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.

Air Ambulance set up costs revealed

Northern Ireland based air ambulance charity 'Ireland Air Ambulance' spent almost 90% of it's first year funding in set up costs without having government backing it has been revealed. The operation which intends to launch a cross border air ambulance service in November of this year raised £700,000 in it's first year but spent over £500,000 in buying and managing thousands of charity collection boxes.

Northern Ireland's Health Minister, Michael McGimpsey said that he had 'no plans to provide for a publicly funded air ambulance service', adding that the priority is to modernise and upgrade the road ambulance service to allow it to provide the best possible outcome for patients. He also confirmed that officials from his department had met with the helicopter service, known as Alpha 5 but with no commitment being given by the DoH to support the project.

The £500,000 was spent on buying and providing security for 15,000 collection boxes along with operating an office in West Belfast and hiring a full time member of staff.

A spokesman for IAA siad that while the organisation would like to see 100% of funding being directed towards the operating costs of the helicpter and crew there were costs associated with setting up the charity which could not be avoided but which would be minimised.

EW-283PA visits Shannon

Belarussian carrier Belavia's latest aircraft operated a return Minsk - Shannon flight tonight. The aircraft, a B737-3Q8 is msn 26333 and registered EW-283PA. Pictured above, the aircraft is seen about to touch down on R06 for it's first appearance in Shannon. EW-283PA carries hex code 510049 and is ADS-B equipped.

Aer Lingus winter schedule

Further details of the Aer Lingus winter schedule have been announced, completing the picture from last week.

Dublin will lose two aircraft to a base strength of 22 frames. Two new routes - Dublin to Fuerteventura and Dublin to Monastir will commence October 25.

Effective October 25, an A320 will be based at Shannon to allow the Heathrow route increase capacity to three flights per day, subject to slot availability.

At Cork, Manchester, Birmingham, Lanzarote and Tenerife will see frequencies increase.

At Belfast, base strength will drop from 3 to 2 aircraft with 6 routes being suspended for the winter. One new route - Belfast to Tenerife will commence during the winter.

One additional aircraft will be based at Gatwick for the winter to allow a total of 118 round trips per week to be operated.

To cope with the excess cabin and flight crew the airline has already commenced offering unpaid leave. Any surplus crew remaining after the uptake will be dealt with 'in the context of the broader cost reduction plan which will be rolled out shortly', according to the airline.

UK CAA May passenger numbers

The UK CAA has published traffic figures for May 2009.

Once again the key London area traffic to the three state airports has shown a significant YoY decline.

From Dublin, Gatwick traffic which is split between Ryanair and Aer Lingus showed a 7% YoY decline at 89,027 which was marginally down on the April figure. Heathrow and Stansted both showed negative trends with LHR down 14% to 131,191 passengers and Stansted (a Ryanair preserve) down 20% to 65,862. Luton was down 2% YoY at 29,321. In total, Dublin's traffic to the 'Big 4' London area airports was down 13.8% .

At Cork, Gatwick traffic was down 3% to 9,652. Heathrow was down 14% to 40,630 while Stansted, again a Ryanair preserve took a hit, down 12% to 23,676. In total, Cork's London traffic was down 12.4% YoY for the month.

Shannon has fared similar to Dublin and Cork with Gatwick traffic down 5% YoY at 17,160 and Stansted down 17%, to 24,536.

May was the second full month on the reinstated Heathrow - Shannon route. A total of 11,838 passengers were carried for the month as against 11,381 in April which had one less calendar day.

A total of 108 sectors were flown, but this month the aircraft type was split between A321 and A320. The monthly total of passengers flown therefore equates to a load factor of 54.7% when the mix of 174 seat A320 and 212 seat A321 is taken into consideration.

In Belfast, City Airport bucked many, many months of decline on the key LHR route (a BMI domain) with numbers growing 9% YoY to 46,352. The shocker though is Aer Arann's Cork - Belfast City route which saw passenger numbers drop 28% YoY to 2,964.

At Belfast International, Aer Lingus LHR figures have shown a 13% gain YoY to 23,715.

flyNiki's OE-IHB visits Shannon

flyNiki's latest acquisition, Embraer 190AR OE-IHB made it's first revenue flight today arriving in Shannon on flight NLY4996. The aircraft made a three hop delivery flight from Brazil, arriving in Vienna on Thursday from Las Palmas. The aircraft is msn 190.00294 and wears hex code 4403EE. Pictured above, OE-IHB is seen on finals to R24 at Shannon this morning.

