The airline’s watchwords for ground handling, are “Safety, reliability and consistent delivery of high quality service,” says Wilson. This applies to all aspects of the airline’s ground handling operation, whether self-handling or acting as a third-party handler. These high standards are “embedded in our culture and strongly supported by our training programmes,” he says.
The same standards apply when outsourcing ground handling at Aer Lingus’s 70 destinations throughout Europe and North America: “We use a range of criteria, foremost of which are safety and quality of service. Value proposition, available resourcing in line with our schedule and requirements, scalability of ground handler station capabilities and reputation are all key considerations.”
Adding third-party handling to the Aer Lingus portfolio presented a challenge, but one that the airline and its staff rose to meet. Etihad Airlines flies daily (twice daily from July 2014) into Dublin, operating A330 and B777 aircraft. Wilson explained, “Added to serving our own flight schedule, this presented a key challenge in terms of the requirement to deliver consistently high standards of service to a third-party widebody aircraft operator. Robust and diligent preparation was also key and we commissioned a comprehensive project plan to ensure the delivery of a seamless introduction of our services corresponding to the customer’s required specifications. In adding such a new dimension to our ground handling business, we have leveraged our capabilities at DUB and further confirmed our ability to provide world class ground handling services. I am most proud of all my colleagues in Ground Operations at DUB for this achievement.”
Aer Lingus self-handles at its Dublin hub and Shannon and Cork bases. The GSE fleet across all three airports comprises 480 motorised and 486 un-motorised pieces of equipment. Equipment maintenance is outsourced and managed locally, through a central procurement and fleet management strategy from the Dublin hub. This ensures Aer Lingus can take a holistic view of the GSE fleet across all stations, re-allocating equipment across stations where necessary to meet changing demands.
The airline runs a busy schedule from its Dublin base so its ground handling has to be efficient and streamlined. Wilson gave us an overview of a typical day’s operation:
“Aer Lingus mainline operate a fleet of 47 Airbus aircraft across our route network. Thirty-nine of these aircraft serve the Dublin base. We operate an all Airbus fleet consisting of both short-haul (A319, A320, A321) and long-haul aircraft (A330-200, A330-300). Three B757 aircraft recently joined the fleet to fly the JFK and Boston routes from Shannon and Toronto from Dublin.”
“A typical day in the height of the summer season has approximately 220 flights across the network, of which circa 180 operate in and out of Dublin. We carry an average of 35,000 passengers daily during the summer season, 24,000 of them in and out of the Dublin base.
Short-haul aircraft are fully tasked and a typical day can see one of our A320 aircraft in Dublin starting at 0600, operating to Germany and back then off to Paris mid-afternoon, and returning to operate again in the evening to Spain arriving back around 2300. The Dublin – London route is our busiest, serving both London Heathrow and London Gatwick. We operate approximately 40 flights in and out of London every day.”
“Our short-haul aircraft turnaround at airports is 35 to 45 minutes depending on the station.
Our Airbus A330 aircraft serve mainly the USA and they arrive into Dublin eastbound from North America starting from 0500 in the morning. Turnaround times are between one hour and forty-five minutes and two hours and thirty minutes depending on the route. Some A330 aircraft operate to Spain or Portugal following their arrival from the USA, then have a quick turnaround back to Dublin in the early afternoon for another transatlantic departure to Chicago or New York in the early evening around 1700.”
“Our Operations Logistics Department is responsible for managing the daily operation and also for managing the recovery from disruptions. Issues that can challenge the daily operation are delays, weather phenomena, air traffic restrictions, customer convenience issues, technical problems, crewing logistics, ground handling issues and industrial action. We endeavour to avoid, minimise and prevent delays and disruptions at all times.”
Aer Lingus began operation in 1936. It was floated on the Irish and London stock exchanges in 2006, and continues to adapt and innovate in the ever-changing landscape of world aviation.
