Tag Archives: Aer Lingus

Clare TD and Fianna Fáil spokesperson on Transport, Timmy Dooley is calling on the Transport Minister to rule out any sale of the Government’s stake in Aer Lingus in order to protect Ireland’s strategic national interests. IAG has come forward with a third offer for the carrier, believed to be worth €2.50 a share. Any such sale could see Aer Lingus’ critical Heathrow slots siphoned off, risking future connectivity and jobs at Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports. “IAG’s pursuit of Aer Lingus is becoming more aggressive with every passing week, and I am gravely concerned by the Minister Paschal Donohoe’s silence on the issue. I’m calling on him to categorically rule out any sale of the Government’s 25% stake in Aer Lingus, and by doing so effectively block the IAG takeover. The fallout from any sale of the airline is being dramatically underplayed,” he said. Continuing, Deputy Dooley said,“The threat to the valuable Heathrow slots could see Ireland’s access to international …

Following the announcements of recent approaches to Aer Lingus by IAG, the Irish Takeover Panel has deemed that Aer Lingus is now in an ‘offer period’, Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport, Paschal Donohoe said on Tuesday evening. He was speaking in the Dáil in response to a joint submission by Deputies Michael McNamara, Timmy Dooley, Joe Carey and Kieran O’Donnell on the necessity to maintaining London Heathrow slots to ensure balanced development. “The Takeover Panel Rules in relation to communications apply to all parties during such an offer period and all parties, including the Government as shareholder, must apply the highest standards of care to any statements made on the matter. Specifically shareholders must take care in any of their communications to avoid revealing any information that could potentially impact either positively or negatively on the Aer Lingus share price,” Minister Donohoe said. Currently, no formal offer has been made to Aer Lingus’ shareholders. The minister said he wanted …

CLARE is set to reap the benefits from Shannon Airport’s enhanced 2014 summer season schedule, with research on passenger destinations from last year illustrating the airport’s influence on visitor numbers to the county. Shannon Airport has nine new services this year on European destinations – Ryanair with Munich, Paris, Faro, Warsaw, Krakow, Nice, Poitiers, Berlin, Fuerteventura and Aer Lingus Regional with Bristol – alone, many with very strong markets for inbound tourism. Critically also, following the growth of transatlantic services last year, US frequencies have also dramatically increased this year, bringing greater numbers again of US tourists, who on average spend 60% more than any others, into Clare. The last two weeks alone saw the resumption of United Airline’s Chicago service (daily from June), which on the back of its success last summer will have 88% additional capacity this year.  The past fortnight also saw Delta Airlines back with its daily JFK New York service, US Airways return with its …

By Owen Ryan SHANNON Airport representatives were in New York to promote Aer Lingus’ first year round service to the Big Apple since 2009. Shannon Airport Chair Rose Hynes and Marketing Manager Marie Slattery led the delegation and during the four-day visit they held meetings with New York based business interests and investors with regard to the activities of the wider Shannon Group. Ms Hynes said that the American market for services into the West of Ireland is heating up. “We have had a tremendous response from the trade, which is our key audience this week, as well as US media. There is a particular demand from the US for services into the western half of the country and Shannon because of the uniqueness of the product we have. “Shannon is, of course, the only airport on the entire Atlantic coast with direct access from the US and we are delighted to have strengthened the services this year again. The …

SHANNON Airport is in major growth mode this week, as nine new routes commence in five days, delivering a  boost for tourism and business interests. Less than 15 months after the airport was made independent,  Shannon will enjoy its biggest week in almost a decade in terms of new route start-ups, as Ryanair launches new services, to Munich, Paris, Faro, Warsaw, Krakow, Nice, Poitiers, Berlin, Fuerteventura, while Aer Lingus Regional kicks-off a new Bristol service. The 2014 summer season, which officially begins in April, will see 16 service enhancements at Shannon, including the nine new routes.  Among the enhanced services is the now year-round Aer Lingus New York service, which began on Sunday.  This will be a six times weekly service and is the first time Aer Lingus will have operated year-round on New York since 2009. Aer Lingus also  started a new twice weekly Malaga service on Sunday, which will add to the significantly expanded European network to and from the airport this year. “This week is a turning point for Shannon. Not since 2005 has Shannon had a week like this in terms of new …

IT has been decided that an expert panel should be established to carry out an urgent investigation of how a final resolution of the industrial relations issues relating to the Irish Airlines Superannuation Scheme (IASS) can be secured. This follows consultation by the secretary general of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Tom O’Mahony, and the secretary general of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, John Murphy, with both the chief executive of Ibec, Danny McCoy, and the general secretary of Congress, David Begg, Ibec and Congress have each nominated an industrial relations expert to lead the investigation, with the support of a financial expert, to comprise the Panel. The Panel members are: Mr Brendan McGinty and Ms Laura Gallagher (KPMG), and Mr Peter McLoone and Mr Eugene McMahon (Mazars). Important areas of disagreement remain between the parties, which have resulted in the current impasse. However, in the case of DAA and Aer Lingus, it is noted that …

IMPACT, which represents cabin crew staff at Aer Lingus, has condemned the decision by management at the airline to close the cabin crew base at Shannon from the end of March 2014, putting 87 jobs under threat. The announcement was made by Aer Lingus on Thursday last, the same day that Ryanair announced eight new routes from the airport. On Thursday, Aer Lingus confirmed it had informed its staff of planned changes to Shannon’s cabin crew base, explaining the operation there is no longer viable following failure to secure co-operation from IMPACT to allow its members to operate the smaller 757 aircraft on new transatlantic services. Responding to the announcement, IMPACT said the measure is “an act of wanton destruction upon the livelihoods of workers who are loyal to the company, and a potentially vicious blow to the economy of the Shannon region”. IMPACT said its members in Aer Lingus across the country will fight the closure. The union said …