Runway closure at Dublin

Dublin's Runway 28-10 will be closed on five consecutive nights next week from 23.00 to 05.00 to facilitate essential maintenance. During the closure period from Monday March 2 to Saturday March 7, the crosswind runway 34-16 will be in use. The Dublin Airport Authority have advised residents close to the alternative flight path of a possible increase in aircraft noise levels while the work is in progress.

Ryanair takes the p*ss

As long as Michael O'Leary stays at the helm at Ryanair the airline will never be off the front pages, and today was no exception. In an interview with the BBC, O'Leary speculated that Ryanair might start charging for the use of toilets on it's aircraft.

"One thing we have looked at in the past and are looking at again is the possibility of maybe putting a coin slot on the toilet door so that people might actually have to spend a pound ($1.43) to spend a penny in future," he told BBC television.

Whilst not exactly scotching the possibility, Stephen McNamara, the airline's spokesman certainly indicated that O'Leary is nothing if not opportunistic when a sound bite is required - 

"Michael makes a lot of this stuff up as he goes along and while this has been discussed internally there are no immediate plans to introduce it." 

Royal Jet's A6-RJZ on fuel stop

A welcome visitor to Shannon today was Royal Jet BBJ A6-RJZ which fuel stopped en route Moscow - Bangor. Pictured above, flight ROJ1 is seen on finals to R24 at lunchtime.

VT-EYA goes for storage in US

Former Indian Airlines A320-231 VT-EYA overnighted in Shannon last night on it's way to the US for storage. The aircraft is msn 376 and was ferried Amman - Bratislava - Shannon yesterday, departing  this morning for Keflavik. Unusually, the aircraft was in green primer and is pictured above lining up for a lunchtime departure off R24.

TNT capacity cut back ?

On Monday it was reported that UPS were ceasing to airlift freight from Cork airport going forward but it now looks as if TNT may also have cut capacity. The weekday Shannon - Cork - Liege service which until recently had been operated by TNT BA146 aircraft has been operated by Air Contractors ATR42 aircraft for the past week and a half. The flights operate the same route but are under Air Contractors AOC using flight number ABR 183W / 182A.

SR Technics were viable up to closure announcement

The group of unions representing workers at SR Technics maintain that more than half of the company's order books for the Dublin facility in 2009 were sold before the decision to close the facility was announced.

Addressing the Oireachtas Committee on Transport, William Quigley, the chairman of the SRT union forum maintained that some departments had sold 80% of their capacity for the year ahead. He also maintained that the company had made a decision some time ago to close the Dublin facility and moved profitable business from Ireland to Zurich, forcing Dublin to carry out loss making activities.

The union also maintain that the Dublin facility was given a directive that all individual contracts be profitable, an instruction which forced the Dublin operation to quote for work at prices which the market could not bear. Despite this the unions maintain that the company had work in the pipeline which would cause the company to perform at break even or slightly better.

Government removes travel tax for Sligo and Donegal

The Department of Finance yesterday announced that Sligo and Donegal airports would be exempt from the travel tax which is to be implemented as part of the 2009 Budget. The Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan said that he had requested the Revenue commissioners to bring forward an amendment to the proposed legislation which exempts travel from airports where passenger numbers are less than 50,000 per annum.

Ryanair welcomed the removal of the tax "for small peripheral airports" but urged the government to scrap the tax as tourism and traffic numbers will be affected at airports where it is to be implemented.

Ryanair's Stephen McNamara said  “The tragedy here is that the Government is only scrapping the tourist tax from peripheral airports such as Donegal and Sligo while ignoring airports such as Dublin, which lost more passengers in January than Donegal and Sligo carry in a year, and Shannon”. 

9G-AED in cattle airlift

In a third and final airlift, 70 pregnant dairy cows will be airlifted from Shannon to Kosovo tonight. The airlift has been organised by Irish charity Bothar, which means 'road' and brings to 210 the number of cattle which will have been airlifted to the Balkan country.

During the conflict in Kosovo 50% of the cattle in the country were killed. The animals for tonight's airlift were assembled in Roscrea Co. Tipperary and were donated by individuals, famers and schools from around the country. The animals will be donated to families who have spent several months in training for their new roles and who have undertaken to donate the offspring to other needy families.

Air Charter Express of Ghana are performing the airlift using Dc8-62AF registered 9G-AED named 'Team Spirit' pictured above landing on R24 yesterday afternoon.

SX-BTN becomes VQ-BCS

Former Aeagean Airlines Boeing 737-43Q, msn 28494 registered SX-BTN has been painted in the colours of Russian operator Aeroflot Don at Shannon Aerospace. The aircraft made an appearance in the new registration of VQ-BCS yesterday before being moved back indoors.

N963DE arrives at Air Atlanta

Interesting maintenance visitor to Air Atlanta today was Airbus A321-214 N963DE registered to Wells Fargo Bank. The aircraft which is msn 963 arrived in full Inter Airlines colours. N963DE is ex TC-IEH and carried incorrect hex code AD679A instead of correct code AD679B. Pictured above, N963DE taxis onto the Air Atlanta ramp.

Lufthansa lose action against Ryanair

Lufthansa today lost a court case in the higher Regional Court of Koblenz against Ryanair. Lufthansa had contended that Ryanair were receiving subsidies from Frankfurt Hahn airport. Today's decision allows the German airline to appeal the case to country's highest civil court. The court ruled that Lufthansa cannot contest subsidies given to competitors unless the EU investigates and finds that the practice has violated European state aid laws and the government doesn't seek the return of the money. In May of last year the Higher Regional Court of Schleswig-Holstein dismissed a similar case brought by Air Berlin in relation to Luebeck airport.

Civilian Passport control at Dublin a possibility

The Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern told the Dail (Parliament) today that civilians may be used to man passport control at Dublin Airport. The service is presently operated by Gardai from the National Immigration Bureau who have been operating an apparent go slow since early January in a protest over the withdrawal of meal allowances. At present, a total of 142 officers are required to provide the service at Dublin Airport. Since January, delays of up to 2 hours have been experienced  by passengers arriving at the airport. The Minister said that he was looking at all options and that the resource of 142 Gardai could be better deployed elsewhere, a move that could be facilitated by the use of civilians under Gardai supervision.

