ISTAT Jetrader - Autumn 2021 - 21

we thought we had all our seats sold only to find that, on the day of travel, they
canceled them. We got about 60,000 seats out of 80,000 sales returned into our
inventory with no names. So, basically, they were warehousing our seats in case
somebody walked in off the street for them. All of those lessons were crucial for us.
For example, when we had that major bird strike in the first week, we recognized
that we needed to be able to rely on our own maintenance unit, because Malaysian
Airlines were supposed to be providing support, and they were quite slow at getting
our aircraft back in the air. And I don't think it was even deliberate. I just think it was
a general kind of pedestrian attitude of some airlines. Then when we had this major
problem with the travel trade with all these potential sales turning into dust, so we
decided to go to a direct distribution model. We flew immediately to Minneapolis,
and we met the people who run what's known as today as Navitaire. It was called
Open Skies back then. We entered into an agreement to sell all our seats direct to
the consumer who booked them over the internet and saved all the travel agents'
commission (and warehousing issues). This was back in 2001, and internet booking
wasn't as ubiquitous as it is today. It was becoming popular. But we absolutely knew
we had to do that. We learned lessons through all that adversity, and that was the
key: Learn from your mistakes.
Then, over the years, I was involved with Alan Joyce and his team at Qantas.
We helped start Jetstar in Australia. I was involved with VivaAerobus - and still
am today - in Mexico. And a whole host of other airlines and airline clients. It
was great fun. Then, about 11 years ago, SR Technics, which ran the maintenance
facilities here in Dublin Airport, decided that they'd had enough of losing money
and closed it down. I came together with a bunch of investors, and we purchased
the tools and equipment from that business. We took out leases on four hangar
bays, plus a landing gear shop and an APU shop, and we started Dublin Aerospace
with 18 people. That was in 2009. Today we have 450 people. Last week, we
opened our brand-new landing gear center in Ashbourne out in the countryside,
away from Dublin Airport, away from all the expensive buildings and council rates.
We now have a state-of-the-art landing gear facility there, and I can handle about
400 landing gear legs a year, focused
on the 737 and Airbus 320 families.
So, that's what brought us to today:
at Dublin Aerospace, where we've
just come through a year and a half
of the COVID-19 pandemic. We've
kept everybody employed and we've
kept ourselves busy too, with our
cash intact.
premises without mixing. That gave
us some protection and resilience.
We staggered all the breaks, and we
insisted on mask wearing from day
one. We didn't wait on government
policy for stuff like that. We initiated
weekly COVID-19 meetings, and we
looked at lots of different technologies
and fixes that we might apply that
could make people safer. Basically, we
pivoted to make sure we continued to
operate safely. The Irish government
recognized the services we provide to
the air fleet here in Ireland and called
us out as an essential service so our
operation could keep going. Because
of that, we took our responsibility
very seriously. We came through the
last 15 months, and while a number
of people in the workforce contracted
COVID-19, we were delighted that not a
single infection was transmitted on-site
here. We're very proud of that. The
other thing we're quite proud of is we
finished the year without losing money.
While it's not a year to boast about to
your investors, we were delighted that,
from a cash point of view, the business
didn't drain cash; we didn't lose money.
We kept everybody working, and we
Jetrader: How has the past year or
so of the pandemic been for you and
your team at Dublin Aereospace? Did
any surprises arise for the business?
CM: Well, the pandemic took everyone by surprise, didn't it? I think what's most
surprising about it, in terms of bad surprises, is that it lasted a lot longer than anyone
ever believed. The happy surprise in there is that we found effective vaccines in less
than a year. We see ourselves coming out of the pandemic here in Ireland. We've
had a significant percentage of the population vaccinated, and while we're slow
about reopening, we've a very cautious coalition government. They're nervous of this
new Delta variant, so they want to get everybody vaccinated ahead of reopening.
At Dublin Aerospace in March 2020, we brought in immediate measures to protect
our people. We split our workforce in two and allowed them to exit and enter the
We took out leases on four hangar bays, plus a
landing gear shop and an APU shop, and we started Dublin
Aerospace with 18 people. That was in 2009. Today we
have 450 people.
even recruited our largest ever class
of apprentices (25) last September.
So, not only did we keep operating
and not lay anybody off, we actually
accelerated the pace at which we're
training young people for future aircraft
engineering jobs.
Of course, in a crisis, opportunities
arise. Two opportunities arose, which
Jetrader * AUTUMN 2021 * 21

ISTAT Jetrader - Autumn 2021

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