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."

Terminal two farce

Airlines have reacted furiously to the announcement yesterday by Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey that the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) won't face competition for the operation of the airport's second terminal when it opens next year. 

Instead Minister Dempsey announced plans to select a 'facilities manager' who will look after the terminal's cleaning, maintenance and certain security operations. The decision was taken following the advice from a team of consultants - Goodbody Corporate Finance, Mattheson Ormsby Prentice and Mott MacDonald who advised the Minister against hiring a separate airport operator. 

The Department of Transport press release states "The scope of the tender has been decided taking into account the conclusions reached by the consultants regarding the provision of services in the terminal as efficiently as possible while preserving the integrated operation of the airport", which would appear to be a very long anagram for "The monopoly stays".

As part of the tendering process, the DAA have been asked to provide benchmark costs for certain operations in the new terminal. If prospective operators fail to lodge lower figures than the benchmark, then the DAA will handle the entire operation of the new terminal.

Ryanair's deputy Chief Executive Howard Millar described the entire process as a 'farce'. 

Ryanair cut backs at Shannon on the cards

Recent speculation that Ryanair are to announce cutbacks in service Dublin and Shannon received impetus yesterday in comments from the airline's CEO Michael O'Leary at the announcement of the airline's Q3 results.

It is understood that the cutbacks at Shannon are all but announced at this stage whereas those at Dublin are still at the discussion stage. When the government announced the €10 travel tax in it's budget, Michael O'Leary predicted tumbleweed on the runway at Shannon as a result. Several reports have indicated that the Shannon base will be reduced from 6 aircraft to four.

It is difficult to determine Ryanair's schedule from their ticketing information but comparing services out of Shannon for this week compared to the end of May highlights the following changes :

Lodz, Hahn, Fuerteventura and Turin are no longer in the schedule, a loss of 6 return flights.

On UK services Stansted sees a drop of 4 flights per week, Manchester drops 2, Prestwick drops 3, Liverpool drops 4. Gatwick and Luton are unchanged.

On sun destinations there is a predictable increase in schedule with Malaga up 2, Carcasonne up 1, Faro up 1, Murcia up 4, Nantes up 4, Palma up 3, Venice up 1.

On other European routes Katowice is down 1, Krakow down 1, Beauvais down 2.

These figures do not support  a 30% reduction in based aircraft but probably indicate the direction that the cuts will take.

One thing is for certain, with Ryanair contributing 65% of the passengers that used Shannon in 2008 and Shannon contributing 3.4% of Ryanair's passenger load in 2008 it's easy to see who needs whom the most.

The 2m Ryanair passengers who used the airport last year far outnumber the local population in Shannon's hinterland giving an indication of just how important these visitors are, not just to the airport but to the local tourist industry. 

We await developments.......

Ryanair traffic statistics for January

For the month of January 2009, Ryanair carried 4.08m passengers which represents an 11% increase over the same month last year. The load factor the month was unchanged YoY at 69%. The rolling 12 month load factor to the end of January was 81% with 58.1m passengers carried.

Ryanair firms 13 options on B737 aircraft

Ryanair confirmed in it's Q3 results that the airline has recently firmed options on an additional 13 B737-800 series aircraft. The aircraft are part of the 2005 sales agreement with Boeing and are to be delivered in fiscal 2011. The fleet size, net of disposals will be 292 by 2012. In the nine months to year end December Ryanair disposed of 8 aircraft at a 'sales' value of just short of €170m.

Ryanair posts Q3 loss

Ryanair today issued it's Q3 results for the quarter ended December 31 2008. The airline posted a loss of €102m for the period compared to a profit of €35m for the same quarter last year. Average fares fell 9% to €34 while fuel costs rose 71% to €328m. Passenger numbers grew 13% to 14m with revenue rising 6% to €604.5.

The loss for the period is almost entirely attributable to fuel costs which increased by €136m. Fuel accounted for 47% of operating costs at Ryanair in Q3. Excluding fuel costs, cost per passenger fell by 3%.

Ancillary revenue grew 19% to €132m in Q3 and now accounts for 22% of total earnings. Ryanair are planning to introduce mobile telephony on 20 Dublin based aircraft at the end of February for a 6 month trial period, eventually adding another 20 aircraft to the scheme by the end of the summer. The airline expects that initially revenue will be thin from the scheme but forecast a strong contribution to ancillary earnings going forward.

On the subject of the failed bid to takeover Aer Lingus the airline says that "It is doubtful that Ryanair will waste any further management time or resources making another offer for Aer Lingus, as it's scale and losses will continue to render it increasingly irrelevant in Europe's airline landscape."

