Examiner Appointed to Aer Arann

south

Regional airline Aer Arann has entered voluntary examinership after posting losses of some €18.5 million in the past two and a half years.

The company employs 320 people.

The petition to enter examinership was made by the company in the High Court this evening following a resolution by its board of directors.

Ms Justice Maureen Clarke appointed Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton as interim examiner to Comhfhorbairt (Gaillimh) trading as Aer Arann.

The judge September 8th for a full hearing of the company’s application and in the meantime the airline is in interim examinership and under the protection of the court.

In a statement, the airline said it intended to operate normally during the period of examinership and that it would fly all Aer Arann services and all Aer Lingus Regional services operated under its franchise agreement with Aer Lingus.

"No flights have been cancelled or are planned to be cancelled and reservations can continue to be made on www.aerarann.com," it said.

"Aer Arann intends that there will be no impact on customer travel or bookings as a result of the move into examinership."

The company said that following the High Court hearing on September 8th, it expected to remain in examinership for an initial period of up to 70 days.

"During that time the company will benefit from the protection of the court from its creditors so that it can re-organise and re-structure the business."

It said that it and the examiner would also use the time to negotiate with potential investors and that "a number of parties" had expressed their interest in the airline.

"Examinership is a provision in Irish company law that is designed to help companies that have financial difficulties but that also have a reasonable prospect of survival and the High Court, the Independent Accountants and Aer Arann consider that the company has a viable business plan," Aer Arann said.

"The airline will operate as normal in order to preserve as many of the 320 jobs in the company as possible and the hundreds of associated jobs in airports and aviation support services companies."

Aer Lingus noted Aer Arann’s decision to make an application for the appointment of an examiner and said it welcomed the announcement that it intended to operate normally during the period of examinership.

"Aer Lingus would like to confirm that its franchise agreement with Aer Arann remains in place and notes that this agreement has proven beneficial for both companies," a statement said.

"Aer Lingus Regional flights, operated by Aer Arann, will continue to operate normally and customers who hold bookings on these flights need not be concerned as there will be no disruption in service.

Customers can continue to book these flights on aerlingus.com."

Mysterious&Shy

That's a shocker!

Bards

yes I read that on http://www.independent.ie/breaking-news/national-news/aer-arann-put-under-examinership-2313557.html I wonder how this will affect Waterford Airport both short and long term?

looksee

That's bad news. I hope they can sort something, I really like their Waterford service.

jonnyfingers

Not great news. Especially as I have flights booked for next month!

shanemul

I personally don't see them going out of buisness they will find and investor but will need to remove the routes that are not making them money and Waterford won't be one of them as Aer Arann have said with the past while it's their best performing route.

RobitTV

This is bad news shame there wont be any special offers anymore or new routes from Waterford Aer arann were expanding alot But now things have gone back down the drain! what a shame i Hope Aer Arann come out of this strong!

AdMMM

Waterford is making them money. They'll be fine out of Waterford anyway. We shouldn't expect any expansion from them for the next few years though.

deisedevil

Would be a bit of a disaster for some Waterford companies to lose them. TalkTalk are probably their biggest customers to Luton and Manchester.

merlante

deisedevil wrote: »

Would be a bit of a disaster for some Waterford companies to lose them. TalkTalk are probably their biggest customers to Luton and Manchester.

You might have some competition from WIT to Luton...

merlante

RobitTV wrote: »

This is bad news shame there wont be any special offers anymore or new routes from Waterford Aer arann were expanding alot But now things have gone back down the drain! what a shame i Hope Aer Arann come out of this strong!

They are going to have to do some restructuring and attract some investment, but examinership means that it is felt that they have a viable business model. It should be business as usual, special offers and all. After all, special offers are all part of bringing in business.

€6m of the €18.5m loss is due to the ash cloud, which hopefully will be a one off. Still bad though. They have been doing some restructuring of their own recently, which won't have kicked in yet, so they might already be in a much better position. Aer Arann, imho, is vital to the national interest, I'd prefer if the government dropped the PSOs though and just invested in the airline and encouraged UK routes.

Since they have expanded in Waterford, at least, lets hope that Waterford is viable in any case, although it is somewhat worrying that Aer Arann made such a big loss even with the PSO subsidy on many of its routes. We're in a recession, so you wouldn't expect them to be doing great business, but these losses are too big. Fingers crossed it will work out okay as they anticipate.

deisedevil

merlante wrote: »

You might have some competition from WIT to Luton...

Do people travel over and back everyday to go to college in WIT? That's crazy, would cost megabucks!

merlante

deisedevil wrote: »

Do people travel over and back everyday to go to college in WIT? That's crazy, would cost megabucks!

