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TWO MONTHS AFTER a car driven by a 68-year-old man careened into it, the Front Gate of Trinity College is back in business.
And you can thank these guys for their role in installing it:
The brand new gate is a far cry from April 2, at 6.30am, when it was left looking like this:
The Front Gate was erected in the early 1870s during refurbishment in the College, replacing the original 1759 gates.
But an early-morning drive by a 68-year-old man led to their premature removal. He was subsequently arrested by gardaí.
Thankfully, the damage didn’t mean the gate was written off.
Craftsmen from the Trinity College Buildings Maintenance Department took down the damaged wooden gate, bringing it to the joinery workshops of Dunwoody & Dobson, who are specialist heritage building contractors.
They sourced matching timber for the gate, and used this to repair or replace the damaged sections of framing and panels.
They also replaced the original door frames with new oak posts that were re-made to the same design.
Notice the change in colour? That’s because the surface finish of the remaining timber was stripped back to bare wood.
To finish off the job, the entire gate was French polished.
The gate was hung in seven pieces this week, which is why the front gate was blocked off to pedestrians for a few days (they also fixed the cobbled stones outside the main gate while they were at it).
Landing slots in Heathrow is a red herring… If passengers want to come to Ireland for business or leisure 2 things…
1. They will book flights over whatever routing to get to Ireland from wherever they are
2. If there are profitable routes to fly, airlines will provide capacity to Dublin London … The volumes on this route will always be served
Consolidation of the airline business will happen… smaller carriers will be absorbed into bigger groups or will fail. IAG seem willing to preserve an excellent Irish brand and operation.
Landing slots in Heathrow is simply a valuable asset on the Aer Lingus balance sheet at present… nothing more.
I haven’t seen figures for traffic specifically connecting in Heathrow for Dublin/Ireland nor have I seen figures for the proportion of UK based traffic using Heathrow-Ireland which would provide proper fact based argument as opposed to ill informed scare mongering rhetoric. You would think a journalist would do this research!!! Journal?
If this small profitable, lean, well run airline is vulnerable then instead of allowing it to fail, precisely this partnership styled buyout might be the best protection for the 4000 jobs over trying to tough it out against much bigger competitors.
Toughing it out or being influenced by government or political non business groups could kill the airline and lose that employment.
Don’t talk sense here, the lefties don’t like it.
Its not sense to say that the landing slots are a valuable balance sheet asset – and nothing more!
They produce the wherewithal to generate a significant element of the airline’s income.
Aer Lingus could not operate without them, in any meaningful way.
Can you demonstrate that with financials?
The transatlantic is vastly more profitable.
IAG could use Dublin as a t/a hub as a second hub to Heathrow and expand Aer Lingus as a financed subsidiary fed with IAG traffic.
If Aer Lingus fails or is bought, is it going to be a case of boat traffic only… I don’t think anyone believes that?
A strong ownern/partner is exactly what Aer Lingus needs.
That’s intangible and subject to fluctuations.
I’d prefer to stay on point – as, you well know, my point is valid.
It is virtually impossible to buy a slot at LHR, and will be for many years – perhaps decades.
A BS asset – yes. But a major generator of business and income….
And London city, Gatwick and Stansted don’t?
Very roughly, AL passenger income is about 1m a month – split fairly equally between shot and long haul.
Shorthall carries about 5 times more passengers – so the slots are the most important possession that the airline has.
As mentioned, slots cannot be bought. Aircraft can easily be bought or leased.
If revenue per month is split evenly, and the pax ratio is 5:1 short/long haul, then long haul is much more profitable. EI would be better off concentrating on this, and regional UK connections to Dublin make massive sense. So slots to London become less important to EI’s long term revenue generation.
Fergal there’s no need to bring a bit of common sense and business acumen to the debate here. There are far better places for that. All you need to remember here in the Journal comments section is:
Privatisation of anything is bad. End of story
Slots to London? Its the LHR slots that are being discussed.
Yes longhaul is more profitable – must most airlines want a mix. Flying into Europe etc.
Which would be impossible for AL without the LHR slots.
Those slots alone make up a significant amount of the airline’s €1.3 b value.
Meant LHR gravel.
Jason wants Aer Lingus to operate longhaul and UK/Dublin only.
Because its more profitable. If only business was as simple as that.
If that business model worked – which it doesn’t – Ryanair might just have adopted it….
