Because I’ve started receive comments on this old post i have made it up to date.

The Italian low-cost carrier Myair and the Slovakian based low cost airline SkyEurope sign an agreement to form in the short future an alliance that will transform them in the fourth player on the low-cost aviation market in Europe.

According to a press release from Myair, Flyholding – the holding company of Myair and SkyEurope Holding, the holding company of SkyEurope Airlines announced that they have jointly entered into a protocol agreement to immediately commence an operating partnership between Myair and SkyEurope Airlines and explore an eventual strategic alliance.

The new alliance with Myair should help SkyEurope to fix the company financial problems. SkyEurope has been posting losses in both raports presented this year, and last year.

The alliance should help both of the companies to achieve lower prices when purchasing prices of services and fuel.

The companies will start selling each other’s tickets on their websites till the end of this year and will also use each other’s planes. Some airline market analysts says that SkyEurope’s Boeings will be used on the routes were both companies face a high seat demand, and the small CRJ900 of Myair will be used on the routes were are less passengers. Myair Airbuses could be leased in order to get extra cash for the new company operations (this information has not been confirmed by any of the two airlines).

The aim of this alliance is to create the fourth biggest low-cost airline in Europe, after Ryanair, easyJet and AirBerlin. SkyEurope head Jason Bitter said that the two cooperating airlines will play a bigger role on the European market than the one played till now.

Need to know
Friday, LTE International Airways – a charter airline based in Palma di Maiorca, Spain – ceased operation due to financial problems. The company, that own 7 aircraft Airbus 320 was part of MyAir Group, the same that owns Myair.

On the European market other companies that merged this year: Vueling and Clickair (both Spanish airlines) and Condor, TUIfly and Germanwings (all German airlines) are still in talks for merging.

Foto: An Myair Airbus 320 preparing to take off from Bucharest Baneasa airport.
Foto by: Cristian C./Boardingmedia.net

Compensation may however be refused if the technical problems stem from events which, by their nature or origin, are not inherent in the normal exercise of the activity of the air carrier and are beyond its actual control.

The Regulation on compensation and assistance to air passengers provides that, in case of cancellation of a flight, the passengers concerned have the right to compensation by the air carrier unless they are informed of the cancellation of the flight in due time. An air carrier is not however obliged to pay that compensation if it can prove that the cancellation is caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken.

Mrs Wallentin-Hermann booked three seats on a flight with Alitalia from Vienna to Brindisi (Italy) via Rome for herself, her husband and her daughter. The flight was scheduled to depart from Vienna on 28 June 2005 at 6.45 a.m. and to arrive at Brindisi on the same day at 10.35 a.m. After checking in, the three passengers were informed, five minutes before the scheduled departure time, that their flight had been cancelled. They were subsequently transferred to an Austrian Airlines flight to Rome, where they arrived at 9.40 a.m., that is 20 minutes after the time of departure of their connecting flight to Brindisi, which they therefore missed. Mrs Wallentin-Hermann and her family arrived at Brindisi at 14.15 p.m.

The cancellation of the Alitalia flight from Vienna resulted from a complex engine defect in the turbine which had been discovered the day before during a check. Alitalia had been informed of the defect during the night preceding that flight. The repair of the aircraft, which necessitated the dispatch of spare parts and engineers, was completed on 8 July 2005.

Following Alitalia’s refusal to pay her compensation of EUR 250 and EUR 10 for telephone charges, Mrs Wallentin-Hermann brought legal proceedings. Alitalia having lodged an appeal against the judgment at first instance which found against it, the Commercial Court, Vienna, must now decide whether the technical problems which led to the cancellation of the flight were covered by ‘extraordinary circumstances’ which exempt from the obligation to pay compensation. The Commercial Court made a reference to the Court of Justice of the European Communities to enable it to interpret that concept.