Looking to the full year results, Ryanair has changed the previous guidance which anticipated a loss to now predict a full year profit of between €50m and €80m, helped by lower oil prices and continuing reductions in non-oil operating costs.

Shannon hosts wx diverts

One could have been forgiven for thinking that the clock had been rolled back 30 years at Shanon today, what with KLM crew training and then weather diversions from Heathrow.

The bad weather which shut the London area airports for a good part of today and caused BA to cancel all flights from T5 at Heathrow caused three BA and one AA flight to divert to Shannon.

The British Airways flights were G-BNLJ BAW282, G-CIVD BAW84 and G-BNLG BAW208. American Airlines also had one divert in the shape of N792AN operating AAL 132. The AA continued on to Heathrow after lunch with the three BA aircraft putting up for the night.

Later this evening Dublin airport closed due to heavy snow which caused a large number of diverts to Shannon. Aer Lingus flights which diverted were EI-DVH (685), EI-CPF (36T), EI-DVG (58X), EI-DEI (553), EI-DEM (345), EI-CPE (247). Ryanair aircraft were EI-DHN (9888), EI-DLS (1965), EI-DPN (1969), EI-DAW (505), EI-DYB (4AT) and finally Air Corps Be200 240 which had been in Shannon, departed and returned when it was unable to land at Baldonnel or Dublin.

Starair Challenger EI-IRE which was enroute Dublin elected to divert to Cork rather than getting caught in the departures queue out of Shannon.

Pictured above, BAW 208, G-BNLG sits on Taxiway 11.

Citation N563XL delivered through Shannon

New Citation Excel N563XL made a fuel stop at Shannon on it's delivery flight routing St. Johns - Athens this afternoon. The aircraft had been expected for the past three days finally made it this afternoon. Pictured above N563XL, msn 560-6003 flares for landing on R06.

KLM Embraer PH-EZA training at Shannon

It never rains but it pours! For the second day in a row Shannon had a visit from an Embraer 190, this time in the shape of KLM Cityhopper's PH-EZA which spent the day at the airport on a crew training detail.

The aircraft was delivered on November 8 last and is msn 19000224. Shortly before 16.00 hrs the aircraft returned to Amsterdam. Pictured above KLM 7360 lines up "to take it from Alpha".

Air Dolimiti takes delivery of I-ADJK

Shannon is normally too far north to be considered as a stop off on eastbound deliveries from the Embraer factory. But not today. This morning Air Dolimiti Embraer 195, msn 19000245, registered I-ADJK stopped off in Shannon on it's ferry to Italy. The full routing for the delivery flight, (courtesy of Skyliner) which began on Friday last was Sao Jose Dos Campos - Recife - Sal - Gran Canaria - Shannon - Villafranca.

Having arrived in Shannon at 11.45, I-ADJK departed just before 14.30. Pictured above, flight DLA 9502 taxis up Delta2 after landing. The hex code for I-ADJK is 300393.

Google Jet at Shannon

Google's corporate runaround B767-238ER N2767, msn 23896 has been in Shannon since midweek. The aircraft which is registered to Blue City Holdings but operated on behalf of Google has been at Shannon Aerospace since it's arrival on Wednesday. This morning the aircraft carried out a brief test flight before returning to the field for a touch and go and full stop.

Pictured above N2767 backtracks on R24 for departure.

Sun Country receive N241CL

Sun Country Airlines has taken delivery of Boeing 737-73V registered N241CL. The aircraft is msn 30241 and is an ex easyJet machine. It was ferried Lasham-Shannon-Minneapolis today using flight number SCX 7100 on it's transponder.

N241CL is seen in the colour (?) picture above landing on Shannon's R24 this afternoon.

MPH 621 diverts to Shannon

Today's Martinair flight MPH 621 routing Amsterdam to Juan Gualberto Gomez Intl in Cuba diverted into Shannon. The flight which was operated by B767-300 PH-MCG was west of Shannon when the aircraft diverted, landing at 15.23. The reason for the diversion was presumably medical as no emergency vehicles were in attendance on the runway. The aircraft departed Shanon at 17.52. Pictured above, PH-MCG lands on a very wet R24 this afternoon.

Ryanair baggage policy unsettles Duty Free

World Duty Free (WDF) which operates Duty Free franchises at major UK airports including Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted has expressed it's concern to Ryanair about the airline's proposed clampdown on baggage allowances.

Delegates at the European Retail Travel Council business forum in Brussles were told that WDF had some problems in Stansted a few weeks ago where passengers returned to the Duty Free seeking a refund when they couldn't fit their purchases in to their hand baggage. The alternative was to pay the £30 fee which makes the purchases unattractive. WDF did explain that they have had issues with other airlines at other airports but 'the issues lie mainly with Ryanair'.

