Shannon Airport Thread [Mod Warning in First Post]

JCX BXC

http://m.independent.ie/business/irish/shannon-boss-pakey-to-leave-in-2016-amid-tensions-34309844.html

Appears Rosa was also feeling a sluggish performance was coming about, especially with all the new routes for DUB/ORK/NOC around at the same time.

highlydebased

Interesting. Here's another one
http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/scotsman-faced-challenges-to-grow-struggling-airport-34309846.html

Today, Neil Pakey will be unveiled as the 'Limerick Leader' person of the month. He'll now go forward to contend for the award for person of the year.

And it's with that backdrop, and rumours over the nature of the apparent tensions between Mr Pakey and the Shannon Group chairperson Rose Hynes, that the aviation boss will bow out of his role.

While the Scotsman who once ran Liverpool John Lennon Airport is chief executive of the Shannon Group, it's the Shannon Airport division that grabs most of the headlines.

Although Shannon has had reasonable success in luring new services and generating passenger growth, it does so in a sector where it will always play second fiddle to Dublin. There's only so much domestic traffic that Shannon can drum up from its hinterland, and while its connections with the United States are welcome, they will always have limited scale.

And Shannon Airport always knew that its appeal to carriers and its potential for passenger growth would be limited and it would need to carve out new revenue streams.

It had been hoped to develop a major cargo hub at Shannon, in a €20m partnership with US firm Lynx. That deal had actually been engineered by the DAA in 2012 before Shannon split from the group.

But that project won't now proceed, upping the ante for Shannon to seek new business ventures.

Brennans Row

Surprise as CEO’s time at Shannon nears an end (Limerick Leader)

. . . . Mr Pakey declined to discuss the factors surrounding his contract not being renewed and said it was for others to judge his time in office but said that “it feels like the general response is positive” to his tenure, one that oversaw both a period of growth in the airport and across the heritage group he oversees. . . . .

Praise from all quarters for Neil Pakey.

I think those factors should be made public so that people can make a full picture as to how the airport is progressing.

Cosmo Kramer

A lot of interesting articles quoted there, but at the same time it's difficult to decipher the truth from the spin. Far from my initial suggestion that he saw it as a good time to go, one possible interpretation is that he didn't want to go at all but his contract has not been renewed or he feels his position has become untenable in some way.

We'll probably never get the true answer.

Brennans Row

Shannon Group not renewing Pakey contract (Clare Champion)

Shannon Group CEO Neil Pakey will not have his contract renewed when it expires next June, it was announced on Tuesday.

While Shannon Airport has returned to growth since separation from the Dublin Airport Authority in 2013, this year the increase in passenger numbers is set to be relatively minor, in the order of 4%.

Shannon will only reach about two-thirds of the 2021 target of having 2.5 million passengers. Indeed, a target of 2.3m passengers by 2017 is very unlikely to be met. It has also lost a handful of routes in recent times, while competing airports have had more positive developments.

There is shock in some quarters that Mr Pakey’s contract is not being renewed, as Shannon Group (which also includes Shannon Commercial Properties and Shannon Heritage) has frequently expressed satisfaction with the progress made during his tenure.

On Tuesday afternoon, Clare TD Timmy Dooley said the decision by the board of Shannon Group raises a number of serious questions. “I was very surprised that his contract was not renewed by the board, when you consider we have been fed a diet of positive press release after positive press release from Shannon, championing the growth of the airport. I’m really surprised by the decision not to renew his contract. The decision of the board now raises questions around the previous positive spin.

“Were things as positive as they told us? If things were going as well as we were told, why would they not retain the services of Neil Pakey? It raises further questions about the future viability of the airport. In light of this announcement, I have written to the Chairman of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport seeking to have representatives of the board come before the committee early in the new year, to outline the current position of the company.”

The Shannon Group statement released on Tuesday included a number of quotes from chairman, Rose Hynes pointing out positive developments that occurred during Mr Pakey’s time with the company, but there was no explanation for why the contract is not being renewed. . . . . . .

I wonder where did the reporter get that piece of information that Shannon will only reach about two-thirds of the 2021 target of having 2.5 million passengers? (i.e. 1.67 million)

Edit: Did he mean 1.67 million for 2015?

JCX BXC

Positive after positive press release? Well I can't exactly see them issuing a negative one.

highlydebased

Brennans Row wrote: »

I wonder where did the reporter get that piece of information that Shannon will only reach about two-thirds of the 2021 target of having 2.5 million passengers? (i.e. 1.67 million)

Edit: Did he mean 1.67 million for 2015?

I suppose going on the year on year increases so far if things stay the same it will take at least 4 years to reach 2m, thats without increased services or indeed loss of any

The stobart air base loss is still a disgrace, at least it's just the Bristol route that's lost now, which they will probably restore in time. A pity the frequency of the Manchester route will probably never be back

As for competing airports having positive developments, true to a point but nothing new at Knock over Shannon. Boston/NY routes at Cork look unlikely for 2016 at this stage if at all, and their cityjet experiment is struggling. All airports facing same challenges that Pakey couldn't single handedly overcome imo

Jamie2k9

Personally I felt the targets set before separation form the daa were never realistic to start with.