EI-EDY delivered to Aer Lingus

Aer Lingus has taken delivery of it's latest aircraft, EI-EDY an A330-302, msn 1025. The aircraft arrived in Dublin on it's delivery flight, arriving at 00.55 am local this morning. Aer Lingus wasted no time getting the aircraft into service as it departed Dublin at 11.45 local to operate flight EIN 133 to Boston via Shannon. Pictured above in the copyright pictures by Michael Kelly, EI-EDY, 'St. Munchin', departs off Dublin's R28. The hex code for EI-EDY is 4CA782

N811NW diverts to Shannon

Today's Northwest Airlines flight NWA 821 operating between Rome Fiumicino and Atlanta diverted into Shannon at lunchtime today after a crew member noted smoke in the passenger cabin. The flight operated by Airbus A330-323X, msn 0690, and registered N811NW was off the southwest coast when it declared emergency and diverted to Shannon, landing on R06 at 12.25 utc. The aircraft with 285 passengers and crew was followed down the runway by the Shannon Airport Fire and Rescue Service. The crew reported high temperature readings from the number 6 brake which was reading in excess of 600 degrees and smoking several minutes after parking on stand. The aircraft was eventually given the all clear and departed Shannon for Atlanta at 17.00 utc. Pictured above, N811NW is seen departing R06 at Taxiway Charlie.

Employer's group IBEC call for end to travel tax

Employer's group IBEC today echoed the calls earlier in the week from Ryanair and Aer Lingus to drop the €10 travel tax implemented by the October 2008 budget. IBEC's travel executive Paul Sweetman said

'The Irish Government must act to ease the cost burden on Irish airlines and promote essential connectivity to global destinations. The recently introduced Air Travel Tax should be immediately re-examined. With passenger numbers falling and the tourism sector being hit hard, it is questionable whether the Air Travel Tax is bringing any net benefit to the exchequer. The Department of Finance should undertake a detailed cost-benefit analysis of the tax, in light of the dramatic changes in domestic and global economies.

Ryanair today took out full page advertisements in the national press portraying Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Brian Cowen and Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan as Laurel and Hardy in an effort to cajole the government to dropping the travel tax.

Aer Lingus, Delta announce trans Atlantic cut backs

Aer Lingus said today that it was cutting winter capacity on it's trans Atlantic routes by 25%, compared to last year in an effort to cut costs. From September 1, the airline's Shannon - Chicago route will be axed for the winter while it's Dublin to San Francisco and Dublin to Washington routes will be suspended from October 25. The four weekly Shannon - New York flights are under close scrutiny according to Aer lingus which says that average long haul fares were down 19% in Q1 due to lack of consumer confidence and weakened economic conditions on both sides of the Atlantic.

SIPTU, the country's largest trade union said that the decision by Aer Lingus was 'madness' with the union's President Jack O'Connor adding that the airline should never have been privatised.

Ryanair too criticised the move with Stephen McNamara saying that his airline 'regrets the cut backs at Aer Lingus as they represent a step backwards not forwards. Today's announcement highlights the mistake the board and government made when they rejected Ryanair's January offer which promised to double the Aer Lingus fleet to over 60 aircraft, thereby creating 1,000 new jobs.'

Today's announcement is a double blow for Shannon after Delta Airlines announced yesterday that it was cutting the Shannon - New York route from October next.

A6-PHH delivered to AVE.com

Boeing 737-3Q8 registered A6-PHH was delivered ex Shannon today to Dubai based AVE.com. The aircraft is the former Thomson aircraft G-THOF, msn 26314 and arrived in Shannon on lease handback on January 23 last. Subsequent to it's arrival the aircraft became a 'white tail' and spent many weeks in open storage with several trips to the Air Atlanta hangar.

The aircraft finally departed Shannon at lunchtime today for Sharjah via Sabiha Gokcen in Turkey using flight number TOM 9231 on it's transponder and hex code 896259. Pictured above A6-PHH departs the Air Atlanta hangar for the last time yesterday lunchtime for Taxiway Fox.

Breakthrough in Lufthansa Technik talks

RTE news reports that there has been a breakthrough in talks between unions and management at Lufthansa Technik's Rathcoole Co. Dublin plant tonight. Earlier today the company had said that it would issue protective notice to 400 workers at the company due to a refusal by unions to implement previously agreed working practices. After 11 hours of talks today a clarification document was agreed which would facilitate implementation of new working practices. Earlier this year workers at the plant had agreed proposals to secure the future of the plant with a €28m investment program but management had claimed that employees had failed to honour the agreement with the result that work had been turned away from the plant.

Ryanair call on government to scrap tax

Ryanair once again today called on the Irish government to scrap the €10 tourist tax introduced in last October's budget. Quoting figures from Airport Council International which state that every 1 million passengers at an airport sustain 1,00 jobs, Ryanair points out that over 1 million less passengers passed through Irish airports in the first 5 months of this year which will cause an annual job loss of 2,500. The attendant revenue loss will be an annual €1.5bn based on Failte Ireland's figure of €600 spend per passenger during their time in Ireland.

