I-AIGG visits Shannon

Scanderbegair is a New York based airline which was formed with the intention of implementing an air link to their homeland for ethnic Kosovans. The flights are operated under the AOC of Sacramento, CA based Sky King who operate a B767 registered N712AX in the colors of Scanderbegair. The B767 is used to operate the New York - Kosovo flight which fuel stop in Liege.
For the past number of weeks the New York - Pristina flight has been operated by wet leased Air Italy B757 EI-IGB which has fuel stopped in Shannon. 
On Saturday morning last EI-IGB returned to Milan Malpensa from JFK, as SGB 8776. 
Today's Pristina - JFK flight was operated by Air Italy B767-300 I-AIGG (the former Thomson G-OBYC). Pictured above 'Song Bird 720' is seen on finals to R24 at lunchtime today.
For those with an interest in history, Iskander Beg, or Skanderbeg after whom the airline is named was a 15th century national hero for Albanians who fought the Ottoman Empire for over twenty years.

IAA issues register update

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) today issued the latest version of the Irish Civil Register. The file which is dated September 02 2009 can be downloaded in Microsoft Excel format at Irish Register.

G-EUNA operates proving flight on LCY - SNN - JFK

In preparation for the commercial launch of it's new premium only London City - Shannon - JFK service later this month, British Airways operated a route proving flight today. Flight BAW 9152 was operated by A318 registered G-EUNA which was delivered to the airline on August 28 last.

65 Cabin Crew to be made redundant at Aer lingus

Aer Lingus announced today that a total of 55 cabin crew are to lose their jobs at the airline as a result of the contraction in the company's schedules. Trade union Impact says that a further 10 crew with less than two years service will also lose their positions. All concerned are on fixed term contracts which will not be renewed.
RTE News confirmed that the figure quoted by Aer Lings referred to the number who would receive redundancy payments as opposed to the number who would be made redundant. Under Irish law, employees with less than two years service are not entitled to redundancy payments.
Employees were notified by text message last night that their union Impact had met with airline management and to expect a phone call to explain the situation. Employees were subsequently contacted by phone and informed that their contracts would not be renewed.

Manifest calls on stock exchange to investigate Ryanair

Manifest, a UK based shareholders rights group has written to the Irish Stock Exchange to consider that an investigation be carried out as soon as practicable into possible breaches of it's Listing Rules. The grounds for the request are focused on two issues -


1. The company has claimed, erroneously, that it has complied fully with the provisions of the Combined Code  and
2. Subsequently failed to provide any explanation for the instances of non compliance.


Essentially the complaint revolves around the fact that Ryanair does not publish the result of Annual General Meetings. Potential investors often buy into companies on the basis of the board's popularity and the board's strategy according to Manifest. By not publishing the voting results from AGMs, Ryanair is effectively depriving potential investors of this information.
The requirement to publish voting results became part of the Irish Stock Exchange's Listing Rules in 2006 but only passed into statute in august of this year. Ryanair says that it will publish the results of this years AGM on September 24.

N799AN diverts to Shannon

This morning's American Airlines flight AAL 88 routing Chicago O'Hare to Brussels diverted into Shannon with a sick passenger, landing at 04.40 utc. The flight operated by B777-200 registered N799AN departed the airport at 06.19 utc and continued on to it's destination.

Ryanair will ultimately take control of Aer Lingus

In an interview with the Sunday Independent newspaper, Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary said that he believed that Ryanair will ultimately be allowed to buy Aer Lingus. Although Aer Lingus has always vociferously rebutted any suggestion that it would succumb to Ryanair ownership the carrier appeared to softened it's line slightly in announcing it's H1 results two weeks ago. Aer Lingus has burned it's way through cash reserves at the rate of almost €1m per day in the past year, a rate which it concedes is unsustainable.
In the interview with the Sunday Independent, Michael O'Leary said that in "another 18 months and with more redundancies, they'll have burned their way through the last of the cash they have and will need to be rescued", making it obvious that Ryanair are prepared to wait for a fire sale before spending. 

