Aer Arann

[flyingmutant]

Slightly off current track here, but can anyone tell me if Mark Alder is still the Chief Pilot at Arann?

[crewingb]

Yes I can confirm, Mark is now permanant Chief Pilot and is a very good
person to deal with.

Regards,

Crewingb.

[j41cac]

Have done the LCY with RE, superb and long may it continue. Regional Handling very attentive and friendly outta IOM. Sandwiches, bagels etc, etc.

[riptack]

Timetables

Are RE really doing any business on the Cork - Dublin route, the timetables make it very difficult to fly down to Cork for a days business and fly back. with only two flights a day arriving in Cork at 11ish and leaving again at 15hrs? I would imagine that it would be more cost effective for them to just pull off the route altogether.

[840]

It's primarily used as a feeder for Aer Lingus transatlantic now as well as a few other connections out of Dublin (e.g. Etihad). Because of that, they're able to charge pretty high prices for the legs.

It can probably get by on the numbers doing that until someone cops on that there are maybe 40-60 people making that connection in Dublin every day, along with a similar number connecting in Heathrow and maybe 20 in Amsterdam, along with 30-40 people making the overland trip to Shannon, which overall would add up to a decent load on a 757 transatlantic direct out of Cork.

[brian_dromey]

I travelled on the 607 (1015 departure) from DUB. the load was very light, I'd say about 20 on a Friday morning. On board the ATR-42 had seen far, far better days. Special mention was made of the code-share with Etihad airways. On arrival in ORK quite a few of the bags seemed to be connections, so I guess it depends on how much EY and EI are paying them for the sector.

Brian.

[dochealth]

According to June issue of Irish Air Letter, RE set to break even this year and predicting small profit for next. No further job losses anticipated. Sources suggesting passenger numbers 800 - 900,000 for 2009, down from 1.2 million.

[EI-BUD]

Blackpool, Doncaster, Durham

Hi does anyone know what type of aircraft that Aer Arann use on the Dublin Blackpool route. Is it 42 or 72?

Also is there any chance that Aer Arann might pick up Doncaster or Durham/Teesside -Dublin with Ryanair's departure?

EI-BUD

[MUFC_fan]

Blackpool has a very mixed and random rotation of both the ATR42 and ATR72. It usually works out at about 4x ATR42 and 3x ATR72 weekly but as I say it is quite random.

I must say I am surprised RE has not been interested in the DSA route especially. However, when you look at the bookings for the BLK service, quite a high load comes from Dublin on Fridays, Sundays and Mondays - couldn't think why!

I somehow don't think Doncaster would have the same appeal...

[airhumberside]

There was an article in the Doncaster press a few weeks ago about an airline looking to restart DSA-DUB, and that it would offer connections to the US and Asia, which seemed to indicate Aer Arann where the airline concerned (US connections on EI, Asia on Etihad)

[j41cac]

Any truth behind Aer Arran reducing services on IOM in the next few months?

[airnoc]

Aer Arran

Hi
An Bord snip Is this the end of Aer Arran and the western airports or
is there aplan in place?

[diver69]

Airnoc,

I don't understand your question. Can you elaborate on how you feel the Board Snip proposals will affect Aer Arann and the Regional airports? I confess I have not read the full report so I may have missed something???

The PSO routes only account for less than 10% (I think the quoted figure is nearer 5%) of Aer Arann revenue.

Thanks

[ryan2000]

Some media reports suggested the PSO's account for 16% of RE's revenue but maybe that's on the routes themselves. In any event the loss of the PSO's would certainly have a negative impact. Of course Dublin Galway subsidies must surely be in doubt once the motorway is fully operational. It'll be less than 2 hrs by car at that stage between the cities.

[sawtooth]

The report recommends the ending of PSO, ending state subsidies for loss making regional airports (Regional Airport Management Operational Grants Scheme), and a review of the capital grants for airport infrastructure, most of which hadn't been drawn down due to planning delays.

