EI-DYY and EI-EBB delivered to Ryanair

Ryanair received their latest two aircraft this lunchtime. This time round there were no weather snags as the aircraft arrived in Dublin around 13.30. The aircraft concerned are EI-DYY msn 37521, hex code 4CA6FC and EI-EBB msn 37519, hex code 4CA6FF. The fleet is now one up on last weekend as EI-CSR msn 29931 was due to be ferried on Wednesday from Prestwick to Southend for painting prior to it's delivery to Garuda.

Government rejects Ryanair offer

Ryanair admitted defeat this evening in it's attempt to takeover Aer Lingus after the Irish Government rejected the low cost airline's €1.40 per share offer for the former national airline.

In an emailed statement, Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey said that the offer 'greatly undervalues Aer Lingus'. He also said that the issue of competition was a 'major concern'.

Michael O'Leary, Ryanair CEO said that the Government's decision was "a wrong one", adding that "We don't think that it is in the best interests of Aer Lingus, which will be isolated as a small, peripheral loss making airline." Ryanair added however that they would "respect and abide by" the Governments decision not to sell it's 25%.

D-AHXF returns home after Mx

Today was one of those rare days of late when the aircraft and the weather met for once ! Lunchtime saw the return to Munich of TUIfly's B737-7K5, msn 35136 registered D-AHXF. The aircraft had been in the Air Atlanta hangar since January 15.

Pictured above, D-AHXF lines up on R24 as 'Yellow Cab 8268', a callsign which is a legacy to the HLX colours mimicking a New York taxicab.

C-FWYU United Nations DHC-7 visits Shannon

DHC-7 C-FWYU of Trans Capital Air night stopped in Shannon over January 21/22 on it's way back to Canada via Iceland. The aircraft arrived yesterday from Nantes using the call sign UN455. The aircraft also visited Shannon over June 4-6 2007 on it's way to Jordan. On that trip it carried United Nations number UN310. The aircraft is msn 012 and was delivered to the Canadian Armed Forces on September 17 1979 as a CC132. It first visited Shannon on February 8 1981 as 132002 with the CAF using flight number 4560.

Pictured above, UN455 taxis to R24 for departure this morning.

RA-82041 in RTO

Antonov AN124, registration RA-82041 of the Russian Air Force suffered an RTO (Rejected Take Off) on R24 at Shannon this lunchtime. The aircraft, msn 9773054055089 was operating flight RFF 8072 at the time. The Antonov 124 requires an engine run at 50% power for 4 or 5 minutes prior to takeoff to allow certain engine components reach temperature. This was carried out as normal.

Five or six seconds after rolling the power was reduced and the aircraft came to a halt, exiting under it's own power via Taxiway Alpha. The emergency services were not required and the crew gave no indication as to the cause of the problem other than it would take ten minutes to rectify.   

Taxi restrictions for An124 aircraft at Shannon meant the aircraft had to shut down and be towed through the ramp to the start of the Delta taxiways. The aircraft made a normal departure approximately 1 hour after initial push back from the gate.

Pictured above, RA-82041 lines up on R24, first time round. This was the fourth visit by RA-82041 this month. The aircraft has hex code 154079 assigned but hasn't had the Mode S transponder switched on for any of the visits, if in fact it has one fitted.

Ryanair announce 8 new routes

Ryanair today announced the introduction of eight new routes throughout Europe including four new routes from Reus (Barcelona) where it will base a third new Boeing 737-800 aircraft in an expansion which will bring four new routes to the airport from June. The full list of new routes is as follows :

Bournemouth to Faro, Reus and Limoges commencing March and April 

Faro to Bournemouth and Bremen commencing March 

Reus to Bournemouth, Eindhoven, Nador and Poznan commencing March and June 

Luton to Limoges commencing May                     

Belavia's last flight

Belarusian airline Belavia have once again stopped serving Shannon. The last service on the weekly Sunday night BRU897/898 flight from/to Minsk was performed by B737  EW-252PA on Sunday last January 18, touching down just before 23.10. 

