the recent past, Ryanair has stated that Shannon is one of only two loss making hubs in it's operation. This latest tax which will apply to all Ryanair flights at the airport will now implement a tax that equals or exceeds the average fare on the LCC. 

Ryanair pull plug on Expedia

Ryanair today announced it's intention to terminate it's agreement with travel services company Expedia following the alleged failure of Expedia to honour the terms and conditions of the agreement. 

Ryanair had originally entered into the agreement with Travelscape LLC, the parent of Expedia in March 2007. The agreement gave Expedia exclusive rights to sell hotel space on the Ryanair.com website. The airline say that the agreement operated satisfactorily in the early stages but of late Expedia had been in breach of a number of it's payment obligations. Ryanair say that they will terminate the agreement on November 8 since Expedia have failed to remedy it's default or honour it's contractual obligations. Should Expedia remedy it's breach within 30 days Ryanair will give them a second chance. 

Preliminary report into crash of N399BH

The Air Accident Investigation Unit of the Department of Transport today issued a preliminary report in to the loss of Sikorsky S76 N399BH in Bettystown Co. Meath on September 18 2008.

The helicopter had originally landed and shut down on a near by beach to allow two passengers alight. Due to his concerns with the increasing number of sightseers that were gathering around the helicopter the pilot decided to reposition the helicopter to the car park of a nearby hotel. As the craft performed a vertical 'tower' descent the left rear of the main rotor disk struck the top of a 6m high lamppost. This was followed by a more substantial contact with the main steel pole which caused the helicopter to rotate clockwise and roll to the left.

The main rotor disintegrated on ground contact and the tail rotor hit a low wall. The aircraft was destroyed by the fire which broke out immediately after ground contact. No technical fault with the helicopter has been identified to date by the investigation which continues.

Court Protection extended for Futura Gael

Futura Gael were granted an extension to Court Protection yesterday when the Commercial Court was told that the airline had a reasonable chance for survival provided certain conditions were met.

The Revenue commissioners are currently owed €91,000 and have adopted a neutral stance on the application for examinership. Kevin Wallace of accountancy firm KPMG was appointed examiner and now has three months to put together a rescue plan and agree terms with the airline's creditors. The Commission for Aviation Regulation which has revoked Futura Gael's AOC was also represented in court.

Seventy employees were laid off when Futura Gael ceased operations on September 8 when it's Palma de Majorca based parent, Futura Group went out of business. 

Ryanair threatens to shut Valencia base

Ryanair today threatened to shut it's base in Valencia, Spain 'following the failure of Regional Government (Conselleria de Turisme) to reply to Ryanair’s proposal on how to ensure the continued growth of passengers at Valencia and their repeated failure to meet with Ryanair.'

The airline has set a deadline of this Friday, October for a response from the Government before making a decision.

Ryanair currently operates 22 routes in and out of Valencia which carry an estimated one and a half million passengers per annum.

Just what constitutes Ryanair's proposal to ensure continued growth has not been made public at this juncture.

Ireland West Airport announces CAT II ILS, job losses

Ireland West Airport has announced that it has awarded contracts totalling €3.6m for the installation of CAT II ILS on Runway 27 and a Runway End Safety Area (RESA) at the 09 end.

Construction and civil work has already commenced on the ILS works with electrical and equipment installation to commence at the end of October. The ILS installation is due for completion and commissioning in February 2009. When completed, the enhanced capability at Knock should see a big reduction in weather related diversions. The airport, at an elevation of 665 ft AMSL currently suffers from a disproportionate ( to it's total movements ) number of weather diversions. 

The RESA works will be completed by year end.

The current  developments which are being undertaken at the Airport are part of Ireland West Airport Knock’s Vision 2020; a €46 million capital investment programme which underpins the Airport’s goal of developing new short, medium and long haul international air routes and growing annual passenger numbers to over two million by 2020.

The news came in a week which also saw the management at Ireland West Airport announce that 14 workers at the airport would be made redundant as the winter operation requires less headcount than the summer 2008 staff level.

CityJet receive silver at ERA Awards

At the European Regions Airline Association (ERA), Ireland's CityJet received the silver award behind Aegean of Greece.

CityJet was commended by the judges for it's clear business strategy allowing it to continue it's bold and robust network extension at London City Airport, and still achieve continued solid financial performance and profit development. The CEO of CityJet Geoffrey O'Byrne White accepted the award in Manchester at the ERA dinner on Thursday last.