Aer Lingus traffic figures for August

Aer Lingus today published it's traffic figures for August.
A total of 1,089,000 passengers were carried for the month which represents a 7.7% YoY monthly increase.
Short haul passenger numbers were 973,000 a 10% YoY increase while long haul numbers were 116,000 down 8.3% YoY.
Network load factor was 83%, a 2.4% YoY increase against a capacity drop of 0.7%. Short haul load factor was 85%, up 2% YoY while capacity grew 10.7%. The decline in long haul performance has at least been arrested if not reversed. Load factor was 79.7%, up 2.1% YoY against a reduction in capacity of 14.8%.

S9-DBW arrives in Shannon for maintenance

A touch of the exotic was experienced in Shannon tonight when STP Airways B767-3Y0ER registered S9-DBW arrived for maintenance at Shannon Aerospace. The color scheme is far from exotic however as the aircraft is a 'white tail' devoid of markings other than the registration. 

Built in 1991, msn 25411 was delivered to Transbrasil as PT-TAF and was registered XA-SKY before being registered EI-CLR to Air Europe Italy on May 1 1995. The aircraft visited Shannon as such in December of that year.

Following a year with Air Europe Italy the aircraft was acquired by SAS as SE-DKY and arrived in Dublin on October 6 1997. The aircraft had lain dormant in Copenhagen for several months following the end of the SAS lease. The aircraft was ferried to Dublin with the intention of painting it in Ethiopian Airlines colors but this plan fell through and the SAS titles were removed leaving the aircraft all white. It eventually departed Dublin on November 20 as XA-TJD on delivery to Aeromexico. 

On June 7 1999 the aircraft returned to Dublin having re-acquired Swedish registration SE-DKY. The following month, on July 7 the regression continued when EI-CRL was reapplied. On September 18 the aircraft departed Dublin for Greensboro as EI-CRL, registered to Airplanes Funding 1 Ltd. In the intervening years TWA (N640TW), American Airlines (N640TW), Euro Atlantic (PP-VTC & CS-TFS) and Varig (PP-VTC) have availed of the services of frame number 25411.

Pictured below STP 600 is seen on finals to R24 and taxiing in on 'Golf' to the Shannon Aerospace hangars after arrival from Lisbon. The hex code for S9-DBW is 09A1E7.

EI-EFR delivered to Ryanair

After a summer hiatus Ryanair deliveries have recommenced. EI-EFR arrived in Dublin on delivery this morning arriving just after 11.30 utc. The aircraft is msn 37541 and carried hex code 4CA7A8.

Ryanair increase baggage charges

Ryanair yesterday announced that it was increasing it's baggage allowance from one checked bag per passenger to two bags per passenger. The airline also announced that it was increasing it's fees for checked bags and excess baggage to reflect the fact that average fares have fallen by 20% this year. The personal allowance has also been increased from 15kg per person to 30kg per person.
From October 1 this year the following one way charges apply :

Optional Charge	On Internet	At airport
1st Checked in bag 15KG	£/€15	£/€30
2nd Checked in bag 15KG	£/€35	£/€70
Sports Equipment	£/€40	£/€50
Excess Bag fees (per kilo)	N/A	£/€20

Privatair Germany's D-APAC becomes SX-OAN

Privatair Germany's A319-123LR which was registered D-APAC has emerged form the Shannon Aerospace hangars in it's new identity - SX-OAN of Olympic Air. The aircraft, msn 1727 arrived in Shannon on July 29 last to be prepped for it's new operator. As D-APAC the aircraft was configured with an executive interior and long range fuel tanks, both of which will have been replaced in preparation for conventional airline operations.

