Ирландиялық Eirjet әуежолының тарихы және апаттары

Former Irish airline

Eirjet was a charter airline with its head office on the grounds of Shannon International Airport in Shannon, County Clare, Ireland. It operated charter services to sun and ski destinations throughout Europe. Its main base was Shannon Airport. The airline ceased operations on 17 October 2006 after notifying Irish aviation regulators that it was unable to meet its obligations to its tour operator clients. Efforts to find new financial backing were unsuccessful.

29 March 2006 Eirjet issued an apology after a flight it operated from Liverpool John Lennon Airport to City of Derry Airport on behalf of Ryanair landed at the wrong airfield, touching down at Ballykelly Airfield, a former RAF base and more recently an Army base some 4 miles away from its intended destination. The statement explained that the incident was caused by an "error by the Eirjet pilot who mistakenly believed he was on a visual approach to City of Derry airport". An air accident investigation report in January 2007 reported that the pilot had been unable to obtain the correct set of charts prior to the flight, only obtaining them the day after the incident. The pilot stated that if he had seen the charts, he would have been fully aware of the existence of Ballykelly and would not have landed there. The crew believed the instrument landing aid system at City of Derry was malfunctioning as what they saw of the runway did not match the instrument readings and the presence of an instrument calibrating aircraft close by added to their belief that there was a technical fault. The report also stated that although an air traffic controller thought the jet was "slightly low" he did not warn the crew about the other runway.