skynet out of business?

[lyuba]

Hello!

Has anyone heard about the Irish carrier SkyNet planes being seized?

cheers

[EINN]

Just came across this on RTE's website


'Skynet's air services at Shannon have been temporarily suspended because one of its planes has been grounded at the airport.

It is understood a difficulty has arisen between Skynet and the company it leases from, over a payment which has been delayed because of time zone differences in the US.

Skynet operates a daily service between Shannon and Amsterdam and on to Moscow'


Hopefully this can be sorted out soon

[Jetset320]

Same thing reported on "justplanes.com"

Irish airline Skynet, based at Shannon, has had one of its Boeing 737s impounded at Shannon Aiport. The plane is subject to a High Court Order from a third party, thought to be the owner of the plane, most likely the leasing company.

Last I had heard, they were thinking of starting using 767 equipment. Aeroflot are part owners.

[SNNEI]

Hi,

contrary to popular belief, Aeroflot do not own any of Skynet: there is just a commercial agrrement with them to operate Amsterdam-Moscow. Boris Krevchenko, former head of SU in Shannon was involved in the start up of the company.

There are rumours elsewhere that skynet have gone under (it is mentioned in another thread on here) and it is not possible to book flights on their website at present.

Services from Dublin to Moscow have been suspended indefintely.

[CCR]

The dispute was resolved. Skynet are planning on commencing services from Shannon to St. Petersburg over the summer.

http://www.rte.ie/business/2004/0521/skynet.html

Skynet services to return to normal

May 21, 2004 19:17
Skynet, an Irish registered airline which operates out of Shannon Airport, has had one of its planes impounded at Shannon airport.

The airline said:' arising from a dispute with the owners of an aircraft operated by Skynet, some passengers on today's flights to Amsterdam, were inconvenienced, which we regret.

However all passengers travelling to Amsterdam have been accommodated and Skynet Airlines will operate normal schedules from tomorrow May 22, 2004,' it added.


The company said they are committed to developing their hub operation at Shannon and are confident that new routes will be announced later this year".

The two year old airline employs 100 staff

[lyuba]

Is SkyNet back in business?
cheers

[SNNEI]

not sure mate. First they were, now we hear there are still "technical issues" (their words, not mine) to do with the lease of the aircraft in question. Flying is cancelled until Wednesday they say.

There must surely be something fishy going on at this stage.

[LordLucan]

:( Just heard its all still on hold, slim chance of getting it all back up and running.........good luck to all the guys involved.

[runawayedge]

Sad to hear I hope it works out...Shannon could do with a break

[Jorge Newberry]

Just phoned them to ask about the state of play. Nice but worried sounding lady offered me an immediate refund on my flight on the fourth of June but said if I wanted to hold on till tomorrow they would probably have definite news then. So there may still be a sliver of hope...

[EINN]

Just came across this on their website

'SKYNET REGRETS TO ANNOUNCE THAT ALL FLIGHTS HAVE BEEN SUSPENDED INDEFINITELY. NO FURTHER BOOKINGS ARE BEEN TAKEN. PASSENGERS WHO ALREADY HAVE A BOOKING WITH US ARE ADVISED TO CONTACT OUR CALL CENTRE FOR REFUND AT TEL: 00353 61 234455'

Sad to see them go under

Slan laith

[bmibaby.com]

I do hope that the airline doesn't go under. I have a few ex-Virgin Express Ireland friends who work over there, and they seem to be a great little airline with a decent management team (am I right in saying its ex-Aeroflot Ireland?)

Does anybody know if there is a Skynet email address I am interested in finding out some information?

Kind regards

[Jorge Newberry]

Definitely tits up. Shame for all the employees and also for all those from the west of Ireland living in Holland who had got used to avoiding dublin for jaunts home.

[swaairways]

Where are you getting your info? I'm not questioning it, just heard that nothing was decided yet.

[MarkD]

what were loads like? any chance of EI, KL or others jumping on the route?

[SNNEI]

They are gone i'm afraid. It's official.

Jorge Newberry:

That was the problem: Not enough Irish expats in Holland knew about them. I lived in Zuid Holland for nearly four years and no-one I knew had a clue about Skynet, even those from the west. I communicated this to a Skynet staff member also. I really wanted to see them make a go of it. That flight was so convenient for me.

Their cabin crew will be OK though: they were excellent and deserve to do well into the future.

[SNNEI]

MarkD,

On occasion, loads were good. Mostly, they were terrible. That is not about lack of demand, it is simply about lack of marketing in the right places, and Skynet not being in the res systems. An airline with the marketing prowess and the ability to offer interline/transfer capability would clean up on this route. Schiphol thrives on it's connection possibilities, and access to a European hub is exactly what Shannon is crying out for.

