ASL Aviation Holdings is proud to announce its official sponsorship of the Aviation Ireland Challenge, in support of the incredible adventures of Capt. Paddy T. Bear and his sidekick Lucky.
The challenge aims to raise awareness and funds for two remarkable organisations, LauraLynn Children’s Hospice and Dogs Trust Ireland.
ASL’s European airlines, ASL Airlines Belgium (ASLB), ASL Airlines France (ASLF) and ASL Airlines Ireland (ASLI) – which has a base at Shannon Airport, have embraced the challenge, flying the bears on a series of flights across their cargo and passenger operations.
The bears embarked on their journey in Shannon (SNN), joining ASLF on board its B737-800 flight to Dublin (DUB) and Paris-CDG. From there, they boarded one of ASLB’s ‘Queen of the Skies’, a B747-400F jumbo jet in Liege (LGG) on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Johannesburg (JNB) before returning to LGG via Nairobi (NBO).
Afterwards, they returned to CDG to join ASLF on a transatlantic flight to the French territory of St. Pierre et Miquelon (FSP). ASLI then collected the bears at CDG, and they were off to East Midlands (EMA) and Edinburgh (EDI) on one of the airline’s ATR aircraft. ASLI then transferred the bears to a B737-800 for a flight to Leipzig (LEJ) and later transferred on an A330 aircraft to Tel Aviv (TLV). The intrepid bears finished their remarkable series of flights on the flight deck of an ASLI A300-600, flying to Helsinki (HEL) and finally Venice (VCE) and Bologna (BLQ).
Since the challenge’s launch in January this year, Capt. Paddy and Lucky have flown on flight decks alongside crews from renowned airlines like Aer Lingus, British Airways, Ryanair, QANTAS, Emerald Airways and now ASL Airlines.
Throughout their travels, each bear carries a logbook to record the flight hours, pilot in command, aircraft type and registration of each flight. At the end of the year, the logbooks and a scrapbook of their adventures will be auctioned to raise valuable funds for the two Irish charities. Capt. Paddy and Lucky will also be auctioned and donated to LauraLynn Children’s Hospice and Dogs Trust of Ireland, respectively.
The challenge will continue with the bears visiting many more countries around the world onboard flights with various airlines. The bears will also participate in many local and national flying events throughout Ireland this summer and will host a fundraising event in aid of LauraLynn and Dogs Trust in an evening celebrating ‘Women in Aviation’ at the Carlton Hotel, Dublin Airport on August 31st.
“We are delighted to be the official sponsor of the Aviation Ireland Challenge,” said Dave Andrew, Chief Executive of ASL Aviation Holdings. “We take immense pride in supporting the Aviation Ireland Challenge and helping Capt. Paddy and Lucky raise awareness for two admirable organisations, LauraLynn Children’s Hospice and Dogs Trust.”
“We are privileged that ASL Aviation Holdings has joined our journey as sponsors of ‘The Adventures of Capt. Paddy & Lucky’. Our globe-trotting VIP bears have just finished a month with ASL Airlines adding eight new counties, bringing the total to 14 visited so far. With ASL Airlines onboard as our sponsor, we can fly higher to promote and raise awareness for our charities, LauraLynn Children’s Hospice and Dogs Trust Ireland. We look forward to working with ASL Airlines over the coming months and see where we can take Capt. Paddy & Lucky next”, said Jason Phelan, Aviation Ireland Challenge.
ASL Aviation Holdings is a Dublin based global aviation services company with operations including ASL Airlines Ireland and seven other airlines in Europe, South Africa, Asia, and Australia. With a fleet of more than 160 aircraft, ASL is a world leader in ACMI airline operations, and both scheduled and charter cargo and passenger services.
ASL Aviation Holdings airlines operates cargo services for the world’s leading express parcel integrators and online retailers. Group airlines also operate scheduled and charter cargo services under its own airline brands on domestic, international, and intercontinental routes in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, North America and Africa.
ASL has a global team of 3,900 people of 56 nationalities. The Group has a fleet of 160 aircraft that includes 9 aircraft types ranging from the turbo-prop ATR 72 to the Boeing 747.
ASL’s airlines include ASL Airlines Ireland, ASL Airlines Belgium, ASL Airlines France and ASL Airlines United Kingdom in Europe. ASL also has an associate airline FlySafair in South Africa and joint venture airlines K-Mile Asia in Thailand and Quikjet Airlines in India. In April this year, ASL announced the acquisition of Pionair Australia, which became the eighth airline in the ASL Group and, over time, will be rebranded as ASL Airlines Australia. The Group also includes several leasing entities.
Learn more at https://www.aslaviationholdings.com/
About Aviation Ireland Challenge
Captain Paddy T. Bear”, sidekick “Lucky” and our human carer Jason, will be flying around Ireland in as many different aircraft types as we can to promote and fundraise for the good work of the LauraLynn Children’s Hospice and The Dogs Trust of Ireland.
During our travels we will each be carrying a logbook to record our flight hours, pilot in command, aircraft type and registration. At the end of the year, along with us, our logbook, and a scrap book of our adventures, we will be auctioned off to raise valuable funds for two Irish charities.
Capt. Paddy T. Bear will be donated to LauraLynn Children’s Hospice and Lucky to The Dogs Trust of Ireland. Our challenge will take place across Ireland in 2023 from as many different airfields and airports as we can and maybe, just maybe some global travels too.
Join Paddy and Lucky’s fundraiser celebrating ‘Women in Aviation’ on August 31st at the Carlton Hotel, Dublin Airport. To purchase tickets, click https://www.eventbrite.com/e/capt-paddy-luckys-fundraiser-at-runway-28-rooftop-terrace-carlton-hotel-tickets-672511228187
Learn more: https://www.aviationireland.ie/