Now all people need to do is send Rose packing as well, never a fan of hers!

Brennans Row

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Now all people need to do is send Rose packing as well, never a fan of hers!

Why? Has she not got a good track record in the aviation business?

14 years experience with Guinness Peat Aviation.

She steered Shannon into independence from Dublin and oversaw the integration of the Shannon Airport, Shannon Industrial Zone and Shannon Heritage into the Shannon Group.

She was a board member of Aer Lingus and a current board member of the World Free Zones Organisation launched in Dubai last year.

As chairman of the Shannon Group, I see her as a safe pair of hands.

Jamie2k9

Brennans Row wrote: »

Why? Has she not got a good track record in the aviation business?

14 years experience with Guinness Peat Aviation.

She steered Shannon into independence from Dublin and oversaw the integration of the Shannon Airport, Shannon Industrial Zone and Shannon Heritage into the Shannon Group.

She was a board member of Aer Lingus and a current board member of the World Free Zones Organisation launched in Dubai last year.

As chairman of the Shannon Group, I see her as a safe pair of hands.

Not sure what it is but not a fan at all.

JCX BXC

The Aer Lingus phone app STILL doesn't have EDI listed!

hobie14

Anyone notice an Emirates triple 7 coming in this morning around 07.30 hrs? .....

JCX BXC

12 flights diverted to Shannon from Dublin this early afternoon due to extremely high winds at Dublin. (At one stage 42kts Gusting 57kts)

BA834 from London-Heathrow (LHR)
EI681 from Geneva (GVA)
EI353 from Munich (MUC)
EI235 from London-Gatwick (LGW)
FR7328 from Lisbon (LIS)
FR1924 from Krakow (KRK)
FR7257 from Madrid (MAD)
FR1987 from Nantes (NTE)
FR173 from Newcastle (NCL)
FR555 from Manchester (MAN)
FR9431 from Rome-Ciampino (CIA)
FR1985 from Carcassonne (CCF)

highlydebased

Add one from Carcassone to that list

Masala

Carnacalla wrote: »

12 flights diverted to Shannon from Dublin this early afternoon due to extremely high winds at Dublin. (At one stage 42kts Gusting 57kts)

BA834 from London-Heathrow (LHR)
EI681 from Geneva (GVA)
EI353 from Munich (MUC)
EI235 from London-Gatwick (LGW)
FR7328 from Lisbon (LIS)
FR1924 from Krakow (KRK)
FR7257 from Madrid (MAD)
FR1987 from Nantes (NTE)
FR173 from Newcastle (NCL)
FR555 from Manchester (MAN)
FR9431 from Rome-Ciampino (CIA)
FR1985 from Carcassonne (CCF)

WOW.... has SNN that much spare capacity that it can handle that many. Not just Ramp personnel - but check-in handling staff. A lot of work for the check-in staff - buses to organise, change bookings, vouchers to issue. I presume the DUB passengers being bussed down - so these all have to be boarded later etc. And - I presume that they have to be parked up on the ramp for a few hours - have they the space???

Hope that SNN is making a few bob on same from the airlines....as I would say there a lot of disgruntled people in them queues!!

( OR .... have Ryanair their own staff handling check-in at SNN...????)

JCX BXC

Masala wrote: »

WOW.... has SNN that much spare capacity that it can handle that many. Not just Ramp personnel - but check-in handling staff. A lot of work for the check-in staff - buses to organise, change bookings, vouchers to issue. I presume the DUB passengers being bussed down - so these all have to be boarded later etc. And - I presume that they have to be parked up on the ramp for a few hours - have they the space???

Hope that SNN is making a few bob on same from the airlines....as I would say there a lot of disgruntled people in them queues!!

( OR .... have Ryanair their own staff handling check-in at SNN...????)

All the Aer Lingus flights are back in DUB, pax too I think.

2 Ryanair flights have returned to Dublin (Out of 8). Theres still 7 fr's on the ground in SNN. Its likely there was not stands for all of them. I doubt many or any DUB originating flights will take place from SNN. Maybe one or two.

Also the BA flights is now off from SNN bound for DUB.

Brennans Row

Transatlantic jet in emergency diversion to Shannon (Clare Herald)

Turkish Airlines flight TK-12, with 257 passengers and crew on board, was travelling from New York to Istanbul at the time.

The crew reported they had an elderly male passenger on board who was displaying symptoms of cardiac distress.

Brennans Row

Coast Guard completes 1,000 helicopter missions in 2015 (Irish Times)

Pregnant woman flown from Aran Islands to Galway hospital on St Stephen’s night

For the first time since it was set up in 1991, the Coast Guard’s helicopter service has completed 1,000 missions in a single year.

The figure was reached on St Stephen’s night after two helicopter missions were carried out by the Coast Guard’s Rescue 115 and Rescue 118 aircraft.