[Jorge Newberry]

Quite agree about the lack of marketing, at least here in the Nether Lands. If I remember correctly I only found out about its existence from a mention it received in a Pprune thread.

[Maxiumus]

Runawayedge - "Shannon could do with a break"

Hmm, what do you think the lunacy of the stop-over is?

[EINN]

Just found out that Skynet are not gone out of business.

'SKYNET REGRETS TO ANNOUNCE THAT FLIGHTS HAVE BEEN CURRENTLY SUSPENDED. NO NEW BOOKINGS ARE PRESENTLY BEING TAKEN. PASSENGERS WHO ALREADY HAVE A BOOKING WITH US ARE ADVISED TO CONTACT OUR CALL CENTRE FOR A REFUND AT TEL: 00353 61 234455. WE APPOLOGIZE FOR ANY DELAYS THAT MIGHT OCCUR DUE TO HIGH VOLUME OF INCOMING CALLS.

SKYNET, IN COOPERATION WITH PULKOVO AND POLET AIRLINES, IS PLANNING TO START SERVICE FROM SHANNON/DUBLIN TO MOSCOW AND ST.PETERBURG IN JULY 2004 '


Glad to hear that they will be back

[SNNEI]

EINN,

I hope you are correct. I'm afraid their staff have already been jumping ship to the competition en mass though. Hardly a good sign.

[Global Pilot]

As of May30 their flight plans are still showing up on CFMU and being activated. Here is this mornings movement:

08:35A SIH230 B734 EINN EHAM T 370 08:25 08:35E FI 08:35

Not 100% if it actually got airborne but the rtn sector is also in the system:

21:51E SIH229 B734 EHAM EINN I 360 20:05 20:20E

I am sure the remaining staff are working pretty hard this weekend to try to keep things going.

[runawayedge]

Runawayedge - "Shannon could do with a break"

Maximus Hmm, what do you think the lunacy of the stop-over is?

I don't disagree, however my point is related in that if Shannon were not a political football, it may actually be able to focus on its purpose...to serve the economy of a region with meaningful air access, maybe then the aiport management could get on with their job, in my mind they, their staff and their customers deserve a break!

[Tom the Tenor]

Cork Airport also more than deserves a break from Shannon and from the loony stopover.

I would also question why so much money has been continually pumped into Shannon over the last number of years tarting up the terminal and the building of even more rarely to be used gates. The situation is ridiculous to say the least whilst Cork is bursting at the seams turning away aircraft for the want of parking space. I am sure Shannon would remain quite profitable if a per centage of the excessive "Workforce" were paid off with even more taxpayers money, of course? All that "Workforce" and they still could not protect just one US Navy 737!

Shannon is now being screwed by it's own catchment area with people from the west using both Galway and Knock to get to destinations in Ireland, England and Scotland which just goes to prove what goes around come around!

Look at the Duo business - that would have been another shameful waste of hello incentives? Shannon or Duo - who was more desperate? I wonder what Skynet have received from Shannon in the incentives area down the last few years and will this too have been another shameful waste? Hope not, I hope Skynet survive and I do really mean that as I have good friends working there.

The British readers here will not have seen the RTE Primetime TV special on Shannon a few weeks ago. Just as well. What embarassing nonsense. Can you imagine the likes of that discussion being conducted on any other national European TV station? Not likely.

If Virgin Express Ireland or, perhaps, Skynet had based in Cork rather than at Shannon I am convinced they would still be going. Shannon is a graveyard for failed Irish airlines.

[runawayedge]

It is rather ironic that Galway now has more UK destinations than Shannon.

[WHBM]

The British readers here will not have seen the RTE Primetime TV special on Shannon a few weeks ago. Tom, could you give us a little summary of the programme contents please.

[flapsout]

Tom,

Rather than Shannon bashing.......................I believe Jet Magic (flying much smaller planes) couldn't make a go of it in Cork, mainly due to a lack of passengers.

What is your logic then on why airlines with bigger capacity than Jet Magic be successful in Cork......

[runawayedge]

Agree with flapsout...Tom the tenner gets so caught up bashing all and sundry around him in defence of Cork on this forum. Would be great to see some constructive postings referencing something other than CRK!

[Tom the Tenor]

WHBM, imagine a silly scene from Father Ted but a scene from the 1960s era rather than the present day. The 1960s when every airliner crossing the North Atlantic might be expected to dip into Shannon for fuel either going west or coming east. The kind of mindset which is still very much alive and well amongst the die hards in Shannon who want the stopover to continue. A lot of it has to do with money too, be they the crowd from the Shannon "Workforce" who have enjoyed easy conditions on the job or the local gangs organising onward tours for the sentimental US tourists who have had the presence of mind (Ha, ha!) to terminate their flights in Shannon. Rich pickings there, I can tell you. The parish pump works very well in Shannon.

