5N-VNE in Nigerian Eagle colors

The second Virgin Nigeria B737 to undergo the transformation to Nigerian Eagle Airlines was delivered out of Shannon this afternoon. The aircraft,registered 5N-VNE,  msn 29340 and former easyJet machine G-EZYP was rebranded at Lufthansa's Shannon paint facility, having arrived last Saturday morning.
Speaking at last Friday's press launch of the rebranded airline, the company's chief executive officer Capt. Dapo Olumide said that the airline has great potential in spite of the challenges facing the global aviation industry. He said that the adoption of the new brand name will give the management team the impetus to retain it's established culture of excellence. The airline is 51% owned by Nigerian institutional investors and 49% by Virgin Atlantic.
Pictured above, 5N-VNE taxis for departure to Palma on the first leg of it's trek home.

VP-CBB at Shannon

Cayman registered BBJ2 VP-CBB arrived in Shannon from Paris late last night for some 'splash and dash' attention at Air Atlanta. The aircraft, msn 32806 is 2001 vintage and owned by AS Bugshan and Brothers, a Saudi company delaing in heavy plant and equipment. Pictured above, VP-CBB is seen on push back for it's departure to Jeddah

Cable & Wirless, Lufthansa Technik win Ryanair contracts

Ryanair has awarded a 5 year contract worth €15m to Cable & Wireless for management of the airline's IT and communications network across 180 airports in 26 countries. As part of the deal C&W will provide an 'always on' infrastructure for management of Ryanair's European telecoms network including airports, bases, data centers and headquarters. The deal also covers the customer side interface from booking through to check in with the airline's touch screen check in kiosks being connected via the system.
Ryanair's head of IT, Eric Neville commented that “Ryanair benefits from commercial flexibility across the entire solution, providing us the capacity to grow our passenger numbers to 67 million in 2010. We’ve worked with Cable & Wireless for a number of years now, and it has consistently delivered the excellent service we require. Its innovation, expertise and ability to service our network enabled the company to win this new contract."


In Belgium, Lufthansa Technik is to add a line maintenance station at Charleroi to support a new contract with Ryanair. Under the terms of the deal, LHT will cater for up to eight B737-800 aircraft including call out, night stop services and defect rectification.

Ryanair to reintroduce smoking !

Ryanair's latest wacky idea is backy ! The airline announced today that it would be selling 'Similar Smokeless Cigarettes' on it's flights to help those passengers who just can't handle the stress of a short smoke free flight. The cigarettes which look and feel like a real cigarette do not have to be lit but deliver nicotine by inhalation. According to the airline ' "Similar Smokeless Cigarettes" contain no toxins or chemicals and are harmless to the user and to those around them.' which would seem to indicate that they don't contain nicotine either !

Aer Lingus chief pulls no punches in assesment

New Aer Lingus chief executive Christoph Mueller has warned the next wave of rationalization at the airline will be more like "an amputation than plastic surgery" and that long haul service between Ireland and the US, especillay those from Shannon are under pressure. In H1 of this year, the airline's transatlantic operations accounted for €60m of the €93m loss. Mueller said that whilst he appreciated that the Ireland - US routes were of 'national importance he said that his airline is not a charity, believing that the Shannon - US routes have survived only due to political pressure from the Irish government.

On taking up his position at Aer Lingus Mueller stated that he thought the chances of survival of the airline were little better than 50-50. The airline's survival plan is due to be outlined during the second half of October once the Lisbon Treaty vote is out of the way so as to avoid complications for the government.


The 'Irish Independent' reports that the airline is set on a collision course with unions over the deficit in it's employee pension fund. The Irish Airlines Superannuation Scheme which covers employees in Aer Lingus, SR Technics and the Dublin Airport Authority has developed a shortfall of €700m of which Aer Lingus accounts for half. Aer Lingus contends that it is not obliged to bridge the gap, a statement which has prompted unions to predict industrial action before Christmas.

N246AY diverts to Shannon

Today's US Airways flight AWE 711 routing Zurich to Philadelphia diverted to Shannon with a technical snag. The flight was operated by B767-201  registered N246AY which departed Zurich at 08.45 utc this morning. At 13.27 utc the aircraft landed at Shannon where it remained overnight. It was due to depart Shannon for Philadelphia again at 09.00 utc on Monday as AWE 9012. 

