Ryanair announced that it is pulling out of Prague because the airport refused to give it a fee discount in exchange for a guaranteed rise in the number of passengers.
It will end its flights to Birmingham and Frankfurt as of July 1, and the last two routes to Dublin and Stockholm will be canceled at the end of Oct. It had proposed to base six planes in Prague for servicing 2m passengers a year to 33 destinations. Prague Airport’s prices apply equally to all carriers, and it does not intend to change this policy. Ryanair will continue to operate a Brno-London route.

O zi mai tarziu aceasi companie isi anunta si incetarea tuturor zborurilor din/spre Budapesta, suspendarea urmand sa se produca din 28 octombrie.

Wizzair a intrat pe aeroportul din Praga anul trecut luand din publicul SkyEurope, si ducand la pierderi foarte mari ale companiei concurente. Un alt exemplu care-mi vine in minte: dupa vreo doi ani de la infintarea Wizzair la Budapesta SkyEurope inceta de pe aeroportul ungar. Wizzair a invins SkyEurope de fiecare data, la Budapesta, Cracovia si Praga. SkyEurope si-a dat in cele din urma (dar nu din cauza Wizzair) obstescul sfarsit.

Dupa ce in 14 luni Wizzair s-a extins cat a putu la Praga, Ryanair spune “Bye, Bye Prague!” si taie putinele curse pe care le avea. Cum si la Budapesta Wizzair s-a impus foarte bine, Ryanair iese si de pe acest aeroport.

In consecinta:
- Ryanair decide sa nu joace agresiv impotriva unei companii destul de puternice si pleaca cu coada intre picioare
- Ryanair se pregateste sa achizitioneze o parte din Wizzair si atunci nu vede rostul continuarii operatiunilor pe aeroporturile unde “partenerul” are baze operationale.

Eu optez pentru a doua versiune! Voi ce credeti?

Compania low-cost slovaca SkyEurope a suspendat incepand de astazi toate zborurile sale, inclusiv cele de pe ruta Bucuresti – Viena/Bratislava – Bucuresti. Anuntul a fost facut in jurul orei 01:00 am de catre reprezentantii companiei.

Dupa ce in urma cu doua saptamani compania nu a reusit sa achite o datorie catre aeroportul din Viena, autoritatile austriece au suspendat serviciile catre companie. Aeroportul din Praga a anuntat ieri, ca incepand de azi (1 septembrie) isi suspenda si ei serviciile pentru SkyEurope pana cand compania va plati taxele aferente ultimelor luni de operare.

Din pacate, banii investitorilor cu care reprezentantii SkyEurope semnsera un acord in urma cu cateva saptamani au intarziat sa vina, iar lipsa banilor lichizi (dar si un numar scazut de noi rezervari) a dus ca SkyEurope sa nu aiba bani lichizi pentru plata prestatorilor de servicii.

SkyEurope este a doua companie low-cost europeana care isi suspenda activitatea anul acesta, prima fiind MyAir.

Voi reveni cu detalii despre recuperarea banilor pentru cei care si-au achizitionat deja bilete de la SkyEurope.

Printre companiile care si-au depus dosarul in vederea optinerii subventiilor se afla si compania romaneasca Carpatair, care opereaza cu avioane Fokker 100 (105 locuri in total) si SAAB 2000 (50/53 locuri).

Principalii favoriti pentru obtinerea subventiilor sunt Aegean Airlines si Olympic Air (fosta Olympic Airlines), ele putand oferi si zboruri de conexiune pentru noile rute ce ar urma sa fie lansate. Din pacate Carpatair nu poate oferi decat o conexiune directa de la Atena spre Timisoara.

Un avantaj al Carpatair este ca are deja in flota aparate mici – SAAB 2000 – si ar putea incepe operarea zborurilor oricand, in timp ce Aegean Airlines si Olympic Air astepta aeronave similare – DASH Q400.

Reuters inform that after SkyEurope promised to pay it bills till Friday at noon the airport gave back the permission to depart.

Most of the departing and incoming flights suffered delays up to 5 hours. Vienna – Athens flight, and the returning flight, has been the most affected one, with almost 5 hours of delay. Vienna – Bucharest flights it is announce to have a 4 hour delay.

The law that protects SkyEurope of its creditors is saying that the airline has to pay the monthly bills  issued by the creditors after the date when the Slovakian Court granted creditor protection.

SkyEurope, has to pay its debts to Vienna Airport by Friday, 1300 GMT or else the operator will suspend all services.