VT-AIP arrives in Shannon for paint

Air India Airbus A310-324F registered VT-AIP arrived in Shannon this afternoon from Dresden where the aircraft had been converted to freighter status. The aircraft will be painted in the colors of Air Deccan at Lufthansa Shannon Aircraft Paint. Pictured below, VT-AIP is seen on finals to R24 at lunchtime today using Airbus flight number AIB 697. As can be seen, the freighter conversion consists of a lot more than just adding a forward freight door - the rear fuselage rib replacements can also be seen. 

VP-BIF visits Shannon

Next Century Aviation's Boeing 727 Super 27 registered VP-BIF visited Shannon yesterday afternoon. The aircraft, msn 20533 was the last -100 series 727 off the production line in 1971. The aircraft also holds the distinction of having the fewest cycles on a 727-100 with 5,00 landings. Currently for sale, VP-BIF has been hangared for most of it's life according to the broker handling the deal.
The aircraft is no stranger to Shannon. It has previously visited as N320HG when it was owned by ITT Corp and N228G when it was owned by WR Grace & Co.

Aer Lingus punctuality improves

Aer Lingus has published it's punctuality figures for August 2009. For the month, 85% of flights departed on time while 98% departed within 60 minutes of scheduled. The on time figure is the airline's best performance in just under 2 1/2 years. 

Ryanair's August passenger numbers

Ryanair today published it's passenger numbers for August 2009. For the month the airline carried 6.88m passengers, a 19% YoY growth. Load factor for the month was static YoY at 90%. For the 12 months to the end of August, passenger numbers stood at 62.4m which represents an 82% load factor. 

EI-EEK visits Shannon prior handover to Andalus Lineas Aereas

Former SkyAirWorld Embraer ERJ145MP VH-SZH made a return trip from Alverca in Portugal to Shannon tonight prior to it's next lease with Andalus Lineas Aereas. This is the second Embraer 145 to be leased to the Spanish airline from the fleet of the now defunct Australian carrier. The aircraft, still in full SkyAirWorld colours is now registered EI-EEK and carries hex code 4CA7A3. The Irish registration may not last very long as sistership EI-EEJ became EC-LCP on delivery to Spain. Pictured below, EI-EEK is seen on finals to R24 and parked up in the south east ramp after arrival.

Dublin Aerospace Ltd to rise from ashes of SRT

The Tanaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) and Minister for Enterprise has announced that Dublin Aerospace Ltd will employ 226 people within five years. The company is headed by former Ryanair executive Conor McCarthy who is currently with Air Asia. Airbus Industries parent company EADS and Enterprise Ireland are also investors in the company.
Ms Coughlan said that the company intends to commence a best in class MRO facility having recently acquired assets from SR Technics at Dublin Airport. Dublin Aerospace will occupy two of the former SRT hangars at the airport. "Not only will this announcement lead to the creation of 226 new jobs, but it will also strengthen this highly skilled industry in Ireland". Ms Coughlan would appear to have overlooked the fact that 1135 jobs were lost at SR Technics to create the "226 new jobs" at Dublin Aerospace.

Pilot salaries picked up by cost cutting radar at Aer Lingus

Christoph Mueller, the new Aer Lingus chief executive stepped into the cauldron of cost cutting in his first day at the helm of Aer Lingus today. Last week a group of pilots at the airline commenced a High Court action against the company for failure to pay an incremental salary increase worth 'several hundred euro' per month. The Irish Airline Pilot's Association has refused to comment on salaries as the case is now in front of the courts.
The Herald Newspaper this evening has reported that 66 flight crew at the airline are paid an average of €300,000 in salary and financial perks in addition to a pension to which they pay 9% and the company contributes 21%. Flight crew in the top earning bracket fly a total of 600 hours per year compared to the 900 hours per year flown by Ryanair crew.
Aer Lingus are denying reports in the press over the weekend that the airline was looking at divesting it'self of it's long haul operations in an effort to cut costs. The company is believed to be looking at a further 500 redundancies and is particularly keen to trim costs associated with the 590 strong pilot group.