In its judgment of today, the Court finds that in the light of the specific conditions in which carriage by air takes place and the degree of technological sophistication of aircraft, air carriers are confronted as a matter of course in the exercise of their activity with various technical problems to which the operation of those aircraft inevitably gives rise. The resolution of a technical problem caused by failure to maintain an aircraft must therefore be regarded as inherent in the normal exercise of an air carrier’s activity. Consequently, technical problems which come to light during maintenance of aircraft or on account of failure to carry out such maintenance do not constitute, in themselves, ‘extraordinary circumstances’.

However, it is not ruled out that technical problems are covered by ‘exceptional circumstances’ to the extent that they stem from events which are not inherent in the normal exercise of the activity of the air carrier concerned and are beyond its actual control. That would be the case, for example, in the situation where it was revealed by the manufacturer of the aircraft comprising the fleet of the air carrier concerned, or by a competent authority, that those aircraft, although already in service, are affected by a hidden manufacturing defect which impinges on flight safety. The same would hold for damage to aircraft caused by acts of sabotage or terrorism.

The Court states that, since not all extraordinary circumstances confer exemption, the onus is on the party seeking to rely on them to establish that, even if it had deployed all its resources in terms of staff or equipment and the financial means at its disposal, it would clearly not have been able – unless it had made intolerable sacrifices in the light of the capacities of its undertaking at the relevant time – to prevent the extraordinary circumstances with which it was confronted from leading to the cancellation of the flight. The fact that an air carrier has complied with the minimum rules on maintenance of an aircraft cannot in itself suffice to establish that that carrier has taken all reasonable measures so that it is relieved of its obligation to pay compensation.

Press release n° 100/08 (22 Dec 2008) from the European Court of Justice:
Judgment of the Court of Justice in Case C-549/07 (Friederike Wallentin-Hermann versus Alitalia)

Press release is here (PDF, english)

All the court case is here (french)

Romanian low-cost carrier BlueAir is introducing a 7 euro fee for each checked in bag, starting with October 26th. The carrier is not limiting the number of bags that a passenger can check-in but the tax will be paid for each bag.

In the same time the carrier is lowering the luggage allowance to 20kg, from 25kg. For each extra kilogram the passenger has to pay 6 euro more. For the moment the passenger can’t pay for the luggage on the internet at the time of the booking, so the tax will be paid at the departure airport, before the check-in.

As the passenger is not yet able to pay at the time of booking BlueAir can front some delays because of the “pay at the airport” process.

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Czech Airlines (CSA) , the biggest national airline of Czech Republic, is also lowering the luggage allowance for all the passengers traveling in Economy Class, from 23kg to 20kg. The new rule is effective from October 26th.

The new allowances affect also the passengers flying to/from intercontinental flights – United States and Canada – hat have to carry maximum two pieces of luggage of 20kg.

The Business Class passengers can still fly with 30kg of checked luggage in Europe and Middle East and 32kg for flights to/from United States and Canada.

Sursa foto

The new tax called “Collective madness” will be paid by each carrier taking off from any airport in the two mentioned countries, no matter it is a local or a foreign airline. The tax will be paid for each passenger carried on board of the aircraft.

In Ireland there the tax will be introduced starting with 30th March for each passenger that is outbound for another European country. The tax will be 8 euro for a passenger flying to one of the countries very close to Ireland – UK, Iceland, France, Spain and Germany, and 10 euro if he/she is flying to another European destination and the north African countries. For the moment the government have not mentioned if there will be a tax for the intercontinental flights (other than those to north Africa).

The press is expecting a very vehement reaction from low-cost airline Ryanair which is flying from all Irish airports to more than 90 European destinations. In the same time, Ryanair has a base at Bruxelles Charleroi Airport (the secont Bruxelles airport) from were is flying to almost 30 European and north African destinations.

Ryanair is flying to over 90 destinations from Irish airports. The company official are expected to attack the new tax in the next couple of days. (photo source)

In Belgium, the tax can be even higher, and if so it is expected that airlines will cut flights from the four main airports: Bruxelles International, Charleroi, Antwerp and Liege. For the moment, the government did not said how much this tax will be.

