Aer Lingus ground ops

Elessar

Quick question: I work in Dublin Airport and every day I see the massive operation that goes on with aer lingus ground operations servicing the aircraft, turning them around, baggage etc.

It must cost AL millions every year. Vehicles, staff costs and all the rest. Why does AL not scrap their ground ops entirely and outsource to serviceair like most other airlines? Surely it would be cheaper for them.

Run_to_da_hills

Elessar wrote: »

Quick question: I work in Dublin Airport and every day I see the massive operation that goes on with aer lingus ground operations servicing the aircraft, turning them around, baggage etc.

It must cost AL millions every year. Vehicles, staff costs and all the rest. Why does AL not scrap their ground ops entirely and outsource to serviceair like most other airlines? Surely it would be cheaper for them.

In one word: Unions.

xflyer

I think you'll find that will happen eventually. There was a time when Aer Lingus used to handle airlines at other airports in Britain. But that's gone. As far as I know most baggage handlers are seasonal only in any case with a small core of Aer Lingus staff.

As for the Engineers, they are Aer Lingus and handle aircraft servicing at the airport. But even the highly capitalist Ryanair keeps it's own Engineers.

Ultimately check in staff and 'redcaps' will probably be outsourced as will baggage handling.

Locker10a

Elessar wrote: »

Quick question: I work in Dublin Airport and every day I see the massive operation that goes on with aer lingus ground operations servicing the aircraft, turning them around, baggage etc.

It must cost AL millions every year. Vehicles, staff costs and all the rest. Why does AL not scrap their ground ops entirely and outsource to serviceair like most other airlines? Surely it would be cheaper for them.

Thay tried this but staff resisted ! Fair enough they want to keep their jobs! You cant blame them for that! So then Aer Lingus came up with Green field cost cutting plan and made ground handling sustainable! So i doubt there is much difference now between having their own staff and Serviceair etc cost wise.!

BuffyBot

Surely it would be cheaper for them.

Why do you assume it would be cheaper, necessarily? Especially after the restructuring Aer Lingus have done?

LeakRate

I doubt it is cheaper,if so ryanair would have outsourced to servicair long ago :rolleyes:

saeglopur

Locker10a wrote: »

Thay tried this but staff resisted ! Fair enough they want to keep their jobs! You cant blame them for that! So then Aer Lingus came up with Green field cost cutting plan and made ground handling sustainable! So i doubt there is much difference now between having their own staff and Serviceair etc cost wise.!

Not quite true. EI did try and outsource, but staff and unions came back with a better offer that was cheaper and offered a better service than other GSP's in DUB. In my opinion outsourcing was never really an option for the company, they merely used it as a threat to drive through cost cuts at the time.

Greenfield did not overly effect the majority of EI ground staff when it was put forward last year and is why there has been IR issues with both the pilots and cabin crew and ground staff have remained quiet.

There are no intentions to outsource, as the recent smooth transition to T2 showed (unlike ba in T5 for example), EI Ground Ops in Dublin works well and is seen as an asset within the company.

Jim236

LeakRate wrote: »

I doubt it is cheaper,if so ryanair would have outsourced to servicair long ago :rolleyes:

Doesn't Servisair handle ground ops for Ryanair already?

Skyb

This post has been deleted.

donvito99

I thought Aer Lingus was a profitable company?

LeakRate

Doesn't Servisair handle ground ops for Ryanair already?

Ryanair ground ops in dublin is done in house,check-in,baggage handling and dispatchers.

Jim236

LeakRate wrote: »

Ryanair ground ops in dublin is done in house,check-in,baggage handling and dispatchers.

But in a lot of other airports incl. Stansted, is it not done by Servisair? I could be wrong though.

markpb

donvito99 wrote: »

I thought Aer Lingus was a profitable company?

Wikipedia has a list of the financial figures for Aer Lingus for the last decade. Assuming the figures are correct, between 2001 and 2010, it made a net loss of -€129.6m. If you exclude 2001, it made a net profit of €20.1m. They're hardly amazing figures

BuffyBot

But in a lot of other airports incl. Stansted, is it not done by Servisair? I could be wrong though.

It is. But so is Aer Lingus' - most airlines contract out to other airlines/ground handling companies outside their home bases.

Celtic Mech

Correct me if im wrong on this but as far as i know, even Ryanair Baggage Handling in Dublin is actually outsourced. Even though the equipment all has the Ryanair logo/colors on it and staff wear the uniform, they are Not employed by Ryanair, but instead to a 3rd Party.
This is also the same for a lot of their Pilots and Cabin Crew.

Jim236

BuffyBot wrote: »

It is. But so is Aer Lingus' - most airlines contract out to other airlines/ground handling companies outside their home bases.

I was referring to their bases, not small airports like Pau. Stansted is their largest base and AFAIK their ground ops incl. check-in, catering, cleaning etc are contracted out to Servisair, and its the same story in Shannon and Cork, among others I'm sure.

BuffyBot

It's not their home base, however

donkey balls

Jim236 wrote: »

I was referring to their bases, not small airports like Pau. Stansted is their largest base and AFAIK their ground ops incl. check-in, catering, cleaning etc are contracted out to Servisair, and its the same story in Shannon and Cork, among others I'm sure.

Nope Servisair is a ground handling company the likes of Catering is done by a flight catering company and the same with in flight cleaning,As for out sourcing and having dealt with such vendors just say your company aircraft is delayed or goes tech the ground handling company could be attending a other flight when your one arrives in or is ready for departure and there is no one to do a push back etc.

Jim236

BuffyBot wrote: »

It's not their home base, however

Theres no such thing as a "home base", a base is a base is a base. The fact is Ryanair has outsourced it's ground operations in most of it's bases including Shannon and Cork.

donkey balls wrote: »

Nope Servisair is a ground handling company the likes of Catering is done by a flight catering company and the same with in flight cleaning

Yeah sorry, but Servisair do the check-in, boarding, baggage handling etc for Ryanair in many of their bases, including Stansted.

The point I'm just trying to make is that outsourcing has already happened at Ryanair and has been there for years.

Locker10a

Jim236 wrote: »

Theres no such thing as a "home base", a base is a base is a base. The fact is Ryanair has outsourced it's ground operations in most of it's bases including Shannon and Cork.


Yeah sorry, but Servisair do the check-in, boarding, baggage handling etc for Ryanair in many of their bases, including Stansted.

The point I'm just trying to make is that outsourcing has already happened at Ryanair and has been there for years.

Yup you are right but thats mainly because Ryanair starting off as a tiny airline never really needed to hire staff to handle their operations! They contracted handling agencies to do it for them like most airlines do at destinations they fly to that arent bases, Ryanair just expanded their contracts as they expanded and set up bases!
With the exception of Knock (NOC) i belive where ryanair handle them selves! Not 100% sure on this but i belive this is the case!