Belavia have reported economies of scale as the reason for the decision to stop serving Shannon, a route which would probably have had thin traffic outside of the seasonal work for the various Chernobyl charities. The airline's timetable shows CRJ equipment serving Shannon but the type was only used for probably 50% of the flights, B737 aircraft being used on the remainder. This situation most likely arose as a result of the loss of a CRJ in a spectacular accident in February 2008 when EW-101PJ crashed on takeoff from Yerevan on a flight to Minsk. All passengers and crew escaped the aircraft which burnt out after landing on it's roof. The CRJ fleet was halved as a result of the accident. The lost aircraft hasn't been replaced to date and would have left the airline short of capacity and forced the use of 737 aircraft with larger capacity on the Shannon route. 

Pictured above is the ill fated CRJ EW-101PJ, msn 7316 on a visit to Shannon on October 18, 2007

Aer Lingus / United cooperation deepens

In a deepening of cooperation between the two airlines, Aer Lingus and United today announced a new initiative to commence next year. From March 2010, a new joint venture route will begin serving the city pair of Madrid and Washington Dulles. 

Aer Lingus will provide the operational part of the agreement by supplying the aircraft and aircrew while United will manage the revenue side by providing the marketing and sales on the new daily service, one of the first to launch as part of the 2007 EU-US open skies policy.

Aer Lingus and United Airlines commenced a code share arrangement in October 2008 on services between Ireland and the US. Further expansion and development of the partnership's activities will be jointly assessed and agreed by the Partners and may develop into a broader and deeper joint venture, according to Aer Lingus.

Repsonding to the announcement, Ryanair congratulated Aer Lingus on finding a partner which is weaker and in even worse shape than itself.

Michael O'Leary, CEO of Ryanair said "Aer Lingus and United Airways share many similar traits. They both used to be big in the 1950's and 1960's, but sadly today they are just shadows of their former glory. Both have recently announced losses, job cuts and pay cuts. After months of trawling around looking for partners, it is a sad reflection on Aer Lingus that the best they could come up with is one of the weakest and biggest loss makers in the U.S. airline industry. Given the scale of United's losses there is no guarantee that they will even be around in March 2010 to operate this "partnership".

"It is hard to think of any transatlantic airline losing any sleep at the thought of being faced with the combined weakness of Aer Lingus and United Airlines on the Madrid-Washington route. Today's announcement shows just how desperate Aer Lingus is to find a partner, any partner it can, even if the flights don't start until March 2010. This so called "partnership" with another "loser" like United shows that Aer Lingus has no independent strategy, and no prospect of remaining independent.

JetBird pushes ahead

Manufacturers of business jets are feeling the pinch of the economic downturn. Cessna announced 2,000 redunadancies last week on top of 500 announced in December as customers defer orders. One manufacturer, Eclipse filed for Chapter 11 before Christmas following the collapse of Florida based DayJet which had almost 1,400 Eclipse VLJs on order. 

Consolidation is also taking place - Stefan Vilner, Chief Executive of JetBird is also head of the European Air Taxi Association. He says that the group had fourteen founding members last year and now there are only five left.

Mr. Vilner confirms that Irish startup JetBird is pushing ahead with it's plans to start flying this spring. The company still plans to take delivery of 13 Embraer Phenom 100 this year, 25 in 2010 and twenty per year in the period 2011 to 2013. The company is the launch customer for the Embraer Phenom 100 and to date has placed orders for one hundred Phenom variant aircraft.

Aer Lingus falls foul of ASA

Aer Lingus has been accused of running an ad campaign last year which misled passengers into believing that flights from London to Dublin, Belfast and Cork could be purchased for free.

The ad which ran in the regional press in the UK under the banner 'No Aer Fare, just pay taxes and charges' was referred to the Advertising Standards Authority by Ryanair.

The ASA noted that Aer Lingus believed that the ad content complied with the CAP (Committee of Advertising Practice)  Code on Travel Marketing, however the main headline 'No Aer Fare' was considered misleading. The ASA concluded that the ad should have included the additional information on charges in the headline and ruled that the ad must not be used in it's present format.

