McCarthy enters fray for Aer Lingus Regional contract

Dublin Aerospace boss believed to have submitted tender

DUBLIN Aerospace founder Conor McCarthy has entered the race to secure the contract to operate the Aer Lingus Regional service, the Irish Independent understands.

Aer Lingus recently put the service out to tender and is now evaluating applications.

It will see Mr McCarthy tussle with Dublin-based Stobart Air to operate the regional service, which has been severely hit by the Covid crisis.

Stobart Air, owned by the UK’s Stobart Group, has the current contract to run Aer Lingus Regional. That contract expires at the end of 2022.

Mr McCarthy was non-executive chairman of Stobart Air between 2018 and late 2019.

There’s understood to be a handful of bidders for the Aer Lingus Regional contract.

Mr McCarthy declined to comment when contacted yesterday.

Company filings show he recently established a company called Emerald Airlines, which is listed in records as being a passenger airline.

Mr McCarthy was named chief executive of Aer Lingus Commuter in 1991 when he was just 28.

He left the carrier in 1996 to become director of group operations at Ryanair. In 2000, he established advisory firm PlaneConsult and went on to co-found airlines including AirAsia and JetStar.

Mr McCarthy was also a member of the government’s recent aviation taskforce that prepared a plan for helping Ireland’s crippled aviation sector tackle the impact of the Covid pandemic.

In 2009, Mr McCarthy founded Dublin Aerospace from the ashes of SRTechnics. He secured multi-million-euro backing from investors including Airbus, Enterprise Ireland and AirAsia co-founder Tony Fernandes.

Dublin Aerospace, which provides aircraft maintenance to a range of airlines, recently bought out the Airbus and Enterprise Ireland stakes in the business, confirming Mr McCarthy as the majority owner.

Dublin Aerospace employs up to 450 people during its peak winter season and is building a €15m facility at Ashbourne in Co Meath.

Last month, it established its first overseas operation, at the former Flybe maintenance facility at the UK’s Exeter Airport. It has branded the new operation as Exeter Aerospace and expects to employ more than 250 people there within the next three to four years.

That facility will service ATR and Q400 turboprop aircraft. Stobart Air uses ATR aircraft on its Aer Lingus Regional services.

Stobart Group is currently trying to sell Stobart Air and intends to have offloaded it by February.

However, talks with CityJet owner Falko have faced an impasse after the regional service was out to tender.

Stobart Air has the current contract to operate the service