WDF have calculated the impact of the measure being enforced to the 'letter of the law' and predict a significant reduction in income. At some airports, 90% of their sales are to passengers on low fares airlines.

The fear among retailers is that other airlines will follow suit which will decimate sales.

Ryanair number 2 at Malta

Malta International Airport handled 3.11m passengers in 2008, a 4.7% YoY increase. The largest operator at the airport was Air Malta who carried 1.74m passengers. Ryanair were in second place with 394,000, ahead of easyJet (169,000) and Lufthansa (114,000). 

The airport expects a 5.5% drop in numbers for 2009.

Ryanair postpones Newquay - Alicante

Ryanair have today announced that the airline is postponing the start of it's Newquay - Alicante service until June due to delayed aircraft deliveries from Boeing. The route was due to resume in March but delays in Boeing deliveries caused firstly by the machinists strike and then a quality problem with strip nuts has left the airline short an aircraft to operate the route. The airline's Stansted - Newquay route will be unaffected by the frame shortage and will recommence as planned in March. Operations at the airport were halted late last year when the CAA refused to approve upgrades which were carried out to the airport's facilities on handover from military to civil operation.

Taxi chaos on the cards for Dublin Airport?

Ryanair today called on the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) and the Government to ensure that passenger access to Dublin airport is unhindered in the event of a strike by taxi drivers going ahead on Monday next.

The drivers who are members of union SIPTU are involved in a dispute which has nothing whatsoever to do with Dublin Airport. The union is in dispute with the Taxi Regulator over the fact that the drivers have no right to appeal decisions from the Regulators office. As a result, SIPTU has decided to 'launch a campaign to secure the right to an appeals process'. There is no indication at this stage what format the 'campaign' will follow, other than it is planned to take place between 07.00am and 11.00am.

It does seem inequitable for any regulatory process not to have an appeals procedure, but surely Dublin Airport on a Monday morning is not the place to wash the nation's dirty laundry, especially at a time when our international 'face' is so important. 

Ryanair calls for reduction in fees at Dublin

Ryanair have called on the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) to reduce the passenger handling fee at Dublin airport by 30%. Citing route closures and airline departures from the capital's airport, the airline says passengers are going elsewhere to avoid 'high cost Dublin Airport'.

Ryanair also reject the DAA's claim that fuel surcharges are to blame for a 9% decline in passenger numbers at Dublin in December, since very few passengers using the airport actually pay a surcharge. The airline further predicts that the implementation of the €10 travel tax in April will further reduce numbers at Dublin in the coming year.

BmiBaby drop CRK-BHX

Bmi Bbay announced today that they will be dropping the Birmingham - Cork route from their network at the end of March. The move comes as the result of a new Birmingham - Newquay route which commence as part of the airline's summer schedule. Intending passengers who were booked to travel with the airline on the Cork route after March 29 will be contacted by the airline with the offer of a refund or alternative ticketing.

Cork achieves passenger record for 2008

Cork Airport set a new record in 2008 with 3.25m passengers using the facility. The figure represents a 2.5% increase over 2007 and brought an additional 80,000 passengers through Cork during the year.

London traffic grew 4% to 927,000 with provincial UK airport traffic growing 26% to 669,000. Continental European passenger numbers were static over 2007 at 869,000.

Domestic traffic suffered a 10% decline to 443,00 passengers during the year.

Shannon has had better years

Shannon fared rather worse than the other airports under the DAA umbrella in 2008. A total of 3.1m passengers travelled through Shannon last year, a 12% drop over 2007. The Shannon Airport Authority put the drop in numbers down to the implementation of the EU - US Open Skies agreement and the loss of the Heathrow slots. The Authority however feel that they have a plan in place to mitigate against these circumstances and in fact note that with the partial return of the Heathrow slots that the airport now has better conectivity with Europe than ever before when the CityJet service to Paris is taken into consideration.

In 2008, transatlantic traffic fell 23% YoY and terminal traffic fell 10%.

The outlook for 2009 is quite promising if not challenging. The opening of the full US Customs and Border Patrol pre clearance facility in July will be the first such facility outside the Continental Americas. Four transatlantic carriers are commmitted to serving the airport this summer with Aer Lingus, Continental, Delta and US Airways. While Delta have decided to drop the Shannon - Atlanta route this year they have committed to serving New York on a year round basis.

2008 was Dublin's busiest year

The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) has issued it's year end analysis of passenger numbers at Dublin Airport. 2008 was the airport's busiest year to date with a total of 23.5m passengers passing through. This represents a 1% increase over 2007. Strong growth of 5% in the first half of 2008 was offset by a 3% decline in the second half.