Aer Lingus flight diverts due to fight

Yesterday's Aer Lingus flight EIN 672 from Dublin to Bucharest operated by Airbus A320 EI-DEJ diverted to Manchester. The aircraft was airborne a short time out of Dublin when a fight started between two Romanian passengers. On arrival in Manchester, passengers were kept on the aircraft while the two were removed. The flight continued as normal to Bucharest, arriving some 3 1/2 hours behind schedule. 

Ryanair to 'fold tents' if bid is unsuccessful

Ryanair said today that it will end it's interest in acquiring Aer Lingus in the event that the current offer is not accepted by shareholders by the February 13 deadline.

Speaking at an airline finance conference in Dublin today, Ryanair Chief Financial Officer Howard Millar said that if the current offer for Aer Lingus is not successful the airline would fold it's 'tents and go elsewhere' to concentrate on it's own growth.

Following on from the Irish Government's decision to nationalise Anglo Irish Bank, The Irish Independent reports that Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary was asked if he would accept a directorship on the board of the bank to restore it's international reputation. In reply Michael O'Leary said "Never having taken a non-executive directorship in my life, why would I want one now ?, adding "I have no desire to make friends in the Government. Either they want the €188m or they don't. Given the collapsing state of national affairs, the deal gets better by the day." 

Dublin Simon community receive €100k

Ryanair today presented the Dublin Simon Community with a cheque for €100,000, the entire proceeds from the sale of the airline's 2009 charity calender. The Simon Community provide accommodation and other service for the homeless in Dublin and was chosen over 100 other charities in Europe as the beneficiary of this year's sale.

Ryanair to charge for excess handbaggage

Ryanair today said that it would be charging passengers who exceed the current limit of 10kg hand baggage. The airline says that it has noticed a big increase in the number of passengers who are abusing the limit with one passenger attempting to bring five pieces of baggage on board a plane. In future, anyone breaching the limit will be charged €30 at the departure gate.

AAIU report into loss of Caravan N208EC

The Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) of the Department of Transport issued it's final report into the loss of Cessna Caravan N208EC at Inverin Airport in Connemara on July 5 2007.

The purpose of the flight was a demonstration of an aircraft to a group of potential investors and interested parties associated with a new airport project at Clifden, Co. Galway. One member of the group had organised the flight through an Aircraft Services Intermediary or broker. The ASI had requested the aircraft from it's beneficial owner who agreed to loan the aircraft and it's pilot for the day. 

On the morning of the crash N208EC positioned from it's base in Weston to Inverin, routing overhead Galway airport. The original plan had been to fly the party from Inverin to Inis Meain in the Arann Islands for lunch and a presentation and return thereafter to the mainland. Prior to departure from Inverin it was found that the party exceeded the capacity of the Caravan so an Aer Arann Islander was hired for the extra passengers. 

After lunch the Islander dropped two of the party back to Inverin as they had to attend a meeting, the aircraft thereafter returning to Inis Meain to collect the remainder of the party. In order to allow everyone experience flying in the Caravan, the passengers swapped aircraft with those flying out on the Islander returning on the Cessna.

The Caravan returned to the mainland first but the weather conditions had significantly altered since their departure. Since the pilot did not contact Inverin on his radio before landing he was unaware of the change in the wind direction. As a result the aircraft experienced a significant tailwind on finals which caused the pilot to effect a late go around. During the go around control was lost which caused the aircraft to make an uncommanded left turn at high engine power and abnormally low speed. The aircraft struck the ground, hitting a large boulder. The left wing severed and the engine detached in the impact which according to one witness caused the aircraft to bounce to a height of approximately 100ft before returning to earth.

The 59 year old pilot and one passenger were killed. The remaining 7 passengers suffered severe injuries.

The report found  that the aircraft was over weight for the landing but that a trim sheet had not been prepared for the flight. In addition the report found that the QNH setting had not been altered from that given when the aircraft overflew Carnmore Airport in Galway that morning. This resulted in the runway at Inverin coming into view much later than expected, giving the pilot little time to evaluate the suitability of the runway for landing given the prevailing weather conditions.