As the airlines don't make any money from the tourist tax and with the calls to scrap the tax reaching crescendo point the government's continued refusal to move on the tax can only be seen as plain stupidity at this time when the gain to the exchequer is a mere €125m.

T1X at Dublin Airport

A new €54m extension to Terminal 1 came into operation at Dublin Airport in April.

According to the DAA, 'T1X provides more circulation space for passengers and additional airside retail and catering options for travellers. T1X offers a much improved route for passengers using Pier A and Pier D and a greatly enhanced choice of shops, cafes and restaurants.'

Upstair over the Starbucks coffee shop is a new Burger King with panoramic views over the Apron and R28/10. Thanks to Michael Kelly for the above pictures.

EI-EFI joins Ryanair fleet

EI-EFI became the latest to join the Ryanair when it arrived in Dublin at lunchtime yesterday. The aircraft is msn 35013 ans wears hex code 4CA764 and is pictured above in the copyright picture by Michael Kelly taxiing after arrival.

IAA publish May figures

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has today published the traffic figures from May 2009.

En route traffic was down 12% YoY for the month.

North Atlantic HF traffic was down 1-% YoY.

Commercial air traffic movements at the three state airports reported declines as follows :

• Dublin -14.8% YoY for the month.
• Shannon -21.6% YoY for the month and
• Cork -27.9% YoY for the month.

Year to date, end of May

en route traffic is down 8.2%

North Atlantic HF traffic is down 7.8%

Commercial terminal movements at the three state airports are all down :

• Dublin -17.7%
• Shannon -11.9%
• Cork -25.6%

Combined movements at the three state airports are down 14.3%

Irish register to June 10

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has published the latest edition of the Irish Civil Register which is in Excel format at : register

Aer lingus calls on government to drop travel tax

Aer Lingus Chairman Colm Barrington has written to the Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan requesting that the government drop the €10 travel tax which was introduced in last October's budget. Mr. Barrington said that it was his strong belief that the tax was costing the country dear and that it posed the possibility of route cuts at the airline next winter. Aer Lingus has written to the government on two previous occasions but the latest letter has the most ominous warning yet. In his letter Mr. Barringtonsays that the tax is having a 'significant bearing' on the ability of the airline to operate a full schedule next winter with advance bookings and projected returns well behind those of previous winters. The routes reportedly most at risk are long haul routes including Dublin to Washington and San Fransisco and all routes out of Shannon.

Aer Lingus announce 6 new Gatwick routes

Aer Lingus has announced the introduction of 6 new routes from it's London Gatwick hub. Flights will commence on October 25 to Bucharest, Eindhoven, Tenerife, Lanzarote and Warsaw and from September 10 Vilnius will be served. The Gatwick - Nice route will be dropped for the winter months.

Ryanair to send booking ref by SMS

Ryanair announced today that in conjunction with airline software solution provider 15 Below it was introducing a text service whereby passengers can have their booking reference sent to their mobile phone for €1 or £1. It will be interesting to see how many avail of the service as quite a number of passengers use their mobile phone to store booking references which are almost never asked for at check in.

Aer Lingus Passenger numbers for May

Aer Lingus released it's May passenger statistics on Friday last, June 5 which coincided with the AGM and the local and European elections which may explain the lack of media coverage.

For the month the airline carried 972,000 passengers, up 2.7% YoY on May 2008. Short haul numbers were up 6% YoY and long haul was down a massive 21% YoY.

Network load factor was down 2.4% YoY.

Short haul at 78% was down 2.2% YoY for the month with capacity being reduced 14.9% YoY.

Long haul load factor at 66.2% was down 5% YoY against a capacity reduction of 19.3% YoY.

Shannon Aerospace secures line maintenance deal with BAW

Shannon Aerospace has announced that it has secured a line maintenance contract with British Airways. The contract relates to the eleven technical stops per week by A318 aircraft when British Airways commences it's business only London City - New York service later this year. The flights will make a westbound stop at Shannon for fuel and to allow passengers avail of full US Customs and Border Protection clearance at Shannon. Shannon Aerospace already provides line maintenance to Continental Airlines, Delta Airlines and US Airways.

Niki on Shannon summer series

The low cost carriers killed off what used to be a major airlift of tourists to Ireland's mid west during summer weekends in the 1980s and 1990s. A summer's Saturday in Shannon used to be characterised by the likes of AeroLloyd, Hapag Lloyd, Deutsche BA and Condor among others, who between them often operated upwards of 8 or 9 flights throughout the day. Nowadays the summer 'airlift' is restricted to two or three flights at best. This year, the Niki Lauda - Air Berlin joint venture - Niki - is one of the more interesting movements on Saturday morning. Flight NLY 4996 / 7 operates a return Vienna - Shannon - Vienna flight using A319 aircraft to date. Niki operate two A319 aircraft which are seldom seen on this side of the English Channel. The flight number is also a legacy of the former Lauda Air which operated flights to Shannon as Lauda or latterly as Austrian 4996 / 4997. Pictured above, this morning's arrival A319-112 OE-LEK is seen leaving R06 on the newly opened Taxiway Charlie which is a resurfaced portion of the old R17 put into operation to facilitate resurfacing of the R24 turntable and threshold.

