Baz Baz is correct to a point. Actually there were five aircraft involved.

The inbound 409 did the outbound 624 with a turnaround time of 32 minutes.

The inbound 422 did the outbound 421 with a turnaround time of 34 minutes.

The inbound 454 did the outbound 303 with a turnaround of 34 minutes.

The inbound 432 went tech and as a result took 2 hours and 6 minutes on the ground.

The inbound 627 left for Dublin with a turnaround of 37 minutes.

I draw a number of conclusions from this.

First every day at least two aircraft go seriously tech and more often than not it is first thing in morning that you get at least one refusing. In this case there were at least three sick aircraft and this takes no account of the rest of the system which was in very little better state.

Secondly it appears to me that maintenance are falling down on the job badly in not having adequately maintained aircraft available for service each morning. Now in my book when I was running an airline I was not interested in excuses. One day, maybe, but not day after day. The bottom line is that once you get perceived by the public to be incapable of being punctual your business drops like a stone and unfortunately this is the case with Aer Arann. Nobody wants Aer Arann to succeed more than I do and it was only after desperate attempts to communicate with them and they at all times even refusing to answer their mail did I go public.

Thirdly, in my book, management is responsible for everything. You do not blame your staff. A poor workman blames his tools. If the aircraft are not capable of maintaining the schedule then it is up to management to sort it out. In this case I know for a fact that nobody is making an attempt but even worse if anyone tells Padraig O'Ceidigh anything he does not want to hear then he is likely to fire them. So everyone tells him how wonderful everything is and keeps their job. Forget the facts.

At least Michael O'Leary had the guts to come out and say that he and he alone made a ballusup over fuel hedging. No ducking. It was his fault.

On the other hand Padraig refuses to tell the truth on the financial position much less accept responsibility for the cockup that passes for Aer Arann. If Aer Arann is to survive then drastic action needs to be taken and fast. But first you have to recognise that you have a problem which Padraig and his bunch of yes men flatly refuse to do.

Finally as regards the turaround times if Michael O'Leary can turn a 189 seat jet around in 25 minutesday in, day out then it should not take 34 minutes to turn around a baby ATR. Again it is managements responsibility. I actually was involved in an airline that set a record years ago with a DC 9 which we got out doors open to doors closed in ten minutes - and that was in the seventies! ice. We settled for twenty in service. You can do an ATR in 20 minutes if you set your mind to it.

I repeat it is managements responsibility to deliver an on time airline. If they do not then they should be fired. Aer Arann is not, by any standards an ontime airline!

Michael Grimes

Well thats bully for you michael - you set a record in a DC9, 30 odd years ago, much has changed in the airline industry since then.

Remember to paraphrase you inrelation to the transport museum : it is very easy criticise from the outside,not knowing what is happening inside"

You need to decide wether the website is relating to the history of transport or some personal or semi-political focal point for your ramblings.

I appreciate that this is your website but it is getting to the point of ridicule when your front page headline is about toilet seats, spelling mistakes in garage forecourts, garda activity regarding sex shops in carlo, or whatever other whim is in your mind at the time of writing.

regarding previous message ; carlo = Carlow, not spelling mistake - misbehaving keyboard

loud mouth always smart ass