Aer Arann in discussion with investors

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

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

YV1771 visits Cork

Depending on your viewpoint, Cork had one of the star movements of the year yesterday when Venezuelan IAI 1125 Astra YV1771 visited.

The aircraft is msn 077 and was built in 1995. Pictured in the copyright pictures by Paul Daly, YV1771 is seen on the ramp at Cork Airport yesterday during it's fuel stop. The aircraft routed Madrid - Cork - St. Johns - Fort Lauderdale.

IAA publish July figures

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) today published the traffic figures for the month of July and there are no surprises.

Enroute traffic for the month was down 9% YoY for the month.

North Atlantic HF communications were down 7%.

Commercial air traffic movement s at the three state airports were down as follows : Dublin -16% YoY, Shannon -18% YoY and Cork -26% YoY.

Year to date end of July en route traffic is down 8%, HF traffic is down 8%. Commercial terminal movements at the three state airports are down as follows : Dublin -14%, Cork -26% and Shannon -14% with a combined total at the three airports showing a 15% YoY YTD decline.

For July Airport Terminal Movements were as follows : Dublin 16,019 (-17%), Cork 4,530 (-24%) and Shannon 3,084 (-23.1%)

Aer Lingus July Passenger Figures

Aer Lingus has published it's traffic figures for July 2009. Total passenger numbers for the month were 1,117,000 which represented an 8.2% YoY increase for the month.

Short haul passengers totaled 1,004,000 which is an 11.2% YoY increase for the month and represents a load factor of 85.6%, an increase of 0.4% YoY.

Long haul passenger numbers are still under pressure with the monthly total reaching just 113,000 a 12.45 decrease on July 2008. Long haul load factor at 77% represents a drop of 4% on last July.

Short haul capacity was 12.8% higher YoY for the month while long haul capacity was down 12.7% YoY.

Network load factor was 82.3%, down 1.0% YoY while total capacity was up 1.5%

BALPA temporarily suspend campaign at Ryanair

On Friday last, Ryanair welcomed the decision by BALPA (British Airlines Pilots Association) to 'temporarily suspend' it's campaign for union recognition among the UK based Ryanair pilots. According to the airline, BALPA wrote to Ryanair on June 19 last seeking to impose union recognition among the pilot's group. Ryanair told the union 'to go away' on the basis that it negotiates directly with the pilots as evidenced by the fact that the four pay and condition agreement with cockpit crew has been recently extended.

According to the airline, BALPA 'wouldn't take the hint' and threatened to refer the matter to the CAC (Central Arbitration Committee) who would have had the power to force a secret ballot among pilots to see if they wanted union recognition. When BALPA failed to get any support among pilots it decided to suspend it's campaign.

Ryanair's Direct of Personnel, Eddie Wilson commenting on the matter said “Perhaps now would be a good time for BALPA – the British Airways Lunching Pilots Association – to accept that Ryanair’s UK pilots have better pay, better terms and conditions and better rosters than the pay cuts and job losses being negotiated by BALPA at many other British airlines. This is why Ryanair’s UK pilots don’t need and don’t want the “help” of a failed BA pilots union, which last year spent four times more on lunches, conferences, entertainment and travel (£886,000) than they did on legal fees defending their members (£191,000).

EI-EWR becomes PK-YVI

Aer Lingus A330-202 EI-EWR, msn 330 has had it's registration changed to PK-YVI in readiness for delivery to it's new operator - Indonesia's Batavia Air. The carrier shich started operations in 2002 operates mostly on domestic routes. Regional international routes covered are Guanzhou in China and Kuching in Malaysia. The operator had planned to start operations to Jeddah on Monday August 10 using two A330-202 aircraft, EI-EWR and the former Volare and Air Madrd, Air Comet aircraft msn 212 which was registered I-VLED, EC-IYN and EC-KIM. With 'EWR still sitting in Shannon minus one engine this date now looks unlikely.

EC-KUL / EC-KVI arrive in Shannon for paint

ATR72-212A registered EC-KUL (msn 809) along with sister ship EC-KVI (msn 824), both operated by Swiftair arrived in Shannon this afternoon. Both aircraft are to be painted in the colours of Greek operator Aegean Airlines at the Lufthansa Shannon Aircraft Paint hangar. It is not know if the aircraft are to be sold to Aegean or leased in their Spanish registrations. No doubt all will be revealed shortly !

