Spanish Palace - Not amused

Spain's Royal Palace expressed it's annoyance today at an ad placed in the Spanish press using a photograph of Queen Sofia without approval. The ad used a photograph of Queen Sofia with the slogan 'Fly like a Monarch', adding 'It is a privilege for us that Queen Sofia flies with the company which shows the highest growth in Spain, Ryanair.' A spokesperson for the Royal Palace said that the monarchy was surprised that the airline had neither requested permission nor informed the palace of the advertisement placing , but added that they could not see anything definite in terms of legal actions or options. Queen Sofia flew Ryanair last weekend from Santander to Stansted when she was informed that her brother, the former King Constantine of Greece had been admitted to hospital for emergency surgery. Ryanair are the only airline to fly from Santander to Stansted and once again prove the idiom 'there's no such thing as bad publicity'.

Ryanair proposals voted down as Dempsey passes poison chalice

Ryanair said today that it regretted the decision by the board of Aer Lingus to reject it's cost saving proposals which would have reduced director' fees at the airline. Ryanair's director of communications Stephen McNamara said that today's rejection 'leaves the Board of Aer Lingus and the Minister for Transport with no credibility when they begin talking to staff and other suppliers over the coming months about the cost cuts needed to restore Aer Lingus to profitability'.

Ryanair believes that Aer Lingus hasn't made any inroads in reducing labour cost at the airline in spite of a cost saving program which was implemented following the Q1 drop in revenue of 16%.

Average cost per member of staff at Aer Lingus, excluding directors was €82,000 in 2008 compared to €50,000 at Ryanair and Aer Lingus carried 2,500 passengers per member of staff compared to 9,700 at Ryanair.

Ryanair had proposed a significant cut in directors' fees at Aer Lingus to be voted at during today's AGM. Last weekend, Ryanir's chief executive Michael O'Leary wrote to the Minister for Transport Noel Demspey informing him that Ryanair had signed it's proxy giving him the majority vote at today's AGM. Earlier this week Minister Dempsey 'declined' the proxy. The 'Irish Times' reported today that Julie O'Neill the secretary general of the Department of Transport had written to the Aer Lingus Chairman Colm Barrington informing him that the Minister had appointed him as his proxy, thus passing the poison chalice.

Ryanair May passenger figures

Ryanair today published it's passenger figures for May. A total of 5.51m passengers were carried during the month, a 9% YoY increase. Load factor increased 1% YoY for the period to 81%. The airline pointed out that the number of passengers carried was three times the UK and European traffic levels of British Airways whose numbers fell 8% to 1.7m in the same period.

Passing Moment (Part 2) - Catch me if you can !

With a large anticyclone parked near the country there's nothing surer but the transit traffic deserts Shannon. With little else to distract there's more overhead than on the ground. Pictured above at top is Air Canada flight ACA 889 operated by B767 C-GBZR at FL350 and at bottom Lufthansa flight DLH 442 operated by A340 D-AIGP at FL360, passing over Barefield Co. Clare in the early afternoon.

SR Technics to dispose of base maintenance at Dublin

The management of SR Technics has written to unions telling them that there have been no revised bids for the base maintenance section and that it would be seeking to dispose of the assets of that section. Bides for line maintenance have been extended to June 10.

The move comes as on the back of the sale of the APU and landing gear overhaul sections to a sister company of SR Technics, Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies. Just over two weeks ago, SRT announced that it sold the businesses to a 'preferred bidder' which it refused to name. The bid is understood to have been received by SRT after the March 31 deadline for expression of interest from potential buyers. This is understood to have angered the other bidders, the IDA (Industrial Development Authority) and the Irish Government. One of the bids, valued in the region of €10m from a consortium led by former Ryanair executive Conor McCarthy is understood to have been close to the book value of the APU and landing gear assets.

There are now just under 400 employees remaining at the Dublin Airport facility, compared to the 1,135 a few months ago.

Dempsey rejects Ryanair proxy

The Minister for transport Noel Dempsey has written to Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary rejecting the low cost carrier's proxy for the Aer Lingus AGM scheduled for this Friday, June 5.

