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Irish Air Corps / Will / Should we sell a MATS jet ?
« on: October 20, 2010, 10:48:51 pm »
Now that we are in a full blown recession, will (or should?) we sell one of the MATS jets ?
IMHO, one of the jets should be sold.
Perhaps an argument could be made that we should even sell BOTH MATS jets?!
I believe by selling one of the jets we would -
A. send a message to world markets that we are serious about cost-cutting
B. we would save serious money by getting ministers to use commercial flights (as is the case in the UK and other EU countries)
C. we could use the proceeds of such a sale to purchase a joint CASA 235 MPA/Transport aircraft ...which is badly needed. (The new US Coastguard 'Casa 235's' are dual role MPA/Transport aircraft).
Remember too that the official "excuse" for purchasing the Learjet was our EU Presidency role in 2004(?)..i.e. the suggestion being that we would dispose of the Learjet after our 6-month EU presidency had ended.
And yet here we are 6 years later with TWO MATS jets still in operation?!!
Opinions?
IMHO, one of the jets should be sold.
Perhaps an argument could be made that we should even sell BOTH MATS jets?!
I believe by selling one of the jets we would -
A. send a message to world markets that we are serious about cost-cutting
B. we would save serious money by getting ministers to use commercial flights (as is the case in the UK and other EU countries)
C. we could use the proceeds of such a sale to purchase a joint CASA 235 MPA/Transport aircraft ...which is badly needed. (The new US Coastguard 'Casa 235's' are dual role MPA/Transport aircraft).
Remember too that the official "excuse" for purchasing the Learjet was our EU Presidency role in 2004(?)..i.e. the suggestion being that we would dispose of the Learjet after our 6-month EU presidency had ended.
And yet here we are 6 years later with TWO MATS jets still in operation?!!
Opinions?