Aer Lingus
Aer Lingus is the national
airline of
Ireland. Based in
Dublin, it operates over 30 aircraft serving
Europe, the
United States and recently
Dubai,
United Arab Emirates. The airline is 85% owned by the
Irish government; however the Government has recently approved the privatisation of the company. Aer Lingus is a member of the
oneworld airline alliance, though has announced its intention to leave during 2007
. The company employs 4,000 people and has revenue of €906.8 million as of 2004. Its slogan is
Low Fares, Way Better.
Early years
Aer Lingus Teoranta was registered as an airline on
May 22,
1936. The name,
Aer Lingus is an
anglicisation of the
Irish form
Aer Loingeas which means Air Fleet (as does
Aeroflot). Five days after being founded the airline opened its first service between
Baldonnel Airfield in Dublin and
Bristol,
England, using a six-seater
De Havilland 84 Dragon (Photo) biplane which was named
Iolar (Eagle). Later that year, the airline acquired its second aircraft, a
De Havilland 84B Dragon Express, a four engined variant with a capacity of 14 passengers.
|
Aer Lingus, as a European carrier, switched to purchasing Airbus aircraft such as the Airbus A320 |
In 1937 the Irish government created Aer Rianta (now called
Dublin Airport Authority), a company to assume financial responsibility for the new airline and the entire country's civil aviation infrastructure. In 1938
Iolar was replaced by a
de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide and a second DH84B was also purchased. Two
Lockheed L-14s arrived in 1939, Aer Lingus' first all-metal aircraft.
In January 1940 a new airport was completed in the Dublin suburb of
Collinstown and Aer Lingus moved their operations to the new aviation centre. Apart from a new
DC-3 service to
Liverpool and an internal service to
Shannon the airline's services were curtailed during
World War II.
Post War Expansion
On
November 9,
1945 regular services were resumed with an inaugural post-war flight to
London. From this point on Aer Lingus planes were painted in a silver and green livery, and the airline's first flight attendants were introduced. In 1946 a new Anglo-Irish agreement gave Aer Lingus exclusive UK traffic rights in exchange for a 40% holding by
British Overseas Airways Corporation and
British European Airways (BEA). Because of Aer Lingus' rate of growth the airline bought seven new
Vickers Viking planes in 1947, however, these proved to be uneconomical and were soon sold.
In 1947
Aerlínte Éireann came into existence with the purpose of operating transatlantic flights to
New York from
Ireland. Three new
Lockheed Constellations were ordered but a financial crisis prevented the service from starting. The Constellations were then sold to
BOAC and the transatlantic service was put on hold. During the late 1940s and early 1950s Aer Lingus introduced new routes to
Brussels,
Amsterdam and
Rome. Because of the expanding route structure the airline became one of the first to order
Vickers Viscount 707s in 1951. In 1956 Aer Lingus introduced a new, green top livery with a white lighting flash down the windows and the Irish flag displayed on each plane's fin.
First transatlantic service
 |
Aer Lingus used the Carvair automobile freighter with little economic success. |
On
April 28,
1958 Aerlínte Éireann operated the first transatlantic service from Shannon to New York. Three
Lockheed Constellations were used for the thrice-weekly service. The aircraft were wet-leased from the American airline
Seaboard And Western while Irish cabin crews were used. This arrangement continued until
January 1,
1960 when Aerlínte Éireann was renamed Aer Lingus - Irish International Airlines. Aer Lingus entered the jet-age on
December 14,
1960 when three
Boeing 720s were delivered for use on the New York route, as well as for the newest Aer Lingus destination,
Boston.
In 1963, Aer Lingus brought some
Carvairs to the fleet. With this aircraft, five cars could be transported by loading them into the fuselage through the nose of the plane. However, the Carvair proved to be an economic disaster for the airline, partly due to the rise of car ferry services. The
Boeing 720s proved to be a success for the airline on the transatlantic routes, however, in 1964 Aer Lingus took delivery of the larger
Boeing 707.
Jet aircraft
Conversion of the European fleet to jet equipment began in 1965 when the
BAC 1-11 began services from
Dublin and
Cork to
Paris. A new livery was adopted in the same year, with a large white
shamrock on the fin and titles of
Aer Lingus-International just above the plane's windows. In 1966 the remainder of the companies shares held by
Aer Rianta were transferred to the
Minister for Finance.
In 1966, the route from Shannon to
Montreal and onward to
Chicago was inaugurated.
In 1968, flights from
Belfast in
Northern Ireland to New York were started. The service proved successful in the beginning but it was soon suspended due to the beginning of
the Troubles in the area. 1969 saw the introduction of
Boeing 737s to the Aer Lingus fleet to cope with the high demand for flights between the cities of
Dublin and
London. Aer Lingus later decided to extend the 737 flights to all of their
European network.
1970s to 1990s
In 1970 Aer Lingus took delivery of two
Boeing 747s for use on the transatlantic routes. A third was later added to the fleet, however, one was leased out because it was not profitable at first for the company to fly 747s across the
Atlantic Ocean. In 1974 a new livery was unveiled and the word
International disappeared from the fuselage titles on Aer Lingus planes. The livery included two different colors of blue and one green, plus the white shamrock on the tail/fin.