"While I would certainly be interested in having control of Ryanair's shareholding in Aer Lingus, to use in the long-term interest of the shareholders, the company and consumers, I am really not interested in short-term, limited control of the shares solely to vote for resolutions proposed by Ryanair at the AGM," said Dempsey.

In an open letter of response, Michael O'Leary said that the Minister does not have the option of declining the offer, "we have already executed the proxy in your favour".

Spanish Royals fly Ryanair

Queen Sofia of Spain has become one of the 60m or so people who can claim to be a Ryanair flier ! The 70 year old was in Santander last week when she received news that her brother the former King Constantine of Greece was to undergo emergency surgery in the UK so she booked a €15 flight to Stansted. It remains to be seen if Ryanair capitalise on the opportunity as there have been several notable incidents in recent year with politicians who have objected to their likeness being hijacked by the low cost carrier.

Ryanair posts first loss in 20 years

Ryanair yesterday announced it's financial results to year end March 31 2009.

For the 2008/2009 financial year, the airline carried 58.5m passengers, up 155 on the previous year with revenue growing 8% YoY to €2.942bn. The adjusted profit after tax dropped 78% to €105m, largely due to the airline's fuel bill jumping €466m (+59%) due to a poor fuel hedging strategy. 

The airline did bite the bullet on it's Aer Lingus investment, writing down €222.5m in impairment charges for the fall in the Aer Lingus share price and it also took an accelerated depreciation charge on aircraft worth almost €51.6m which allows aircraft to be written down to their disposal cost so that no gain or loss shows on the books.  Both of these charges produced a loss for the year amounting to €169m, the first time the airline has lost money in 20 years.

Average fares fell 8% to €40 during the year with ancillary revenue - lottery tickets to sandwiches growing 23% YoY to €598m. The airline's chief executive Michael O'Leary said that the average fare could drop as low as €32 during 2009 in his comments which forecast a profit of between €200m and €300m for the current year. Some analysts believe however that profit could be closer to €400m should the decline in yield be closer to 15% than the 20% forecast by the airline. A case of management under predicting a better than expected performance.

Red Arrows at Shannon and Galway

With the demise of the Salthill Air Show in Galway there were fears that we had seen the last of the RAF's Red Arrows display team for the immediate future. The Volvo Ocean Race stepped in to save the day this year with a noon time display planned for the Galway waterfront as part of the stage end celebrations. The Arrows arrived in Shannon on Friday afternoon last, May 29 in preparation for the Saturday display. Following the show they returned to Shannon for refuelling prior to their departure for the next show in France. Pictured above in the copyright pictures by Michael Kelly, the team are seen against the immediately recognisable background of Shannon Tower and in a characteristic tight formation.

25th Anniversary of Reagan visit

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the visit by President Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy to Ireland between June 1 and June 4 1984. The visit was significant in many ways - it was the first visit to Ireland by a serving US President since the visit by Richard Nixon in October 1970 and it re-established the strong Irish connection with the US Presidency (that had been broken with the death of JFK in 1963) at a time when Ireland was going into a deep recession.

It was against this background that the Presidential visit was planned for June 1 to June 4 1984. The trip was to be the start of a ten day visit to Europe that included an economic summit in London and attending the ceremonies marking the 40th anniversary of the Normandy Landings during World War II.

Air Force 1 landed at Shannon on June 1 1984 and was met by the Irish President Patrick Hillery who along with the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Garrett Fitzgerald welcomed President and Mrs. Reagan to Ireland.

During his speech on arrival, President Reagan described his visit as a 'mission to strengthen ties of friendship and cooperation among the world's leading democracies'. The four day visit included visiting Galway's University, UCG, where Reagan was conferred with an honourary doctorate, a trip to Ballyporeen on the Cork / Limerick / Tipperary border to visit his ancestral home and finally a visit to Dublin where he addressed Dail Eireann, the Irish Parliament.