As things stand, BA use 10-14 of *their own* Heathrow slots to service Irish flights every day. If anything, they would cut those services rather than EI’s, but since BA are under no obligation whatsoever to service those routes, it’s fair to assume they use Heathrow slots on these routes because it makes business sense.
It’s also worth noting that none of Iberia’s Heathrow slots have been taken away from them since the merger with BA.
As such, I’d say a far bigger threat to Aer Lingus services to LHR is if they try to stay independent and end up going to the wall.
Either way though, while connectivity with London is clearly vital to Ireland, connectivity with LHR in particular is not. There are already more flights from Ireland to other London airports than to LHR, and in my experience, most people do their utmost to avoid LHR if at all possible. There are also several other options for long haul connections – Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Abu Dhabi, Dubai.
Fair enough CT – but LHR continues to grow alarmingly as itis most people’s preference; on the tube, less than 15 miles from central London.
And it will contract to grow, with a very strong lobby for a third runway. Over 75 million passengers a year – the busiest in Europe and third in the world.
Put simply – its where airlines want to be…..
*continue
Again Cornelius that kind of analysis isn’t appreciated or even under stood by the left here.
By the way some people are acting, you’d swear Heathrow is the only option to go anywhere. As you say, from Dublin, you could use any of the European hubs, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris or Istanbul. Much more beyond though, Abu Dhabi or Dubai. Even within North or South America, you could use JFK, Newark, Washington, Atlanta, Philadelphia or Chicago. From Shannon, JFK, Chicago or Philaselphia. Even from Cork, theres a double daily service to Amsterdam, besides the Heathrow route
Besides all that though Heathrow as a hub needs to compete with all of the hubs mentioned above anyway. Even if the Heathrow services form Shannon for example are loss making why would anyone expect Aer Lingus to keep them on anyway? They could cut them in the morning and the government would be powerless. All they could do is make a bit of noise. IAG have promised 5 years more of these services, 5 years longer than the government has now. What more can be expected of a private company?
For people travelling from Ireland to London (as opposed to connecting in London on the way somewhere else), the best airport really depends on whereabouts in London you’re going. London City airport is by far the best option for people going to the City or East End. Stansted is just as good as LHR for the East End or North London. Luton is much better than LHR for North London. Gatwick is the best for South London. Flying into LHR is really only the best option if you want to go to West London.
The other main reason people fly to LHR is to connect to somewhere else – but as I said you don’t have to go to via London at all if your destination is further afield. I honestly don’t think it would be a disaster if there were fewer flights from Ireland to LHR, but in any case I don’t think that’s a likely outcome if this deal goes through.
Will, didn’t say that at all. Can you point where I said it? What I am saying is that EI has huge growth potential on longhaul, both in pax and revenue terms, via Dublin from UK regional airports, and that LHR slots are not the most important part of it’s business model.
Agree with most of that CT. But London is where/the route people prefer.
Will said 75 million pass through Heathrow ever year – but another 75 million go through Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, City and Southend.
Yes there are many competitors – but few in the aviation industry will plan anything without factoring in London.
The third runway at Heathrow is inevitable – as is a second at Gatwick.
London seem to be absolutely pivotal in this industry – although, as you say, it doesn’t have to be.
More BS Jason- you just love to hear yourself talking! Ps your beloved Ryanair put the prices up for pre booking seats between 10 & 20 %! No doubt you’ll say this is something to do with bird strikes etc etc
Protect- it’s bs that EI has huge growth potential? Or is it bs that UK regional airports offer great business opportunities to EI? Or is bs that EI can improve revenue by offering more long haul routes? What’s bs exactly? And I’ve not once mentioned FR here, that’s your obsession.
As for my own voice, it’s a public forum, open for anyone to comment. I actually agree with you that FR can charge too much on routes where they are the only carrier, but you don’t seem to get that there is a massive difference between Dublin and Stansted in terns of how pricing structures work. So that’s it, I agree with some of what you say, I’ve tried to explain some of the rationale behind their pricing etc., as I’ve first hand knowledge. So good luck to you.
This present government of ours would sell their grannies for a few euros so it’s not if they sell their stake in our national airline it is when?
FF sold EI off, not the current government.
Has anyone noticed yet government tactics on almost everything? Deferred, or pushed down the road for a few years and hopefully whatever the issue is they can sneak in under the radar in a few years time!
