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Emerald Airlines.... new kid in town!

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  • 13-11-2020 11:37pm
    #1
    Masala
    Registered Users Posts: 3,462 ✭✭✭


    Just seen Emerald Airlines has won the Aer Lingus Regional franchise from 2023 to 2032. As far as I can see they only exist on paper... no planes, no staff, no logo!!

    So who are they and is it going to be good for Ireland Inc???

    Thought Stobart aka Aer Arann did a decent job over past 10 years and will this signal the departure of Stobart from Irish shores.


«1345

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    #2
    Hansanter
    Registered Users Posts: 63 ✭✭Hansanter


    'Emerald Airlines' was set up by Conor McCarthy, MD/CEO of Dublin Aerospace and various other aviation ventures here in Ireland and abroad. Having recently purchased FlyBe's former maintenance operation at Exeter airport, 'Exeter Aerospace' will presumably be a maintenance base for the Emerald Airlines' turboprop aircraft.


    H./


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    #3
    L1011
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 67,652 Mod ✭✭✭✭L1011


    Where are you seeing a confirmation they've won the bid?


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    #4
    Strumms
    Registered Users Posts: 24,807 ✭✭✭✭Strumms


    Emerald if successful will need airframes, could they just offer cash to acquire the existing 15 or so ATR’s from Stobart ? Or what would be the plan ? Stobart are going to be in trouble. This pandemic isn’t going to make finding new work easy, in fact I’d say it might be impossible. A sensible thing could be to just to offload some aircraft to Emerald, staff too.


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    #5
    Masala
    Registered Users Posts: 3,462 ✭✭✭Masala


    https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/mccarthy-clinches-contract-for-aer-lingus-regional-39745380.html


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    #6
    Masala
    Registered Users Posts: 3,462 ✭✭✭Masala


    Strumms wrote: »
    Emerald if successful will need airframes, could they just offer cash to acquire the existing 15 or so ATR’s from Stobart ? Or what would be the plan ? Stobart are going to be in trouble. This pandemic isn’t going to make finding new work easy, in fact I’d say it might be impossible. A sensible thing could be to just to offload some aircraft to Emerald, staff too.

    As hard as it is for Stobart to keep going in a pandemic.... it must be 100 times harder for new airline to start up in the same pandemic!


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    #7
    Irish Steve
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 6,521 Mod ✭✭✭✭Irish Steve


    Masala wrote: »
    As hard as it is for Stobart to keep going in a pandemic.... it must be 100 times harder for new airline to start up in the same pandemic!


    If the people starting it were new to the industry, with no track record, I'd agree with you, but the key players have a well established track record that suggests to me that they stand a very good chance of not just making it work, but of being able to make it work very well, and I'm sure that Aer Lingus are not going to be taking any chances of it not working, as their ongoing development plans will be very much focussed on using the commuter/feeder routes and services to feed into what is going to become an even more significant hub for the North Atlantic.

    Yes, Covid has well and truly got into the way of the plans of everyone in the aviation industry, but the other side of that coin is that there are and will continue to be surplus airframes available at very attractive rates for some considerable time to come, and there will also be plenty of crew to operate them in the near to mid term.

    Dublin Aerospace are also expanding in other areas at the same time, there is somewhere in the region of €15 million being put into a new maintenance facility in the former Polyglass premises in the Ashbourne Industrial estate, as well as their strategic purchase of the former Flybe maintenance base at Exeter.

    All in all, I'd give Emerald Airlines a strong vote of confidence in being able to make this new venture work well for them, and Ireland, and Aer Lingus.

    Shore, if it was easy, everybody would be doin it.😁



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    #8
    smurfjed
    Registered Users Posts: 10,031 ✭✭✭✭smurfjed


    But what’s their plan? Embraer’s ? CRJ? ATR? dash-8? It would be nice to know :)

    I would also like to see them combine with CHC to provide top cover support for SAR as it would certainly make the logistics easier and cheaper than sourcing a UK based solution.


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    #9
    smurfjed
    Registered Users Posts: 10,031 ✭✭✭✭smurfjed


    Masala wrote: »
    As hard as it is for Stobart to keep going in a pandemic.... it must be 100 times harder for new airline to start up in the same pandemic!