The strongest performance came from Transatlantic services which saw passenger numbers grow 14% to 1.4m in the wake of the full implementation of the EU-US Open Skies agreement. Middle East routes also saw a good growth of 8% to 250,000 passengers. The UK and European markets which still represent the largest markets are more mature markets and exhibited less spectacular performance. The UK declined 1% to 8.6m with other European routes growing 1% to 12m.

Domestic traffic contracted by 5% during the year to 870,000 which may well be as a result of the improvement in the national road network with additional 'M' standard roads opening during the year. This coupled to the difficulties of getting in and out of Dublin airport due to M50 upgrade works may well have tipped the balance for some prospective passengers.

The DAA see 2009 being a challenge and say that they have introduced 'a very attractive route and market support scheme ' to assist in route development, especially on underdeveloped markets.  

CityJet add EI-RJY

Air France subsidiary CityJet have added another RJ-85 to their fleet. The aircraft is registered EI-RJY,msn E2307, hex code 4CA6AC and had been noted crew training in the UK since Thursday of last week using the flight number BCY100T. Yesterday evening the aircraft positioned from Norwich to Paris DeGaulle using trip number BCY065P.

THY increase frequncy on Dublin route.

In a reversal of the doom and gloom that greets us on a daily basis, Turkish airline THY is increasing frequency on it's Dublin route. The airline presently serves the Istanbul - Dublin route five times per week - all days except Wednesday and Saturday. From the start of April a new Wednesday and Saturday service will commence.

Ryanair officically withdraws bid

In a brief statement to the stock exchange this afternoon, Ryanair officially withdrew it's bid for Aer Lingus following the refusal of the Irish government to sell it's share in the former state airline. Shares in Ryanair closed up 3% this evening at €3.10.

The fat lady hasn't sung on this particular episode yet with Ryanair's high court action against the Takeover Panel to be heard early next week. The action relates to the ITP's direction to public broadcaster RTE in which the Takeover Panel requested the cancellation of a live televised debate between Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary and Aer Lingus Chief Executive Dermot Mannion.

Meanwhile, Aer Lingus have called on staff at the airline to come together to build a better airline as they expect Ryanair to mount another bid at some stage in the future. The 'call to arms' came in the form of a  webcast from Chief Executive Dermot Mannion and Chief Financial Officer Sean Coyle which was emailed to staff yesterday.

United pilots unhappy with JV

CNBC's Jane Wells reports that pilots in United Airlines are unhappy about the Aer Lingus / United joint venture announced last week. The pilots have described the arrangment as 'outsourcing'. In a letter sent last week, Captain Steve Wallach who represents pilots at the Air Line Pilots Association said that 

"The day after reporting one of it's worst quarterly financial results in history and furloughing an additional 254 piltos (bringing the total to 606 pilots), United Airlines announced today that it has entered into what it calls an 'innovative' partnership with Aer Lingus. Aer Lingus has advised the Irish press that this joint venture will operate an Aer Lingus aircraft with neither United nor Aer Lingus employees..."

It should be noted that the Aer Lingus press release does not imply that the aircraft will be crewed by other than Aer Lingus nor has any mention been made in any of the Irish press to this effect. 

Ireland West Board change

Ireland West Airport, Knock has announced that Joe Kennedy, Chairman of the Board for the past 6 1/2 years is to retire. He will however stay on for the foreseeable future as Honorary President.

Mr. Kennedy will be succeeded by the former Group Managing Director of the airport, Joe Scollan.

EI-EBA and EI-DYZ delivered to Ryanair

The backlog at Boeing is certainly moving now as Ryanair received two more B737-8AS today. The aircraft are EI-DYZ, msn 37518, hex code 4CA6FD and EI-EBA, msn 37516, hex code 4CA6FE. The aircraft were delivered to Dublin from Boeing Field, making the customary lunchtime arrival.

BA reconfirms LCY-SNN-JFK

Speaking in Hyderabad, India today, British Airways Chief Executive Willie Walsh confirmed that the premium only service linking London City with JFK would be pushing ahead this autumn. Mr. Walsh also confirmed that the service which will fuel stop in Shannon and avail of full US pre clearance on the westbound leg had been reviewed in light of the current economic climate but the decision to implement the service was unchanged. 

The service will be charged at a premium over and above flights originating in Heathrow  as research has shown that passengers are willing to pay the difference. It is expected that BA's overall London-JFK capacity will be reviewed once the LCY service commences.

Passengers will be able to send text messages and use the internet aboard the flights, a move which represents the first use by a UK airline of live communications on a transatlantic flight.