Muhammad Ali arrives in Shannon on board N700GB

Boxing legend and three times former world heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali arrived in Shannon at lunchtime today from Dublin on the final leg of his visit to Ireland. The former champion accompanied by his wife touched down on Shannon's R24 at 11.46 utc on board Global Express N700GB, msn 9124. The Ali entourage was split between two aircraft with Challenger 604 N310TK arriving 8 minutes earlier. 
On arrival, both aircraft were parked on Taxiway Foxtrot where the passengers disembarked and transferred to ground transport. At 12.10 utc, the police escorted cavalcade departed the airport for Ennis where Ali was due to be conferred an Honorary  Freeman of the town. 
In 1860, Ali's great grandfather Abe Grady emigrated from the town to the United States. Following the civic ceremony, a fundraising initiative for the Alltech-Muhammad Ali Center Global Education and Charitable Fund was due to be held in nearby Dromoland Castle. The party are due to return to the United States with a departure to Louisville, KY later this evening.
As usual the Irish weather did it's best to dampen the event. Pictured below N700GB, KEY 700 is seen on finals to R24 at lunchtime today and also parked on Taxiway Foxtrot.

Hawker XA-JBT visits Shannon

Mexican Hawker 800XP registered XA-JBT was an unusual visitor to Shannon on Sunday August 30. The aircraft is msn 258715 and carries hex code 0D04E6. Pictured above 'JBT is seen on finals to R24 on Sunday morning.

Michael O'Leary invited to 'Late Late Show'

The world's longest running chat show - RTE's 'Late Late show' starts it's next season on September 4 with new host Ryan Tubridy. To kick off the new season, Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary has been invited to appear on the show. Whilst O'Leary has yet to confirm his appearance and RTE source has said that " You can say what you like about Ryanair, but when Michael O'Leary talks, people do listen. He was on the show in December 2008 and he got a great reception from viewers."

Aer Lingus announce H1 loss of €93m

Aer Lingus yesterday released it's H1 results to the end of June 2009.
For the six months to June 30 the airline lost €93m compared to a €23.4m loss for the same period last year.
Although total passenger numbers were up 1.7% YoY to 4.943m, revenue declined 12.2% YoY to €555.0m.
Yields fell for the period with the average fare falling 17.1% YoY represented by a fall of 13.1% YoY on short haul and 18.5% YoY on long haul.
Fuel costs rose 10% YoY while non fuel operating costs fell 5.1% YoY. Most worryingly is the rapid deterioration in the once celebrated cash pile at the airline. From a figure of €802.6m at the end of June 2008, the airline's net reserves have shrunk at the rate of almost €1m per day to stand at €439.6m at the end of June 2009. If the rate of decline hasn't been arrested the reserves will already have shrunk by a further €60m by the end of August.


In responding to the challenging market place the airline says that it has cut long haul capacity by 18% whilst increasing short haul capacity by 4.3%, largely due to the establishment of a new base at London Gatwick. Further capacity cuts are planned for Winter 09/10 with long haul capacity to be cut by 24% and Dublin's short haul capacity to be cut by 14%. During the first half of the current year the airline has practiced what it terms "Dynamic management of route network to drive maximum returns" - 7 routes were cancelled and 24 had capacity reduction applied.
In it's outlook Aer Lingus says that "there has been a structural change in fares and in demand for our long haul business class product in particular". It expects that market trends at both home and abroad will continue to exert "further significant and sustained fare pressure".
While traffic volumes have stabilized the airline sees yield continuing to decline with poor forward visibility on revenue expectations, thus highlighting the significance of trying to reduce operating costs to compensate. The airline does not give any guidance on full year performance in Thursday's results.
In his summary the airline's chairman Colm Barrington has indicated that the government's €10 travel tax along with proposed increases in passenger charges at Dublin Airport "represent a significant risk to our ability to generate returns at this base", the first hint that Aer Lingus may be about to take the step of relocating it's operations to offshore bases in a last attempt to ensure it's financial future. 
Speaking on RTE Radio's 'News at One' on Friday, Mr. Barrington said the airline had been working on a restructuring plan aimed at returning the company to profitability. While admitting that the airline probably had too many employees he refused to comment on reports in today's press that the airline was about to seek 500 redundancies. He also confirmed that the Shannon - New York service remained under review.