XA-PTR makes fuel stop in Shannon

Mexican Challenger 601-3R registered XA-PTR made a quick 'splash 'n dash' at Shannon today. The aircraft, msn 5165 and is 1994 build. Pictured above the aircraft is seen on D2 taxiing for a R24 departure a little over 30 minutes after landing.

Google's B757 N1757 visits Shannon

Although Shannon has had several visits from Google's B767 it was a first visit when the company's B757-23A called on Friday. The aircraft is registered N1757, msn 24923 and was built in 1990. The aircraft has spent it's entire operational life in the executive configuration. Prior to becoming N1757 it was registered N756AF to Paul Allen one of the Microsoft founders. Pictured above N1757 is seen on finals to R24 Friday afternoon

S5-BAV visits Shannon and Dublin

Slovenian operator Linx Air's Cessna Citation 560XL registered S5-BAV (msn 560-5660) arrived in Shannon yesterday afternoon. At lunchtime today the aircraft departed Shannon for Dublin and is pictured above taxiing for a R24 departure.

Celine Dion's Global Express N701WH visits Shannon

Global Express N701WH msn 9010 stopped off in Shannon this evening. The aircraft, operated by Vesey Air on behalf of owner Celine Dion arrived from Kigali International in Rwanda making it one of the longer biz jet hops to terminate in Shannon in recent times. Pictured above N701WH is seen on finals to R24 in what passes for summer weather in the west of Ireland.

N701WH has visited Shannon in the past in the spectacular colour scheme of designer 'shades' manufacturer Oakley.

Pictured below in the copyright picture by Malcolm Nason the aircraft is seen when it visited the airport in December 2003.

N754AN diverts to Shannon

This morning's American Airlines flight AAL 70 routing Dallas Fort Worth to Frankfurt diverted into Shannon in the early hours. The flight, operated by B777-200 N754AN arrived in Shannon at 03.38 utc and departed again for Frankfurt at 05.32 utc.

SX-OAJ makes early morning departure

Catching some off guard, Olympic Air's A319 registered SX-OAJ departed Shannon for Athens at approximately 08.15L this morning. The aircraft, msn 3905 had been rolled out of the Lufthansa Shannon Paint hangar yesterday. Pictured above in the copyright picture by Malcolm Nason, SX-OAJ is seen shortly after roll out. Curiously the aircraft used flight number AEE 001 on it's transponder on departure from Shannon. Either Olympic are poaching Airbus pilots from Aegean or else Aegean's AOC was used for the ferry to Athens !

A picture of SX-OAJ landing at Athens can be found at SX-OAJ

CBP facility opens at Shannon Airport

It was another milestone in the history of Shannon Airport today when full US Customs and Border Protection clearance was implemented. Passengers using the new facility will arrive in the US as domestic passengers and will not be required to undergo any further checks on arrival.

Shannon is the first airport in the world outside the US, Canada and Aruba to implement full CBP clearance.

Speaking at the start of the service today, Director of Shannon Airport Martin Moroney said that "this is an historic day for our airport and, indeed, a milestone moment in Irish - US relations".

As of today's introduction, commercial airlines will be able to avail of the service. The extension to GA and business jets will commence later in the year.

Aer Lingus wins British Government contract

Aer Lingus has won a lucrative two year deal to fly civil servants on the London Heathrow - Belfast International route. The contract is estimated to be worth £500,000 per year.

The Department of Finance and Personnel in the Northern Ireland Civil Service confirmed to the BBC that in a nine month period last year, civil servants took a total of 2,584 trips with bmi from Belfast City Airport to Heathrow. The resulting bill of £514,503 worked out at £199 per seat.

Less than 10% of civil servants chose the cheaper option of flying from Belfast International, 45 minutes from the City Centre.

The Department of Finance confirmed that it was long standing policy to avail of the most cost effective method travel.

Aer Lingus are reportedly considering adding a fourth daily flight on the Belfast International - Heathrow route as a result of winning the contract.

The taxi bill for ferrying civil servants to and from Belfast International could make interesting reading once the Aer Lingus contract starts !

AAIU issues report into crash of EI-WRN

The Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) of the Department of Transport today issued it's Final Report into the crash involving Piper PA28 EI-WRN at Trim airfield on August 20 2008.

On the day of the crash the pilot had intended flying from Trim Airfield to Weston Airport. In the initial climb out the engine suddenly stopped producing power. The pilot applied carburettor heat which restored engine power for a few seconds before it again cut out. The pilot elected to make a forced landing in a field of barley adjacent to the airfield where substantial damage was caused to the aircraft. Both the pilot and passenger were taken to hospital but did not sustain any injuries. There was no fire at the scene.