BMI engage Aer Lingus in war of words

With the 2008 passenger figures issued by the CAA, BMI have engaged Aer Lingus in a war of words over the lucrative Belfast - Heathrow slots according to the Belfast Telegraph. The newspaper reports that BMI's Managing Director Peter Spencer has said that Aer Lingus' claim to have 40% market share on Belfast - Heathrow was 'inaccurate', adding that BMI had retained the majority of it's business passengers since Aer Lingus launched it's Belfast International service a year ago. 'I know how many passengers I carry and I know how many they carry and my mathematics is that we have 66% market share'.

He added that 'If Aer Lingus think they are doing so well, I'm not really sure I understand why they've dropped their frequency from four to three a day'.

In response, Aer Lingus director of corporate affairs Enda Corneille said that 'passengers are deserting them (BMI) in droves'.

To the end of December, the UK CAA's figures show that 238,754 passengers travelled on BFS-LHR, served only by Aer Lingus and 521,913 travelled BHD-LHR, served only by BMI which gives 31.3% to Aer Lingus and 68.7% to BMI.

 

ITP attempt to gag High Court case

Ryanair yesterday rejected a request from the Irish Takeover Panel that the airline's High Court action against the ITP be held 'in camera'. This highly unusual request should it be approved, would exclude members of the public and press with media reports being curtailed. 

Last week, public broadcaster RTE planned a live televised debate on the proposed Ryanair takeover of Aer Lingus with Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary and Aer Lingus Chief Executive Dermot Mannion. The debate was cancelled when the ITP wrote to RTE stating that the debate would have breached guidelines on takeovers. On Friday, Ryanair were granted a High Court review of the ITP's decision which was to be heard lunchtime today.

On Friday the ITP through it's legal advisers Mason Hayes Curran, wrote to Ryanair asking it to agree that the High Court proceedings be heard in private and asking Ryanair not to publicise the content of the proceedings. 

Ryanair's legal advisers AL Goodbody wrote back to the ITP rejecting both requests.

In an affadavit for the High Court case, Michael O'Leary said that the ban was 'disproportionate, unreasonable and discriminatory', adding that the Takeover Panel's assertion that the ban was necessary to ensure equal treatment of both parties was 'impossible to reconcile' since both Chief Executives had voluntarily agreed to appear on the program.

Speaking yesterday, Mr. O'Leary said that the airline would be opposing the in camera application 'for everything we're worth'.

When the matter came before Justice O'Neill today he said that he would leave the matter of the camera issue until both sides had prepared written submissions by Wednesday of this week. The hearing on the judicial review will be heard the following day on Thursday.

The court heard that Aer Lingus were neutral on the issue with RTE stating that it did not wish to participate in the proceedings unless ordered to do so by the Court.

Aer Lingus win retail award

Yes, there's even an awards scheme for in flight retailing ! At an awards dinner in London on Friday night, Aer Lingus won the award for airline of the year at the annual Inflight Sales Person of the Year. The event, organised by Travel Retail Training (TRT). 

In accepting the award of behalf of Aer Lingus, Cabin Crew Manager, Sales and Service, Joe Harvey said "This award is for the 1,600 cabin crew in Aer Lingus who do the business every day."

TRT is a training company set up by former British Caledonian flight attendant Christine Martin with the aim of improving the sales skills of cabin crew.

ITP forces clarification

Both Aer Lingus and Ryanair have been forced by the Irish Takeover Panel to clarify recent statements made in relation to the Ryanair proposal to takeover Aer Lingus.

Aer Lingus issued a clarification in relation to a statement made by the airline's director of corporate affairs Enda Corneille in December win which he said that the Ryanair bid 'drastically undervalues Aer Lingus and is not capable of completion.'

In it's clarification statement the airline says " Aer Lingus would like to clarify that the comment 'not capable of completion' is an expression of opinion by Mr. Corneille and should have been qualified by reference to the Ryanair offer being unlikely of being capable of completion."

The second clarification in Friday's statement refers to a statement made by the airline's Chairman Colm Barrington at an Oireachtas (Government) Transport Committee hearing in December at which Mr. Barrington stated that Aer Lingus had made more than €200m in profits since it's IPO.

The clarification states that the airline has reported a 'cumulative total of €209m of profit since 2006.'

Ryanair for it's part clarified a statement made by the airline's CEO Michael O'Leary in which he had said that the airline would not increase it's offer to more than €2 per share. The clarification states that the airline would not increase it's offer to more than €2 per share without the consent of the Takeover Panel.