From an aviation point of view times were very different, long before 9-11 changed everyone's lives. Access to photograph aircraft was difficult by 1984's standards but immeasurably better than the situation today with significantly higher levels of security. A long lens through the chicken wire back then was still 'ok'  and this was after the attempt on Reagan's life which occured 69 days into his Presidency.

The build up to the visit began many weeks before hand but ended very quickly after the visit. Malcolm Nason has very kindly researched the 'airlift' through his slide library and the listing below gives an indication of the extent and variety of aircraft which visited Shannon in connection with the visit.

Pictured above are at top VH-3D 159357 of the USMC 'Nighthawk 2' taken close to the then SRS hangar and at bottom VC-137C 62-6000 'Air Force 1' parked on taxiway 11 during the visit.

 30-Mar        61-0651 T.39A USAF    18-Apr        77-22950 C.12A U.S. ARMY    18-May        69-0019 C.5A USAF    20-May        65-0242 C.141B USAF    22-May        64-0633 C.141B USAF    28-May        78-23127 C.12C U.S. ARMY    29-May        64-0626 C.141B USAF     159357 VH3D USMC  "Nighthawk 2"     159359 VH3D USMC  "Nighthawk 1"     68-10924 CH53C USAF     68-10928 CH53C USAF     68-10932 CH53C USAF    30-May        66-8304 C.5A USAF    31-May        78-23128 C.12C US ARMY     G-BISZ S76 BRISTOW/IRISH HELICOPTERS    01-Jun        G-DFIN SA365N IRISH HELICOPTERS     238 BAE125 IAAC     214 ALOUETTE 3 IAAC     62-6000 VC137C USAF     72-7000 VC137C USAF    02-Jun        N731PA B747 PAN AM     63-7885 C.130E USAF    225, 226, 228 SF260W IAAC  probably arrived 1/6.     G-BWFC CHINOOK BRITISH A/W     G-BISR CHINOOK BRITISH A/W     G-BKFN BELL 214ST BCAL     G-BFPF S61N BCAL     G-BEJL S61N BRITISH A/W     G-BEWL S61N BRITISH A/W     G-BFFJ S61N BRITISH A/W    04-Jun        63-8078 C.141B USAF    05-Jun        70-0456 C.5A USAF     66-0178 C.141B USAF     66-0202 C.141B USAF

BA remains committed to Trans Atlantic premium service

British Airways said today that it remains committed to it's all premium class flight from London City to New York, in spite of the recent downturn in business travel. British Airways has seen a collapse in first and business class travel in recent months. The new service which will stop at Shannon on the westbound leg will be operated by A318 aircraft with 32 lie flat seat - beds. Passengers will also avail of full customs and border patrol clearance at Shannon and enter the US as domestic passengers. When the service commences later this year there will be two services per day, Monday to Friday with one on Sunday but none on Saturday when LCY is closed. BA has said that it is disappointed with the uptake by business travellers for it's London Gatwick - New York service which will end on October 25 next.

VLM name to disappear in favour of CityJet

From January next the VLM name will disappear in favour of CityJet. The move comes as the Blegian regional operator VLM becomes integrated into Air France-KLM. Both CityJet and VLM will maintain separate AOC's (Air Operators Certificates) and operate independently of each other. Commercially though the travelling public will see just one entity.

Ryanair wins injunction against screenscraper

Hamburg Court in Germany has upheld a decision from  a lower court which granted Ryanair an injunction against Vtours which had been selling Ryanair flights at inflated prices. The Higher Hamburg Court has now found that scraping Ryanair's web site to sell flights at higher fares is illegal in Germany. 

Ryanair allows cost comparison web sites to access it's timetable and pricing information for an annual fee of €100 which is donated to charity. 

Ryanair signs proxy over to Minister for Transport

Ryanair said today that it was disappointed that the Board of Aer Lingus has written to shareholders urging rejection of the two Ryanair proposals on directors' fees to be voted on at the Aer Lingus AGM next Friday.

The latest rejection by the Aer Lingus Board of the proposal proves once again that it is being run by government and the unions, according to Ryanair which now sees itself, the largest shareholder with no influence whatsoever. It says that it does not expect directors to work for nothing but it does believe that it's proposed fees are fair and reasonable given the limited time served by the directors and the fact that the current Board has presided over an 80% collapse in the Aer Lingus share price.

