-
-
EuroAtlantic Airways B767-3Y0ER registered CS-TFS returned home to Portugal this afternoon after a check with Shannon Aerospace. The aircraft had arrived on March 14 last to replace sistership CS-TFT. CS-TFS, msn 25411 had created something of stir last summer when it arrived in Shannon as S9-DBW of EuroAtlantic subsidiary STP Airways. The stir subsided somewhat when it landed in an all white scheme. Pictured above flight MMZ600S lines up on R24 for departure on a typical spring afternoon in the west of Ireland.
-
-
A visitor to Shannon today was Manx registered King Air 350, M-FLYI. The aircraft has visited Cork on many occassions in its previous guise as M-OORE but this was its first visit to Shannon. Notably, M-FLYI carries the same hex code as its predecessor. Pictured above M-FLYI, msn FL-569 is seen lining up for departure on another spring afternoon in the west of Ireland.
-
-
The Department of Transport has reversed its decision to downgrade the south east search and rescue helicopter cover to 12 hour daylight only operations. Under the terms of the new contract with CHC Helicopters to provide SAR services for the Irish Coatguard, coverage by the Waterford based helicopter was to be reduced to 12 hour daylight only operation in an effort to save €1m per year. Coverage at Shannon, Sligo and Dublin would have remained at 24hr. Yesterday, Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey confirmed that coverage from Waterford would continue on a 24 hr basis up to 2022.
Yesterday's announcemnet is a rare climbdown by the DoT since the original decision to scale back the service was approved at cabinet. The announcement two weeks ago that the service was to be curtailed resulted in a vociferous local reaction and indeed a meeting scheduled to be held tonight in Waterford City to discuss the matter had been expected to gather a crowd of 1,000 opponents of the plan.
-
-
Losses at Aer Lingus grew 26.8% YoY to reach €154.8m for FY ended December 31 2009 according to the company's year end results published this morning. Operating losses grew 300% YoY to a figure of €81m. Although passenger numbers grew 3.8% to 10.4m average fares fell by 16.8%. On long haul services fares fell 15.9% whilst the corresponding figure for short haul was 12%. The drop in yield along with reduced demand for cargo services saw revenue fall 11% to €1.2bn.
Aer Lingus says that its full year performance in 2010 depends on the implementation of its cost saving program which is expected to generate staff savings of €40m for the year. Commenting on the results, Aer Lingus chief executive Christoph Mueller said that the outlook for 2010 remains uncertain with limited visibility in particular over the second half of the year.
-
-
For the most part "Contrails" covers the comings and goings of aircraft at Irish airports but there are large numbers of Irish registered aircraft around the world which we never get to see. One such example is Airbus A320-233 registered EI-TAD. The aircraft is msn 1334 and operates in the colours of El Salvador operator TACA. Paul Morris grabbed a shot during a recent trip to Miami.
-
-
Air Berlin B737-86J registered D-ABAT arrived in Shannon this evening in the colours of the soon to become new operator - Corendon Airlines. The aircraft is msn 29120 and was painted in Norwich in the colours of the Turkish carrier who will operate the aircraft as TC-TJG as witnessed by the partial registration on the nosewheel door. After landing the aircraft positioned to the Air Atlanta Aero Engineering hangar where pre handover checks will be performed. Pictured above, flight BER556P taxis down R06 in what passes for an Irish spring evening (not!).
-
-
Toronto base Fairmont Aviation Services' Bombardier Challenger 300 registered C-GFHR is a very familiar face in Shannon. Yesterday, the aircraft, msn 20016, made what may well be its first visit to Dublin when it stopped off to refuel enroute Larnaca. Pictured above by Derek Gannon the aircraft is seen during its turnaround in Dublin.
-
-
Boeing 737-73V G-EZJW is due to join the Europe Airport fleet as F-GZTD in the near future. The aircraft is being prepared for handover with Dublin Aerospace and performed a test flight yesterday using its easyJet registration G-EZJW. Michael Kelly pictured the aircraft above lining up for departure. Paul Morris pictured G-EZJW below on Friday when it was rolled out from the Dublin Aerospace hangar.
