EI-REH in clipping incident at Manchester

Today's Aer Arann flight REA515, operated by ATR72 registered EI-REH from Galway to Manchester damaged a propeller when the aircraft impacted a mirror guidance system at the terminal. The aircraft carrying 32 passengers and 4 crew was taxiing onto it's parking stand when the incident occurred. The airline issued a statement stating that "The incident involved Flight RE 515 from Galway. At about 11.45am, the propeller on the aircraft made contact with a docking guidance mirror while parking on a stand. 

"Damage was caused to the propeller which was rotating slowly at the time. As a precaution, the airport fire service attended the incident. There were 32 passengers and four crew members on board. There were no injuries and all passengers left the aircraft normally."

A replacement aircraft, ATR72 EI-REO with engineers and customer service staff was sent from Dublin. It operated flight REA 516 which arrived in Galway just after 20:00 utc.

Aer Arann announce Munster Rugby sponsorship

Aer Arann have teamed with Munster Rugby to be the Official Airline to the Munster Rugby team under a brand new sponsorship deal. Commenting on the official announcement Aer Arann Corporate Affairs Director Andrew Kelly said “We are proud to become the official airline of Munster Rugby. We have a strong presence in Munster with bases in Cork and Waterford and we see this as a natural development of what is already a strong relationship with the team and Munster fans.  We look forward to welcoming both Munster Rugby and the Red Army on board many of our flights in the future”.

Aer Arann in discussion with investors

Ahead of tomorrow's Aer Arann board meeting the airline is understood to be in discussions with a number of investors which would see upwards of €10m invested in the airline as it attempts to develop a plan to ensure it's long term survival. The airline's CEO Padraig O' Ceidigh told the Irish Times that he would relinquish a majority shareholding in the company in return for the necessary equity.

The airline has said that some seasonal and holiday routes will be discontinued for the winter whilst others would be reviewed as part of normal business practice.

Aer Arann to help treat fear of flying

Illusionist Keith Barry has teamed up with Dublin radio station 98fm and Aer Arann in a unique exercise that it is hoped will help a group of ten individuals conquer a lifelong fear of flying. The ten people who will be vetted by the radio station will be hypnotised over a two day period in July in attempt to cure their fear of flying before a special flight aboard an Aer Aran aircraft takes pace on July 10.

Profit drop at Kerry Airport

Passenger numbers grew 8% YoY for the year ended October 2008 to an annual total of just over 419,000, primarily due to the introduction of the Ryanair Luton - Kerry service. Profit fell 40% however for the same period due to a growth in overhead.

Income after tax was €327,5k from a revenue base of €6.976m. The growth in overhead arose as a result in the change of the Dublin-Kerry PSO (Public Service Obligation) route which changed hands from Aer Arann to Ryanair during the year. The change to larger B738 aircraft from ATR size required a change in ground handling,emergency services and staff numbers.

Aer Arann likely to go PLC route

The 'Irish Examiner' reported this week that Aer Arann's chief Paul Schutz has confirmed that the airline will likely go public and could be sold. The report also indicated that the airline will return to profitability next year and may break even this year. Passenger numbers peaked at Aer Arann during 2008 at 1.25m. Paul Schutz has said the airline will carry between 800,000 and 900,000 this year.

Aer Arann introduces paycuts but saves jobs

Aer Arann announced today that it was introducing an 7% pay cut for it's workforce with managerial salaries to fall by 17%. The airline did say however that it would not be making as many redundancies as previously announced. Last October Aer Arann were forecasting 100 redundancies, a figure which was reduced to 70 when it opened it's Isle of Man base. This figure has now been further reduced to 60 due to the success of it's cost cutting measures.

Posted 090428

Ryanair challenge to PSO award rejected

A challenge by Ryanair to the decision by the Minister for Transport to award the Dublin - Knock PSO route to Aer Arann has been dismissed on all grounds in the commercial court. When the route came up for renewal last year CityJet and Aer Arann submitted tenders with the former being awarded the route until 2011. CityJet's plan hinged upon the VLM / CityJet merger being approved in the UK which would have freed up the necessary aircraft to operate the route. The merger was not initially approved however and was referred to the Competition Commission which took several months to review the case. The delay forced CityJet to withdraw from the route before it was started. As a result, the Minister for transport entered talks with Aer Arann which resulted in Aer Arann being awarded the route from October 2008 to July 2011. Ryanair had not expressed any interest in operating the route until CityJet withdrew and subsequently challenged the Minister's decision on several grounds, including seeking an order to compel the Minister to retender for the route and prevent payment of €71,000 for the month of October on the grounds of short notice for commencement of the route.