Ryanair says that it has now accepted the reality of the situation and has signed it's proxy for next Friday's AGM over to Noel Dempsey, the Minister for Transport, a move which effectively gives the Minister the final say in passing or rejecting the two Ryanair proposals due to the size of combined vote.

German Air force 45+53 diverts to Shannon

German Air Force Tornado IDS serial 45+53, call sign 'RETRO 52' diverted into Shannon yesterday evening after suffering an in flight engine shut down. The aircraft was one of a group of four aircraft being ferried eastbound across the North Atlantic. A second aircraft call sign 'RETRO 51' acted as shepherd until 45+53 was on the ground at Shannon but didn't land, instead carrying on towards Germany. The two remaining aircraft were noted passing through northern England and Holland with call sign 'RETRO 53'  displaying hex code 3F96C4. Neither 'RETRO 51' or 'RETRO 52' displayed a transponder code. Pictured above, 45+53 is seen parked on Taxiway 11 awaiting the imminent arrival of some spares. 45+53 is operated by Jagdbombergeschwader 33 based at Büchel.

OY-MRG delivered to Cimber Sterling

Cimber Sterling has taken delivery of B737-7L9 registered OY-MRG. The aircraft, msn 28010 was built in 1999 and delivered to Maersk as OY-MRG and subsequently transferred to the new Sterling Airlines when Sterling European and Maersk merged in 2005.  

Sterling Airlines folded in October 2008 and in December last, Cimber announced that it had purchased the Sterling name and slots with the intention of relaunching the airline as a separate business.  OY-MRG was ferried to Shannon on March 18 this year and was painted in the Cimber Sterling retro scheme at the Lufthansa paint hangar. Pictured above, OY-MRG is seen parked on taxiway 7 last Saturday morning. The aircraft was flown Shannon - Copenhagen this morning using the registration as flight number.

Aer Lingus urges 'No' vote

Aer Lingus has written to shareholders in the company urging them to vote against the resolutions being tabled by Ryanair at the Aer Lingus AGM on June 5. Ryanair has stated that it wants to have three resolutions on, namely :

1. That the Chairman's remuneration be reduced from €175,000 per annum to €35,000 per annum.

2. That the remuneration for non executive directors be reduced from €45,000 per annum to €17,500.

3. That resignation bonuses for the airline's executives be subject to shareholder approval at a general meeting.

Aer Lingus has agreed to allow items 1 and 2 be put to a vote but says that approving item 3 would require a change to the company's articles of association and has therefore ruled it out off the agenda.

In urging a 'No' vote, Aer Lingus says that the Chairman and non executive directors undertook a voluntary 20% drop in fees earlier this year. It also states that directors' workload and responsibility have increased since the 2006 IPO, thereby justifying the increase which occurred in the interim.

In the event of non attendance at the AGM, Aer Lingus has asked shareholders to appoint the Chairman, who will be voting against the proposal, to act as their proxy.

In proposing the amendments last week, Ryanair stated that it's Chairman received no fee whatsoever for his non executive role in the running of the LCC.

Simtech to build Aviation Centre of Excellence

Dublin based Simtech yesterday announced it's plans to build Ireland's first Aviation Centre of Excellence near Dublin Airport. The company which currently employs 24 people provides flight simulator training for a number of airline and corporate customers including Aer Arann, Tiger Airways, Kenya Airways, Westair and Private Sky. The multi million euro investment is expected to create an additional 16 jobs at the company which will site the facility at Dublin Airport Logistics Park. 

Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Brian Cowen was on hand for the announcement and tree planting ceremony, pictured above in the copyright picture by Mark Dwyer.

EI-EWR returns to Dublin

Aer Lingus Airbus A330-202, msn 330 registered EI-EWR departed Dublin for Filton on Tuesday May 12 last to be painted white in preparation for lessor return. On Saturday last, May 23 the aircraft arrived back in Dublin as a 'white tail' where it was pictured above in the copyright picture by Michael Kelly.