Airbus A318 VQ-BDD visits Shannon

The annual UN September meeting in New York is usually guaranteed to produce a few 'big iron' biz jets and support aircraft and this year is no exception. Friday and Saturday last produced visits by Russian Air Force Il76 aircraft RA-76718 and RA-76719 while today, Sunday saw the visit of A318-112 Elite registered VQ-BDD of the Jordanian Government. The aircraft routed London Heathrow - Shannon - New York as RJA 003 on Sunday morning. The aircraft which was delivered on July 24 last is msn 3751 and is seen above on finals to R24.

AerCap and Genesis to merge in $1.75bn deal

The managements of Dutch aircraft leasing company AerCap Holdings and Westpark, Shannon based Genesis Leasing Ltd announced on Friday that the two companies would merge in an all share for share transaction. Under the terms of the deal valued at $1.75bn, Genesis will become a wholly owned subsidiary of AerCap which will continue to be led by CEO Klaus Heinemann and CFO Keith Helming. The new company will retain the AerCap name. Three Genesis directors will be nominated for election ot the Board of the new company at an EGM to be held following completion of the deal.
The chief executive of Genesis is John McMahon who began his career at Aer Lingus before moving to GPA. In 1995 he joined Daimler as part of the team that established Debis AirFinance which later became AerCap.
AerCap's CEO Heinemann commented that "Following this transaction, AerCap will become the leading independent franchise within the global aircraft leasing sector, with 116 airline customers in 50 countries and a lease portfolio currently valued at $6 billion, with another 83 aircraft on order or under purchase contract."
As part of the agreement, GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS), which has acted as servicer for Genesis’ portfolio, will continue to provide most asset management services for the Genesis fleet in the near term. GECAS has, however, agreed to AerCap's request for an early termination of the former's services.
Additionally, AerCap has signed a letter of intent to purchase 13 aircraft from GECAS. The purchase of two aircraft is expected to occur by the end of September 2009 with the purchase of the balance expected to take place subject to the merger taking place. The combined company will have a total fleet of 358 commercial aircraft and 83 engines that are either owned, on order, under contract or managed. Average fleet age is 6.6 years.

UK CAA August Passenger Numbers

The UK CAA has published traffic figures for August 2009.

Dublin-London

Dublin's Gatwick traffic which is split between Ryanair and Aer Lingus showed a 1% YoY growth at 103,285. Heathrow and Stansted both showed negative trends with LHR down 14% to 134,274 passengers and Stansted (a Ryanair preserve) down 20% to 74,269. Luton was up 1% YoY at 33,359. These passenger numbers replicate the pattern seen in June and July with LHR and STN showing significant declines compared to modest growth at LGW and LTN. 

Cork-London

At Cork, Gatwick traffic was down 2% to 10,386. Heathrow was down 8% to 47,950 while Stansted, a Ryanair route was down 1% to 29,196. As with July's figures the rate at which YoY passenger numbers had been falling would appear to be slowing in August.

Shannon-London

Shannon has fared similar to Dublin and Cork with Gatwick static YoY for the month at 19,868 and Stansted down 18% YoY, to 29,762, explainable by one less return flight per day on the route. Again the July pattern was replicated at Shannon during August with similar YoY changes.

On the reinstated Heathrow - Shannon route, a total of 14,837 passengers were carried for the month of August, differing from July's figure by just 100 passengers, both months having the same number calender days.

Belfast-London

In Belfast the BMI / Aer Lingus battle took a sudden change in direction this month. On the BMI Belfast City - Heathrow route numbers again grew this month although at a smaller rate than in July - 5% YoY to 43,653. Over at Aldergrove on the Aer Lingus - Heathrow route numbers fell 9% YoY to 27,300, an almost identical figure to July. Again, August replicated the July trend.

BMI 1-0 Aer Lingus.

On the Belfast City - London Gatwick route, operated by FlyBe, passenger figures are up 20% YoY at 19,321 whilst the Belfast International - Gatwick route served by easyJet is down 7% YoY to 29,540.

FlyBe 1-0 easyJet.

Ryanair takes 'Yes' campaign to YouTube

Ryanair announced today that it was launching it's vote 'Yes' campaign for the Lisbon Treaty on YouTube. On October 2 next, Irish voters will be voting to approve the Lisbon Treaty and in an effort to target the transient voters and younger more media savvy voters, Ryanair has taken it's campaign onto YouTube. As is to be expected, the airline's chief executive Michael O'Leary pulls no punches when admonishing the opponents of the treaty and the current Irish establishment. Those expecting an announcement that MOL will continue in politics at some point in the future will be disappointed - he firmly quashes any such expectations !

