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28/01/2008
Aer Lingus Belfast Routes Perform Poorly
Newly arrived Aer Lingus has sold less than a third of its seats on its new Belfast International Airport flights in December.
According to the figures from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) there has to be serious question marks over Aer Lingus' commercial reasoning for the move to Belfast.
The CAA said that Aer Lingus filled just 32% of the 21,576 Belfast seats available in December.
The airline's route to Amsterdam, which has 14 weekly flights, was the worst performer, with just 27% of seats filled, with Barcelona the best performer, where 44% of seats on the five weekly flights were filled, while twice-weekly flights to Geneva were 39% full.
Aer Lingus' controversial Heathrow flight didn't start until mid January, and so is not included in those statistics, but rival airline Ryanair claimed that sales were equally bad on that route, at least on the inaugural flight.
However, the December performance may not be as bad as at first sight as routes like Amsterdam would have a heavy business element and there's a lot less business travel in December.
January figures, however, will reveal how well, or otherwise the newly established – flagship – route to London Heathrow has 'taken off'.
(BMcC)
According to the figures from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) there has to be serious question marks over Aer Lingus' commercial reasoning for the move to Belfast.
The CAA said that Aer Lingus filled just 32% of the 21,576 Belfast seats available in December.
The airline's route to Amsterdam, which has 14 weekly flights, was the worst performer, with just 27% of seats filled, with Barcelona the best performer, where 44% of seats on the five weekly flights were filled, while twice-weekly flights to Geneva were 39% full.
Aer Lingus' controversial Heathrow flight didn't start until mid January, and so is not included in those statistics, but rival airline Ryanair claimed that sales were equally bad on that route, at least on the inaugural flight.
However, the December performance may not be as bad as at first sight as routes like Amsterdam would have a heavy business element and there's a lot less business travel in December.
January figures, however, will reveal how well, or otherwise the newly established – flagship – route to London Heathrow has 'taken off'.
(BMcC)
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"Fortunate" escape for baggage handler
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"Fortunate" escape for baggage handler
A baggage handler has revealed how he was almost locked in the cargo hold, on a flight bound for New York. A report heard the man had to call colleagues on his mobile, as the Aer Lingus Airbus 330 was taxi-ing for take-off on 28 December 2005. He had went to check on a lost bag, when his colleagues sealed up the hold.
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Northern Ireland WeatherToday:A cloudy morning with a few showers at times. Becoming dry in the afternoon and staying mainly cloudy, but some sunshine breaking through particularly in the east. Maximum temperature 16 °C.Tonight:Quite cloudy across all counties at first but clear spells most likely towards Down and Antrim, becoming widespread through the evening and overnight. Minimum temperature 5 °C.