Flaps out, plenty has all ready been discussed on these forums about Jetmagic. Check it out in your own time by using the search facility if you wish.

Runwaysedge, as for constructive comments other than Cork, Knock has a nice looooong runway, very handy for long transcontinental type flights! Another constuctive comment would be my concurring with you as regards Galway having more flights to the UK than Shannon. Very useful for flights from the western seaboard is Galway!

For what it is worth and in a post stopover world I still think there would be enough demand for near daily flights from Shannon to New York and Boston at least, even in winter. An A319LR like what Air France now use for cetain Asian and African destinations would be ideal platform. What do you think? W Walsh might have other ideas, of course. There, that was pretty constructive too? Cork has hardly had a mention now, has it!?

[Jorge Newberry]

Oh for a flight from AMS to Galway!!

[flapsout]

As I said Tom,

What is your logic on bigger capacity aircraft being more successful at Cork than Shannon, when smaller aircraft flew empty for the year that Jet Magic operated.

[Optical Illyushin]

Tom - you and I both know Virgin Express can't blame the Shannon location for it's failure - loads on the ex shannon flights were all ok, rent subsidy for the portacabin was handy enough. The "other" factors were, however, overwhelming! This subject (like the jetmagic one you refer to) has also been done to death.... :ugh:

[runawayedge]

Tom - I feel you still have not got the point. Firstly, the same operator currently runs Cork and Shannon and I'm sure Dublin influences where new routes go, so maybe if you ask head office they'll be able to tell you why Virgin failed in Shannon instead of Cork. However, my point remains the same, most airports have had airlines that fail, but making silly points like had they operated from CRK they would have been successful have no place in this forum. Cork is a great little airport, but it is certainly not the benchmark for the aviation industry, much as you seem to think! I am not bashing, merely appealing to you to comment on original threads instead of constantly changing them to focus on CRk.
I agree runaway..let's get the thread back on track. H

[Optical Illyushin]

Ah Hawk - impartial to the end eh...?? Tom has a right to his opinion and if the SkyNet aspect of this thread is running dry as a result of lack of further developments why not let it develop naturally?

Now will this post be removed I wonder or shall I be sumarily banned from posting like others have been for daring to challenge your authority? Hmm? :*

[SNNEI]

All,

Might I make a suggestion? The fact that so many Airlines have failed at Shannon is down to the fact that none of them got the basic elements right?

Either they were badly timed, insufficient frequency, incorrect fare structure, bad or non existant marketing. None of the many carriers that have come and gone here the last few years seem, IMHO, to have got these things right. I'm not slating them as operators, and i'm indeed not having a go at their staff, but there were clearly deficiencies.

Skynet is a classic case in point. I wish them the best, but how many of us really rate their chances at getting this new St petersburg service up and running after what has happened? If they couldnt make Amsterdam (quite possibly THE biggest continetal route ex Ireland) work, how can St petersburg fare?

Tom the Tenor,

I'm a Shannon boy myself, and I still agree with an awful lot of what you say. There is a certain element up here that feels SNN has some divine right to traffic. The investment in SNN was completely unjustified when ORK and DUB were bursting at the seams.

Quite simply this airport is fu*ked unless something radical is done soon. Yes, the new motorway system we are getting here in the mid west will help, as will the planned rail link (if it ever bloody happens) but the managment of this airport need to get their finger out and start fighting to attract some serious names into this airport. We need good access to a Continental hub (KLM cityhopper.. please look our way....) for starters. Then, we need Aer Rianta to stop advertising the attractiveness of using Shannon in the Shannon region. That whole campaign is pointless. We want to use our local airport, but the services we need just are not there. Spend this money on getting the airlines here, and we the passenger will follow.

Better still, and I know this is going to ruffle a few feathers, close SNN down. Then close ORK down too. Now, build one big airport equidistant between Limerick and Cork linked to each city by a proper motorway system and high speed railway. (After all, we're only 60 miles apart anyhow) Then we have an airport capable of competing with Dublin. There'll be a sufficient catchment area to provide enough passengers for the kind of services the south of Ireland needs. The stopover wont even be an issue: there be well enough passengers to maintain existing links anyway. Please can we refrain from traditional Irish tribalism here: might I point the Netherlands and Schiphol out as an Example of what happens when you centralise airport services, but make them easily accesible to everyone.

Now, lest anyone start getting insulting with me or I draw the ire of those in power, I said this to start a debate, cos lets face it: the thread has run out of steam, but some important issues have been raised here. Lets see what materialises....