Eirjet was a

charter airline Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a ticket through a traditional airline). Regulation Charter – also called air taxi or ad hoc – flight ...

with its head office on the grounds of Shannon International Airport in Shannon,

County Clare County Clare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern part of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. It operated charter services to sun and ski destinations throughout

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. Its main base was

Shannon Airport Shannon Airport () is an international airport located in County Clare in Ireland. It is adjacent to the Shannon Estuary and lies halfway between Ennis and Limerick. With almost 2 million passengers in 2023, the airport is the third busiest ...

. The airline ceased operations on 17 October 2006 after notifying Irish aviation regulators that it was unable to meet its obligations to its tour operator clients. Efforts to find new financial backing were unsuccessful.

Flight International ''Flight International'', formerly ''Flight'', is a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", i ...

3 April 2007

History

The airline was established in 2004 and started operations on 23 December 2004 with an inaugural flight to

Agadir Agadir (, ; ) is a major List of cities in Morocco, city in Morocco, on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean near the foot of the Atlas Mountains, just north of the point where the Sous River, Souss River flows into the ocean, and south of Casabla ...

with an

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first membe ...

. Another two aircraft were added in summer 2005 to add flights from

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

and Shannon. One of them was painted in

Air Jamaica Air Jamaica was the flag carrier of Jamaica. It was owned and operated by Caribbean Airlines from May 2011 until the cessation of operations in 2015. Caribbean Airlines Limited, headquartered in Piarco, Trinidad and Tobago, had administrative of ...

colours, its former operator. The company founders include former

Skynet Airlines Skynet Airlines was an airline operating from Ireland to Russia via Amsterdam, that was operational between 2001 and 2004.United States Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the president of the United States a ...

to permit the airline to perform ad hoc charters between Ireland and the

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, within the US and from the US to third countries. The airline had an unusual philosophy of leasing aircraft. For example, on February 18, 2006, the airline

wet-lease Aircraft leases are leases used by airlines and other aircraft operators. Airlines lease aircraft from other airlines or leasing companies for two main reasons: to operate aircraft without the financial burden of buying them, as well as to provide ...

d all three

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

aircraft to

Ryanair Ryanair is an Irish Low-cost carrier#Ultra low-cost carrier, ultra low-cost airline group headquartered in Swords, County Dublin, Ireland. The parent company, Ryanair Holdings plc, includes subsidiaries Ryanair , Malta Air, Buzz (Ryanair), Buzz ...

and hired in three aircraft from airlines including

Transavia Transavia Airlines C.V., trading as Transavia and formerly branded as ''transavia.com'', is a Dutch low-cost airline and a wholly owned subsidiary of KLM and therefore part of the Air France–KLM group. Its main base is Amsterdam Airport Sch ...

Flyjet Flyjet was a charter airline based at London Luton Airport, United Kingdom. It was a subsidiary of Silverjet, which is licensed for worldwide charter operations. It operated from Manchester Airport and Newcastle International Airport, Newcastl ...

and Eagle Aviation to cover its own charter program. Overselling its actual capacity and wet leasing in additional aircraft can be attributed to Eirjet's cashflow difficulties, with most subchartered activity costing the company far in excess of the revenue generated from operating the flights. At the inauguration of their operations, the company had only one

while their schedule demanded at least four aircraft.

Fleet

The Eirjet fleet consisted of the following aircraft: In March 2006, the Eirjet fleet's average age was 9.6 years old.

Incidents and accidents

*29 March 2006 - Eirjet issued an apology after a flight it operated from

Liverpool John Lennon Airport Liverpool John Lennon Airport is an international airport serving Liverpool, England, on the estuary of the River Mersey south-east of Liverpool city centre. Scheduled domestic, European, North African and Middle Eastern services are oper ...

City of Derry Airport City of Derry Airport , previously known as RAF Eglinton and Londonderry Eglinton Airport, is a regional airport located northeast of Derry, Northern Ireland. It is located on the south bank of Lough Foyle, a short distance from the village ...

on behalf of

landed at the wrong airfield, touching down at Ballykelly Airfield, a former RAF base and more recently an

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base some 4 miles away from its intended destination. The statement explained that the incident was caused by an "error by the Eirjet pilot who mistakenly believed he was on a visual approach to City of Derry airport". An air accident investigation report in January 2007 reported that the pilot had been unable to obtain the correct set of charts prior to the flight, only obtaining them the day after the incident. The pilot stated that if he had seen the charts, he would have been fully aware of the existence of Ballykelly and would not have landed there. The crew believed the instrument landing aid system at City of Derry was malfunctioning as what they saw of the runway did not match the instrument readings and the presence of an instrument calibrating aircraft close by added to their belief that there was a technical fault. The report also stated that although an air traffic controller thought the jet was "slightly low" he did not warn the crew about the other runway.

References

External links

Eirjet
(Archive)

Eirjet Fleet Detail

Photos of Eirjet aircraft
{{Airlines of the Republic of Ireland Defunct airlines of the Republic of Ireland Irish companies established in 2004 2006 disestablishments in Ireland Airlines established in 2004 Airlines disestablished in 2006