Hi,
I was at IOM Ronaldsway today, first time there, and what a fantastic airport with amazingly friendly security staff. I'm not an airline insider but I follow aviation very closely and have an interest in Aer Arann.. so whilst waiting for today's IOM-LTN flight on Flybe I noticed 2 Aer Arann ATR42s, EI-CVR was on the Dublin rotation, after it's departure this morning EI-EHH arrived.
Before my 11:35am flight I noticed that both engines on EI-EHH were being inspected on the stand.. the plane was parked directly in front of G-JECO which is what I flew on.
I have flown with Aer Arann a lot over the past few years and have only picked up minor delays. I do think however, that since the new fleet was moved over to Aer Lingus only ops, that the Aer Arann brand is suffering a bit - this is a laymans point of view.
Remember RE are sending back 1 ATR42 at the end of August. Technical hiccups occur as everyone knows but ontime operations are the basis of a good service. I wouldn't think twice about flying with them because the delays i've hadhave been no worse than FR but one thing bothers me, and thats the LCY route.. that really should be a flagship route with ultra reliable service on a good looking plane! not wishing to pander to the business community too much but they are bread and butter..
Interestingly, and I say this with total honesty, my Flybe flight today was a few mins delayed in boarding and a few mins late push back etc. in departures I overheard a businessman on the phone getting a bit annoyed by it as no announcements were made in the terminal etc. and he could see staff milling about the boarding area.. all in, we made up the time and although it took more time to get out of Luton than i was in the air, I think this reinforced in my mind just how important certain routes are.
I would also be interested to see any stats re ontime flights etc over the period since the aircraft changed from 72 to 42... that include Pax nos...
ta