In September 1979 Aer Lingus became the first airline other than
Alitalia to be used by
Pope John Paul II. The pontiff flew aboard a specially modified Boeing 747 (EI-ASI or St. Patrick) from
Rome to Dublin and later from Shannon to
Boston. In the early 1980s the 707s were phased out.
In 1984 a fully-owned subsidiary,
Aer Lingus Commuter, was formed so that Aer Lingus could fly to larger cities in Ireland and Britain whose flying time from Dublin did not require jet planes. These services were operated primarily by five of the Belfast-built
Shorts 360 after conducting a trial with the
Shorts 330. Around this time Aer Lingus purchased a majority sharehold in the
cargo airline Aer Turas, owner of some
DC-8 freighter jets.
Between 1987 and 1989, new
Boeing 737s arrived to replace the older ones, and 6
Fokker F50s were added to the
Commuter fleet. During 1990, after the passage of the deregulation act for the airline industry in Ireland, Aer Lingus had to reconsider its operational policies. The
BAC 1-11s were retired and 5 new 737s arrived. In 1991, 4
Saab 340Bs arrived at the commuter division to replace the
Shorts 360 planes. By 1992 Aer Lingus's entire original 737-200 fleet had been replaced and was now the first operator in the world of all three versions of the second generation 737. These were the -300, -400 and -500 series, although the -300 did not last long in Aer Lingus service.
Airbus and the New Millennium
In 1994 Aer Lingus started direct services between Dublin and the United States using the new
Airbus A330 and in May of that year Aer Lingus operated the first
A330 ETOPS service on the
North Atlantic route. This led to the phasing out of the
Boeing 747 and the briefly operated
Boeing 767-300ER. On
October 2,
1995 the last
jumbo-jet service was operated after twenty-five years of service. By that time, over 8 million people had travelled across the Atlantic in Aer Lingus Boeing 747s. The late 1990s saw Aer Lingus return to
Belfast with a service to New York via Shannon.
Newark International Airport in
New Jersey was also added as a destination. However, since then these flights have been suspended.
In
1 February 2001, Aer Lingus Commuter was merged back into the mainline operation. Following the attacks on
September 11,
2001 Aer Lingus' business was severely reduced. Staff numbers were cut, destinations were dropped and the fleet was reduced. The airline has since weathered the storm and is back in profit. This has largely been achieved through a new strategy involving lowering the airline's cost base, updating the fleet with modern
Airbus equipment and developing new routes to mainland European destinations (Aer Lingus had previously largely neglected mainland Europe in favour of US and British destinations). They are currently positioning themselves as competition to the European
no-frills airlines, such as
Ryanair,
easyJet,
Volare and
Germanwings, while offering intercontinental flights as well. Business class travel and cargo provisions for short haul flights have both been phased out, and the possibility has been raised of the trademark aquamarine uniforms being dropped in favour of casual poloneck shirts.
|
Aer Lingus Airbus A321-200 |
On
27 October 2005 Aer Lingus [
1] announced their first scheduled service to
Asia from March 2006 as
Dubai International Airport in the
United Arab Emirates, where Chief Executive Dermot Mannion was based when at
Emirates. Despite the Aer Lingus press release describing it as the first long haul service outside the United States, there had in fact been a previous service to
Montreal,
Canada from 1966-1979. The
great circle distance of 5926 kilometres (3682 miles) is comparable to the current service to
Chicago but
Los Angeles remains Aer Lingus' longest route at 8338 kilometers (5181 miles). At the same time Mr. Mannion linked
the funding of new long haul aircraft to replace the A330 fleet with the privatisation of the airline.
On
29 October 2005 Aer Lingus withdrew its last two
Boeing 737 aircraft from service. EI-CDH (a 737-500) operated the last sectors from Dublin to
Nice,
France and back. The aircraft and its sister ship EI-CDG now operate for
Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise in
Russia. This marks the end of Boeing content within Aer Lingus' fleet.
The Irish government will be abolishing the
Shannon stopover at the end of 2006 in stages, opening up new US destinations for Aer Lingus. Aer Lingus is looking at the possibility of adding San Francisco, Philadelphia, Dallas and Miami to its route network.
On
4 April 2006 the
Irish Government gave the go-ahead to the
privatisation of Aer Lingus. However the date for the company's
initial public offering on the
Irish Stock Exchange has not been announced. It is expected that the Irish government will retain at least a 25.1% share in the airline and the staff at the airline retaining nearly 15%, leaving at most 60% to be sold off.
Aer Lingus confirmed its intention to withdraw from the
oneworld airline alliance on 30 May 2006, though intends to retain strong bilateral links with various
oneworld members and has no intention of joining any other global alliance. Timing for Aer Lingus' withdrawal has yet to be confirmed, but is expected to be early
2007, as
oneworld expands with three new members. The decision to leave the alliance was due to Aer Lingus repositioning itself as a low-fares point to point carrier, which is at odds with
oneworld's pitch to the premium international frequent-flyer.