No, but there are a lot of staff that travel to London every few months. There is a lot of European project work going on in WIT also, which necessitates travel around Europe. I think the Luton link is well used by business in general as well.

deisedevil

merlante wrote: »

No, but there are a lot of staff that travel to London every few months. There is a lot of European project work going on in WIT also, which necessitates travel around Europe. I think the Luton link is well used by business in general as well.

Ah right, but I am talking about daily travel. TalkTalk have employees on almost every flight to and from Manchester and to and from Luton every day. It would be a bit of a disaster for companies who us it that much to have to start sending employees to Cork or Dublin because it would mean overnight stays and long taxi journeys etc.

merlante

deisedevil wrote: »

Ah right, but I am talking about daily travel. TalkTalk have employees on almost every flight to and from Manchester and to and from Luton every day. It would be a bit of a disaster for companies who us it that much to have to start sending employees to Cork or Dublin because it would mean overnight stays and long taxi journeys etc.

Agreed, that would be disastrous. A lot of organisations would be hurt if Aer Arann went away.

Musicman2000

They should be ok in Waterford but all routes might not be safe, Birmingham and Manchester could face a chop, but it comes back to the runway extension in Waterford again, They are relying on Aer Arann to much if they did go tits up tommorow, Thats Waterford Airport in serious trouble

RobitTV

Chief Executive Officer of Waterford Airport Graham Doyle says he is confident Aer Arann will emerge at the end of the process a stronger company.

Waterford County Councillor and Tramore Town Commissioner Joe Conway says Aer Arann should be supported in the South East to help maintain this vital service.

merlante

Musicman2000 wrote: »

They should be ok in Waterford but all routes might not be safe, Birmingham and Manchester could face a chop, but it comes back to the runway extension in Waterford again, They are relying on Aer Arann to much if they did go tits up tommorow, Thats Waterford Airport in serious trouble

Well, London city airport has a similar sized runway, and can accommodate a number of airlines: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_City_Airport. But yes, hopefully Aer Arann will be okay.

dayshah

Aer Arann started up just to serve a few islands. How about if Aer Arann goes down we set up Aer Déise? It could be based out of Waterford, giving some maintenance jobs and would continue to fly to London and so on.

It would only need one or two planes, which could be bought cheaply from a liquidated Aer Arann. I wonder if it would have the necessary scale.

Odats

merlante wrote: »

Well, London city airport has a similar sized runway, and can accommodate a number of airlines: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_City_Airport. But yes, hopefully Aer Arann will be okay.

Well we're not next to one of the Financial Services capitals of the world so no would be the answer there. That would be the main factor with airlines choosing London City as it would generate business from the Square Mile. That's why airlines locate there. Runway extension is crucial for Waterford.
However, don't Aer Lingus have a regional franchise with Aer Arann so could take them over but would be highly unlikely with Aer Lingus losing money.

merlante

Odats wrote: »

Well we're not next to one of the Financial Services capitals of the world so no would be the answer there. That would be the main factor with airlines choosing London City as it would generate business from the Square Mile. That's why airlines locate there. Runway extension is crucial for Waterford.
However, don't Aer Lingus have a regional franchise with Aer Arann so could take them over but would be highly unlikely with Aer Lingus losing money.

The point I was trying to make is that it is, a) possible to have decent options/destinations with a small runway, and b) that the airlines mentioned do actually have a fleet of planes capable of landing on small runways, so they would be likely carriers to target.

I'd look at the carriers that are handling various islands around Britain as well, because they'd probably have to deal with smaller runways and they'd have expertise in lower volume, regional traffic.

shanemul

Waterford Airport need to be targeting airlines like Cityjet or Flybe both operate jet aircraft that would be capable of flying in and out with the current runway size

tankbarry

Waterford Airport need to be targeting airlines like Cityjet or Flybe both operate jet aircraft that would be capable of flying in and out with the current runway size

i get the feeling that the people in charge are happy with just aer arann... sad if u ask me

merlante

tankbarry wrote: »

i get the feeling that the people in charge are happy with just aer arann... sad if u ask me

The future of Waterford airport is most secure when a reliable Irish carrier that understands the needs and the reality of running flights from regional airports is in situ. Aer Arann know they will get facilitated as far as possible and Waterford Airport have reasonable confidence that Aer Arann will commit to Waterford in the long term. Everything else is built up from this really. Before the recession, Amsterdam flights and other charter flights were added, and if they'd been given more time to bed in, who knows? But with Waterford being a small airport, you have to look after your core flights first and foremost.

If an airline extension happens, you'd probably have plenty of tour companies running chartered flights to the Canaries, etc., but then you would also have the spectre of Ryanair coming in and killing the Aer Arann routes.

If Aer Arann go, though, then clearly something will have to be done to attract a new airline.