Airline News

www.PArctel.com: Aer Arann is keeping the record straight in response to Ryanair’s advertising campaign on the Dublin-Cork route. Says Colin Lewis, Head of Sales and Marketing for Aer Arann: ‘We think its right to keep the Irish travelling public informed’.

‘First of all, thanks to Ryanair for using Aer Arann's name on their advertising. This helps spread awareness of our brand, and we are delighted for their help in extending our ‘Seven Wonders’ marketing campaign’.

Secondly, comparing Aer Arann and Ryanair is like comparing apples and oranges, it’s a completely different customer experience. With fares from €25 one way, Aer Arann is offering the best customer experience on the route - with no baggage charges, assigned seating, online check-in, flexible tickets on day of travel, stress-free boarding and check in 30 minutes before flight. Our research has shown that these are very important elements to both the leisure and corporate customer, though Ryanair may disregard them.

Thirdly, Aer Arann operate 40% more flights than Ryanair every weekday between Dublin and Cork- almost 1200 more flights per year, so our commitment is unquestionable. All airlines have cancellations due to weather. The majority of our cancellations on the route in the last year were due to weather. Almost half were in one month - December 2006 - the same month when Ryanair cancelled dozens of flights across the UK and Ireland.

Fourthly, we believe that Ryanair should come clean on their pricing and answer the question: what’s the real cost the passenger will pay?

A passenger with 17kgs of baggage, flying return between Dublin and Cork, who uses online check-in will pay €50 on top of the Ryanair base fare.

With Aer Arann – ZERO!

Fifthly, we welcome competition, but with 14,000 customers a month choosing to fly Dublin-Cork with Aer Arann, clearly 14,000 people recognise value-for-money when they see it, over Ryanair stealth pricing.

Finally, next month Aer Arann takes delivery of the first of 10 new 72 seater ATR72-500 series aircraft. 50% of these aircraft will be in our fleet in the next 12 months. The deal, which is worth over €150 million, is the single largest aircraft investment by a private Irish passenger airline and the third largest in Irish aviation history. The first aircraft is scheduled to operate on the Dublin-Cork route.’