Charter Outfit Boss Seeing Red on the Emerald Isle

A lack of landing slots deriving of staff shortages at Ireland’s Dublin Airport (DUB) compelled Le Bas International—an establish, well-regarded, California-based aircraft brokerage and charter concern—to divert five of its Boeing 737 jets to Farranfore Airport in Kerry (KIR)—a distance of 160-miles.

The diversion inconvenienced more than one-thousand American passengers, who were subsequently obligated to arrange ground-transportation to their intended destinations

Le Bas International chairman Peter Le Bas remarked: “Dublin airport couldn't land the Boeing 737s because of a lack of staff to handle aircraft.”

Le Bas—who expressed annoyance at the persistent staffing insufficiency—asserted that his company had repeatedly tried to land its aircraft at Dublin Airport, but over a six-week interval managed to get only a single flight on the ground in the Irish capital.

"We couldn't get [landing] slots. Dublin slots are 15 minutes apart," Le Bas declared. "In New York, they're every three minutes. The idea that an international airport can only take four aircraft an hour on a Saturday is ridiculous."

The flights to Dublin were corporate incentive trips arranged on behalf of a prominent Le Bas International client.

Unable to land its passengers in Dublin, Le Bas turned instead to Kerry’s Farranfore Airport, which despite being busy welcomed the air-charter flights and provided VIP treatment for the arriving passengers. Farranfore’s hospitality—and more importantly, its adequate staffing—spared Le Bas International the indignity of having to inform its top clients that they couldn’t land in Ireland, Le Bas added.   

Asked to comment on the incident, a spokesperson for Dublin Airport replied: "We do not comment on commercial agreements or discussions with customers."

Mass redirections of flights aren’t unheard of in the frantic slam-dance that is the post COVID air-travel epoch. In the short-term, at least, airlines and airports will continue to struggle to recruit and train aircrew-members and ground staff in numbers sufficiently large to accommodate the legions of passengers embarking on summer holidays. To the mutual chagrin of air-carriers and air-travelers, flight delays, diversions, lost luggage, and flight cancellations are likely to become increasingly common aspects of an industry ostensibly predicated upon speed and convenience.

FMI: www.lebas.com