Hmmm I wonder if that will be the end of Nex Aviation then... that would be a pity, they have battled long and hard to keep going. Not much other work out there though, and no AOC holders that are likely to take them on, it would seem. They should go for their own.
Game over,seems Arann pulled out last minute last thursday at 1400hrs,after a lot of work had been done to try and get the aircraft on that AOC.
Engineers and pilots had been interviewed in the last 6 months.
Big headache for the owners of the 146,its still at Southend.Unlikely to get back in the air anytime soon.
At least no-one lost their jobs,would have been worse had staff been hired,but arann are not in the best of shape at any rate.
Ah well that is probably the end of TBIC then. Lots of parked 146s around now, BAe are virtually giving them away on cheap leases... and TBIC isn't particularly well equipped. Sad.
Go for their own AOC (Air Operators Certificate). They have been piggybacking off other airlines AOCs since they started, first Atlantic Airways and then Flightline. With Flightline gone now, and no other European operator of the 146 likely to want to get involved with Nex (not that there are many left!), their only real option is to try and get their own AOC. Of course to do that you need credible post-holders, which I imagine will be a bit of a problem for them, and a few million Euros (just for the bonds). Knowing the way Irish aviation works, it may be possible to cobble something together, but my guess is that Nex will quietly fold. I hope they can keep going, their CEO has worked pretty hard to keep them afloat, and for a while it was a pretty tight operation. Pretty sure it is just the CEO, an accountant and a portacabin in Waterford now, though...
The problem is that - as someone remarked earlier - there just isn't that much ACMI work out there at the moment, so it's really hard to make a case for investing the necessary cost and time in an AOC, at least for this aircraft type. Despite Flightline closing down just under a year ago, Transwede (RJ70/85 ACMI operator) has recently announced they'll be getting out of the business too. A couple of southern European F100 operators are still providing relatively low-cost 100-seat lift, but there's just not much call for 146/RJ ACMI operations at the moment. The main niches where the aircraft could excel are difficult airfields (Scatsta, LCY) and no-one's looking for extra capacity there AFAIK. Plus also, the shift in sterling vs the euro over the last couple of years has meant that UK operators are a lot more competitive in the Euro zone and conversely Euro ACMI operators are less interesting to UK airlines. It's a shame, because Nex has worked very hard to get going and keep going.
Munster don't have a game this week-end as a number of their players are on international duty for Ireland vs. Australia tomorrow afternoon. Perhaps it's supporters going over for this game?
There is a flight that should have left CWL for COR at 12.45 with the flight number as RE422. Aer Arann's website doesn't give live flight details, Cardiff is just showing outstanding fkights for tonight only (no history) & Cork's arrivals page doesn't show it arriving from CWL. So assume it's a divert.
Last edited by ChalfontFlyer : 14th November 2009 at 19:57.
Reason: correction
Today's race meeting at Cheltenham certainly looks the likely one. Gloucester and Worcester rugby clubs don't have Irish opposition this weekend so it's not for them.
Bristol Airport only has one daily Aer Arann flight, the RE 433/434 from/to Cork. That came in and and went out as normal today.
Detailed Flight Information:
Aer Arann Express Flight 4022 to Dublin, Ireland
(EIDW-Dublin Airport)
Airline Aer Arann Express
Flight Number 4022
Departure City (Airport) , (EGBJ)
Departure Time
Arrival City (Airport) Dublin, Ireland (EIDW)
Arrival Time
Remaining Flight Time 00:00
Aircraft Type
Current Altitude 0 feet
Current Groundspeed 0 mph
Flight Status Landed
Bananamanuk - got some more information for you from the Flightstats website. The aircraft came into GLO yesterday at 10.27 from DUB as RE4021. It departed GLO at 18.13 arriving in DUB at 18.48 as RE4022.
I think the conclusion on this one is that as previously mentioned it was a Horse Racing charter for punters having an afternoon at Cheltenham.
Let's hope their winnings more than covered the cost of the charter!
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