Portobello Institute Blog

In Portobello Institute, we welcome feedback and reports on the placement experience as well as the industry in question. Aisling O’Connell delivered a succinct synopsis on The Airline Industry in Ireland – an extract of which hereafter….
The global aviation industry has encountered considerable turbulence in recent years and Ireland is no different. In these economic times it is important Ireland does not lose focus and strives to keep a grip on the aviation market.
This report will explore the main airlines operating in and out of Ireland and will also look deeper into the top five airlines.
The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) recorded an adequate performance for 2008 in their annual report despite the background of a much more difficult operating environment. Passenger numbers at Ireland’s three main airports, Dublin, Cork and Shannon declined marginally to just under 30 million during 2008, the first decline since the Gulf War in 1991.
Dublin Airport, Ireland’s main hub handled almost 23.5 million passengers last year. This satisfactory performance was underpinned by the steady flow of passengers during the first six months of the year but the second half saw a particularly severe slow down as the global recession hit along with spiralling fuel prices.
The recent climate saw two charter companies Futura Gael and XL Airways close in September and three scheduled airlines Central wings, Sky Europe and FlyLAL (Lithuanian Airlines) end its services from Dublin during the second half of the year. However, 22 new services were added to the existing network from Dublin, including a new route to Moscow.
In the long-haul market, Etihad Airways operates a daily service between Ireland and Abu Dhabi, it holds a strong position for this market and increased its capacity significantly last year. Aer Lingus, Irelands flag Airline serves many popular long-haul US destinations, and has been able to add more thanks to the new open skies deal which helped transatlantic traffic grow by 14% to a record 1.7 million passengers during 2008. US carriers such as delta and continental also serve the airport from major US hubs. Dublin is one of only two European airports with United States border preclearance services available at the airport. Passenger volumes to destinations such as the Middle East and Africa increased by 8% to more than 250,000 last year also.
In the short haul Market, the Dublin-London route is the second busiest route in the world after the Hong Kong-Taipei route. There are approximately 50 daily departures from Dublin to all five London airports Stansted, Luton, Gatwick, Heathrow and London City. There are up to 30 Daily Departures to other smaller UK Airports & Larger to especially Manchester Airport. European traffic reaches almost 12 million travelling from Dublin to continental Europe and domestic traffic reaches just over 840,000.
According to the DAA a total number of 76 airlines operated to 206 destinations from Dublin Airport in 2008. Ryan air being the largest at 42% of all traffic and Aer Lingus a close second at 34%, together they now account for 76% of the Irelands passenger traffic. The remaining 24% is divided between the other 74 airlines using Dublin Airport such as Air France, Aer Arann and city jet.

Hear are a few words from Aisling about her work experience….

Quickly after starting my Airline Training course with Portobello Institute Dublin, I was delighted to commence work experience with Turkish Airlines.
The opportunity to gain firsthand experience of the airline industry with one of Europe’s four star airlines was an opening I was very grateful for.

The company’s head office for Ireland is based in Dublin city centre and they also have an operations team based at Dublin Airport. I had previously undertaken a Tourism marketing degree so I was delighted to secure a position within their Marketing Department learning alot from . I have always wanted to work within the airline industry and this was an opportunity to get direct experience.

My first day I was apprehensive but also very excited. I meet everyone I would be working with and they all made me feel extremely comfortable and very welcome.
There are many tasks to be completed on a daily basis. Primarily I am involved in the marketing and advertising department, I also deal with customer enquiries, administration and many other office duties.

I have been working with them now for three months, two days per week and the skills and experiences I have gained here I could not have achieved in any classroom. This work placement has improved my knowledge of the airline industry an unbelievable amount. All of this would not have been achievable if it wasn’t for Portobello Institute and I wish to take this opportunity to thank them for their support throughout.

Thanks Aisling and a reminder to all other past students to keep the news and industry reports coming into us….