Regulator backs it's own decision

The Commission for Aviation Regulation (CAR) has decided to back it's own decision to maintain the cap on passenger fees at Dublin Airport.  In September 2008 the Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey established an Aviation Appeals Panel to deal with complaints relating to the CAR's interim cap on airport fees at Dublin Airport from July 2007.

The Appeals Panel heard submissions from Ryanair, Aer Lingus, the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) and the Dublin Airport Consultation Committee, publishing 4 non binding decisions, one on each submission,  just before Christmas.

This week the Regulator published it's report into the Appeals Panel decision and has decided to affirm it's own decision on the cap on passenger fees at Dublin Airport. The cap covers the period 2006 to 2009 and allows the fee to rise at an annual rate of inflation +4%. For 2009 the cap is set at €7.39 per passenger. Ryanair had contended that the charges were excessive and were required by the DAA to recoup an excessive capital expenditure program on the construction of Terminal 2.

The CAR in it's report refutes the areas of concern outlined by the Appeals Panel including the observations relating to the determination of capacity at Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. It also says that it cannot agree with Ryanair's contention that the capacity of T1 is 26m passengers per annum.

The Regulator has invited the DAA and airlines to talks in mid March to discuss how the €1.8b expenditure will be handled in advance of the Commission's next determination on charges which will come into effect next year.  

Stormont assembly votes in favour of inquiry

The Northern Ireland Assembly voted last night in favour of a full public inquiry into the proposed extension to the runway at Belfast City Airport. It remains to be seen if this is indeed a real or symbolic victory for those opposed to the extension, reason being that the DUP tabled an amendment to the original proposal. Under the amendment, Northern Ireland's Environment Minister Sammy Wilson is still free to make up his own mind if an inquiry is actually desirable or needed.

Gary McGann steps down as DAA chairman

Gary McGann today announced that he was stepping down as Chairman of the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) to concentrate on his principal role as Chief Executive if Smurfitt Kapa.

In a statement, Mr. McGann said that his decision had been influenced by his former non executive directorship of Anglo Irish Bank which is currently the subject of an investigation by the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement. He said "At all times I have acted with integrity and honesty in this role, but given recent commentary about events at the bank my decision today is made in the best interest of the DAA and of Smurfitt Kappa Group."

In a statement issued by the DAA, the company thanked Mr McGann for "his vision, his expertise and the exceptional personal commitment.."

Earlier today Ryanair had called on Mr McGann to step down from his role as Chairman of the DAA in the interest "of corporate governance and semi state monopolies".

Ryanair and the "idiot bloggers"

A Dublin based web designer started an online war of words with a Ryanair staffer when he thought that he had discovered a glitch in the Ryanair booking process. Six hours after posting his "discovery", the error of which was pointed out in comments from readers, a reader named "Ryanair Staff" launched a vitriolic attack on the designer stating "You're an idiot and a liar ... fact is you are so stupid you don't even know how you did it.". The row escalated throughout the day.

When contacted by the Times newspaper Ryanair confirmed that the war of words had involved a staff member, but in typical bullish Ryanair fashion the airline refused an apology, stating that

"Ryanair can confirm that a Ryanair staff member did engage in a blog discussion. It is Ryanair policy not to waste time and energy in corresponding with idiot bloggers and Ryanair can confirm that it won't be happening again. Lunatic bloggers can have the blog sphere all to themselves as our people are far too busy driving down the cost of air travel."

Ryanair Hahn network hits 50

Ryanair's Hahn base has hit the 50 routes milestone today with the announcement of 4 new summer services. The new routes are Rimini in Itlay, Alicante, Carcassonne in France and Osijek in Croatia. The moves follows the airline's promise to extend the level of services from Hahn if Fraport the airport's operator dropped a €3 per passenger fee which was to be implemented to bring the airport back to profitability.

First Minister steps in on airport plan

Northern Ireland's first Minister Peter Robinson has intervened in the motion by the Green Party to request a public inquiry into the runway extension at Belfast City Airport. Mr. Robinson said that the motion, if passed would have placed the North's Environment Minister Sammy Wilson in an "impossible situation", caught between his own planning law and the assembly's decision. 

Mr. Robinson said that the DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) had tabled an amendment to the motion which was tabled by the Alliance and Green Parties. Stephen Farry of the Alliance party said "You have to ask yourself why is only one airline, namely Ryanair, at the airport, pushing for this? Why is BMI at best neutral, and why is FlyBee the main user at the airport, actually opposed, and lobbying against the runway extension."

Katie Best the business development director at the airport said that the decision to request a runway extension was based on a "very strong business case", adding that "This extension is not a demand from Ryanair".

If approved the extension will see the runway extended by 590m into Belfast Lough. The airport claim that the extension will create 100 jobs and generate £120m in tourist revenue.

Aer Lingus share price hits a new low

Shares in Aer Lingus closed Monday at a new low of €0.84, a figure which values the airline at less than 60% of it's net cash pile of €767m. The airline now has a market valuation of €450m which is substantially lower than the value of the recently spurned Ryanair offer of €748m.

One of the possible reasons for the recent drop is that the market has priced in substantial losses over the next 18 to 24 months, in anticipation of the year end accounts providing for the cost of the recently agreed restructuring plan. Another possible reason is the departure of speculative shareholders who had been hanging in for the past two to three years in anticipation of a Ryanair takeover of Aer Lingus. Ryanair's statement that a third attempt at takeover is not likely may well have forced the speculators to depart the scene. Monday's share price has seen 60% wiped off the IPO share value from 2006.

EI-CRK departs Aer Lingus fleet, EI-CSO departs Ryanair

Airbus A330-301 EI-CRK departed Dublin on Saturday for Filton as EIN 994 where it will be painted for it's next life with Vladivostok Avia. The aircraft is msn 70 and was delivered to Aer Lingus in November 1994. 

On Thursday last Ryanair's EI-CSO was ferried Prestwick - Lasham as RYR 001P where it will be prepared for it's next life with Garuda Indonesia. Compared to EI-CRK it is a relative youngster, having been delivered to Ryanair in January 2001.

UPS withdraw from Cork

UPS have confirmed that from Friday all export freight from the Cork area will be flown out of the company's existing bases at Shannon and Dublin. All other operations at Cork will continue as normal. The company is not planning redundancies in Cork at this time.