Ryanair diverts to Edinburgh

Saturday's Ryanair flight RYR 1976 from Dublin to Riga operated by Boeing 737-8AS EI-DCE diverted into Edinburgh Airport after a cabin pressurisation problem. The aircraft landed safely just after 14.00 hrs.  A spokesperson fro Edinburgh Airport said that "The Captain classified it as precautionary diversion which is less serious than an emergency landing." A replacement aircraft EI-DPP was provided for the passengers who continued their delayed flight to Riga.

Ryanair receive two new 737s

An Atlantic storm that passed through Ireland Saturday played it's role in the delivery of the latest Ryanair aircraft. The two latest aircraft are EI-DYX, msn 37517, hex code 4CA6FB and EI-DYW, msn 33635, hex code 4CA6AA. Since Ryanair 737s started receiving ETOPS certification the aircraft have flown Boeing Field direct to Dublin but in yesterday's case the aircraft had planned Boeing - Keflavik - Dublin. 

Before lunch time on Saturday the winds in Ireland picked up with Shannon showing a direction of 180 degrees and gusts hitting 50kts. This forced two Ryanair flights inbound to Shannon to divert to Dublin  - RYR1175 operated by EI-DCF and RYR1147 operated by EI-CSW. By 14.00 hrs the wind at Shannon had swung around to 240 degrees, straight down the middle but Dublin had gone out of limits for some aircraft which resulted in the weekly Air France Cargo flight, AFR6547 operated by B747 F-GIUC diverting from Dublin to Shannon.

Only one of the Ryanair deliveries made it into Dublin - EI-DYW with EI-DYX diverting to Shannon where it landed at 16.49, closely followed by Austrian Airlines flight 9733 operated by B737 OE-LNT which was also a weather diversion from Dublin. 

Pictured above, EI-DYX taxis onto R24 in Shannon for it's positioning flight ot Dublin , Sunday morning. 

CSA staff to strike at Dublin airport

Employee's of Czech airline CSA were due to go on strike at Dublin airport this afternoon. The employees are members of union SIPTU which says that today's action is as a result of the airline's decision to offer only statutory redundancy payments to employees who will lose their jobs as a result of the company closing it's Dublin office and outsourcing to the UK. 

Customs seizures

Customs officers at Dublin airport seized over 250,000 cigarettes from 19 passengers on a charter flight from the Canary Islands which landed at Dublin airport in the small hours of this morning. At the same time, two cars involved in smuggling cigarettes out of the airport were seized. So far this year over 1 million cigarettes have been seized at Dublin airport. The total for 2008 was over 38 million.

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.

New sales record for Ryanair

Ryanair today announced that they had set a new sales record for teh airline by selling 1.5m seats between Friday January 9 and Thursday January 15. On Monday alone the airline sold 350,000 seats.

No protracted battle for Aer Lingus

Ryanair today stated that they would not be engaging in a protracted battle for Aer Lingus. Speaking this morning, Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary said that the airline was open to negotiating "a small increase in price if that would get the deal over the line". 

The airline reaffirmed that it's offer to shareholders of Aer Lingus was open until February 13, adding that it expected EU regulators to either approve the takeover or proceed to a more detailed 'Phase 2' process. The airline does not want to engage in a 'Phase 2' process as this would involve high cost for the Irish Government, the EU and Ryanair.

"We have seen some ridiculous brokerage coverage in recent days", Mr. O'Leary said at the press conference, adding that "Ryanair will not be increasing it's offer to any figure that has a two in it or begins with a two".

CAA publishes year end traffic figures for December

The UK CAA today published it's provisional traffic figures for the month of December 2008.

On DUB-LHR, a total of 129,847 passengers were carried on the route which is a 11% Year on Year (YoY) reduction for the month of December. End of year figures on the route show that 1.81m passengers flew the route, an 8% drop over 2007. In fact, February and March were the only months to record a YoY increase over 2007.

DUB-LGW is up 4.8% YoY for the month at 85,016. For the year, 1.08m passengers used the route which represents 22% YoY growth. DUB-STN is down 14.7% for December, YoY at 61,034. For the year, DUB-STN dropped 6% to a total of just over 924,000.

