No season of good will at Aer Arann
There once was a time when Aer Arann was a pleasant place to work where staff were always willing to go the extra mile and customer service was of paramount importance however the management never made the most of the good times squandering large amounts of money. When the economic situation in Ireland led to the company falling into examinership there was the hope that process would introduce a new investor with the resources and skills to restructure and realise the potential of the airline. The only right thing the owner could do at this point was to walk away for the sake of the company.....
This we now know did not happen, surprisingly the owner was allowed to propose what is at best a messy and questionable business plan with no change to the inept management structure that got Aer Arann into the situation it found itself in (but of course that was all the volcano’s fault) Creditors were short changed ranging from airports to taxi companies while the owner was lauded in the media as the saviour of the plucky Irish regional. Things have gone from bad to worse since. The major lifeline for the company came in the form of the Aer Lingus regional routes but it has been to the detriment of the Aer Arann legs, the company virtually abandoning customer service. It was decided to operate with minimum crew ( sometimes less than minimum) stretching the legalities of flight time limitations such as it had become the daily norm leaving exhausted crews operating aircraft with ever increasing technical issues.
The illegal pay cuts were only the beginning but no one imagined that it could lead to crews operating and being forced into discretion on an almost a daily basis. Cabin crew have at times been bullied into doing so. Many duties involve driving a hire car half the length of the country ( no exaggeration) to fly a duty and drive back to base, this had led to some individuals falling asleep at the wheel. Anyone that question this practice are dealt with .
The chief pilot seems to act now only as a management puppet , His most common quote being “ I don’t think that duty is fatiguing” . He has lost all credibility with the pilot body and should enjoy his bonuses for cutting costs in the flight deck department.
Over the recent cold spell the company culture that was established with PSO routes years ago (ie the flight must go) resulted in many appalling decisions in an under crewed operations department. While other airlines take early decisive action and cancel flights , Arann operations insist on spending several thousand de icing an aircraft to dispatch with 3 passengers. 24 hours later the aircraft and crew are stranded at the destination aerodrome and the company is down an aircraft for the following day. The main skill the ops department seem to possess is to haemorrhage Eddie Stobart’s money.
When a workforce is under such stress mistakes will inevitably occur. A rise in the number of level busts, itself a result of the company culture led to management choosing the pilots as scapegoats. A document was circulated citing carelessness as the main factor, all the while ignoring the dreaded F word.
I am sure the powers that be will see this post and I would hope that they would undertake all efforts to improve the current situation, Sadly the arrogance and contempt for the employees means that little or nothing will change.