In the Commercial Court yesterday Ryanair's challenges were rejected in a reserved judgement by Ms Justice Finlay Geoghan.

The judge ruled that on the withdrawal of CityJet that the Minister was entitled to open discussions with Aer Arann on the basis that Aer Arann were the next preferred tenderer. In relation to the payment of the sum for October, the judge ruled that the Minister was entitle dot make the payment.

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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.

 

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.

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

Aer Arann to code share with Etihad

Aer Arann have announced a new code share arrangement with Etihad which will give air travellers in Galway, Cork and Isle of Man access, via Dublin, to Etihad’s home base of Abu Dhabi and beyond. The details of the deal were not announced but it is likely that it will work on the basis of a per passenger fee. The arrangement is likely to be of more benefit to Aer Arann than Etihad given the David and Goliath size difference.

Paul Schutz takes the helm at Aer Arann

As previously announced, Paul Schutz has taken the reigns at the helm of Aer Arann as of January 1. He takes over from the previous incumbent, Gary Cullen who joins the board as a non executive director.

PSO subsidy for Arann Islands extended until May

The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Eamon O'Cuiv announced last week that his department had extended the contract with Aer Arann to provide air services to the Aran Islands, off the Galway coast, by an additional five months to the end of May 2009. The contract extension is worth 487,500.

The Department also said that a new PSO competition would be announced shortly.

Aer Arann pass on ATR

Skyliner reports that ATR 72-212A msn 822 will not now become EI-RER with Aer Arann. The aircraft was delivered ex Toulouse yesterday as SE-MDB of Golden Air.

Aer Arann announce new Blackpool route

Just days after Ryanair announced that they were ceasing to serve Blackpool after the airport operator announced the introduction of a £10 passenger service charge, Aer Arann have stepped in to fill the void. Commencing January 5 2009, Aer Arann will commence a five times weekly service between Dublin and Blackpool.

Aer Arann base to soften blow of job cuts

The creation a new base in the Isle of Man to serve the airline's new service to London City will help soften the jobs cut at Aer Arann. The new base will require 30 cockpit and cabin crew to be based on the island and will limit the proposed job cuts announced in early November to 70 as opposed to the original figure of 100.

In line with the announced concentration on high performer routes the airline is cutting three routes from January 12, namely Cork - Prestwick, Galway to Amsterdam via Waterford and Kerry - Manchester.

Aer Arann to commence LCY service

Aer Arann announced today that they would commence services from the Isle of Man to London City airport on January 19 next year. Since EuroManx went out of business in May of this year there has been just one daily service from the island to London city operated by VLM. With Aer Arann obtaining slots at LCY the frequency will be restored to a weekday four per day. Weekend services will be one flight on Saturday and two on Sunday. The commencement of the Aer Arann service will also be the first time that the ATR72-500 will be used at LCY on scheduled services.  

Ryanair action moved to Commercial Court

The Irish Times reports that the Minister for Transport has moved to fast track a High Court proceeding by Ryanair by moving it to the Commercial Court. The action was lodged by the airline following the decision by the Minister for Transport to award the Knock - Dublin PSO route to Aer Arann. The route was originally awarded to CityJet following a tendering process and was due to commence in July. CityJet withdrew from the contract before the service was initiated, reportedly due to the hold up in the  merger with VLM which would have freed up aircraft.

Ryanair contended that the only way the Minister could have awarded the contract to Aer Arann would have been if identical conditions had applied. 

Ryanair says that a different contract was agreed by the Minister and Aer Arann from that agreed by the Minister and CityJet and wants a court order quashing the awarding of the contract to Aer Arann and instigating a new tendering process.

The hearing in the Commercial Court is due to be held on January 20 2009. Aer Arann have said that they will abide by the Court's decision.

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.