ASL Airlines Ireland wins ERA “Airline of the Year” gold award

ASL Airlines Ireland, formerly known as Air Contractors, has overcome tough competition to win the European Regions Airline Association* (ERA) Airline of the Year Gold Award 2015. The award was presented at the association’s prestigious awards dinner at ERA’s General Assembly on 14 October, this year held at the vintage car museum in Berlin, Classic Remise. The Silver Award went to Guernsey carrier, Aurigny Air Services, and the Bronze Award to Air Nostrum of Spain.

The judging panel** praised ASL Airlines Ireland, formerly known as Air Contractors, for its strategic advance into passenger ACMI flying, in particular its ability to meet the exacting standards of Ryanair with two B737 carriers and the implementation of three B757 operations on behalf of Aer Lingus – on time and on budget.

While the airline’s core freight operations continue to enjoy success, the judging panel commended its diversification into the ACMI market which, said the panel, was a clever and shrewd move.

“The ERA Gold Award is really the culmination of a great year for us as this is our second major award having been named ‘Irish Aircraft Operator of the Year’ at the Irish Aviation Authority Awards ceremony in May,” said Colin Grant, chief executive, ASL Airlines.

“During the year we successfully expanded and diversified our operations while maintaining our superior standards of reliability and quality. We also rebranded to ASL Airlines Ireland from Air Contractors and we introduced passenger flying under our own brand and for major airline customers including Aer Lingus and Ryanair,” he continued.

“Everyone at ASL Airlines Ireland responded to major challenges throughout the year with skill enthusiasm and professionalism and I’m delighted that their outstanding efforts have been rewarded with this Gold Award which recognises the tremendous development of ASL Airlines Ireland as a European regional airline,” Grant concluded.

The Silver Award went to Aurigny Air Services in recognition of the airline’s key role and engagement in island life and its commitment to improving Guernsey’s connectivity with the development of a new route to London City Airport. The acquisition of Aurigny’s first jet in its 47-year history to replace capacity on Guernsey’s life-line route, following a competitor’s withdrawal from the market, also won praise from the panel.

Aurigny’s CEO, Mark Darby, said: “I’m delighted, on behalf of everyone at Aurigny, to have won this award. It is proof of our commitment to providing frequent, fair priced and quality air transport links for the people of the Channel Islands and visitors from the UK and further afield. It’s a great honour for our efforts to be recognised by an organisation as prestigious as the ERA.”

The ability of Bronze Award Winner Air Nostrum to fully implement its recovery plan, attract €25m of new capital, win PSO contracts and return the company to profitability was commended by the judging panel. The Spanish airline was also praised for its ability to retain all of its 1,450 staff members in a country that has an unemployment rate of 27 per cent and its diversification into wet and dry leasing, spreading its business risks.

**The ERA Airline of the Year is judged by an independent panel comprising industry experts and respected representatives of the aviation media from across Europe.

ERA General Assembly, Berlin, 15 October 2015