Substantial damage was caused to the aircraft during impact. The nose wheel had detached as had the port main wheel which was found under the port wing. The port flaps were damaged as were firewalls. One propeller blade was badly bent rearward whilst the second had a slight bend.

There were no propeller slash marks on the ground which indicated that the blade had been stationary at impact.

The investigation found that the engine could be restarted which indicated that there had been fuel in the carburettor at the time of the incident. However a Met Eireann aftercast for Trim Airfield indicated that the temperature of 16 degrees combined with a dew point of 12 degrees created a 'serious risk of carburettor icing at any power'. The pilot had reported that there had been no standing water on the runway at the time of the crash but that there had been dew on the runway.

Carburettor icing is caused by the refrigeration effect of fuel vaporization causing moisture in the inlet air to freeze. The temperature drop can be as high as 20 to 30 degrees. The ice gradually builds up in the carburettor venturi, reducing the 'breathing' ability of the engine. The engine consequently runs richer and richer until the point is reached where combustion is no longer possible due to oxygen starvation. During the taxi to the runway holding point the prop wash would have kicked moisture off the dew laden grass and increased the relative humidity around the engine. Although the pilot did apply carburettor heat during taxi the report finds that the 10 seconds that it was applied for was probably not sufficient to clear whatever ice was present. The report states that application of carburettor heat after the onset of icing can make matters worse by displacing air with water vapour. It is better to prevent icing from occurring in the first place by the application of heat.

In conclusion, the report finds that the crash was probably caused by carburettor icing upsetting the air / fuel ratio which in turn caused the engine to stop.

The report does not sustain any safety recommendations, although it does recommend that the pilots of all piston engine aircraft study useful information on the safety hazards associated with carburettor icing which can be found at : hazards

Ryanair post record monthly passenger numbers

Ryanair continue to buck the trend. The airline announced today that it's passenger numbers for July 2009 grew 19% YoY to 6.73m for the month. The figure which is a new monthly record for the carrier represents a an annualised total of 61.3m to the end of July.

YoY load factor for the month was static at 89% whilst that for the 12 months to end July stood at 82%.

N925JS fuel stops at Shannon

One of the more attractive colour schemes to grace a biz jet at Shannon in recent times made it's appearance this morning when N925JS made a fuel stop.

The aircraft, Gulfstream 4 msn 1269 is operated by Longevity Air LLC and sports a maze type logo on the tail as well as a globe logo behind the cockpit door. Pictured above, N925JS which was registered in February of this year is seen on 'Foxtrot' prior to it's departure.

D-APAD arrives in Shannon for Olympic Air

Privatair Germany A319-133LR registered D-APAD arrived in Shannon today to be prepared for delivery to Olympic Aviation. The aircraft, msn 1880 had been painted all white in Maastricht within the last week. A total of 7 A319, 6 A320 and 12 DHC-8 aircraft are at present being assembled at various MRO bases throughout Europe in preparation for the launch of Olympic Air by October 1.

Two former Privatair Germany A319 aircraft are currently at Shannon Aerospace : D-APAC, msn 1727 which will become SX-OAN and today's arrival D-APAD which will become SX-OAO. In addition A319 SX-OAJ, msn 3905 appeared from the Lufthansa Paint facility at Shannon today having shed it's Mexicana paintwork.

Pictured above, D-APAD taxis on R24 towards the Shannon Aerospace hangar on it's arrival from Maastricht.

Tristar N163AT visits Shannon

The demise of ATA Airlines, the former American Trans Air saw the end of regular Lockheed Tristar operations across the Atlantic. ATA had operated the aircraft type under contract to the USAF and were a regular visitor at Shannon using the REACH call sign. With the demise of the airline in early 2008, the Tristar had all but vanished from the North Atlantic.

Today Shannon had what is now an increasingly rare visit from a Lockheed Tristar in the shape of former ATA machine N163AT. The aircraft was making a return journey home in one sense. Originally built in 1982, the aircraft, a 500 series msn 1229 has a very short registration history. It was originally delivered to Alia, the forerunner of Royal Jordanian as JY-AGD before being bought by American Transair in July 1998. Following the failure of ATA the aircraft was ferried to Victorville in California for storage. In March of this year the aircraft was acquired by Jordanian operator Barq Aviation. Today's visit began in the early hours when the aircraft departed Phoenix, Arizona for Shannon. Pictured above, N163AT in basic ATA colours is seen on the roll, departing Shannon's R24 for Aqaba in Jordan.