What’s the rush? It’s a difficult decision. One that should be throughly examined. I wouldn’t want them to make a snap decision either way. Personally, I’d prefer them not to sell, but what the hell do I know? Maybe we’re better off without an airline that will struggle. If you could swap the Air Lingus share for say…Metro North without the burden on the tax payer, is that worth it? Overall, that could more beneficial as we already have very good connectivity through other airlines. I think the government are correct to take their time on this.
I am curious why does the Journal refer to IAG as “British airways parent company” rather than the parent company of Iberia & BA as it should be referenced
Should the journal name ALL its subsidiaries – every time IAG is mentioned!!!?
Well they feel the need to mention BA? I am curious as to why BA and no other subsidiary? Considering IAG’s head office and registered address is Spain not Britain!
No – its Head Office is London. When Diageo is discussed here, Guinness will be mentioned – for reasons of relevance.
In this thread, IAG’s other subsidiaries have no real relevance – as they operate largely in different markets.
Whereas BA has…
Registered legal office for IAG Is where? Madrid
Will said ‘Head Office’ – and he’s correct.
Quick make a load of promises and sell it, by the time anyone realises it will be to late and if anyone says anything tell them how bad SF are.
He who pays the piper calls the tune
The five year deferral proves the real intent, Are Lingus will have no guaranteed access to Heathrow after five years. The only guarantee IAG have given is, they will not sell the slots but I doubt there was ever any intent to do that.
It is like the government’s pledge on privatisation of Irish Water, lots of tinkering around the edges but the door is still open, when the opportunity was there to close and firmly lock it.
You know IAG could by the remaining 75% and do what they want? They don’t need the 25% state holding.
They won’t have 75%, from what I recall O’Leary said Ryanair would follow the government’s lead which would leave IAG with 46%, assuming all others go along with it.
Ryanair will very soon be legally required to offload 25% of their share in Aer Lingus. They know this so they will sell their shares if this offer goes through because it will allow them to sell for what they paid, allowing them to save face with their own shareholders. This would give IAG a controlling share hypothetically*
Of course you don;t really care about that or Aer Lingsu for that matter, all you care about is government bashing to suit what your far left agenda demands of you.
*Obviously this isn’t going to happen. IAG will leave it off if it means the government holding onto their 25.1% stake. You wouldn’t blame them with that government stake being kicked around like political football among clueless back bench TD’s and even more clueless local councillors, as we saw in Co Clare recently
Only problem bob is Ryanair can’t offload them if no one wants to buy them. They’ve been hawking them around for a while now and can’t get a buyer.
Exactly which is why this approach is great timing for Ryanair seeing as they’ll likely have to sell the shares anyway. Aer Lingus shares were worth quite a bit less several months ago and their value will fall even further than that if IAG give up on their takeover approach. If Ryanair can sell at this €2.55 a share offered by IAG, they will get back what they paid for their shares. Hard to tell exactly who would buy Ryanairs share if not IAG.
What cast iron guarantee does Aer Lingus give to Cork and Shannon ? IAG wants to develop and grow Aer Lingus. Ryanair gained over 9m customers in the last 12 months that’s almost the total amount Aer Lingus fly today. What cast iron guarantee does Aer Lingus have on its future NONE! Long term thinking not parish politics are needed here.
It is so myopic and naive of people to think their darling rip off air-line will remain patriotic.
At best it will be run as a proper independent business as opposed to a government backed money losing cartel with “connected” board members and suited slibhins. The chickens are finally coming home to roost. Cocadooledoo.
Nothing is permanent in this life, they can promise all they want but they will find a way.
It is a criminal act to sell aer lingus
Anyone else think we’re being overly patriotic to Aer Lingus. I’m working as a corporate travel consultant and to be honest people are much happier paying less for the Stansted/Gatwick etc flights to Dublin. And if flying Dublin via London to another international destination, any airline is fine by them in my experience.
Are the hotels lobby a shareholder? This is a matter for the people who own the business and what is acceptable to them and to no one else. a shareholder has no responsibility for irish transport that is none of their concern nor should it be.
Why is there a constant reference to British Airways in these Aer Lingus sale stories?. IAG is a company that owns BA and other airlines Inc Iberia, not the other way around. this is not a BA against the Irish. So please Journal change the record… no need to sensationalise the headlines.
Two words ” NO SALE”
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