CityJet to base RJ85 at Shannon

Air France subsidiary CityJet are to base an RJ85 aircraft at Shannon from May and change the timing of the morning departure to 6.30am with a Paris arrival at 9.30am local. Since the service was introduced last spring the airline have operated the route with Embraer 145 aircraft leased from Regional Airlines. The original intention had been to operate the route with RJ85 aircraft but a shortage of frames led to the implementation date being pushed out. A similar frame shortage led CityJet to pull off the Dublin -Knock PSO (Public Service Obligation) route which it tendered for last summer.

During the summer of 2008, CityJet briefly operated RJ85 aircraft on a third daily Shannon - Paris service at the weekends.

The basing of the CityJet aircraft at Shannon will be welcomed, especially by business travellers who had complained that the near-lunchtime arrival in Paris of the current morning service limits the range of onward connections which are possible from the French capital.

Announcing the change to the schedule, CityJet's CE Geoffry O'Byrne White said the airline would rely on the "continued support of businesses and leisure passengers in the Mid West and in the current tough economic environment, that support will be vital if the route is to continue."

The move comes weeks before Aer Lingus recommence operations on the Shannon - Heathrow route.

Public Inquiry urged for Belfast City Runway extension

The Green Party in Northern Ireland are urging MLA's (Member of the Legislative Assembly) to vote in favour of a public inquiry into the proposed runway extension at Belfast City Airport. When the matter comes up for discussion tomorrow it will be the first time that a planning issue will have been debated at the Assembly. Local residents groups in East Belfast are opposed to the extension. Meanwhile, Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary, speaking on the BBC NI program 'Spotlight' two weeks ago, said that he was "fairly satisfied" that the Northern Ireland Planning Office would approve the extension. Extending the runway at Belfast City is crucial to Ryanair's ambitions in Northern Ireland as MTOW at the airport is currently limited by the runway length.

Ryanair introduce 3rd party advertising

Ryanair has introduced third party advertising on it's website for the first time. Advertising sales house Ad2One have been appointed to sell standard advertising such as banners and skyscrapers for mobile and FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) brands.

The move comes as part of the in house redesign of the airline's website which gives a cleaner feel than the previous edition. Ad2One also represent Lonely Planet, Expedia and eBay.

Michael Cawley, Deputy CEO and COO at the airline says that the revenue from selling advertising space will be used to defray the cost associated with web hosting.

EI-EBF delivered to Ryanair

Ryanair took delivery of B737-8AS EI-EBF yesterday. The aircraft arrived in Dublin just after 1pm as RYR 800F. The msn is 37524 and hex code is 4CA703.

EI-EBK delivered to Ryanair

Ryanair received B737-8AS EI-EBK at Dublin today, using flight number RYR 800K for the delivery flight. The aircraft, msn 37528 is hex code 4CA707 and arrived in Dublin around 2pm.

Ryanair to remove airport check in.

Ryanair intend to remove airport check in desks and staff by year end. Instead, the airline intends to switch to self check in terminals and a bag drop.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, CEO Michael O'Leary said that ultimately the airline wants just one in five passengers checking in baggage. At present it is estimated that one in four passengers check in hold baggage. Mr. O'Leary also confirmed that the saving would be passed on to passengers in the form of lower fares once it is possible to check in bags online.

AAIU report in crash of EI-IHL

The Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) of the Department of Transport has published it's final report into the crash of AS350B1 EI-IHL at Ballynacally Co. Clare on July 12 2007.

On the day of the crash the helicopter was conducting a gas line inspection flight under contract to Bord Gais. The inspection flight had begun at Gormanstown in Co. Meath with the intention of ending at Foynes on the Shannon estuary. In the vicinity of Lisheen on the Clare side of the River Shannon the helicopter descended and entered a 360 turn in order to allow closer inspection of work on the surface. It was during this manoeuvre that the engine stopped suddenly and without warning. The pilot lowered the collective in attempt to enter autorotation but the helicopter impacted heavily on farm land. The cockpit was effectively destroyed in the impact. The observer was pronounced dead at the scene and the pilot was airlifted to hospital in Galway by the Coast Guard helicopter.

The subsequent investigation determined that the sudden stopping of the engine was caused by the disintegration from fatigue of a 41 tooth bevel gear in the engine accessory gear box. The gear box provides drive to the Fuel Control Unit. Loss of drive caused fuel flow to cease with the engine stopping within seconds. The investigation found that in addition, the altitude of the helicopter at the time of the accident was too low to safely establish an autorotation manoeuvre.

Ryanair launch Onair phone service

From today passengers on 20 of Ryanair's mostly Dublin based aircraft will be able to make on board data and voice calls. The service provided by Swiss based Onair (an Airbus / Sitel joint venture) will cost between €2 and €3 per minute for voice calls, €0.50 for SMS messages and €1 to €2 per email. The tariffs are set by each mobile service provider. The service will initially be available to O2 and Vodafone customers.

Over the next 18 months the service will be rolled out across the 170 strong Ryanair fleet. The service operates by creating a mini cellular network aboard each aircraft which allows a maximum of 6 concurrent calls to take place. Mobile devices will still have to be switched off for takeoff and landing. Ryanair have not disclosed how much of the roaming income they will earn but it is thought to be a small percentage of the total.

It is unlikely that we will see 'Roaming' and 'Non Roaming' seats on Ryanair soon. CEO Michael O'Leary says that the airline's flights are noisy anyway with flight attendants selling scratch cards, sandwiches and cigarettes. "We've no interest in quiet zones. It will make a break from in flight announcements on a Ryanair aircraft", he told journalists.

BMI cut back on Dublin - Heathrow as losses worsen

In the face of increasing pressure from Lufthansa who are about to complete the deal for 80% ownership, BMI are cutting back on some routes and reducing capacity.

Among the routes which will see a reduction in service is the Heathrow - Dublin route which will drop from 7 to 6 per day. The airline suffered it's biggest ever loss in 2008 and recently rolled back a decision to award a pay increase to staff for 2009. The cut backs will see 4 Airbus A320 taken out of service. Two will be wet leased to Lufthansa Italia for use on the newly launched Milan Malpensa - Heathrow route while the other two will be used for charter operations.

Ryanair to cut back on Liverpool base

Ryanair announced yesterday that it was imposing 50 layoffs at Liverpool airport and cutting 10 seasonal summer routes due to rising tourist taxes and the weakening of sterling. The cut backs will see one of it's seven based aircraft withdrawn and passenger numbers fall back by 8% to 2.5m this year.

