Shannon Airport Thread [Mod Warning in First Post]

Clareman wrote: »

126 people based in Shannon was a lot of people, hopefully all those affected will be able to source alternative roles as soon as possible.

90% were on pup since last year. but most of the cargo was roaded to dublin. 4 mechanics still around & even then they were not on every day.

Clareman wrote: »

Terrible news as this means that there won't be anymore early morning flights to Heathrow.

Where does it say that?

I personally Would hypothesise that the A321 from JFK will do that run as previously.

JamesBond2010 wrote: »

The return leg then where are the crew supposed to stay when finished they wont be driving all the way back to say dublin when they are finished .

In fairness, when operating the Malaga and Faro routes they routinely bus crew up and down from Cork.

I'm not sure they're even certain of their own plans. Waiting on the Irish government to give their blessing is no business plan however, which is why we're seeing Aer Lingus branch out and make hard decisions to keep it's head above water.

No doubt the very politicians whose parties support the government's strategy/are in government will be the ones who'll moan the loudest at this.

Clareman wrote: »

Direct flights might be reduced I'd imagine, go back to the hop to Dublin and over then

Either they continue, or they're gone. Only 3 situations could arise, either they continue daily with 2 aircraft, they split new York and Boston on odd days with 1 aircraft, or they pull out fully.

Certainly won't be doing connecting to Dublin.

Sad to hear this. Would many Aer Lingus staff have been based at Shannon at its peak?

Will US flight continue? From Mayo myself so use Knock for UK flights but always preferred to use Shannon for the US as it’s not as stressful as Dublin and even nearer since the motorway opened up to Tuam.

RocketRaccoon wrote: »

They declared Shannon inneficient many years ago when they pulled the Heathrow route. They have zero interest in Shannon, good riddance

I agree, they are not going to re-instate a slimmed down version of the old stopover, anyway a lot of passengers now prefer to fly ex Dublin because of the greater connectivity, COVID gave EI the excuse it wanted for years to exit Shannon

opinionated3 wrote: »

Aer lingus declared the airport inefficient, whatever they mean by that. Time for our local political representatives to step up to the mark or else it will become a ghost town

Presume they mean having a cabin crew base and their own handling for what is a small operation.

I feel sorry for the cabin crew, some incredibly friendly individuals who remember names and faces and always gave a very warm welcome.

RocketRaccoon wrote: »

Aer Lingus approached another handling company in the airport last year to see if they could reach an agreement for them to handle the EI flights as it would have been cheaper for them.

This is a fact and with todays news it could be brought up again.

Is that not standard among the business world? Where outsourcing is cheaper and more efficient, businesses outsource.

Business want to make money. Not always good for local staff however.

JamesBond2010 wrote: »

outsourcing doesnt always meant cheaper & more efficient, it can cost them just as much when you factor in what you are paying them per hour.Customer service then suffers as well. Look @ any of the mobile operators they have their callcentres outsourced & their customer service is terrible cause of it. that in turn can lead people to stay away from them

No it doesn't always mean that, that's why I said where it is cheaper/more efficient.

I accept the call center analogy, however I'm not sure it's applicable. A call center is the consumers first point of contact with the company, there is no interaction between ground crew and passengers, I'm fairly sure some passengers are completely ignorant to their existence.

To be fair, outsourcing obviously comes with the expectation of a certain standard of service. Some companies appear to care less about this, however a diligent operation will ensure outsourcing does not result in any quantifiable drop in service quality.

JCX BXC wrote: »

No it doesn't always mean that, that's why I said where it is cheaper/more efficient.

I accept the call center analogy, however I'm not sure it's applicable. A call center is the consumers first point of contact with the company, there is no interaction between ground crew and passengers, I'm fairly sure some passengers are completely ignorant to their existence.

To be fair, outsourcing obviously comes with the expectation of a certain standard of service. Some companies appear to care less about this, however a diligent operation will ensure outsourcing does not result in any quantifiable drop in service quality.

Most regional airports use agents for airlines. For instance, I fly with BA from Aberdeen regularly but the ground staff there are a local agent (Dalcross).

finbarrk wrote: »

The most important flight of them all.

It really isn't/wasn't.

Aer Lingus CEO says there is no strategic intent to reduce connectivity (RTE)

The Chief Executive of Aer Lingus has told the Minister for Transport that there is no strategic intent to reduce connectivity at either Cork or Shannon airports.

This is despite yesterday's decision by the airline to close its cabin crew base in Shannon and lay-off cabin crew and ground handling staff in Cork from September to November.

Eamon Ryan and Junior Transport Minister Hildegarde Naughton met the airline's new CEO, Lynne Embleton today to discuss the developments.

The ministers also met CEO of Shannon Group, Mary Considine, and CEO of Cork Airport, Niall McCarthy, while Minister Naughton also met unions and employer representative groups today.