A French newspaper said (noting that there is not an official source to be quoted) that the new Belgian tax will be 10 euro for any European outbound flight and 40 euro for all the others.

A person working in the Belgian aviation sector told Boardingmedia.net that he hopes taxes will not be like those imposed last spring by the Dutch government: 11,25 euro per any passenger on an outgoing flight to any European destination and 45 euro for anybody flying to any worldwide airport.

The Belgian tax concern a lot the Dutch travelers too as many of the are using the Bruxelles International airport to fly intercontinental flights and Charleroi to reach European popular destination, as they do not want to pay the high Dutch taxes impose to airlines flying out Amsterdam or Rotterdam airports.

IATA (International Air Transport Association) criticized the Irish and Belgian proposals for the new tax, “Collective madness is the only way to describe the EUR 150 million Irish and EUR 132 million Belgian departure tax proposals. Filling budget gaps or financing government investment in the banking industry with gratuitous travel taxes is policy myopia at its worst,” told Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO, quoted by Associated Press.

And the Alitalia workers knew it too. So they played until the very end was very close. In this way they the change to get as much as possible out of the new investors, and to be able to get better contracts and less job cuts. It was risky, it could have been tricky … but in the end this is the way that country is going: up to the limit. When that limit is reached they are trying to find a solution. Most of the time they are finding it.

Photo from AP Photo by Andrew Medichni. Via.

Anyway… I salute the new CAI (Compagnia Aerea Italiana) with a new banner on this blog, with an Alitalia ticket to Napoli (via Malpensa, and back via Rome) for next week… and with a “pax” of Prigat/Cappy that mr. Popa (a coleague) has to “pay” in December! Why at that time? Because we made a bet: I said the company will not colapse till December, he said it will!

The short story with what is going on about Alitalia:
- the four leading trade unions – CGIL, CISL, UIL and UGL – agreed with a new contract on Wednesday
- the pilots union agreed on Friday night with the new contracts, were the commandants will get the status of “managers”; they also agreed on less job cuts.
- on Saturday the cabin staff is still negotiating, with discussions set to be finished till Monday at noon.

What are the plans in the near future:
- if all agreements are established till Wednesday, Thursday the company will be split in two: the good part (civil flights operations – including slots, ticketing/handling/Atitech) and the bad part (cargo operations and some other assets of the company).
- there will be the fusion of Alitalia and Airone (the segond biggest operator in Italy) under the name of CAI, but it seems the company will use the Alitalia name and logo.
- the new company will operate under the temporary flight license till October 15th.
- there is also some interest showed by Lufthansa and Air France, that want to participate with 10 – 15 % each in the new company.

The most difficult part:
- getting a new flight license from Italian aeronautical authority – ENAC – till October 15th. (But this thing will get fixed in the Italian way ).

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George was writing that Alitalia had some flights suspended this week between Romania and Italy. He is also telling a very hard to believe story: that the company was paying the handling agent cash for the services. This is very hard to believe that a company will let so much cash to the captain, pilots or crew members to pay for handling, food and re-fuel of the aircraft. There are contracts that the airlines are signing with the handling firms… and they choose some services and they pay for those services through bank transfers once in a while. If the company do not have money to pay at a certain point there can be negotiations for paying the services in rates or once at all but at a later date.

George was also saying that there were six extra crew members that should have remained in Bucharest till next Monday (this was happening Thursday). No airline in the world (especially one that has problems with the cash) will pay four nights in a four star hotel for their crew members.

So those six crew members were for the plane that will have arrived at midnight, and was supposed to live in the morning. The crew arriving at midnight would leave next day on another flight, after spending a night resting. With the company decided to cancel the evening flight, and the midnight flight (and also the morning flight) it was normal that the extra crew to fly back to Italy. What is not clear… is why they left with the plane empty.