UK CAA traffic figures for January 2009

The UK CAA today published the provisional traffic figures for January 2009. Luton airport is not included in the figures.

On the Dublin - London routes, excluding LTN, a total of 256,444 passengers flew on the LHR, LGW and STN routes. This represents a 7.7% (21,689) drop YoY over January 2008.  Stansted figures fell by 6.8%, Heathrow by 14.5% while Gatwick grew by 4.8%.

On the Cork - London routes, a total of 60,160 passengers flew on the LHR, LGW and STN routes. This represents a 6.5% (4,175) drop YoY over January 2008. Stansted figures fell by 5.8%, Heathrow by 9.9% while Gatwick grew by 6.4%.

On the Shannon - London routes, excluding LTN, a total of 39,004 passengers flew on the Gatwick and Stansted routes. This represents a 24.9% (7,752) YoY increase over January 2008, although both routes have increased frequency over last year.

On the Belfast International - Heathrow route, Aer Lingus carried a total of 15,938 passengers which represents a 49% load factor. 

SR Technics workers to meet Minister Coughlan

Workers at SR Technics are to meet the Tanaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) and Minister for Enterprise Mary Coughlan on Thursday of this week in attempt to save the MRO facility at Dublin Airport. SRT announced last Thursday that it was shutting it's Dublin operation with the loss of 1,135 jobs.

Ryanair confirm discussions on 'Next Big Order'

In the typical Ryanair fashion of conducting business in public there has been speculation in recent weeks that the airline is talking to both Airbus and Boeing about the next big order.

Today in Rome, CEO Michael O'Leary confirmed that the airline is looking to order 200 aircraft with a total price tag of as much as $7bn with deliveries commencing 2013. With a price tag of $70m each, O'Leary confirmed that he expects to get up to 50% discount. "The sticker price is $70m, but we would never dream of paying anything like that", he told reporters adding that the airline is NOT in advanced talks with either manufacturer. Instead, Ryanair is happy to wait until the "order book collapses" in Toulouse or Seattle in order to get the price he wants.

Aer Lingus take delivery of EI-EDP

Following last Friday's delivery, Aer Lingus today received A320-214 EI-EDP. The aircraft is msn 3781 and was delivered Toulouse - Shannon, using the registration as callsign, arriving at 12.23. As with EI-EDS, the aircraft was originally ordered by Comoro Island Airways and is D6-CAU ntu. Hex code for EI-EDP is 4CA76F 

I-EEZN rolls out of Shannon Aerospace

This morning, Eurofly Airbus A320 I-EEZN was rolled out of the Shannon Aerospace hangars, in full colours. To be confirmed, it would appear that the aircraft is a reincarnation of A320-232 msn 1715, G-TTOC of easyJet which arrived at Shannon Aerospace on January 31 last.

Ryanair EI-DYS in emergency landing

This afternoon's Ryanair flight RYR 1Q from Birmingham to Shannon made an emergency landing at Shannon as the aircraft has a suspected burst nosewheel tyre. The aircraft initially made a low pass down the runway to enable a Ryanair engineer positioned on the threshold view the condition of the landing gear. At 16.35 the aircraft made a safe landing with the airport fire and rescue service in attendance. After touching the main gear, the aircraft 'wheelied' down the runway for a considerable distance to kill speed before touching the nose gear. After inspection by the fire crew the aircraft was allowed taxi onto stand. The aircraft re-entered service later this evening, preforming the Shannon - Prestwick - Shannon RYR 732J/733J rotation. Pictured above EI-DYS turns onto Taxiway Alpha on R24 pursued by the Airport Fire Service tenders.

I-ADJL delivered to Air Dolimiti

Air Dolimiti Embraer 195AR I-ADJL was delivered through Shannon this morning. The aircraft, using flight number DLA 9502 followed the same routing as sister ship I-ADJK which passed through the airport two weeks ago. Routing Sao Jose Dos Campos - Recife - Sal - Gran Canaria - Shannon - Villafrance, I-ADJL is pictured above on finals to R24. The hex code for I-ADJK, msn 190.00256 is 300394.

C17 01-0188 diverts to Shannon

USAF Boeing C-17 Globemaster serial 01-0188 operating with RCH 1188 on his transponder diverted into Shannon this morning. The aircraft landed at 09.54 and positioned to Taxiway 11 where it was pictured above.

DAA pay increases on hold

The 2,700 staff employed by the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) at the three state airports of Dublin, Cork and Shannon have been told that the 3.5% pay increase due to them under the national pay agreement negotiated between the government and social partners is on hold until such a time that the company delivers €25m per annum cost savings.

Of the three airports, Cork would appear to be the least affected by recent events. Shannon has to contend with the reduction in Ryanair's presence at the airport while Dublin has to deal with falling passenger numbers, Ryanair's recently announced cut backs and the forthcoming loss in rental revenue from the SR Technics hangars.

Ryanair deliveries continue with EI-EBH and EI-EBI

Ryanair deliveries have continued with two more examples today. EI-EBH, msn 37526, hex code 4CA705 and EI-EBI msn 37527, hex code 4CA706 arrived in Dublin after 1pm.

Air Albatros take delivery of I-DAWS

Croatian air taxi operator Air Albatros have taken delivery of ex Alitalia MD 82 I-DAWS. The aircraft arrived in Shannon on October 22 last in the midst of the death throes of Alitalia. Since then it has been parked in open storage. On Wednesday the aircraft emerged from the Shannon Aerospace hangars in basic Alitalia colours with Air-Albatros titles and the Italian registration intact. The aircraft was ferried from Shannon to Rijeka in Croatia using Westair's AOC and radio callsign "Emerald 10". Pictured above in the copyright picture by Malcolm Nason, I-DAWS lines up for departure off R24.

Lufthansa Italia take delivery of D-AKNH

Lufthansa Italia took delivery of A319-112 D-AKNH on Wednesday February 11. The aircraft had arrived in Shannon on December 16 last year in Germanwings colours. Prior to handover to the new Italian subsidiary, the aircraft was painted in the Lufthansa Italia colours and received a check at Shannon Aerospace.

Pictured above in the copyright picture by Malcolm Nason, D-AKNH, named 'Bologna' prepares for departure from Shannon to Hamburg prior to it's positioning to Milan. 