The aircraft re-entered service with Aer Lingus today, operating flight EIN 123, Dublin to Chicago O'Hare. It is believed the aircraft is being operated on a 'per hour' basis until the next lease is put in place.

Seaplanes at Fermanagh

On Sunday last, May 24 the first ever seaplane event to take place on the island of Ireland took place on Lough Erne in Co. Fermanagh. Lough Erne has a long tradition of seaplanes and was used during World War II as a base for Catalinas and Sunderland flying boats as they patrolled the North Atlantic. Aircraft from Ireland, the UK and the Netherlands participated in the event at Share Holiday Village.

Pictured above in the copyright pictures by Ken Meegan are :

At top - EI-COY, William Floods pristine Piper J.3C Cub special, msn 22519 which was built in 1946.

At middle - G-TAFC, The Amphibious Flying Clubs Maule M-7 Super Rocket, msn 23062C.

At bottom - PH-DUK, Wings over Hollands, Cessna 185 Skywagon, msn 185.0046 built in 1961.

Other participants at the event were G-CCCW Pereira Osprey 2, G-DRAM Cessna FR172 Rocket and G-ESSL Cessna 182R.

TNT halt Shannon flights ?

It would appear that TNT express have ceased operating out of Shannon airport. There has been no nightly Shannon - Liege flight since Monday last May 18. The Dutch freight and mail service provider seems to have been particularly badly hit by the economic downturn and recently announced a worse than expected profit for Q1 of this year. The company recently announced that it was closing it's aircraft maintenance facility at Stansted airport with the loss of 90 jobs. Aircraft maintenance for the European fleet is to be relocated to Liege in Belgium by the end of this year. Last year the company dropped Cork off the shared Shannon-Cork air route. This year has already seen several changes to aircraft capacity on the Shannon route but it would now appear that the nightly service has finally been dropped.

Pictured above in the copyright picture by Michael Kelly taken last month, TNT A300 EC-HVZ, msn 227, a frequent visitor to Ireland, is seen in storage at Mojave in the California desert where more TNT aircraft are expected in the not too distant future.

Ryanair to add 800 jobs in expansions at Birmingham, Malta

Ryanair has indicated that it will create upwards of 700 jobs at Birmingham airport in the UK  midlands by almost doubling it's passenger numbers in the next year. The airline's sales and marketing manager Laszlo Tamas said the positions would be created if the airline meets it's target of 1.65m passengers through Birmingham next year, a figure that represents an 81% increase on this year's target. 

Ryanair opened it's Birmingham base last year at an investment of £356m and currently serves 32 routes from the airport.

The airline is also in discussions with the government of Malta with a view to setting up a base there later this year if an agreement can be reached. The plan would see two aircraft based on the island year round, adding twelve new routes and employing a staff of 100. At present, Ryanair handle 600,000 passengers per annum at Malta, where the airport charges are three times higher than the European average according to the airline's director of route development Ken O'Toole. In order for the base to happen a pricing deal needs to be worked out which will resolve the issue of passenger charges.

David Dilger appointed Chairman of DAA

The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) today welcomed the decision by the Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey to appoint David Dilger as Chairman of the company. Gary McGann the previous Chairman of the DAA resigned in March.

"David Dilger is a business leader of the highest calibre", said DAA Chief Executive Declan Collier in welcoming Mr. Dilger to the position.

Ryanair condemned the decision of the government "to replace one failed (Anglo Irish) bank director, Gary McGann as Chairman of the DAA airport monopoly, with another failed bank director, David Dilger who has been a Director of Bank of Ireland PLC since 2003." The airline went on to say that the appointment was totally inappropriate and "confirms that the "golden circle" of failed bank directors is alive and well and still being appointed to Boards of semi state companies by this clueless government."

Ryanair's Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said that “The fact that Mr Dilger was a participant in the near bankrupting of Bank of Ireland necessitating its bail out by the Government makes him one of the golden circle of “Banksters” who should be unfit to be Chairman of a semi-state company, even one as badly run as the DAA airport monopoly.