Ryanair announce two Italian bases - nr 35 and 36

From January 2010 Ryanair will base two new aircraft at Bari in Italy, adding nine new routes to the seven existing routes operating from the Italian city. In February the airline will base one aircraft at Brindisi and add four new routes to the existing five. Passenger numbers are expected to grow to 1.2m and 650,000 respectively as a result of the expansion.
The routes and frequencies are as follows :

Bari to	Begin	Freq (pw)
Brussels (Charleroi)	Jan	4
Cagliari	Feb	2
Dusseldorf (Weeze)	Feb	3
Genoa	Jan	3
Karlsruhe (Baden)	Jan	2
Paris (Beauvais)	Jan	4
Trapani	Feb	4
Treviso	Jan	6
Valencia	Feb	3

Brindisi to	Begin	Freq (pw)
Barcelona (Girona)	Feb	2
Eindhoven	Feb	2
Trapani	Feb	3
Treviso	Feb	4

STP 767's swapped

STP Airways swapped maintenance aircraft over at Shannon Aerospace last night. B767 S9-DBW at Shannon Aerospace was swapped with S9-DBY which arrived from Paris on a Euro Atlantic flight number MMZ 673P. Any hope of some color disappeared as 'DBY is also anonymous white.

VT-AIP rolled out in Deccan 360 colors

Airbus A310 registered VT-AIP has been rolled out of the Lufthansa paint hangar in Shannon in the colors of Indian carrier Deccan 360. The aircraft arrived in Shannon on Friday September 4 last from Dresden using Airbus flight number AIB 697. The aircraft is due to return to Dresden from Shannon prior delivery to India.

Mayor of Shannon calls on Delta to reconsider

The Mayor of Shannon, Sean McLoughlin has called on management at Delta Airlines to reconsider their decision to end the 13 year old link between Shannon and New York. Mayor McLaughlin said “The airline claimed that low yield factors had determined their decision to end the service. However, the service carried 30,000 passengers last winter alone. Furthermore, the number of persons using the service has dramatically increased in recent weeks. One flight this weekend, for example, was operating at full capacity. Much of these increases can be attributed to the introduction of pre-clearance facilities at Shannon and the airline’s decision to lower its fares.”

“Aer Lingus’s announcement that it will not be utilising the US pre-clearance facilities until mid-2010 at the earliest, along with the imminent withdrawal of Delta’s long standing service and ongoing doubts over the future of Aer Lingus’s Shannon to New York service have completely undermined efforts at Shannon Airport to develop new business. The opportunities presented to airlines by the presence of the pre-clearance facilities are numerous but appear to be having little impact on business growth at the airport at present”, commented the Mayor.

Aer Lingus commits to business class

A report in today's Irish Examiner says that Aer Lingus is close to finalizing a review of it's business class product which will see the airline offering it's passengers "a competitive offering which will reflect the changing business class travel demand" reflected by the current economic climate. 
As part of the review the airline has fitted sleeper seats to the A330 fleet and increased seat pitch by 10% to 57 inches.

IAA publish August Traffic figures

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has published the traffic statistics for August 2009. The yera to date downward trend continued for August.
En route overflights were down 11.5% YoY at 26,256.
North Atlantic HF communications were down 8.6% YoY
Commercial air traffic movements at Dublin were down 17.7% YoY while total terminal movements were down 17.2% YoY to 16,019.
Commercial air traffic movements at Cork were down 27.6% YoY while total terminal movements were down 20.9% YoY to 4,403.
At Shannon commercial air traffic movements were down 15.5% YoY while total terminal movements were down 17.6% to 3,036.


Year to date the high money earners for the IAA, en route and HF are down 8.4% and 8% respectively. 
Whilst difficult to quantify, the impact of weather patterns has certainly affected the position of the North Atlantic Track System relative to Irish air space this summer with extended periods when the traffic flow was well north or well south of Irish airspace.

EI-EFS & EI-EFT delivered to Ryanair

Boeing 737 number 201 and 202 were delivered to Ryanair today. EI-EFS is msn 37542 and hex code 4CA7A9, pictured at top. EI-EFT is msn 37543 and hex code 4CA7AA pictured at bottom. Both copyright pictures of the aircraft arriving on their delivery flights by Michael Kelly.