    Contract starts in 2023, it’s poor Stobart that has to suffer through the impact of the pandemic


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    #10
    General Disarray
    Registered Users Posts: 56 ✭✭General Disarray


    smurfjed wrote: »
    But what’s their plan? Embraer’s ? CRJ? ATR? dash-8? It would be nice to know :)

    Dash 8.


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    #11
    Locker10a
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 4,142 Mod ✭✭✭✭Locker10a


    General Disarray wrote: »
    Dash 8.

    Really? Guessing you’re some inside knowledge


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    #12
    smurfjed
    Registered Users Posts: 10,031 ✭✭✭✭smurfjed


    Which would mean that they don’t intend to take over the Stobart fleet.

    Now if they got a couple of these they could resolve the top cover issue.

    532881.jpeg


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    #13
    1123heavy
    Registered Users Posts: 1,008 ✭✭✭1123heavy


    I wouldn't be running away with the dash 8 idea. What is the source for this?


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    #14
    HTCOne
    Registered Users Posts: 869 ✭✭✭HTCOne


    Dash 8 far thirstier that ATR, but quite a bit faster. Bombardier tried to market the extra sector or 2 a day you could squeeze in over an ATR as an offset for the fuel burn. I don’t know how successful that was.

    Didn’t EI help Arran / Stobart purchase the ATR -600s?


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    #15
    mr.anonymous
    Registered Users Posts: 481 ✭✭mr.anonymous


    HTCOne wrote: »
    Dash 8 far thirstier that ATR, but quite a bit faster. Bombardier tried to market the extra sector or 2 a day you could squeeze in over an ATR as an offset for the fuel burn. I don’t know how successful that was.

    Didn’t EI help Arran / Stobart purchase the ATR -600s?

    The EI Regional contract was the basis on which they got finance for the fleet.

    With FlyBe not operating there's Dash 8s available and probably will have enough there even when FlyBe restart next year.


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    #16
    HTCOne
    Registered Users Posts: 869 ✭✭✭HTCOne


    I think a lot of Flybe’s Q400s were ex Republic, they only had one set of stairs fitted and were constantly going tech, hopefully they can avoid those ones if they did take on any ex Flybe assets.

    Anyway as mentioned there's been no confirmation of aircraft type.


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    #17
    1123heavy
    Registered Users Posts: 1,008 ✭✭✭1123heavy


    Still waiting for the source on this Dash 8 talk, all we have so far is one Boards post .... :confused:


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    #18
    Stovepipe
    Registered Users Posts: 2,979 ✭✭✭Stovepipe


    This, just after the same guy shafted his own staff in Dublin Aerospace out of a 2 % increment due (help the Company, lads)...and he wonders why people leave , even in the teeth of a covid crisis. Conor McCarthy and EI are firmly in bed together, so it was a done deal months ago. It just had to be timed right.


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    #19
    PinOnTheRight
    Registered Users Posts: 262 ✭✭PinOnTheRight


    HTCOne wrote: »
    I think a lot of Flybe’s Q400s were ex Republic, they only had one set of stairs fitted and were constantly going tech, hopefully they can avoid those ones if they did take on any ex Flybe assets.

    Even on the Q400s that had rear steps fitted, they stopped using them sometime before their demise due to a few trips/falls and started removing them to save weight.


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    #20
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    1123heavy wrote: »
    Still waiting for the source on this Dash 8 talk, all we have so far is one Boards post .... :confused:

    Word on the Grapevine is its ATRs(500s) again. No quotable or linkable source.


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    #21
    Locker10a
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 4,142 Mod ✭✭✭✭Locker10a


    Deleted User wrote: »
    Word on the Grapevine is its ATRs(500s) again. No quotable or linkable source.

    The Stobart 72-600s struggled on some routes with the connecting bags, they all couldn’t be loaded etc I guess with weight/space restrictions. From a payload/weight pov, surly the 500s would be a downgrade again...


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    #22
    mr.anonymous
    Registered Users Posts: 481 ✭✭mr.anonymous


    With Stobart Air losing out and their parent group eager to sell them off, could Emerald's fleet (and people) come from Stobart Air which now has even less value?