-
-
JetBird the VLJ taxi operator has cancelled orders with Embraer for 50 Phenom 100 aircraft. It is understood that some of the aircraft had already been built but were reconfigured and sold to alternate buyers. The Irish owned VLJ air taxi operator had hoped to commence operations from its Cologne base last year but the start up was postponed several times throughout the year. The closest that JetBird came to operations was in August when a demonstration tour was organised in late August visiting Germany and Denmark.
Jetbird is currently seeking additional finance, reportedly in the region of $5m to $10m, which will allow it to launch operations. Embraer and JetBird are currently renegotiating a contract which will see a revised delivery schedule and slower ramp up. The original contract was for 50 aircraft with 50 options.
-
-
Ryanair announced today that it is calling a halt to its inflight mobile phone service after its 13 month contract with OnAir ended. In February 2009 Ryanair launched inflight mobile usage on 50 aircraft. The airline said that it was satisfied with the performance of the system and wanted to extend the coverage to the remaining aircraft in the fleet. However, Ryanair said that OnAir was not happy to commit to the expansion of the system at this time. OnAir said in a statement that the companies could not agree on the process and timing of the rollout. Ryanair says that it will now invite tenders from other providers of inflight communications for the provision of a fleet wide service.
-
-
This morning saw the commencement of the Aer Lingus Regional / Aer Arann franchise agreement on 12 routes from Dublin and Cork. Six of the new routes will operate between Dublin and the UK with the remainder linking Cork with the UK and France. Nine of the routes were previously served by Aer Arann or Aer Lingus. Three new routes will commence as a result of the franchise agreement - Dublin to Doncaster - Sheffield, Dublin to Durham Tyne Tees and Cork to Glasgow International.
Stephen Kavanagh, Chief Commercial Officer, Aer Lingus and Paul Schuetz, Chief Executive, Aer Arann were at Dublin Airport for the launch of the service. The Aer Lingus Regional service will be operated by Aer Arann ATR72-500 aircraft and crew whilst the tickets are sold through the aer Lingus web site.
Aer Lingus Regional will see an increase in the carrier's presence in the UK marketplace, including services from Ireland to Bristol, Blackpool, Cardiff, Doncaster-Sheffield, Durham, Galsgow and Edinburgh. In May two seasonal services will commence operation from Cork to Jersy and Cork to La Rochelle, France.
-
-
Further to yesterday's post regarding the identity change of B737-36N N561SM (msn 28561), the aircraft emerged from the Eirtech Aviation hangar in Shannon today wearing marks EI-IGR.
-
-
The Ryanair fleet has now got so big that the only realistic chance of logging new additions is to catch them "at birth" when they arrive in Dublin from Seattle. For many, missing one aircraft from a fleet the size of Ryanair's is worse than having an itch you can't scratch - and it could take months of hunting a needle in the haystack that is the Ryanair network before finding that elusive frame.
The latest brace of B737s arrived in Dublin today. EI-EKW is msn 38506, hex code 4CA815 whilst sistership EI-EKX is msn 35030, hex code 4CA816. Michael Kelly was on hand to record both arrivals in Dublin.
EI-EKW landed on R28 just after 12:15 utc as RYR 800W
Followed by EI-EKX at 12:28 using callsign RYR 800X
-
-
During the period 2007 to 2009, Indian carrier SpiceJet took delivery of a number of factory new 737 aircraft. It is some time since the last delivery so this morning's arrival in Shannon of B737-8GJ was welcome. The aircraft in question is registered VT-SGF, msn 36367 (hex code 8005B8) and is pictured above during a day stop having arrived in Shannon from Boeing Field, via Gander.
-
-
Cabin crew at Aer Lingus, represented by union IMPACT have overwhelmingly voted to accept the terms of the carrier's "Project Greenfield" cost saving program designed to secure the airline's future. In this second ballot union members voted by a 92% to 8% margin to accept the plan. Earlier this month Aer Lingus said that it would lay off all 1,200 cabin crew and rehire all but 230 on lower terms and conditions after IMPACT rejected the proposals first time around. The 230 cabin crew who would have been made redundant would have received statutory entitlements only. Following separate discussions at the Labour Relations Commission, IMPACT said that it had gained a clearer understanding of the situation which allowed it to put the proposals to a second ballot.