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.