In Cork, the CRK-LHR route had it's second successive YoY decline for the month with passenger figures down 2.7% at 34,896. At year end the route outperformed 2007 by 10% with a total of almost 517,000 passengers.

CRK-LGW is as it has been all year - virtually unchanged over 2007. In December a total of 9,469 passengers used the route, up 3.3% YoY for the month. At year end the route showed a 4% drop in passenger numbers over 2007 at 114,533.

CRK-STN however was down 10.2% for the month YoY at 20,147. YTD the route is dropped 3% over 2007 at 297,343 passengers.

In Shannon, the LGW route has an extra service over last year which makes comparisons difficult. Traffic on the route performed marginally better than for the other months of the year with a higher multiple over last year's figures.

For December, a total of 15,564 passengers flew the route with a year end total of just over 196,000.

SNN-STN was 4.3% higher YoY for the month at 24,450 passengers. The year end figure for the route was 341,338, a 17% increase YoY, although Ryanair did add extra capacity to the route to compensate for the loss of the Aer Lingus Heathrow slots. Shannon was the only state airport to record growth on the STN route.

In Belfast, the BFS-LHR route carried 18,967 passengers against Shannon's figure of 21,278 for the same month last year. The Belfast figure represents a 44% load factor for the month based on number of days x number of flights per day x number of seats per aircraft. Using the same criteria, Aer Lingus load factor for the year on BFS-LHR was 49%. Total passengers carried on the BFS-LHR route for 2008 amounted to 238,754 compared to 333,248 carried on SNN-LHR in 2007. This represents an absolute loss of 94,494 in passenger numbers or a 28.3% drop. 

Belfast City - LHR passenger numbers dropped a massive 20% YoY in 2008 over 2007, a reduction of just over 104,000. Aer Lingus would appear to have taken passengers from BMI on the Heathrow route but the Belfast City reduction has to be seen in context of the fact that the route has averaged a 7% YoY drop in numbers every year for the past 5 years. 

Ryanair granted review against ITP ruling

Lawyers for Ryanair were today granted a judicial review in the High Court of the decision by the Irish Takeover Panel which resulted in the cancellation of a live televised debate between Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary and Aer Lingus Chief Executive Dermot Mannion.

The debate was due to take place on Tuesday night on public broadcaster RTE's 'Primetime' program but was cancelled following the ITP's statement that the debate would have breached takeover rules.

In the High Court, Ryanair's layers argued that the decision was disproportionate and effectively constituted a gagging order.

The ITP stated that they had been concerned that details of Dermot Mannion's so called 'Failure Fee'had been made public and subsequently issued an instruction that all public statements would have to have prior approval of the ITP before release. It was this development that led to the debate being cancelled on Tuesday. 

The review will take place in the High Court on Monday next January 22.

Waterford reports 2008 passenger figures

Waterford Airport yesterday reported it's 2008 passenger figures. A total of 144,000, representing a 25% increase YoY used the airport last year. Destinations served from the southeast airport were Luton, Birmingham, Manchester and a number of continental European destinations which were served on a seasonal basis.

Ryanair to sue Cornwall County Council

Ryanair is to sue Cornwall County Council in the UK over the closure of Newquay Airport. The airport is owned by Cornwall County Council who were due to take over the operation of the airport from the RAF on December 1 2008. As part of the hand over the council had to resurface the runway, build a new control tower and improve security measures at the airport. The airport was forced to shut on December 1 after the council, which owns the civilian airport, had been due to take over the adjacent RAF St Mawgan site. As the RAF had previously handled air traffic, this would have meant the council obtaining a licence from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). However, as the air traffic control tower was not ready, the CAA refused to grant a licence. The airport re-opened for business on December 20, after the works were completed. Under the circumstances which prevailed at the end of November, Ryanair cancelled it's flights from the airport until March 2009. The airline is reportedly working out the damages it will pursue as a result of 7,000 passengers having their flights cancelled at short notice. The damages will include a figure for damage to the airline's reputation. It is understood that two other operators at the airport Air Southwest and Skybus who operate to the Scilly Isles are also to seek damages.