From the RE website.
27th November - Up to 30 positions, primarily among flight crew and cabin crew, which were scheduled for redundancy, will now be retained with the creation of a new Isle of Man base to serve the Isle of Man to London City route announced this week.
It has now been confirmed that the total number of redundancies will be limited to 70. Aer Arann had expected to make up to 100 staff redundant but the airline signalled its intent to seek new charter and contract lease business in an attempt to reduce that number.
“This retention of jobs is a welcome immediate result to a sustained effort to implement a dynamic new business model and a strategy that reflects the economy generally and an aviation industry globally that is under severe pressure” said Aer Arann CEO designate Paul Schütz
The continuing focus on the airline’s contract lease business and the new Isle of Man development will allow Aer Arann to retain a core fleet of 11 aircraft on scheduled services and 1 aircraft on contract lease.
This is a significant improvement on the anticipated fleet reduction although some aircraft will be redeployed and the number of aircraft based in Cork and Galway will reduce by one in each airport. However a new base will be opened on the Isle of Man and an ATR 72-500 will be located there.
“We will continue to focus our efforts on niche routes linking the regions with major urban centres where we can build passenger numbers by offering a reliable, cost effective and quality service to both business and leisure travellers”, Paul Schütz continued.
Aer Arann will be introducing schedule changes in the New Year which will concentrate its operations on routes that continue to perform well. These changes, effective from January 12th, will see services on some routes cut back or suspended. The airline is also opening new routes where it has identified specific business opportunities.
“Route reductions like this are normal for the winter schedule”, explained Paul Schütz, “and while the cuts may be a little deeper in these recessionary times routes that are suspended will be kept under review and may return in the future when the demand is there to support them”.
“We will also continue to seek new route opportunities so that we can strengthen our position as a leading regional carrier”, Paul Schütz continued.
Key points of today’s announcement
• Expected redundancies reduced by 30%
• New Isle of Man base and London City route
• More new route announcements expected
• No change to services between Dublin and Galway, Donegal, Derry, Sligo or Knock.
• Moderate fleet reduction and redeployment
• Three routes suspended
• No permanent route cancellations – Suspended routes will be reviewed in 2009
• Some schedule timing changes to the winter operation – to be reviewed in 2009
“The significant point from today’s announcement is that we have limited the impact on jobs, on the fleet reduction and on route suspensions”, said Paul Schütz.
“We will now implement our new business plan and mix the deployment of our fleet over the contract lease and charter market. We will also develop our scheduled routes to the maximum potential, addressing the need for a service that is not being provided by the larger carriers”, Paul Schütz concluded.
New Route Effective January 19th 2009
• Isle of Man - London City
Suspended Routes Effective January 12th
• Galway/Waterford - Amsterdam
• Kerry - Manchester
• Cork-Glasgow - Prestwick
- Some services around the Heineken Cup Final and Six Nations Rugby will be operated.
Schedule Changes Effective January 12th
• Cork - Dublin
• Cork - Cardiff
• Galway - London Luton
• Galway - Manchester
• Galway - Edinburgh
• Waterford - Birmingham
• Waterford - Manchester
All other current Aer Arann routes remain unchanged.
Seasonal routes scheduled to return in the Summer Schedule include flights from Galway, Waterford and Cork to Lorient and from Cork to Nantes, La Rochelle, Jersey and Southampton. Other possible summer routes are being examined.