Ryanair receive EI-EBE and EI-EBG

Ryanair today took delivery of their latest 737-8AS. The aircraft concerned are EI-EBE, msn 37523, hex code 4CA702 and EI-EBG, msn 37525, hex code 4CA704.

Tramore to host air show ?

Tramore in Co. Waterford could host an airshow on Sunday August 30 if proposals presented to the town's council are accepted. Michael Nolan, an air traffic controller and Dave Scully promoter of the event made a presentation to Tramore Town Council last week.  Work is already under way to raise the estimated €85,000 needed to fund the event. A licence from the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) and a public events licence from Waterford Co. Council would also be required to stage the seafront spectacular. It is envisaged that the 3 hour show would be viewed by a 50,000 strong crowd on the Sunday with smaller numbers visiting on the Saturday to view the practice sessions.

The town's Council have indicated that they will do all in their power to help secure the necessary permits.

Thanks to Donal Leahy. 

FBI fugitive spent the day in Shannon

In an incident reminiscent of a Hollywood movie, the Irish Independent reports that an FBI fugitive wanted for a $100m California mortgage scam spent a day in Shannon last week with an exstimated 160kg of gold bars worth €4m.

Christopher Warren (26) had rented an aircraft at a cost of $156,000 for the flight from Las Vegas to Shannon after he posted a confession on the internet. The aircraft arrived in Shannon on February 3 to refuel and allow the crew rest whilst it was en route to Jounieh in Lebanon.

US authorities were initially unaware that he had left the country but by the time the aircraft reached Lebanon the search had commenced. Lebanese police searched his hotel room but Warren had fled by this stage.

The chase ended earlier this week when Warren was arrested attempting to re-enter the United States by taxi from Canada. When he was arrested he had $70,000 in $100 bills pushed down his cowboy boots as well as $1m in Swiss bank certificates and nearly $6,000 in platinum in his possession.

AAIU report into G-VELD

The Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) of the Department of Transport has published a preliminary incident report into the diversion of flight VIR 039 to Shannon on January 11. The flight, operated by A340-600 G-VELD was 140 miles west of Galway when the crew noted a small fire in the bottom of the waste bin storage compartment of the bar unit in the First class section. The crew noted that a damaged electrical cable appeared to be arcing in the hole.

The crew turned off the commercial and galley power circuits but the arcing and flames persisted. The Captain declared an emergency and the aircraft diverted to Shannon landing just before 1 pm. During the diversion the crew used five 1kg BCF fire extinguishers which subdued the flames but the arcing continued. After each application the fire restarted after approximately five minutes. After the aircraft landed the Shannon Airport Fire Service discharged a 5kg BCF fire extinguisher into the fire but the glow at the bottom of the hole persisted. Following consultation between the Fire Crew Watch Leader and the crew the aircraft was depowered at which stage no further arcing was observed. 

Subsequent investigation found that the wiring loom which carries power to 'mood lighting' around the bar counter top had been severed. The bar unit installation was specific to Virgin Atlantic and had been fitted three years ago. Installation drawings showed that two rails should been fitted to prevent the bottom of the bin touching the wiring loom which should also have had a protective cover fitted. No evidence was found which would support the theory that the rails and cover had ever been fitted. A fleet inspection of Virgin's A340-300 and A340-600 aircraft found that a number of aircraft had issues relating to the rails and loom cover and in one instance damage to the loom was discovered.

While the cause of the incident has been determined significant other issues relating to crew checklists, the difficulty in isolating the damaged circuit and the design and standard of the modification continue to be investigated. The final report will be issued in due course.

One aspect of the incident after the aircraft arrived at Shannon on January 11 were numerous conflicting reports in the media as to whether there had in fact been a fire on board the aircraft. 

XA-MAV fuels stops at Shannon

An unusual fuel-stopper at Shannon this morning was Aviacion Ejecutive Mexicana's Falcon 2000 registered XA-MAV. The aircraft is msn 149 and is pictured above on finals for R24.

N644UA - United 937 in medical diversion

Today's United Airlines flight UAL 937 (Zurich to Washington) operated by B767-322ER N644UA diverted into Shannon at lunchtime on a medical emergency. The flight arrived on R06 at 13:50. The aircraft departed again at approximately 15:30. Pictured above N644UA taxis up D2 on arrival.

Aer Lingus take delivery of EI-EDS

Aer Lingus today took delivery of the airline's latest A320. The aircraft EI-EDS was delivered Toulouse - Shannon using the registration as call sign. An Airbus A320-214 msn 3755, the aircraft was originally ordered by Comoro Island Airways and was to be registered D6-CAT.

The aircraft arrived in Shannon at 14:00 in an all white and will be prepped and painted before entering service at the new Aer Lingus Gatwick base. The hex code for EI-EDS is 4CA770.

Pictured above, EI-EDS taxis up D2 to the Aer Lingus hangar. 

AAIB report into incident with EI-BYO

The UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch has published a bulletin relating to an incident with Aer Arann ATR 42-300 EI-BYO which occurred on October 7 2008. The aircraft was en route Dublin - Isle of Man on ascheduled service with 17 pax and 3 crew when a smoke alarm in the rear lavatory was activated. The flight crew notified the flight attendant at the rear of the aircraft who, on investigation found smoke in the lavatory. The FA discharged a BCF fire extinguisher into the lavatory and closed the door. Two minutes later the smoke was found to have dissipated. The crew notified Ronaldsway ATC of the fire alert and requested priority landing. ATC declared a full emergency and provided vectors for runway 26 where a normal landing was made. Investigation be maintenance personnel found that the cover on the illuminated "Return to Seat" sign had overheated and the bulb filament had failed. Subsequent tests found that the correct bulb type had been fitted.

The offending light unit was subsequently returned to the manufacturer but to date no cause of the failure has been identified.

 

Ryanair launch Belfast City - Bristol

Ryanair has announced a new route from George Best Belfast City Airport to Bristol. The daily service commences March 30.

Aer Lingus step up UK presence

Aer Lingus have begun stepping up the airline's profile in the UK prior to commencing operations form the new Gatwick base.

In a 6 month deal worth £800,000 the airline is sponsoring the 95.8 Capital FM Breakfast show with Johnny Vaughan and Lisa Snowdon. The multi media sponsorship commencing March will involve podcast sponsorship and on line and on air competitions.

