Executive jet leased for Taoiseach as Government jet can't be relied upon

Concerns were raised over whether the jet could be relied on to get Taoiseach Micheál Martin to a series of crucial meetings over recent days

The government jet has, in recent times, been plagued by technical problems and was unavailable on 60% of days in January, with further service issues encountered in February and early March. Picture: RollingNews.ie

The government leased a luxury executive jet to bring the Taoiseach to a series of key meetings in Paris and London despite having its €8m Learjet available and on standby at Baldonnel Airport.

The decision to charter the executive jet from Luxaviation was made because of concerns over the reliability of the Learjet, which has been used for ministerial air transport for over a decade.

The government jet has, in recent times, been plagued by technical problems and was unavailable on 60% of days in January, with further service issues encountered in February and early March.

It is understood concerns were raised over whether it could be relied on to get Taoiseach Micheál Martin to a series of crucial meetings over recent days in Paris and London.

Mr Martin travelled from Dublin to Paris on March 10, flew from France to London the following day, and returned to Ireland from the UK on March 13.

A seven-passenger Cessna Citation CJ3 was chartered from the Belgian operator Luxaviation to transport the Taoiseach and his delegation.

The executive jet has a range of around 1,875 nautical miles and cruises through the air at 765 kkm/h at an altitude of up to 45,000 feet.

Cost of leasing jet not revealed

The Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Defence remained tight-lipped on how much the use of the jet had cost for the three journeys.

However, air charter websites suggest that its cost per hour is generally in the region of around €2,000 to €2,550 depending on the specification.

According to sources, the Learjet was in Baldonnel and serviceable at the time of the outgoing flight to Paris on March 10.

A crew was also available with the actual government jet acting as “standby” in case there was a last-minute hitch with the provision of the charter aircraft.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Defence said the Learjet had been purchased in 2004, has been in operation for 17 years, and is now approaching the end of its natural life.

She said: “While back-up service is sometimes provided by the Air Corps in the form of CASA fisheries patrol aircraft when other operational demands permit, these aircraft have also faced ongoing serviceability challenges.

“In the context of this trend towards reduced serviceability and, therefore, the effective loss of a reliable, independent means of air transport for the President, Taoiseach and ministers, contingency measures have been examined by the Department of Defence and the Air Corps.” 

Ad-hoc solutions required

The spokeswoman said this meant “ad hoc solutions” were sometimes required for key missions and that these could be sourced from commercial suppliers if needed.

The Learjet was out of commission on nearly one in every three days last year, according to records previously released under FOI.

It was available for use just 68% of the time during the first 11 months of last year, according to an analysis that the Air Corps carried out.

Its data showed that the jet was out of service for 103 days — 67 of them classified as “unplanned” — up until mid-November 2021.