Aer Lingus to delay aircraft acquistions

Aer Lingus announced today that it had delayed the delivery on A330 and A350 aircraft. The company confirmed that there was no cost penalty involved in pushing out the first of three A330 deliveries to Q3 2013 and the first A350 delivery to 2015. In addition, two leases will be exited early in an effort to cut capacity. One A330 be returned to the lessor in October of this year, 18 months ahead of schedule whilst another will be returned in March of next year, 14 months ahead of schedule.

One A330-300 will be accepted in April of next year which will bring long haul fleet strength to seven frames for it's own operations and one frame for the joint venture with United Airlines which is due to operate between Madrid and Washington.

Aer Lingus shares traded up 1% at €0.47, giving a market valuation of €253.6m.

Ryanair apologise for airport delays

Ryanair was forced to issue apologies on Sunday after 700 people missed their flights at Stansted Airport the previous day. While the airline blamed the delays on staff shortages at it's ground handling agent Swissport, a spokesperson for Stansted Airport said that they could not understand why the airline had opened just 11 bag drop desks on one of the busiest travel days of the year. The previous Saturday the airline had opened more than double the number of desks.

Meanwhile at Dublin Airport, the DAA had to allocate extra space to Ryanair passengers after queues of 40 minute duration formed at the check in desks on Saturday afternoon. Ryanair opened extra check in desks to ease the pressure.

A statement on the airline's web site said that Ryanair operates an on line check in service and that there is no reason for passengers to queue for airport check in. It would appear that the travelling public, especially occasional travellers are having difficulty in understanding the check in process, especially when it is in what would seem to be a constant state of evolution.

Both incidents are embarrassing for the airline, but especially the Dublin situation after the airline recently engaged in a public war of words with the DAA over security delays at Dublin Airport.

Ryanair announce finance deal worth $1.6bn

Ryanair announced Friday last, July 31 that it had arranged finance in a deal worth $1.6bn for 55 aircraft which are due to be delivered between November 2009 and October 2010, or one frame per week on average. The three bank syndicate consists of BNP Paribas and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, each of whom has underwritten 15 aircraft and Caylon which has underwritten 25 aircraft. Commenting on the deal, Ryanair's CFO Howard Millar said that it was a testimony to the financial strength of the airline and the reputation of the banking partners that a deal of this size could be put together in the current economic climate.

EI-DHO in birdstrike at City of Derry

Today's Ryanair flight RYR 1009 from City of Derry Airport to Birmingham operated by B737 EI-DHO diverted to Dublin after the aircraft suffered multiple bird strikes on departure from Derry. The aircraft made the landing at Dublin to enable Ryanair engineering staff assess the aircraft. A spokeswoman for City of Derry Airport said that no one was injured and that the passengers were transferred to another aircraft at Dublin which departed at approximately 15.00 utc.

JY-AAD delivered through Shannon

An early morning arrival at Shannon today was 'new' Jordanian Challenger 604 JY-AAD on it's delivery flight. The aircraft, msn 5481 departed for Cairo at approximately 10.00 utc with hex code 740424 and is pictured above at the south east ramp prior to departure.

LATI announce increased profits for 2008

Financial results for 2008 show that Lufthansa Airmotive Technik, the Irish arm of Lufthansa Technik, generated a profit of €23.6m on turnover of €254m, a 16.5% YoY increase in profit on YoY revenue growth of 6.4%.

In excess of 1,300 people are employed at the four Lufthansa Airmotive Technik facilities in Ireland - Shannon Aerospace, Lufthansa Turbine Technik Shannon, Lufthansa Aircraft Painting Shannon and Lufthansa Airmotive Technik in Rathcoole Co. Dublin.

Ryanair announce winter cut back at Dublin

As was widely anticipated, Ryanair today announced a significant cut back in it's base strength at Dublin for the coming winter. Compared to last winter when the airline based 18 aircraft at Dublin, this winter will see the total reduced to 14 frames with a consequential 20% reduction in flights to less than 1,000 per week. Ryanair estimates that it's Dublin market will be reduced by 250,000 passengers this winter in a year when Dublin Airport's passenger figure will fall by 2m.

The airline has cited the following reasons for today's decision :

• Dublin is one of it's two most expensive bases, the other being Stansted.
• The Dublin Airport Authority has increased airport charges above the rate of inflation.
• The Aviation Regulator has allowed the DAA increase costs while those at other airports throughout Europe are falling.
• The Irish Government's €10 travel tax.