Acum avem aeroportul Providenciales International, principalul aeroport al insulelor Turks and Caicos. Acesta este situat pe o insula creata artificial, deoarece spatiul insulelor nu ar fi putut sa gazduiasca un aeroport de talia acestuia. De la Bucuresti puteti ajunge aici cu British Airways (via Londra) sau cu American Airlines (Bucuresti – Londra operat de British Airways, si apoi Londra – Miami – Providenciales si retur cu American Airlines). Pentru versiunea a doua aveti nevoie de viza de tranzit pentru Statele Unite. Un bilet dus intorsc costa de la 1.500 de dolari, cu toate taxele incluse.

Primul exemplu se vede in poza de mai jos, unde aveti pista aeroportului Funchal (Madeira)… care are o jumatate sustinuta de niste piloni (ca si autostrazile).

Accidentul de la Madrid a fost unul nefericit, care putea fi foarte usor evitat. Inainte de zborul de la Madrid, acelasi aparat mai avusese doua probleme… cu numai cateva saptamani, respectiv zile inainte:
- cu aproximativ o luna inaintea incidentului de la Madrid, capitanul unui zbor ce trebuia sa decoleze din Palma de Maiorca (zbor operat cu aceasi aeronava) a anulat decolarea si apoi zborul din cauza unei probleme la motorul din dreapta al aeronavei. Problema raportata atunci a fost una la trenul de aterizare din fata avionului.
- cu cinci zile inainte de fatalul accident, aceasi aeronava – aflata in zbor intre Lanzarote (Canary Islands) si Madrid, a efectuat o aterizare de urgenta in Grand Canaria, dupa ce pilotul a anuntat turnul de control ca are probleme cu ambele motoare. Motorul drept avea o problema majora la  “reverse thruster system”, sistem care ajuta aeronava sa incetineasca la aterizare. Ca o solutie temporara mecanicii au decis sa blocheze acest sistem (solutie permisa de tehnicienii Boeing – care se ocupa de intretinerea acestor aparate).

Desi cei care investigheaza accidentul de la Madrid nu s-au pronuntat cu privire la cauzele accidentului, am citit pe mai multe forumuri ca cel mai probabil “reverse thruster system” s-a “deblocat” singur, lucru care a dus la instabilitatea avionului in timpul decolarii si incetinirea acestuia… fapt care a fost fatal aeronavei in cauza.In acelasi timp WSJ spune ca si flapsurile au avut o problema…

Eu cred ca a fost o totala lipsa de responsabilitate din partea companiei sa lase avionul sa opereze in continuare si sa nu-l supuna unui control amanuntit – chiar daca ultima revizie tehnica fusese facuta in ianuarie de catre specialistii de la Boeing, care asigura service-ul pentru Spanair.

In acelasi timp m-a mai socat si o declaratie a CEO-ului Spanair, care a declara la cateva zile de la incident ca nu este necesar ca toate aparatele de acelasi tip cu cel prabusit sa fie retinute la sol pentru un control amanuntit.

In momentul de fata, cateva dintre marile companii ale lumii sunt cele care au cele mai multe MD-uri in flotele lor. Pe primele locuri se situeaza Delta Airlines si American Airlines – cu peste 200 de aeronave fiecare, urmate de Alitalia si Spanair – cu peste 60 fiecare, iar la sfarsitul listei vin Scandinavian Airlines, Iberia si Finnai cu 5 – 7 MD-uri. Majoritatea acestor aeronave au peste 20 de ani si mii de zboruri la activ, iar companiile cauta solutii pentru inlocuirea lor. Cea mai mare schimbare a fost inregistrata de Alitalia, care a retras cele mai vechi astfel de aeronave in primavara acestui an – 12 la numar – iar alte 35 vor fi “casate” pana in primavara viitore. Restul vor fi inlocuite treptat cu aeronave mai noi. In cazul Alitaliei trebuie sa mentionam ca in nici un accident al comaniei (cinci in total, in cei 62 de ani de la inceperea operatiunilor) nu a fost implicat un avion de tip MD80 sau MD82.Acest lucru denota buna intretinere a avioanelor, nu?