Viking invasion for Heineken Cup Final

One could have have been forgiven for thinking that the vikings were re-invading Dublin over the weekend due to the volume of Scandinavian aircraft at the airport. On this occasion however the invasion was that of Leinster rugby fans travelling to Scotland for the Heineken Cup Final with Leicester. Some of the more interesting visitors hired in for the airlift are seen above in the copyright pictures by Ken Meegan. 

At top is McDonnell Douglas MD87 (msn 49403) SE-RBA in the colours of Danish Air Transport.

In the middle is Avro RJ-85 (msn E2233) OY-RCE of Faeroe Islands operator Atlantic Airways.

At bottom is Boeing 737-3Y0 (msn 24464) OY-JTB of Danish operator Jet Time. This aircraft is no stranger to Ireland having spent a considerable time at Shannon Aerospace when it was registered RP-C4010 with Philippine Airlines.

EI-EFD delivered to Ryanair

Ryanair's latest B737-8AS was delivered to Dublin on Saturday morning. The aircraft is registered EI-EFD, msn 35011 carries hex code 4CA75F and is pictured above in the copyright picture by Ken Meegan arriving at Dublin from Seattle via Keflavik.

Former CityJet EI-DJJ joins FAB

Former CityJet BAe 146-200 msn E2040 EI-DJJ has joined Bolivian military operator TAM as FAB 103. The aircraft was built in 1985 and delivered to CityJet in May 2005. 

On May 13, Bolivian President Morales was present in LaPaz for the official arrival of the aircraft which is configured for 92 passengers and 6 crew. An impressive T33 escort was assembled for the arrival and can be seen in the picture link :FAB103

With thanks to Antoin Daltun

6Y-JMD carries out test flight

Air Jamaica Airbus A321-211 msn 666, registered 6Y-JMD carried out a test flight at Shannon today in the colours of Turkish operator Turkuaz. The aircraft arrived in Shannon on March 16 last, prior lessor return. In the interim the aircraft was painted in the colours of Turkuaz and received the once over at Shannon Aerospace. Two weeks ago the aircraft made a brief appearance in Turkish registration TC-TCE before the Jamaican registration was stickered on top.

Pictured above, 6Y-JMD, lines up on R24 this afternoon as AJM 8051.

Happy Hooligans arrive in Shannon

Three Gates Learjet C-21 aircraft of the 119th Wing, North Dakota Air National Guard arrived in Shannon late Thursday en route south west Asia. The aircraft 84-0124, 84-0064 and 84-0114 used the NODAK (NOrth DAKota) callsign. The aircraft departed Hector International Airport at Fargo, ND on Wednesday. This is the first time that the North Dakota ANG have deployed to SW Asia in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The 119th Wing (Happy Hooligans) began flying the Learjet C-21 when they lost their F-16 Fighting Falcons in January 2007. Pictured above arriving in near darkness at Shannon are 84-0064, 'NODAK 12' top, in the colours of the ND ANG and bottom, 84-0124, 'NODAK 52' in the colours of Connecticut ANG 'Flying Yankees'.

The Hooligans departed Shannon for Prague this Friday afternoon on the next leg of their eastward trek.

EI-EFE joins Ryanair fleet

Wednesday May 20 saw the arrival of the latest Ryanair B737-8AS. Pictured above in the copyright picture by Ken Meegan, EI-EFE, msn 37533, hex code 4CA760 is seen on arrival in Dublin on it's delivery flight from Seattle.

EI-SFA, EI-SFC join Irish Register

The first Cessna Mustangs on the Irish register arrived in Shannon late Thursday night en route to their operator, Iti Air Taxi based in Rome. The aircraft are EI-SFA, msn 510-0144 (hex code 4CA79E) and EI-SFC, msn 510-0196 (hex code 4CA7A0). Pictured above EI-SFA, top and EI-SFC are seen arriving in near darkness and rain at 20.36 utc and 20.40 utc respectively. Expected to layover in Shannon on Friday the aircraft made early morning departures just after 7.00 utc.