SkyEurope
- Destinations – 38 in 18 countries
- Fleet – 14 aircraft
- Employees – 697
- Passengers flown during 12 months to December 31, 2008 – 6.63 million
- Load factor during 12 months to December 31, 2008 – 72.7 percent

Photo source

But there is a very big change that Air Asia will go in 2012-2013 and open a hub in Europe, hub that could be in Germany.

I was thinking in the last two days about the airlines created by Sir Richard Branson under the “Virgin” brand. The timeline is:
1984 – Europe – Virgin Atlantic; hubs: London Gatwick and London Heathrow;

After the boom of low-cost travel, arround the years 2001-2002:
2003 – Australia – Virgin Blue; hubs: Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane;
2003 – Australia/New Zeeland – Pacific Blue; hubs: Brisbane and Christchurch;
2004 – Africa – Virgin Nigeria; hub: Lagos;
2004 – North America – Virgin America; hub: San Francisco and Los Angeles (due to American legislation the company started to operate in late 2007);
2005 – Polynesia – Polynesian Blue; hub: Samoa;
2009 – Australia – V Australia; hubs: Sydney and Los Angeles;

Lets now have a look at Air Asia timeline.
1993 - the company is founded;
1996 – Air Asia starts opperations with the hub in Kuala Lumpur; after 2000 they added three new hubs, all in Malaysia: Kota Kinabalu, Penang and Senai;
2004 – Thai AirAsia; hub: Bangkok;
2005 – Indonesia AirAsia; hub: Jakarta;
2006 – FlyAsianXpress - rural routes inside Malaysia (from 2007, it license passed to Air Asia X, and the company is called now MASwings);
2007 – AirAsia X; long haul low-cost, flying now to Australia, UK, China and Taiwan;

The future:
2010 – AirAsia X Middle East (not the official name of the airline); hub: Abu Dhabi (UAE);
Flights to Europe. Interest countries UK, Germany and some not named yet central and eastern european ones. Cairo and Nairobi also in Air Asia X plans.

unknown – Air Asia X America (not the official name of the airline); hub: Kuala Lumpur;
Flights to California, New York and Hawai.

unknown – Air Asia X Europe (not the official name of the airline);

So… as you can see Air Asia is expanding operation little by little, as it happened with the airlines in the Virgin group. Sir Richard Branson (owner of a 20% stake in Air Asia X) seem to apply his Virgin philosophy in this asian career. Don’t you think so? Is only me seeing this parallel story of the two aviation groups?

Acest lucru s-a realizat prin cresterea numarului de destinatii, la un total de 49, fata de 31 cate se operau anul trecut. Pana la sfarsitul anului, BlueAir vrea sa transporte 1,7 milioane de pasageri.

Cifra de afaceri a companiei a ajuns la aproape 237,8 milioane de lei, cu 17% mai mult decat anul trecut. Adrian Ionascu, directorul companiei BlueAir, a spus ca in momentul de fata nu sunt pe pierderi, iar profitul depaseste cu putin 0.

Fata de primele 6 luni ale lui 2008, cand BlueAir opera cu 6 aeronave (aprox. 1000 de locuri), acum compania aeriana are 9 aeronave. Acest lucru a asigurat o dezvoltarea a retelei de rute operate si o capacitate mai mare de transport.

Din toate cele discutate astazi, merita sa retinem cateva lucruri spuse de Adrian Ionascu, Directorul General al BlueAir:

Piata transporturilor in Romania este o piata de 20 de milioane de pasageri. Dintre acestia doar 4-5% folosesc avionul.

Nu concuram cu companii traditionele precum Air France sau Tarom.

Cursa de Nisa a avut un grad de ocupare de 80%, o vom mentine si pe orarul de iarna. Nisa este o destinatie pentru care nu s-a facut foarte multa promovare. Veniturile pasagerilor de pe aceasta cursa sunt mult mai mari decat a pasagerilor cu care eram obisnuiti pe cursele spre Italia si Spania.

Pana in 2012 vrem sa inlocuim toate aeronavele 737 Classic cu 737 Next Generation.

Avem deja o aeronava la Bacau, care va opera curse numai de acolo.

Competitorulnostru principal, pe care nu vreau sa-l numesc (Wizzair – n.a.) a intrat pe piata cu niste tarife care nu se inscriu in realitate. Sunt si tarife care nu acopera nici macar taxele de aeroport.

Florentina Ivan, director de marketing la BlueAir:

Am lansat o campanie BlueAir, Romania – Land of Dracula, campanie ce se desfasoara in cafenelele londoneze. Promovam astfel rutele Londra – Sibiu si Londra – Bucuresti.

Vrem sa consolidam destinatiile existente. Vrem sa aducem destinatiile existente la zboruri zilnice.