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    #23
    1123heavy
    Registered Users Posts: 1,008 ✭✭✭1123heavy


    Deleted User wrote: »
    Word on the Grapevine is its ATRs(500s) again. No quotable or linkable source.

    I have heard same


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    #24
    roadmaster
    Registered Users Posts: 3,594 ✭✭✭roadmaster


    mr.anonymous wrote: »
    With Stobart Air losing out and their parent group eager to sell them off, could Emerald's fleet (and people) come from Stobart Air which now has even less value?

    Hopefully the staff will, with work the last few years i flew up to donegal a few times a year and I always found the staff very pleasant to deal with


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    #25
    Growler!!!
    Registered Users Posts: 1,980 ✭✭✭Growler!!!


    HTCOne wrote: »
    were constantly going tech, hopefully they can avoid those ones

    A colleague of mine who is ex Flybe said they were a tech nightmare confirming my thoughts on the above.

    Locker10a wrote: »
    surly the 500s would be a downgrade again...

    In regard to the cargo capacity there is no real difference between the 2, there is slight MTOW increase on the '600s but the cargo hold dimensions are the same.

    Would make sense to buy out Stobart Air and use their existing aircraft and staff.
    Big blow for staff left there.


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    #26
    Darc19
    Registered Users Posts: 3,817 ✭✭✭Darc19


    Masala wrote: »
    As hard as it is for Stobart to keep going in a pandemic.... it must be 100 times harder for new airline to start up in the same pandemic!

    Assuming that they finalise the contract, it is the very best time to start a new airline.

    Covid-19 will be a memory in 12-18 months, (contract is from 2022)

    They will have zero historic financial issues

    They will be able to pick up aircraft at bargain prices

    They will be able to get staff on attractive terms


    Look at the people behind it. They know what they are doing.


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    #27
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Stovepipe wrote: »
    This, just after the same guy shafted his own staff in Dublin Aerospace out of a 2 % increment due (help the Company, lads)...and he wonders why people leave , even in the teeth of a covid crisis. Conor McCarthy and EI are firmly in bed together, so it was a done deal months ago. It just had to be timed right.

    This smells like a post looking to complain about something off topic and a lot of rubbish in this post.

    Two different companies, no idea what raises in a different sister company has to do with this announcement.

    NO company involved in aviation are giving raises even if previously agreed to. I’m sure Dublin aerospace are going to get burned on some monies owed and their pipeline of work will be impacted.


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    #28
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Wonder will stobarts stick around until 2023 I’d say they are losing a fortune. Maybe accept the plane lease guarantee and shut up shop assuming holding company is not on the hook for anything else.

    After the Tesco haulage contract that’ll be twice that Stobarts entered (although this time by acquisition) the Irish market but unable to hold onto contracts. Trucking wing has since been sold.


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    #29
    kona
    Registered Users Posts: 7,525 ✭✭✭kona


    Mayo_fan wrote: »
    This smells like a post looking to complain about something off topic and a lot of rubbish in this post.

    Two different companies, no idea what raises in a different sister company has to do with this announcement.

    NO company involved in aviation are giving raises even if previously agreed to. I’m sure Dublin aerospace are going to get burned on some monies owed and their pipeline of work will be impacted.

    It has a awful lot to do with it. What do you need to set up a airline?
    I beg to differ there is certainly increments been given, i got one myself.


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    #30
    1123heavy
    Registered Users Posts: 1,008 ✭✭✭1123heavy


    Locker10a wrote: »
    The Stobart 72-600s struggled on some routes with the connecting bags, they all couldn’t be loaded etc I guess with weight/space restrictions. From a payload/weight pov, surly the 500s would be a downgrade again...

    The odd time during the summer this would happen, it was nothing as bad as many made it out to be.

    Meanwhile I see McCarthy has confirmed via The Irish Times that it will be ATRs operating.


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    #31
    HTCOne
    Registered Users Posts: 869 ✭✭✭HTCOne


    Wasn't there a desire for EI to put the A320 back on 1 or 2 rotations for EDI in particular due demand but the EIR contract prevented them from doing so? Hope they've had a look at that for the new contract.....


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