Shannon Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 115 brought a pregnant young woman from Inis Mór to Galway University Hospital while the Sligo Coast Guard helicopter attempted to assist a young boy with leg injuries who was inaccessible to the ambulance service because of flooding.

Coast Guard national manager for search and rescue services Gerard O’Flynn said the crews completed 1,000 missions on December 27th; surpassing last year’s total of 914.

• Shannon Rescue 115 has completed 330 missions
• Dublin Rescue 116 has completed 148 missions
• Waterford Rescue 117 has completed 179 missions
• Sligo Rescue 118 has completed 343 missions

Storm Frank: Injured fisherman rescued in treacherous conditions (Independent)

The Irish Coast Guard was involved in a rescue mission in treacherous conditions 120 miles off Mizen Head when a fisherman was injured on board a trawler during severe weather conditions.

"Following a request from the UK Coast Guard, the Irish Coast Guard through its coordination centre at Valentia has coordinated the airlift of a Spanish national crew member from the UK registered Fishing Vessel Brisan 120nm SSW off Mizen Head," a spokesman for the Coastguard said.

"The Coast Guard helicopter, Rescue 115, from Shannon conducted the medical evacuation with the Coast Guard helicopter from Waterford, Rescue 117, providing top cover backup on scene. The casualty was airlifted to Cork University Hospital," he added.

"The winch was executed in extremely challenging weather conditions with wave height at 8 metres and force 6 westerly winds," the spokesman explained.

The Wild Atlantic Way certainly keeping the Coast Guard busy.

Comhrá

As a matter of interest, does anyone know exactly how many medical diversions landed at Snn. in 2015?
Seems like there were many more this year than others but I'd love to know the precise number.

highlydebased

For anyone who might be vaguely interested, I kept track of all diversions for the month of December using FR24 data and heads up on the aviation forum. I hope to keep track of things as the months go on as it will be interesting to look back at as time goes on.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cZ4X7iNe9cvSp1mf-rZCNmTodGriaOVUZQiXf8Pc_n8/pubhtml?gid=0&single=true

Brennans Row

tippman1 wrote: »

As a matter of interest, does anyone know exactly how many medical diversions landed at Snn. in 2015?
Seems like there were many more this year than others but I'd love to know the precise number.

I compiled all the Atlantic diversion incidents that were recorded here on this thread into a table last April.

See post 1673

There were 5 medical diversions up to April.

I’m not too keen in updating it for a while but for the May – December diversions you can browse back through the posts by searching for Common Diversion Airport in this thread.

Brennans Row

A Jet2 flight (LS518) from Tenerife to Newcastle has diverted to Shannon.

Shannon757

That's 1 so far this year. Gotta keep track.

JCX BXC

Yesterday's United flight to and from Newark (UA24/25) was operated by a 767-400.

On related now, the Aer Lingus service to JFK ends in a few days (5th January) for its annual winter break. Resumes just before St.Patrick's day (15th March I think). With the new service to Edinburgh and the potential for alot of connecting traffic from there, I wonder would the service be strengthened much? Aer Lingus with a stop in Shannon is the cheapest option to NYC from EDI the majority of the time, plus pre-clearence is also included.

Jamie2k9

Carnacalla wrote: »

Yesterday's United flight to and from Newark (UA24/25) was operated by a 767-400.

On related now, the Aer Lingus service to JFK ends in a few days (5th January) for its annual winter break. Resumes just before St.Patrick's day (15th March I think). With the new service to Edinburgh and the potential for alot of connecting traffic from there, I wonder would the service be strengthened much? Aer Lingus with a stop in Shannon is the cheapest option to NYC from EDI the majority of the time, plus pre-clearence is also included.

May help and could be really important with DL coming with 763

highlydebased

Jet2 diversion was due to an aggressive passenger

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/woman-arrested-at-shannon-airport-after-emergency-landing-713832.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

JCX BXC

Curious, is that really considered an emergency landing?

dr.fuzzenstein

highlydebased wrote: »

Jet2 diversion was due to an aggressive passenger

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/woman-arrested-at-shannon-airport-after-emergency-landing-713832.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

She has since been released without charge while Gardaí have confirmed that a file on the incident will be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Let's hope they will actually do something, but not optimistic. People like that should be stung with the bill for their arseholery. "File sent to the DPP" is usually the last you ever hear of it.

highlydebased

The woman responsible for the jet2 diversion has been left with the £6,800 bill

http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/costly-bill-sent-to-ex-passenger-following-disruptive-behaviour-during-flight-714731.html

JCX BXC

So this is the time of year when the most of the holiday 2016 planning begins. Seems Izmir is gone, Faro and Malaga may be entering as a replacement on the Sunway website (Partly bookable using a few tricks, Select Izmir and up will come "Other Destinations from Shannon"). Ryanair don't look to be adding any replacement for NCE and PIS, so seems we are stuck with the bland old Spain and Portugal.