Capital FM is part of the Global Radio Group and has 981,000 weekly listeners.

Last week the airline hired Golley Slater as it's first UK PR agency. 

1,200 jobs lost as SR Technics shuts Dublin facility

Zurich based MRO provider SR Technics announced today that it was shutting it's Dublin operation with the loss of 1,135 jobs and entering into discussions with the unions representing the workers at the facility. A further 200 employees are employed in line maintenance, work which the company intends to transfer to another operator.

Citing the loss of major contracts at Dublin (notably Aer Lingus and Gulf Air), the current business forecast and the high cost base of the Dublin operation, the company said that it was not possible to fill the capacity gap with medium term sustainable business.

Bernd Kessler, CEO SR Technics, said: “We are announcing this deeply regrettable and difficult step only after an exhaustive evaluation of all strategic options for our Group wide operations. We are fully aware of the difficult economic and labour market situation in Ireland and the personal implications of a closure for our staff in Dublin. My management team will be working closely with the relevant unions over the coming weeks and we will ensure that our Dublin employees are fully informed and supported as this process develops. We will do all we can to minimise the impact of this announcement on the workforce.”

The announcement came one day after last minute talks between senior management at the company and the government including Tanaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) Mary Coughlan who is also Enterprise Minister. Among the options which were explored was the sale of the company to a third party.

Ryanair to lay off 200 at Dublin

Ryanair today announced 200 job losses among flight crew and engineers at it's Dublin base. Blaming the introduction of the €10 flat rate tourist tax and the Dublin Airport Authority's airport charges, the airline said that the cutbacks represent the first ever reduction in it's summer schedule at Dublin.

The full extent of the measures are :

• A reduction in based aircraft from 22 to 18
• A reduction in the number of weekly rotations from over 700 to under 600
• Passengers carried reduced from 10.8m to 8.7m
• The loss of 200 jobs in aircrew and ground staff

The airline also add that there will be further cuts in Dublin's winter schedule to be announced later.

Referring to the travel tax, Ryanair's CEO Michael O'Leary said that “This travel tax has already failed in the UK and Dutch markets, where they caused traffic declines and sadly the Irish Government’s tourist tax is doomed to a similar failure. This Government must realise you can only promote tourism by welcoming visitors, not taxing them".

As with the recently announced scaling back of operations at Shannon, Ryanair have said that they will immediately reverse both the Dublin and Shannon decisions should the Irish government reverse it's decision on the travel tax.

ATR 72-500 receives LCY certification

The ATR 72-500 has received certification to operate from London City airport which clears the way for Aer Arann to commence operating on the Isle of Man - London City route.

The certification program was completed with the participation of Aer Arann, London City Airport, ATR and the UK CAA.

Aer Arann will now base an ATR 72 aircraft on the Isle of Man to operate the route which operates 3 times per day, weekdays. Saturday will have one return flight while Sunday will get two, the wekend flights aimied at the leisure market.

Global Aircraft Services and Sigmar Aviation announce new partnership

Seattle based Global Aircraft Services and Dublin based Sigmar Aviation have announced a new strategic partnership to service the world's airlines and aircraft leasing companies.

Global Aircraft are a Seattle based company founded in 2000 who specialize in ferrying commercial jet aircraft for their worldwide customer base of MRO Organisations, airlines and leasing companies.

Sigmar Aviation are a Dublin based subsidiary of Bristol Aviation Group who also specialise in the ferrying of transport aircraft.

Under the terms of the agreement, Global will have access to Sigmar's European based personnel and crews and Sigmar will have access to Global's US based crews.

Sigmar Aviation have been appointed as the "dedicated pilot provisioning partner" for VLJ operator JetBird who are due to commence European operations this spring.

Aer Lingus / easyJet fire first shots

Last week easyJet fired the first shots in the Battle for Gatwick when it announced three new Gatwick routes in direct competition with Aer Lingus. The routes are to Munich, Zurich and Vienna. 

Today, Aer Lingus retaliated by announcing that it was offering £9.99 one way, all in fares to Munich, Zurich, Vienna, Knock and Nice for travel between April 6 and July 15. Aer Lingus Corporate Affairs Director Enda Corneille said that the airline was "prepared to put our money where our mouth is when it comes to securing our low cost position at the airport".

Michael O'Leary rejects call for runway enquiry

Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary has rejected for a call for a public enquiry into the proposed runway extension at Belfast City Airport. Speaking on the BBC Northern Ireland program 'Spotlight' broadcast Tuesday night, O'Leary said that he feels the extension will be granted even though there is growing opposition to the proposal. Over 1,700 objections have been lodged since the planning application was submitted in November 2008.

When Michale O'Leary visited the airport late last year he promised that Ryanair would begin international services from Belfast City if the runway extension was approved. In order for Ryanair's operation to reach critical mass at the airport the airline has to be able to increase it's load factor, something it presently cannot do with the current field restrictions,.

Unsurprisingly the largest operator at Belfast City, FlyBee do not see the need for a runway extension.

Taoiseach rejects Green Party proposal

The Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Brian Cowen has rejected calls by the Green Party that the Ministerial Air Transport Service (MATS) aircraft be got rid of in the interests of green house emissions and cost. The Greens are a coalition partner in the Irish Government with two Ministerial positions being held by the party. The Minister for the Environment, John Gormley and Energy Minister Eamon Ryan both refuse to avail of official air transport, insisting on using Ryanair instead.

When asked about getting rid of the MATS aircraft, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said that in the "context of a Government doing it's business in the modern age there is need for such facilities".

Ryanair to cut 11 Polish routes

Ryanair confirmed today that it would be cutting eleven routes from the UK to Poland next month. The move is in response to an "unacceptable increase in navigation charges" in Poland which have increased almost 1000 fold in some cases.

Since Poland joined the EU in 2004, passenger numbers at the countries top 6 airports has almost trebled to 20 million passengers last year. However over the past year almost 20% of the UK and Ireland capacity has been removed from the Polish market due to softening demand. Recent months have seen demand fall even further with Sterling weakening against the zloty.

The routes to be cut are Bristol to Gdansk, Katowice and Szczecin, Liverpool to Lodz, Gdansk and Szczecin, East Midlands to Lodz and Poznan, Birmingham and Luton to Szczecin and Bournemouth to Wraclow.