Responding to the results, Ryanair, the largest shareholder in Aer Lingus issued a statement on Friday calling on the Irish Stock Exchange and the Takeover Panel to explain why they allowed the Board of Aer Lingus to mislead shareholders and the markets when they published their defense document in relation to the Ryanair takeover in December of last year.
Ryanair have picked on 4 statements in the Aer Lingus defense document :


"Despite these extremely challenging conditions we expect to achieve profit overall in 2008" (Aer Lingus lost €108m after tax in 2008)


“We expect that significantly reduced fuel prices and a number of management cost reduction initiatives will enable Aer Lingus to continue to enhance profitability in 2009 and beyond”. (Aer Lingus H1 loss in 2009 amounts to €93m)


“Aer Lingus is and will be profitable” 


“Our long-haul business also continues to grow”. (Aer Lingus long haul traffic has fallen by 12% YoY in H1 2009)

Ryanair calls for 'Yes' Vote

Ryanair has fired one of the first shots in the 'Yes' campaign in the forthcoming re-run of the referendum to take place in Ireland to ratify the Lisbon Treaty. The airline has pledged to spend €500,000 on it's campaign to persuade the Irish electorate to change it's mind and vote 'Yes' on October 2 next.
The airline which employees 6,500 employees from all 26 member states of the European Union believes that Ireland has benefited enormously from membership of the EU. Among the reasons it gives for it's strong stance are :


1. Without the EU policy on competition and deregulation neither Ryanair nor the low fares airline model would have survived in Europe.
2. Much of Ireland's success in landing FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) is due to Ireland's membership of the EU and the Euro.
3. During the banking and financial crises, Ireland's membership of the Euro and the European Union meant that the European Central Bank (ECB) came to the rescue of the Irish banking system and prevented an Iceland style melt down.


Launching the airline's campaign on Wednesday, chief executive Michael O'Leary said that : 


“Without Europe and the Euro, the Irish economy would be run by our incompetent politicians, our inept civil service and the greedy public sector trade union bosses, who through social partnership have in recent years destroyed Ireland’s competitiveness, created an epidemic of useless quangos and feathered the nests of the public sector at the expense of ordinary consumers in Ireland. I believe that Ireland must vote “Yes to Europe” on 2^nd October; otherwise our economic future will be destroyed by Government and Civil Service mismanagement and the narrow vested interests of the public sector trade unions.

Finally, I can think of no better reason to vote “Yes to Europe” than doing the opposite of that recommended by some of the headbangers who are calling for a no vote. When one looks at the ragbag amalgam of the “no” campaign, led by economic illiterates like Sinn Fein, the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and the Socialist Party it seems clear to me that Ireland should vote “Yes to Europe” on 2^ndOctober next, and I sincerely hope that we will.”

As part of the campaign, B737 EI-EFP has been painted in a special "Ryanair says Yes to Lisbon" scheme.

PK-VYI delivered to Batavia

Indonesian operator Batavia took delivery of former Aer Lingus A330 EI-EWR. The aircraft, msn 330 departed Shannon on Monday night last August 24 in an all white scheme without titles. The routing for the delivery flight was Shannon - Dubai - Soekarno Hatto International.
Sister ship EI-JFK was due to be ferried from Chateauroux to Bordeaux today for painting in the colours of Vladivostok Avia prior to it's handover to a new life in Russia. 

