Flying on the BN2 Islander - Aer Arann Islands

Greetings everyone and welcome to my first airline trip report and review. I first posted this back in August 2020 however I have decided to re-write the review, including more pictures and also giving a more detailed account of  Aer Arann Islands and what it as like to fly on the BN 2 Islander. 
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To give a little background on the airline itself, Aer Arann Islands was founded in 1970 to provide an island hopping air service between Galway and the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland.  The Aran Islands are a group of three islands located in the mouth of Galway bay and consist of Inishmore, Inishmaan and Inisheer. Aer Arann Islands operate from their base in Connemara on the Irish mainland to small aerodromes on each island on a relatively frequest basis. The airline currently operates a fleet of three Britten-Norman BN2 Islander aircraft which can accomadate 9 passengers with one lucky person sitting in the right hand seat of the cockpit. When I took these flights, unfortunately due to Covid-19, the cockpit seat was unavailable. 

With Covid-19 gripping the world, and with the global airline fleet more or less grounded during 2020, going abroad for a summer holiday was out of the question. After doing some research, myself and my parter decided to spend a week in Galway and this gave us a great opportunity to visit the Aran Islands, specifically Inishmore, for the day and for me to try out Aer Arann Islands and their BN2 Islander.  Having family in Galway, I had passed the aerodrome in Connemara many times in the past, and the airline and aircraft were on my "To Fly" list. A few weeks before our weeks holiday, I sent an email to Aer Arann and requested 2 seats on the flight to and from Inishmore. A response was quicky recieved and we were booked on the 10:00 flight out to Inishmore and on the 16:15 flight back to the mainland.  

The day of our trip finally arrived, and with the rain pouring down in true Irish fashion, we made our way out to Connemara aerodrome. The airfield is roughly 20 minutes from Galway city centre and is found eaily enough. The above branding greeted us as we entered the aerodrome car park, we quickly found a space, and made our way into the terminal building. I use the word terminal loosely as the building was no bigger than a local shop. 

We made our way straight up to the check-in desk and receievd our ticket for both legs of the trip. As seating was allocated by weight, we were advised that the pilot would tell us where to sit when  boarding the aircraft. A quick safety demonstration  was shown on a TV in the lobby and we were shortly brought out to the aircraft. Our aircraft would be EI-AYN, a 46 year old BN2-A Islander first delivered on the 29th of April 1974. 

As you can imagine on such a small aircraft, the seats were quite small and tight, however for just a 7 minute flight, this wasn't a problem. In the seat pocket in front, there was a safety card and a sick bag. I can imagine the sick bags are used quite often on a rough day. 

Once everyone was aboard, and the cargo loaded, we made our way out to the runway and back-tracked to the piano keys at the start of it - with such a small runway available we'd need all the runway we could take. Once lined up, an engine run-up was completed and with full brakes applied full throttle was set. The two Lycoming engines roared, brakes were released and soon we were barrelling down the runway. After a long take-off roll, we climbed into the cloudy Irish sky and made our way west towards the islands. Luckily for us, cloud base was high enough, and we were able to get decent views of the wild Atlantic sea below.

After only a couple of minutes airbourne, we began to make our descent towards Inishmore. 

With limited landing space on Inishmore too, we needed every bit of runway we could get, the stall warning alarm could be heard from the cockpit  just before the main landing gear touched the ground. Maximum braking was applied and we were down safely with it still raining at our destination. Within minutes of landing, we were off the aircraft and on our way to explore the island, however just before disembarking was able to get a quick snap of the cockpit.

A great day was had biking around Inishmore and soon enough we were back at the small aerodrome for our return flight back to the main land. The terminal here was even smaller than the one in Connemara as you'll see in the picture below, it was basically just one room. 

The aircraft taking us on the return leg would be EI-AYN once again, boarding commenced shortly after we arrived at the aerodrome and soon enough we were back in the air cruising above the choppy sea. 

The flight was a short one again, consisting of 6 minutes in total, and before we knew it we were back in Connemara. One last snap with our aircraft on the ground and we made our way back to the car. Please forgive the wet-gear in the photo below, it was lashing rain for most of the day out there!!

Overall I was very satisified with the service Aer Arann Islands provided us. At a price of €55 per person return, and with a total distance of 45km, it worked out at €1.22 per km... a bargain in my eyes to fly such a rare aircraft these days. Their frequency of flights to and from the islands is very reasonable, with multiple departure times to choose from and their customer service at both airports is second to none considering how small an airline it is. Great job Aer Arann Islands, I will be certainly recommending you to anyone who will listen to me  and I look forward to flying with you again. 

And to you, the reader, thank you so much for taking the time to read my review of this wonderful little airline. If you enjoyed this post, please do let me know in the comments below or pop me an email at [email protected]. Tune in next week, when I will be doing a review of one of Ryanairs newest routes, Dublin to Kerry. 

Until then, take care.  Daniel- TheRegHunter.