KD Avia's EI-DTY arrives in Shannon

On Septmber 4 last it was announced that KD Avia was having it's AOC revoked as of September 14. On September 8 the airline declared bankruptcy and ceased flying. The fleet of 15 aircraft were dispersed around Europe as they were returned to the lessors.
Kaliningrad Avia was formed after the Second World War in October 1945, based in the Russian city of Kaliningrad. It took until 2004 before interntaional operations commenced at which time the airline's fleet consisted of Tu134 and Tu154 aircraft. In May 2005 the company changed it's name to KD Avia, the same year it began the westernisation of it's fleet.
Earlier this year the airline fell victim to the worldwide credit crunch. After failing to meet debt repayment schedules the airline's shares were transferred to a St. Petersburg based bank. Later the regional government decided to invest 4m rubles ($128m)  in the company in return for a 55% shareholding in KD Avia and it's terminal at Khrabrovo Airport. The rescue came too late however as the company declared itself bankrupt on  September 8 with debts of 12m rubles ($387m). Staff hadn't been paid since April, so dire was the company's predicament. In 2008 the company carried over 1.2m passengers but during the first half of 2009 passenger numbers fell by 35%.
The majority of the aircraft in the KD Avia fleet have been moved to Paris de Gaulle or Lasham in Hampshire. Yesterday evening, B737-3M8 registered EI-DTY arrived in Shannon having flown Kaliningrad - Paris de Gaulle. The aircraft is msn 25017 and is the former G-IGOV from British Airway's failed attempt at low cost - Go.
Pictured above EI-DTY is seen under tow to the Air Atlanta Aero Engineering hangar at lunchtime today.

Passing Moment (Part 4) A7-MAB

An interesting aircraft overhead this morning was Qatar Air Force Boeing C-17A Globemaster. The aircraft registered A7-MAB is unusual in that it is a civil registered C-17 and has been painted in the grey and maroon colors used on Qatar Airways aircraft. The word 'QATAR' is clearly visible on the underside of the aircraft which passed over Barefield Co. Clare  at 11.30 utc this morning. The aircraft, operating flight number QAF 02 was on it's delivery flight from Longbeach via Charleston to Ramstein.

5N-VNF arrives in Shannon for rebranding

In August 2008 a row broke out between Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Nigeria when the latter's domestic flights were moved to a different terminal at Lagos airport. The row grew to the point where Virgin Atlantic eventually decided to dissociate  itself from the African subsidiary and sell it's 49% shareholding. 
In January of this year the Nigerian carrier announced that it was terminating it's Lagos - London Gatwick route and two weeks ago it announced that it had singed a Technical Service Agreement with Ethiopian Airlines, severing the last remaining ties with it's former UK parent.
The managing director of Virgin Nigeria, Capt. Dapo Olumide announced last week that the rebranding of the airline is in top gear and would be completed by year end. The rebranding would be total with the airline's name, logo and corporate identity being changed.
The first move in implementing the new aircraft color scheme occurred today when the carrier's B737-33V registered 5N-VNF arrived in Shannon for painting at Lufthansa Aircraft Paint Shannon. The aircraft is msn 29341 and is the former easyJet machine G-EZYR. Pictured above 5N-VNF is seen on taxiway D2 at Shannon following it's arrival from Lagos via Palma.  

CityJet announce termination of Shannon - Paris route

It was almost inevitable when Aer Lingus announced that it it was reinstating the Shannon - Heathrow route that CityJet's days were numbered on the Shannon - Paris route. And today the inevitable happened when the Air France subsidiary announced that as and from October 24 it was terminating it's Shannon - Paris route.
CityJet were seen as the white knight who stepped in when Aer Lingus moved it's Shannon - Heathrow slots to Belfast. The business community on the western seaboard from Kerry to Mayo had lost the vital connectivity to a major European hub that it had enjoyed for 60 years with Aer Lingus. 
The business community grasped the life line with fervor and supported the route which was operated by Air France subsidiary Regional as CityJet did not have sufficient aircraft to allocate the necessary frames to the Shannon route. Anecdotal evidence showed that load factors were high on the Embraer 145 aircraft. 
It had always been the intention that the larger RJ85 aircraft would be used on the route which would also allow an earlier departure from Shannon by basing an aircraft at the Irish airport. 
As the Irish economy dipped into recession the pressure to generate profit on the route grew, exacerbated by the eventual allocation of RJ85 aircraft to the route. When Aer Lingus announced it's U turn on the Heathrow slot any bad will towards Aer Lingus rapidly receded when 'business as usual' was re-established.
CityJet to be fair have taken the view that they would have settled for a break even on the Paris route but load factors in recent times would appear to be well wide of the mark, languishing in the low to mid forties. Chief Executive of CityJet Geoffrey O'Byrne White said that "Unfortunately, the continuing economic downturn, which has hit the Mid West particularly hard in recent months, has led to a steep decline in the route's performance, and we cannot foresee passenger numbers and revenues reaching a break-even level."