The Dublin Airport Authority was quick to respond to Ryanair's claims. In it's statement it contended that Ryanair's decision "is purely related to the current economic downturn", adding that recent experience had shown Ryanair to announce large cut backs to the media which did not materialise in due course.

On the matter of costs, the DAA said that studies by Airports Council International, the Aviation Regulator and 'others' had pointed out that Dublin's airport charges were amongst the lowest of any major airport in Europe. In defending it's own cost history the company said that passenger charges at Dublin airport had fallen by 30% in real terms over the past twenty years whereas "Ryanair's own charges have exploded", listing a number of the carrier's discretionary charges (and their rate of increase) such as booking fees, sports equipment handling charges, baggage check in charges and credit card fees.

The DAA have obviously never heard the expression "The customer is always right".

Ryanair lodge EU complaint

Ryanair has lodged a number of complaints with the European Commission regarding the Irish Government's €10 passenger travel tax (€2 on shorter routes) on the basis that it unfairly discriminates between international and domestic traffic.

In total, three complaints have been made :

1. An Internal Market complaint on the basis that the move unfairly attempts to protect domestic traffic and airlines that fly domestic routes, thereby breaching the EU Treaty on freedom to supply service.

2. That the €2 tax on shorter (domestic) routes effectively amounts to illegal state aid to Aer Arann.

3. A state aid complaint that since transit / transfer passengers and cargo are exempt from the tax, the measure amounts to illegal state aid to Aer Lingus and the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA).

Speaking about the complaints, Ryanair's Stephen McNamara said “Ryanair believes the tax should be scrapped as it has resulted in the collapse of Irish tourism and unfairly protects domestic travel, but if this misguided Government is going to stick by its failed policy of taxing tourists it should at least ensure that it is applied fairly”.

Transport Minister Noel Dempsey insists that a fall in traffic at Irish airports is not as a result of the passenger travel tax which collected €21m in revenue during the first two months since implementation. €9.6m was collected in May and €11.5m in June. Minister Dempsey, responding to a written question in Dail Eireann (Irish Parliament) said that the decline in passenger numbers in Irish airports was 'broadly in line' with that of our international counterparts, including those where no tax was in operation.

Although it is probably too early to forecast at this stage, the travel tax revenue would need to increase significantly in order to meet the Government's predicted target of €150m per annum if June's mid season figure is anything to go by.

Ryanair announces major Canary Island expansion

Ryanair yesterday announced a major expansion of services to the Canary Islands consisting of 39 new routes to / from Lanzarote (15), Gran Canaria (16) and Tenerife (8). The expansion has come about through the combination of zero tourist tax and 100% discount on airport charges for the coming winter and is expected to deliver 2m passengers on an annual basis.

Speaking in Tenerife, Ryanair's deputy chief executive Michale Cawley said that the continuation of the routes past March 31 2020 was dependent on the extension of the discount scheme.

The routes and commencement dates are as follows :

	To/From	Gran Canaria	Lanzarote	Tenerife
1	Barcelona (Girona)	Oct	Oct	Oct
2	Birmingham	Oct	Oct	Oct
3	Bournemouth	Oct	Oct	Oct
4	Bristol	Oct	Oct	Oct
5	Brussels (Charleroi)	Oct	Oct	Oct
6	Dublin	Oct	Oct	--
7	Dusseldorf (Weeze)	Oct	Oct	--
8	East Midlands	Oct	Oct	--
9	Frankfurt (Hahn)	Oct	Oct	--
10	Glasgow (P’wick)	Oct	Oct	--
11	Liverpool	Oct	Oct	--
12	London (Luton)	Oct	Oct	Oct
13	London (Stansted)	Oct	Oct	--
14	Madrid	Oct	Oct	Oct
15	Oporto	Oct	--	Oct
16	Shannon	Oct	Oct	--

5N-BKQ returns home after Shannon Aerospace check

Aero Contractors B737-522 registered 5N-BKQ returned to Lagos today after a check with Shannon Aerospace which began on June 28 last. The aircraft performed a test flight yesterday morning and departed Shannon again this morning as flight NIG 7002. Unlike sister ship 5N-BIZ which was painted in "aero.com" colours during it's recent Shannon Aerospace check, 5N-BKQ retained it's existing livery. Pictured above 5N-BKQ is seen departing off R24.