Postal service axed in Aer Lingus costs drive
Aer Lingus is to axe its postal and courier service to Britain and Europe from January as part of its ongoing drive to compete with other low-cost carriers.
Chief executive Willie Walsh told An Post management late last week that he had decided to drop its mail and courier deliveries from European flights in addition to cargo services from January 1.
Aer Lingus carries about four million items of mail for An Post to Britain and Europe each week, both commercial and domestic. An Post’s director of corporate and regulatory affairs, Larry Donald, warned that the decision could impact on its own cost base.
“It could have serious implications in terms of cost and also the quality of service, and it could also have implications for delays both for inbound and outbound post, depending on the availability of alternative flights,” Donald said.
“The other issue is that Aer Lingus provides cargo hand- ling services for other airlines, which could also impact on our ability to use other airlines.
“We’re not yet clear on that issue,” he said.
An Post will assess alternatives, such as the chartering of aircraft, or partnering with BMI, on its flights from Dublin to Heathrow. BMI has already expressed interest in taking some of Aer Lingus’s cargo business.
The airline’s decision to withdraw its courier services would affect Irish businesses operating in the mid-west, including the Shannon industrial zone, according to Fine Gael Clare TD Pat Breen.
Industrialists expressed concern that there would be no same-day courier flights from Shannon Airport to London Heathrow if Aer Lingus dropped this service.
Ryanair is the only other airline that flies daily to London Heathrow, but it does not have a courier service. According to Breen, Shannon businesses flew microchips via Heathrow to a range of US cities.
An Aer Lingus spokeswoman said the airline had carried out a review of its postal and courier service independently of its decision to close cargo on short haul. The airline’s management had notified An Post giving the company three months’ notice to explore alternatives.
In a separate development, a spokesman for the One World Alliance said Aer Lingus was not compelled to operate a business-class service to remain a member of the alliance.
But he accepted that, if Aer Lingus left One World, it would lose privileges to VIP lounges operated by Alliance members. “The One World Alliance is working with Aer Lingus to examine how it can maintain its links to the organisation while repositioning itself,” said a spokesman for the organisation.