EC-JRP stops in Shannon on return ferry

Swiftair's ATR72 registered EC-JRP stopped off in Shannon this evening on a return ferry from wet lease in the Caribbean. The aircraft, msn 446 had been on lease to Maya Island Air in whose colors the aircraft was painted when it visited today routing KEF-SNN-MAD.

F-OHJX arrives in Shannon

Airbus A319 registered F-OHJX to the former Saudi Arabian operator Kayala arrived in Shannon overnight from Dubai. The aircraft is one of three A319 operated by the National Air Services subsidiary which was declared bankrupt on April 1 last. Sister ship F-OHJY arrived in Shannon on August 16 last and would appear to be destined for short term storage since the engines have been taped up in recent days.

M-PRVT visits Shannon

It doesn't get more Private than this ! Manx registered Citation 750 registered M-PRVT dropped into Shannon on a fuel stop this morning. The aircraft msn 750-0291 is registered to Belize registered company Unifox Holdings. Pictured above, M-PRVT in a decidedly anonymous white color scheme taxis in on 'Charlie' complete with a very Russian sounding pilot. 

DAA issue tender for T2 facilities management

The Dublin Airport Authority has issued requests for tender for the facilities management of T2 which is to be handed over to DAA next spring. The contract which is covered by a Government Procurement Contract covers security screening, maintenance, cleaning and passenger operations services at the new terminal. The tender process is being managed on behalf of the DAA by Goodbody Corporate Finance. The deadline for bids from interested parties is September 28 next.

Passing Moment (Part 3) VT-ALF's Indian Summer

With the summer sunshine finally making an appearance in  Ireland it was more than apt that Air India's B777-237LR registered VT-ALF made an appearance overhead yesterday morning, September 9. Operating as AIC 140 from JFK to Mumbai the aircraft was captured overhead Barefield Co. Clare, FL350 at 07.28 utc en route Strumble.

Dublin Airport records 15% decline in August passenger numbers

The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) has released passenger figures for August 2009.
For the month a total of just over 2.1m passengers were handled, a 15% YoY decline. The differing markets fared as follows :


Continental Europe  : 1.100 million passengers, -16% YoY
UK : 680,000 passengers, -15% YoY
Domestic : 54,000 passengers, -27% YoY
North America : 185,000 passengers, -4% YoY
Middle East : 24,000 passengers, -3% YoY

Michael Grealy appointed HR director at Aer Lingus

Aer Lingus has announced the appointment of Michael Grealy as Director of Human Resources and Organisational Change. Grealy, a native of Galway and graduate of Trinity College Dublin will take up his new position on September 28 next.
Michael Grealy was former Head of Group Human Resources at Bank of Ireland where he earned the reputation of being a hardliner with the banking unions. He was key to the reform of the BoI pension scheme when the bank sought to replace the defined benefit scheme with a defined contribution scheme for new recruits. After protracted negotiations over an 18 month period which included strike action being threatened by the unions the two sides signed a deal which introduced a composite scheme for new employees.
Prior to joining BoI, Michael Grealy held senior PR positions in Boston Scientific and Seagate Technology.
Announcing the appointment, Aer Lingus chief executive Christoph Mueller said that the airline was facing a 'very challenging period' and that it was 'clear that the Aer Lingus of the future must be very different from the Aer Lingus of the past'. He further added that Grealy would be 'a key member of the senior management team which is focused on making the necessary changes to the way we do business'.

ZK-MOH visits Dublin

New Zealand Aerial Mapping's Rockwell Commander 690 registered ZK-MOH was a welcome visitor to Dublin today. The aircraft is msn 11006. NZ Aerial Mapping Ltd is the second oldest aerial survey company in the world, having been founded in 1936 by Piet van Asch. Pictured above in the copyright picture by Ken Meegan, ZK-MOH is seen on finals at Dublin. Hopefully the aircraft will have it's mission completed before our Indian summer collapses into another swathe of rain and cloud !

EI-CVD returns to Dublin with hydraulics problem

This morning's Aer Lingus flight EIN 152 from Dublin to London Heathrow returned to Dublin when a warning light came on in the cockpit. The flight, operated by A320 registered EI-CVD was almost 30 minutes into the flight when the crew elected to return to Dublin. The aircraft landed at approximately 07.00 utc. A subsequent investigation traced the fault to a hydraulics problem. Passengers were accommodated on other Aer Lingus flights.