A newly-leased Boeing 737-400 aircraft was "rolled out" from the multinational heavy maintenance Shannon Aerospace facility yesterday. The new aircraft on the tarmac is for Skynet, the first Irish-registered airline with routes into Europe and Russia in association with Aeroflot Russian Airlines.
Next Tuesday it will begin a six-day-a-week service from Shannon to Amsterdam and on to Moscow, returning to Shannon next day.
Among the directors of the new company is Mr Boris Krivchenko, European commercial projects manager for Aeroflot. He has been living in Limerick for 18 years, first as Irish manager of Aeroflot.
Mr Krivchenko said: "This will mean that Irish passengers can take advantage of a wide choice of destinations, guaranteeing levels of service and facilities."
Warsaw will be included as a destination in the winter schedule.
Skynet is the first Irish carrier to have a full online maintenance and engineering agreement with Shannon Aerospace, which is owned by SR Technics, formerly Swissair, and Lufthansa Technics. GPA, the Irish leasing company, was originally in partnership.
The other directors of Skynet are: Mr Carl Pforzheimer (chairman), head of a New York banking firm; Mr Richard Healy, formerly Aer Lingus, TWA and North Western Airlines; Mr Tom Kane, owner of the Adare Manor Hotel; and Mr Paul Williamson, a New York real estate agent.
The staff of 55 includes 10 pilots and 20 flight attendants, some formerly of Aer Lingus and Ryanair.
The director of flight operations is Capt Frank Kennedy, formerly Aer Lingus, and the chief instructor is Capt Rae Hughes, formerly of Gulf Airways and Virgin Express. Some of the Irish shareholders were also formerly of Virgin Express.