MD-urile sunt avioane vechi, avioane care – marea lor majoritatea – si-au atins si chiar depasit durata normala de viata. Zboara din cateva motive simple:
- sunt ieftine atunci cand cineva le cumpara si le inchiriaza, deci companiile mici – care opereaza doar cateva rute si le pot permite.
- cei de la Boeing ofera contra cost mententa si suport tehnic (cand ei vor anunta ca de la data X nu vor mai oferi acest suport companiile vor trebui sa renunte la MD-uri).
MD-urile trebuie sa iasa… si cat mai repede… la pensie. Nu pentru ca sunt nesigure (cateva aparate ar mai putea zbura cativa ani), ci pentru ca sunt prea batrane ca sa mai inspire incredere si pentru ca … timpul lor a apus. Sa le lasam pe mult mai tinerele CRJ-uri (excelente in zbor!), si de ce nu… chiar si pe Embraere sau pe aparatele Suhoi Superjet 100, sa le ia locul.

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Cei de la Hotnews se intreaba: Reducerea costurilor la companiile aviatice afecteaza siguranta zborului?.

Eu cred ca aceasta intrebare este destul de gresita. De ce? Orice companie aeriana… este un business: ofera servicii contra cost, iar prin aceste servicii se doreste realizarea de profit. Profitul se obtine si prin operarea unor rute solicitate de pasageri, prin fidelizarea clientilor si prin atragerea unor clienti noi. Ca sa poti sa-i atragi nu trebuie doar sa le oferi preturi mici sau extra servicii la bord, ci trebuie sa-i faci pe pasageri sa se simta in siguranta atunci cand urca la bordul aeronavei. Pentru oricare pasager siguranta este lucrul care conteaza cel mai mult. Iar apoi pretul si confortul din timpul zborului. Deci, in teorie, nici o companie nu ar trebui sa taie din bugetul alocat mentenantei avioanelor. In mai multe articole despre companii low-cost si nu numai, directorii acestora spuneau ca cele mai mari cheltuieli se fac pentru mentenanta si pentru achizitia de combustibil (kerosen). Si e normal… daca vrei sa fii in business trebuie sa zbori, deci trebuie sa tii avioanele acolo sus… zburand si fiind sigure!

Deci, nu, nu cred ca reducerea costurilor afecteaza siguranta zborului. De regula reducerea costurilor se face taind din alte parti ale afacerii, parti pe care compania le considera “neprofitabile”. Exemplul cel mai bun este cel din aceasta iarna, cand multe companii au anuntat ca vor renunta la anumite rute si vor mentine o serie de avioane la sol (se economiseste kerosen!). Astfel, membrii de echipaj nu vor mai efectua un numar de ore de zbor pe care compania trebuia sa le plateasca. (salariul fix nu le este afectat… in caz ca va intrebati).

Dar, exista si anumite exceptii. De exemplu Jazz Airlines – o subsidara a CanadAir – va inlatura vestele de salvare de la bordul aeronavelor sale, motivandu-se decizia prin faptul ca toate cursele sale sunt trans-continentale si ca rutele sale nu presupun trecerea pe deasupra unui lac, mari sau ocean. Conform legilor din Canada, companiile pot sa nu ofere veste de salvare la bordul aeronavelor, daca zborul respectiv nu se apropie sub 50 de mile de orice tarm. Compania spune ca va putea economisi astfel combustibil (pentru aeronavele sale DASH Q400… vestele cantaresc 25 de kilograme ). Pasagerii au reactionat, manifestandu-se impotriva acestei practici insa compania va face totusi “experimentul”, urmand a decide mai tarziu daca masura va ramane permanenta.