Ryanair putting it up to to SAS

Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary has confirmed that the airline is in negotiations with Copenhagen Airports with a view to commencing service from the Danish capital this summer.

Copenhagen Airport is building a new low cost terminal called CPH Swift which is due to open this summer. If the airport can guarantee a twenty five minute turnaround, among other guarantees then Ryanair are believed to be ready to make the move. "We will easily carry up to ten million passengers annually within two to three years, because we're the airline that is getting 50 new aircraft delivered per year for the next four years". said O'Leary in an interview with Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten.

End of PSO in sight ?

The PSO (Public Service Obligation) subsidy for air transport could have it's days numbered. Transport Minister Noel Dempsey yesterday published "Smarter travel - A new Tranport Policy for Ireland 2009 -2020".

Under the heading of Aviation, Action item 27 states "We will review the public service obligation (PSO) subsidies for regional air services which are due for renewal in 2011 having regard to progress being made on expanding bus and rail services so as to ensure that the most sustainable travel option receives priority support." 

The PSO is an EU iniative ( not restricted to air travel ) to ensure connectivity of sparsley populated / remote areas throughout Europe.

The abolition of the PSO for air transport would have a serious impact on the airports in the west of Ireland as well as on the fortunes of Aer Arann which has seen it's growth cushioned to a certain extent by the PSO.

The full report can be found at : Report

Ryanair take delivery of EI-EBC and EI-EBD

Ryanair took delivery of their latest B737-8AS aircraft today. Once again the weather had a hand to play in the delivery flights. Flight RYR 800C operated by EI-EBC (msn 37520, hex 4CA700) made it into Dublin after 13.00. The second aircraft EI-EBD (msn 35722, hex 4CA701) operating as RYR 800D diverted to Shannon, no doubt due to parking difficulties in Dublin, arriving at 13:32. The aircraft departed Shannon again at 14:45 as the RYR 800P. EI-EBD is pictured above on finals to R24 at Shannon.

Weather chaos continues at Dublin

Weather related flight disruption at Dublin Airport continued today with delayed flights and diverted aircraft. Parking stand allocation was one problem that operators had to contend with today as the airlines and airport attempted to recover from yesterday's 170 cancelled flights. This morning, compacted snow and ice prevented refuelling tucks from accessing stands with the result that several aircraft including flight Continental 023 had to divert to Shannon for refuelling. Ryanair accused the Dublin Airport Authority of being the "Keystone Cops" of airport management due to their failure to clear snow from ramp areas and aircraft parking stands. The airline called on the DAA to compensate airlines and passengers for flight delays which were not weather related but resulted from the DAAs mismanagement and incompetance.

Pictured above today's Continental flight 023 operated by B757-200 N34131 arrives at Shannon for a fuel stop.

Aer Lingus Traffic statistics for January

Aer Lingus have published their traffic figures for January.

Total passenger numbers for the month were down 6.5% YoY over January 2008.

On short haul routes numbers fell by 6.1%. Short haul load factor fell from 66.1% in January 2008 to 64.6% in January 2009. Capacity grew 1.3% YoY.

On long haul routes passenger numbers fell 8.6% YoY. Long haul load factor grew from 61.4% in January 2008 to 63.8% in January 2009, against a capacity reduction of 15% YoY.

Overall load factor grew 0.3% YoY to 64.3%.

Philippine President visits Shannon

Lowa Ltd.'s Boeing 707- N88ZL paid it's second visit in a week to Shannon when the aircraft visited late Wednesday night, February 4. On board was Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who was travelling to Washington to meet with the members of the new US Senate.

N88ZL had routed through Shannon on Tuesday en route Bahrain where President Arroyo had completed a two day visit to the Kingdom following her attendance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Following it's late night arrival in Shannon, the aircraft continued on to Washington departing just before 01.00am.

Post bid share values

Following the withdrawal of the Ryanair bid for Aer Lingus, shares in the airlines have shown significant movement in recent days. Trading around €1.15 last week, shares in Aer Lingus fell 7% today to trade at €0.88. Ryanair which traded around €3.30 last week closed 3.6% higher today at €3.39 

Aer Lingus punctuality statistics

Aer Lingus today published the punctuality statistics for January 2009. For the month 84% departed on time with 97% departing within 60 minutes. This compares favourably with January 2008 when the figures were 77% and 94% respectively. 

Fraport sells share in Hahn

German airport operator Fraport has sold it's 65% shareholding in Frankfurt Hahn airport to the government of Rheinland Pfalz for a symbolic €1. The decision follows the announcement by Ryanair that it would reduce it's presence at the airport if airport operator Fraport introduced a €3 passenger levy designed to bring the airport back to profitability

Rhineland-Pfalz Transport Minister Hendrik Hering commented: "The reaction by Ryanair would have had disastrous consequences for the region's labour market. This would have jeopardized about 6,000 jobs immediately. We couldn't allow this to happen and therefore decided to take over Fraport AG's shares in [the airport]. Frankfurt-Hahn Airport has enormous development and performance potential. We will use this potential to make the airport profitable."

"The planned modernisation of the terminal will make the airport more efficient," said Hering. This will involve extending the main terminal from 800sq m to 4,500sq m. It will also mean expanding the area for retail, food & beverage and other services and creating a 1,800sq m 'marketplace' for travelling consumers. The security zone will be centralised as part of this work. The move is part of a €120 million modernisation of the airport, which began last year and will run to 2011. In addition, a new division named Entwicklungsgesellschaft Hahn (Hahn Development Company) will exploit the potential of the vast land banks around the airport. "There are great opportunities for growth and development that will benefit the entire region," said Hering. During the past eight years, passenger figures at the Hunsrück region airport rose from 400,000 to nearly 4 million per year. The planned expansion will take capacity to 8 million.

Diminishing returns

The worst kept secret in Shannon finally broke cover today when Ryanair announced that the airline would be reducing it's base size at the airport by 33%. Commencing April 1st the impact of the cutback will be :

• Based aircraft reduced from 6 to 4.
• Network reduced from 30 to 25 destinations.
• Weekly flights reduced from 136 to 116.
• Ryanair headcount at Shannon reduced from over 300 to less than 200.
• Passenger throughput reduced from 1.9m to 1.2m per annum.