Romanian Air Force Herc 5930 makes return visit

The venerable Hercules keeps on truckin'. One of the oldest living examples to visit in many a year turned up in Shannon on a surprise return visit yesterday evening. The aircraft is a C-130B msn 3576 and dates back to a 1960 delivery when it appeared as serial 59-1530. Having gone through successive operators with the USAF the aircraft spent just over 3 years in storage at Davis Monthan in the early 90's before being delivered through Shannon to the Romanian Air Force in 1996 as serial 5930. Yesterday flight ROF 321 caused an adrenalin rush on arrival, in no small part for the fact that it has no hex code showing ! Pictured above, 5930 is seen departing off R06 this morning for it's westbound trans Atlantic leg.

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.

SRT reverses decision for Middle East sale

SR Techincs is understood to have reversed a decision made mid May to sell it's APU and landing gear overhaul business to a sister company Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies. The original decision angered the Tanaiste (Deputy Prime minister) Mary Coughlan who is also Minister for Enterprise.

APU, Landing Gear, Base maintenance and training business units will be sold to Conor McCarthy's Dublin Aerospace company which was set up for the purpose of acquiring SRT business. The new facility will be located beside Dublin Airport and is expected to employ 250 in a venture which it is understood will involve upwards of $30m investment over 5 years. Existing customer contracts will not be transferred with the new venture.

O'Leary cashes in 5m shares

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary is understood to have sold 5 million shares in the airline towards the end of this week, yielding almost €19m. O'Leary is the biggest single individual shareholder in the airline, holding 65m shares at the end of FY 2008. Shares in Ryanair closed yesterday at €3.755, relatively undisturbed by the sale.

Meanwhile over at Aer Lingus shares in the airline closed down almost 10% yesterday at €0.65 after the airline's chairman Colm Barrington told shareholders at the AGM that it faced it's most difficult period since it started trading 73 years ago. At the meeting Mr. Barrington was pressed by shareholders and reporters as to why he doesn't own shares in the airline. 'What I buy for my own portfolio is my own business', he said, adding that his commitment to the airline should not be determined on the basis of his shareholding or non shareholding in the company.

EI-EFH joins Ryanair fleet

Ryanair's latest aircraft B737-8AS EI-EFH arrived in Dublin this afternoon on delivery. The aircraft is msn 35012 and carries hex code 4CA763. Pictured above in the copyright picture by Michael Kelly, EI-EFH is seen on finals to R10 in Dublin in the midst of a torrential downpour. A few minutes before the Ryanair landed two other aircraft, including the Aer Lingus EIN 164 operated by A321 EI-CPC reported lightning strikes. The Aer Lingus flight was in climb out through FL070 when it was struck. The crew elected to return to the airport where the aircraft was checked out before returning to service later in the evening as EIN 498 to Faro.

Pat Breen calls for mid west air ambulance

Fine Gael TD and Deputy Spokesman on Foreign Affairs has called for the establishment of an air ambulance service for the Mid West region. The call came as a result of the recent decision to refer accident and emergency trauma cases from County Clare to the Mid West Regional hospital in Limerick. Western parts of Clare which had previously been served by Ennis hospital are quite remote from Limerick with almost one third of the county's population outside the 'golden hour' for trauma services. Plans to establish an all Ireland Air Ambulance service have recently been put in place but the facility is a charity and requires €85,000 per month in funding to operate. The government's position is that the Irish Air Corps, supported by the Irish Coast Guard provides an air ambulance service but only for certain categories of injuries.

Minister Dempsey publishes Aviation (Pre Clearance bill 2009

Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey published the Aviation (Pre Clearance) Bill 2009 this week. The legislation when it comes into force will allow the establishment of full US customs and border pre clearance at Shannon airport from July 2009 and at Dublin from November 2010. Once established, Shannon will be the first airport outside of continental America, Aruba, Bermuda and the Bahamas to offer full CBP clearance. At present both Dublin and Shannon offer pre inspection. Publication of the 2009 Bill was necessary to ensure the opening of the facility at Shannon prior to the Dail (Irish Parliament) summer recess. British Airways has announced that it will be availing of the Shannon facility on westbound legs of it's new business only service form London City to New York when it commences this autumn.