*It will give up its
Dublin-
Milan Orio al Serio route by the end of
October 2006. It will continue to operate its daily service to
Milan Linate.
*It will add the following new routes from
October 2006 :
Cork-
Lanzarote /
Cork-
Madrid /
Cork-
Prague /
Dublin-
Newcastle /
Dublin-
Turin.
*It will upgrade the following seasonal summer routes to year-round service :
Cork-
Berlin /
Cork-
Birmingham /
Cork-
Faro /
Cork-
Tenerife /
Dublin-
Poznań /
Dublin-
Seville. Also, it will increase frequency on a number of routes from Cork and Dublin.
Aer Lingus has suffered only 8 major incidents in its history, seven accidents which left planes written-off, of which three were fatal, and one hijacking. The last such incident happened 20 years ago, in 1986, when a
Shorts 360 hit high-tension power lines after rolling.
In January 1952, a
Douglas DC-3 en route from
Northolt to
Dublin suffered from extreme turbulence and crashed at
Gwynant Lake in
Snowdonia killing all 20 passengers and 3 crew on board.
A pilot training flight in 1967 left all three crew on board a
Vickers Viscount dead after stalling and spinning in-air near
Ashbourne.
Their most significant air crash was in 1968 when a Viscount aircraft en route from
Cork to
London crashed near
Tuskar Rock in the waters off the southeast coast of Ireland. All 57 passengers and four crew perished. The crash is generally known as the
Tuskar Rock Air Disaster in Ireland. The aircraft's elevator trim tab was found some distance from the rest of the wreckage, suggesting that it had become detached at an earlier stage. However, the accident report reached no definitive conclusion about the cause of the crash, but notably failed to exclude the possibility that another "aircraft or airborne object" was involved. Following persistent rumours that the aircraft's demise was linked with nearby British military exercises, a review of the case files by the
Air Accidents Investigation Unit took place in 1998. This review identified a number of maintenance and record-keeping failures and concluded that the original report failed to adequately examine alternative hypotheses not involving other aircraft[
2]. A subsequent investigation [
3] concluded that the accident happened following a structural failure of the port tailplane, and ruled out the possibility that another aircraft was involved.
The Aer Lingus fleet consists of the following aircraft (at August 2006):
In March 2006, the average age of the Aer Lingus fleet was 4.4 years.
Aer Lingus placed an order for 1
Airbus A330-200 and 1
Airbus A330-300 aircraft in February, both are due for delivery in May 2007. Aer Lingus also have 2 further A320s on order which are due for delivery in June 2007.
Transatlantic Fleet
*
McDonnell Douglas MD-11 N272WA 1998-2001, leased several times from World Airways
*
Boeing 767-300ER
EI-CAL1991-1994
*
Boeing 747-100
EI-BED 1971-1995
*
Boeing 707-320
EI-ANO 1964-1986
*
Boeing 720 EI-ALC 1960-1971
*
Lockheed Super Constellation 1958-1960
*
Lockheed Constellation 1948 (
Aerlinte Eireann)
European and Commuter Fleets
*
BAe 146-300
EI-CLG 1995-2003
*
Saab 340 EI-CFC 1991-1995
*
Boeing 737-500
EI-CDG 1990-2005
*
Fokker 50 EI-FKE 1989-2001
*
Boeing 737-400
EI-BXI 1989-2005
*
Boeing 737-300
EI-BUD 1987-1993
*
Shorts 360 EI-BSP 1984-1991
*
Shorts 330 EI-BEG 1983
*
Boeing 737-200
EI-ASL 1969-1992
*
Vickers Viscount 800
EI-AOH 1966-19xx
*
BAC 1-11 EI-ANG 1965-1990
*
Fokker 27 EI-AKG 1958-1966
*
Vickers Viscount 700
Ei-AFV 1954-1966
*
Vickers Viking 1947
*
Douglas DC-3 1940-1960s
*
Lockheed L-14 1939-1940
*
de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide 1938-19xx
*
de Havilland DH.84 Dragon EI-ABI 1936-1938
From 1965 to 1997 Aer Lingus sponsored the
Aer Lingus Young Scientist Exhibition. The event was taken over by
BT Ireland amid claims that it was part of a cost cutting plan by Aer Lingus, though the airline claimed that the exhibition no longer represented the airline's aims.
*
Aer Lingus*
Aer Lingus Fleet Age*
Aer Lingus Fleet Detail*
Aer Lingus Fleet and Orders*
Aer Lingus Passenger Opinions*
Photos of Aer Lingus aircraftSee Also*
List of Irish companies*Share, Bernard.
The Flight Of The Iolar : The Aer Lingus Experience 1936-1986 (Gill And Macmillan, 1986) ISBN 0-71711-457-0
*Niall G. Weldon.
Pioneers in Flight: Aer Lingus and the Story of Aviation in Ireland (The Liffey Press, 2002) ISBN 1-904148-21-2