C-GFUR diverts to Shannon on medical diversion

This morning's Air Canada flight ACA 858 from Toronto to London Heathrow diverted into Shannon on a medical diversion. the flight, operated by Airbus A330-343X registered C-GFUR landed on Shanon's R24 at 09:55 utc. The aircraft parked on stand 32 where it was met by paramedics. The flight departed Shannon again for Heathrow at 11:26 utc.

N146CS returns to Bangor

US Custom's P3 Orion registered N146CS departed Shannon this afternoon. The aircraft arrived in Shannon just before 8 am yesterday morning on a deportation flight from Harlingen, Texas with Maze prison escapee Pol Brennan. In 1983, Brennan who had been serving a 16 year sentence for possession of explosives and a hand gun had escaped along with 37 IRA prisoners.

Mr. Brennan was deported from the US following his failed attempt to have Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano overturn the 2008 decision of immigration judge William Peterson to have him deported. Judge Peterson had ruled that Brennan be deported since he had a 1995 felony gun conviction, a 2005 misdemeanour assault conviction and he had admitted to activity in the 1970's for the IRA.

Mr. Brennan had been in immigration custody in Texas since Januray 2008 when he has detained at a check point with an expired work permit. It was following this detention that security checks had revealed his history.

N146CS departed Shannon using the callsign N140CS which was also used on the flightplan back to Bangor, Maine. It may well have been a case of 'Biro Trouble' whereby a '6' was transposed as a '0'. Correction would have meant a refiling of the flightplan and subsequent delays.

HB-IIQ arrives in Shannon for maintenance

Swiss operator Privatair's Boeing 737 BBJ registered HB-IIQ arrived in Shannon this afternoon for attention with Shannon Aerospace.

In 2001 the aircraft was used by U2 as their transport for the 'Elevation' tour. In 2007 the aircraft started operations for Lufthansa, witnessed by the 'Privat Air on behalf of Lufthansa' titles just aft of the forward passenger door.

In recent months 'IIQ has operated the Munich - JFK and Frankfurt - Denver routes under DLH flight numbers. In mid July it was moved to the Munich - Mumbai route on the DLH 764/765 route. Pictured above HB-IIQ is seen on finals to R24 this afternoon.

N921R visits Shannon with National Airlines titles

Murray Aviation's Dc8 N921R visited Shannon this afternoon. The aircraft which has been an occasional visitor to Shannon this year now wears National Airlines titles, the same as those on sister ship N865F. Originally built in 1971 N921R has been registered as such since 1983. With an aircraft of this age it's history is voluminous at this stage so it's great to see it still flying - and with the original 'low-bypass' engines !

Norwegian.com commence Dublin-Oslo and Dublin-Copenhagen

Norwegian Air Shuttle, the second largest Scandinavian carrier introduced two new routes this week linking Dublin with Copenhagen and Oslo Gardermoen. Yesterday saw the introduction of the Oslo service which operates Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. The flight was inaugurated by B737-300 LN-KKZ.

Today saw the introduction of the Dublin - Copenhagen service which operates Monday, Wednesday and Friday, also operated by B737-300 series aircraft. This morning's flight was operated by LN-KKB.

With falling passenger numbers at Dublin this year the DAA were keen to highlight the fact that the new services bring a welcome boost to the Irish market.

“We are delighted that Norwegian has commenced direct services from Copenhagan and Oslo to Dublin,” said Cormac O’Connell, Head of Aviation Marketing with the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA). “The decision by Norwegian to commence these new services is particularly welcome at a time when most airlines are reducing their route network,” Mr O’Connell added.

The reality is that SAS and Norwegian will be going toe to toe in a classic Legacy v LCC battle on the Dublin market with little prospect of a significant increase in passenger numbers for Dublin Airport. The fact that Norwegian are utilising lower capacity -300 series aircraft as opposed to the higher -800 aircraft would indicate that the carrier is hedging it's bets rather than throwing the kitchen sink into the fray.