Sligo, Donegal and Galway depend most on the subsidy to cover their operating costs, that and the PSO flights make up the bulk of their income, putting them in a difficult position if the cuts are implemented. DOT hinted at the cuts after the last PSO agreement, so Aer Arann have been changing their focus over the last to more UK based aircraft and charters.

Waterford also receives the subsidy but has no PSO routes. Knock and Kerry made modest profits in recent years and so were not subsidised, but that may change with the downturn.

Dil ireann - Volume 651 - 10 April, 2008 - Written Answers. - Departmental Expenditure.

From the report:
"D.1 Discontinue the Public Service Obligation for regional air services €15.0m
The Group understands that regional airports have traditionally served a regional development purpose rather than a required transport purpose. However, the Group also notes that, in many instances, the Exchequer is backing the provision of the other new, much improved transport links (road, rail) to the same locations. With this in mind, and also considering the Government’s developing climate change agenda and commitments under current and future international emissions agreements, the continued support of loss-making air services is unsustainable. The Group proposes that after expiry of the present contracts this scheme be discontinued."...

"D.2 Discontinue operational grants for regional airports €2.0m
Reflecting the comments above in respect of Exchequer support for regional air services, the Group recommends the abolition of the Regional Airport Management Operational Grants Scheme when the current round expires in 2010."

"Capital consequences
The Group is strongly of the view that the cancellation of the two aviation schemes outlined above should be linked to the capital grants scheme for regional airports. Approved by Government in 2007, under the scheme each of the six regional airports is set to receive capital grants ranging from €4m to €27m. A significant reduction in budgeted expenditure for this scheme should be achieved."

[irish laddie]

Some media reports suggested the PSO's account for 16% of RE's revenue

Thats also the figure given by RE on their Bord Snip rebuttal on the website.

[diver69]

Sawtooth, Irish-laddie

Thanks for the comprehensive replys

[EI-BUD]

The issue for Aer Arann is not just that the PSO would be withdrawn which would be an issue to some extent, but the real issue I can see is that the regional airport will be over reliant on Aer Arann and as such may need to increase their charges in effect making the viability on these routes more difficult.

Take Galway or Waterford which are big operations on the scheme of things for Aer Arann, when the airport had limited income how will this impact their cost base and in turn Aer Arann's costs?

Does this spell the end of the proposed Runway extentions at Galway and Waterford so hence no chances of Ryanair coming in in the future???

[potkettleblack]

I wonder what the remit of An Bord Snip was? Perhaps it was just to slash and burn without doing any sort of cost/benefit analysis?

As it stands now the government pumps some cash into the local economy and then gets a fair proportion of it back through VAT, income tax, PRSI, corporate taxation, taxes and passengers duties etc. If they do everything that the snippers want then they save a few million and will end up forking out the dole and associated benefits for years to come as the chances of all of these airport workers with relatively specialist skills getting a job in their region is remote at best. More than likely they will move away altogether. There is talk about a significant brain drain occurring on account of the recession with skilled workers leaving in anycase.

[EI-BUD]

potkettleblack; the sad thing is that the government in the republic have to borrow €60m per day to keep the country going.

The budget estimates suggested that the spend would be €55billon and the income would be the same. Sadly the income is now expected to be at best around €34billion. The government is also paying higher interest on the repayments as they international view is that Ireland is a risky bet so to speak.

With all this in mind, also noting that these are unprecedented times, it is not as simple as the government puts money in to get money out. They have to turn a very grave situation around and quick too. I am not sure that the government has the where with all to do that.

So getting back to PSO and capital investment into regional airports, I think that the Irish government will see this as a must and wont care one bit for the regionals.

Although MR O Leary was quick to jump onto Dublin/Kerry route they havent made a huge difference, it has costed the airport alot in terms of extra manpower to handle the aircraft (738) (info from Kerry Airport website i think), the boardings havent been much better than Aer Arann. I will be watching with interest to see if Ryanair are as interested in continuing this route when/if the PSO is axed?

Any thoughts?
EI-BUD