Lufthansa – which has repeatedly conducted illegal munitions flights through Irish territory to Israel – has reluctantly engaged with Darragh O’Brien’s Department of Transport, taking part in a Microsoft Teams call after a Ditch report on its unlawful flights.
Airline officials at first did “not want to give direct contact from the management” after the department got in contact – but have since engaged in back and forth about its illegal fights.
The state meanwhile is prosecuting three anti-war activists for their alleged attempts to inspect a US war plane at Shannon Airport.
As the state takes the Shannon Three to trial, its correspondence with airlines illegally carrying weapons to Israel amounts to emails and video calls, according to what it releases under freedom of information.
The Ditch is holding an evening of conversation and solidarity with the Shannon Three, whose trial begins 4 November in Ennis, in Doyle’s, Dublin on Monday at 6pm with Eman Mohammed, Naoise Dolan and Liam Cunningham.
Lufthansa thanked the department for its patience
The Department of Transport has contacted German national airline Lufthansa on multiple occasions about the carriage of munitions through Irish sovereign airspace.
Lufthansa officials initially resisted giving contact details for senior management, according to emails released to The Ditch.
On 9 October 9 last year the Department of Transport emailed the airline requesting contact details for its director of flight operations. This followed a Ditch report that Lufthansa had been illegally transporting Lockheed Martin combat jet munitions to Israel over Ireland.
A Lufthansa official sent an internal mail the next day, writing to colleagues, “I do not want to give direct contact from the management from our side.”
A few hours later a representative from the airline replied to the Department of Transport “Together with my colleagues, I also support the COO in operational and technical matters. As part of this, I kindly offer you to share your concerns or topics with us and maybe I can tackle your inquiry or I can connect you with the responsible operations department?”
The department wrote back that afternoon telling Lufthansa it intended to engage in writing directly and requested contact details for the “relevant director.”
Lufthansa formally responded with a letter on 22 October but the department has redacted it, citing “deliberations of FOI bodies,” “functions and negotiations of FOI bodies” and “personal information.” The department also redacted its own response sent on 25 October.
The Department of Transport contacted Lufthansa again on March 20 of this year with a formal letter it has refused to release.
A month prior The Ditch had reported that Lufthansa had resumed illegally carrying weapons through Irish sovereign airspace.
“I hereby confirm the receipt of your letter,” a Lufthansa official told the department. “We take this matter very seriously. We will look into the request and will reply in due course.”
Lufthansa formally replied on 1 April and thanked the department for its patience. The Department of Transport also refused to release this letter.
Later that month on April 15 both parties arranged a conference call to discuss Irish aviation law, which Lufthansa had repeatedly broken, potentially committing an offence that carries a three-year prison sentence.
“Thank you for your recent response,” an official from the department wrote. “As offered in your letter, we would like to arrange a short call via MS Teams to understand further your processes and those of the shipper from the perspective of the carriage of munitions of war.”
“Thank you for your email. I am traveling this week throughout Thursday,” wrote a Lufthansa representative. “However, I could make myself available tomorrow (16 April) between 10.30 and 13.00 Dublin time. Alternatively, I could offer next Wednesday (23 April) anytime during the morning. I would include two colleagues in the MS Teams Call.”
The Ditch has contacted the Department of Transport and asked if it is satisfied that Lufthansa now understands Irish aviation law.