Government rules out Aer Lingus intervention

In yesterday's adjournment debate in the Dail, Fine Gael Spokesman on Foreign Affairs, Pat Breen, T.D. raised the Aer Lingus proposals on job outsourcing, especially in relation to the possible impact at Shannon airport. He also asked the Government to exercise their shareholders right to intervene to ensure that all avenues are explored to find alternatives.

In reply, on behalf of the Government, Barry Andrews TD said that 'commercial decisions of Aer Lingus were a matter for the board and management of the company and it is not open to the Government to intervene.'

It has been reported in recent weeks that Aer Lingus had been involved in negotiations with the Shannon Airport Authority with a view to securing reduced passenger handling charges for the winter period. 

On this matter, Deputy Andrews noted that ' ... in framing any proposals to support Aer Lingus transatlantic services, the airport authority must ensure that such assistance is provided on a commercial basis and is also made available to other airlines.' 

Presumably in this case the 'commercial basis' applies to the SAA and not Aer Lingus.

Docudrama on Air India Flight 182 to feature in Cork Film Festival

This Sunday, a docudrama on the downing of Air India flight 182, directed by Toronto based Sturla Gunnarsson will feature at the Cork Film Festival. 

The film was originally broadcast in June of this year on the CBC network in Canada to coincide with the 23rd anniversary of the tragedy. 329 people died when a bomb exploded on the aircraft off the southwest coast of Ireland. Both Cork and Shannon airports played key roles in the subsequent search and recovery missions.

 

Gunarsson, although born in Iceland, grew up in Vancouver. When the film was first broadcast he said he hoped that it would cause Canadians to do some real hard thinking about home grown terrorism.

The film, titled 'Air India Flight 182' is 96 minutes long and combines actual news footage, modern day interviews with relatives of the survivors and re-enactment with actors playing Sikh extremists. The film also gives extensive cover to Jack Hooper, the retired former deputy director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, which failed to warn authorities that a cell of militant Sikhs planned to blow up two aircraft.

The film is to be shown at 11.30am, Sunday morning in the Kino Cinema. Further details at www.corkfilmfestival.org

Spoiled for Choice !

If the Kiwi on Wednesday wasn't enough, today Thursday, Shannon received another new Herk in the shape of KC-130T serial 162308 of the US Marine Corps. The aircraft is msn 4972, tail code QH of VMGR-234 based at Naval Air Station Fort Worth Texas. USMC Herk visits to Shannon are rare compared to their ANG cousins so today's stop, even in rain was very welcome.

Another picture.

 

Maintenance departures

This week has seen two of the longer term maintenance residents depart Shannon.

Yesterday saw 5R-MFF B767-3S1 msn 25221 finally depart Shannon on delivery to TAM. 

The aircraft in full TAM colours departed in the Madagascar registration. 

The aircraft had been in Shannon since July 14 when it arrived from Filton.

Today saw N349FD B737-8GJ msn 34955 depart Shannon for Ankara. The aircraft registered to Wells Fargo Bank Northwest NA was incorrectly marked as N249FD for one week between September 22 and 29 after it emerged  from the Lufthansa paint hangar in an all white scheme. The aircraft was originally delivered to SpiceJet through Shannon as VT-SGA earlier this year. It arrived back in Shannon on September 3 in full SpiceJet colours on lessor return.

Pictured is N349FD taxiing for departure off Runway 24 this lunchtime.

Kiwi 111 fuel stops in Shannon

Shannon received an unusual military visitor today in the shape of a Royal New Zealand Air Force C-130H Hercules serial NZ7005. The aircraft, msn 4313 was delivered in December 1968 and is based with 40 sqn in Whenuapai.

Arriving from Germany, 'KIWI 111' did a quick turn around before embarking on the nine hour leg to Toronto.

Anyone looking back through today's Mode S logs on RadarBox  or SBS to see how they missed the aircraft will be disappointed - the hex code was '000000' !

The picture shows NZ7005 about to land on Runway 24

Link to another pic

Link to another pic

Council fiddle while Rome burns

In the week that Aer Lingus announced their intention to reduce their current headcount of almost 300 staff at Shannon airport to just 5, along with a small maintenance crew, the Town's Council have decided that it is time to drag up the hoary old chestnut of rendition. 

At last night's meeting of the Shannon Town Council a motion was unanimously passed calling for inspection of suspected rendition flights passing through the state.

Amnesty International welcomed the decision of the Council in declaring themselves 'rendition-free'.

Have any of the believers in rendition flights ever asked themselves what foreign government would risk the fallout of an aircraft with unmanifested passengers going 'tech' on Irish soil ? 

Perhaps STC would be better employed highlighting their efforts to secure the future of the airport rather than trying to undermine it.