Ryanair blame the cutbacks at Shannon on the imposition of the €10 travel tax which was brought in by the government in the last budget. The airline says that the value of the tax exceeds the value of fares which are "frequently less than €10 one way" and is "devastating forward bookings in Shannon". 

Speaking in Shannon today, Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary said that the decision of the Irish government to impose the travel tax was "tourism suicide" adding that the only reason many people travel on Ryanair flights to Shannon is the fact that the fares are often below €10. 

Ryanair while regretting today's decision have also said that the decision is immediately reversible if the Irish government should scrap the €10 travel tax.

Responding to today's announcement the Shannon Airport Authority said that "Ryanair has availed of an extremely attractive based aircraft incentive scheme to deliver agreed targets at Shannon over a 5 year period. Shannon Airport has met all its obligations in respect of the agreement and we expect the airline will likewise honour its commitments. We do not accept that Ryanair can avoid its contractual commitment on the basis of the air travel tax introduced by the Government.

Ryanair is a valued customer at Shannon Airport. We look forward to holding discussions with Ryanair to agree ongoing traffic development well beyond the current agreement in the mutual interest of both companies and to support the development of the West of Ireland."

Ryanair fill the gap

Ryanair last night filled a gap at Durham Tees Airport when Fly Globepsan announced that it was pulling it's services from the airport.

In addition to it's existing 4 flights per week between Durham and Dublin, Ryanair will now add 6 flights per week during the summer season, three each to Alicante and Girona. Alicante had been served by Globespan prior to the pullout announced on Monday.

United pilots request legal review

Pilots at United Airlines have asked their legal advisers to review the agreement announced last week by Aer Lingus and United Airlines for a new joint venture serving the city pair of Madrid and Washington.

The move comes after Aer Lingus confirmed today that it was setting up a base in Washington to recruit pilots and cabin crew for the new service which is due to commence in March 2010.

Aer Lingus board members agree to pay cut

Board members at Aer Lingus have agreed a voluntary 20% cut in director fees in light of the current economic climate. Chairman Colm Barrington will see the biggest drop in earnings with his fee dropping €35k to €140k per annum. The move is expected to save the airline €150k.

Salaries of the airline's senior management will not be affected. Last month Ryanair announced that it's managers would be taking a 10% pay cut and a 50% cut in bonus.

High Flying Ministers

The Department of Defence has confirmed that the Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea used the Government Gulfstream IV aircraft for 11 trips in 2008 at a cost of €515,141. The longest trip was on December 14 when Minister O'Dea accompanied Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan to a meeting in Texas with Michael Dell ahead of Dell's announcement of 1,900 redundancies at it's Limerick facility. The Dell factory is in Minister O'Dea's constituency. The 20 hour 50 minute flight routed Baldonnel - Knock - Bangor, Maine - Austin, Texas at a cost of €7,890 per hour or €164,000 in total. The informataion came to light as a result of the Dail Public Accounts Committee investigation into financial matters at FAS, the government training body. The PAC uncovered the fact that Department of Finance guidelines for Ministerial travel were not being followed. Minister O'Dea's travel consisted of 8 overseas and 3 domestic trips totaling over half a million euro.

AAIU report into near miss at Dublin

The Air Accident Investigation Unit of the Department of Transport today issued it's report into a near miss that occurred between an Agusta A109 registered N449J and Learjet 31A EI-MAX, which occurred at Dublin Airport on December 17 2007.

The incident occurred shortly after sunrise at 08.43 am. Runway 10 was in operation at the time. The incident occurred when the helicopter was given a conditional clearance to cross the active runway once the rolling traffic, the Learjet was airborne. The pilot of the helicopter misunderstood the instruction that he had been given, thinking that ATC had referred to an aircraft on finals and crossed the runway in front of the Learjet which had just become airborne. The AAIU report commends the airmanship of the Learjet Commander - "during this serious incident, an accident was narrowly avoided by the excellent airmanship displayed by the Commander of the Learjet. Having become airborne the Commander, on seeing the closing helicopter immediately took over control of the aircraft from the handling pilot and took evasive action. He pushed the nose forward, banked left at a very low altitude of about 200ft and narrowly avoided both a mid air collision and ground contact."

The probable cause of the incident is given as the pilot of the helicopter not complying with the instruction given by ATC with the dark colour of the grey Learjet at sunrise being a contributory factor.

The report states that as a result of this incident conditional clearances for helicopters are no longer issued at Dublin. No safety recommendations are made.

Boeing 707 N88ZL fuel stops at Shannon

Boeing 707 visits are becoming a rare thing so the arrival of N88ZL was very welcome at Shannon today. Arriving late morning from Miami on a fuel stop en-route Bahrain,  N88ZL, msn 18928 is pictured above, departing into snow clouds off R06 at lunchtime.

First visit of Falcon 7X G-SRDG

Shannon had it's first visit by a Dassault Falcon 7X yesterday. The aircraft concerned is msn 36 and registered G-SRDG. Operated by Triair (Bermuda) Ltd, it is the first Falcon 7X on the British register and will be based at Farnborough.

G-SRDG was hangared with Signature Flight Support on arrival from Spain last night and departed early this morning back to Farnborough.

Hi re pictures can be seen here and here

United, Aer Lingus pilots sign agreeement.

Unions representing pilots in both United Airlines (ALPA - Airline Pilot's Association) and Aer Lingus (IALPA - Irish Airline Pilots Association) yesterday signed a 'protocol agreement' which brings the two groups together to protect the interest of pilots in both airlines in light of the recently announced joint venture by United and Aer Lingus to commence a Madrid - Washington service next year.

"It is imperative that we work together on both sides of the Atlantic to prevent the anti-labour aspects of this agreement from impacting pilots from our two airlines," said Captain Steve Wallach, chairman of the United MEC (Master Executive Council). "This partnership between United and Aer Lingus will set a dangerous precedent regarding international air travel where pilots on both sides of the Atlantic will pay a steep price. We will explore every regulatory, legislative and legal avenue to protect the rights and careers of our members."

"We are very pleased to have entered into this protocol agreement with the United pilots and we will be working with them to confront the challenges this partnership poses to both our pilot groups," said Captain Evan Cullen, president of IALPA. "We look forward to working with our United colleagues to explore every option to end our respective company's blatant disregard and lack of loyalty to their pilots, as well as to their corporate identities."