This month’s route news

September 1st, 2010

Here’s a round-up of August’s route news and announcements.

British Isles: South-east Airports

AIRBERLIN launches a four-times weekly Stansted-Salzburg service on 2nd December.

CSA CZECH AIRLINES in has announced that it is cancelling its services to the UK from 31st October, after 72 years’ operation.

EASYJET launches a twice-weekly Gatwick-Luxor service on 3rd November, and a four-times weekly service from Gatwick to Zagreb on 11th February.

MEXICANA has ceased operation, and with it its Gatwick service.

OLYMPIC AIR will now be operating its new Thessaloniki-London route into Gatwick rather than Heathrow. The thrice-weekly service starts at the end of October.

RYANAIR launches services Gatwick to Bergamo, Bologna, Faro, Oslo (Rygge), Porto, Rome (Ciampino) and Seville at the beginning of November. A Luton-Fuerteventura service is launched on 5th November. From Stansted, Verona is launched on 31st October, with Plovdiv following on 2nd November, Grenoble on 18th December, and Cuneo and Lourdes in early January.

SAS is launching a Saturday-only Lulea-Heathrow service on 6th November.

British Isles: Other Airports

AERLINGUS’ Cork-Manchester service will be replaced by a twice-daily AerLingus Express service on 31st October, operated by AerArann.

EASYJET will be launching four-times weekly services from Edinburgh to Cologne on 26th November. A twice-weekly Belfast-Malta service is launched on 11th February.

RYANAIR launches a twice-weekly service from Edinburgh to Fuerteventura on 31st October, and a thrice-weekly service to Gothenburg on 3rd November. A weekly Cork-Fuerteventura service is launched on 31st October.

Rest-of-World Developments

AEGEAN AIRLINES is cancelling several services this autumn from its Athens base. Internationally, Tirana ends on 13th September, and Belgrade, Venice and Vienna will cease on 31st October.

AEROLINEAS ARGENTINAS restarts its Buenos Aires-Mexico service on 11th December, on a daily basis.

AEROSVIT begins a four-times weekly Odessa-Milan service on 20th September.

AIR ASIA X launches a daily Kuala Lumpur-Seoul service on 1st November.

AIR CANADA is to maintain some of its new North American services through the coming winter. Routes from Toronto to Cincinnati, Portland and Syracuse were originally intended to be summer-only routes but will now be flown twice daily through to next year. The carrier launches a daily Vancouver-Tokyo Haneda service on 29th January.

AIR NIGERIA has launched a daily Lagos-Brazzaville service, operated via Cotonou and Douala.

ARMAVIA is introducing a twice-weekly Yerevan-Munich service on 2nd November.

CHINA SOUTHERN AIRLINES is resuming its service to Lagos on 31st October, with the extension of its Guangzhou-Dubai route to Nigeria’s commercial capital, three times a week.

COMAIR (British Airways franchisee) launches a five-times weekly Johannesburg-Dar es Salaam service on 2nd November.

DELTA launches a daily New York JFK-Reykjavik service on 1st June 2011.

EGYPTAIR has launched a twice-weekly service to Juba in southern Sudan, operated via Khartoum.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES is introducing its first Boeing 777 this winter on its Addis Ababa-Washington route. The service will continue to be flown via Rome westbound, but eastbound it will be operated non-stop. Frequency increases to daily.

EVA AIRWAYS is launching a twice-daily Taipei-Tokyo Haneda service on 31st October.

FLYDUBAI launches a twice-weekly Dubai-Ekaterinburg service on 31st October.

HAWAIIAN AIRLINES launches a four-times weekly Honolulu-Seoul service on 15th January.

ICELANDAIR has announced three summer-only services for next year, from Reykjavik to Billund, Gothenburg and Hamburg. Flights start in June 2011.

LAN ECUADOR launches a four-times weekly Guayaquil-Miami service on 4th October, to complement its daily service from Quito.

LAN PERU is launching a fiove-times weekly Lima-Montevideo service on 1st November.

OLYMPIC AIR is dropping its Athens-Milan Malpensa service from its winter schedule.

PACIFIC BLUE will be cancelling all its domestic services in New Zealand by 18th October.

TURKISH AIRLINES launches a four-times weekly service to Ho Chi Minh City via Bangkok on 29th December.

VUELING launches a four-times weekly Bilbao-Milan Malpensa service on 31st October.

YEMENIA is launching a thrice-weekly service to Nairobi and Dar es Salaam from Sana’a this December.

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Czech Airlines Fly Off With Cash

August 30th, 2010

Czech Airlines are giving up their flights between Prague and Heathrow at the end of October, supposedly because they are not profitable. Maybe, but at one time, the airline regarded its Heathrow route as the jewel in its crown. We imagine the real reason is that the airline needs cash and can sell its prime slots for a large sum.

Each year, some well-established names are leaving Heathrow because they can generate more profit by selling the slots than by flying the route. Of course, that is market economics at its most basic but, every time it happens, it leaves Heathrow just a little poorer.

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More Tour Operators Will Go Bust

August 26th, 2010

At the weekend, there were a number of “shock horror” stories in the papers suggesting that up to twenty more tour companies could go bust in the next few weeks. The travel trade has reacted angrily saying this is just scaremongering.

Well, even though the biggest headline was in The Sunday Express (presumably because they had temporarily run out of Lady Di stories), I think it is perfectly possible that another twenty more companies will go.

It is normal for around twenty companies to disappear each year. So far this year, eleven have gone, and since the economy is weak, it seems logical that this year will see a grand total of around thirty. Companies tend to go insolvent in September and October. They have had all the money due from their clients and now have to pay the bills.

Most of these companies die without anyone knowing. They might just have a handful of clients on holiday at the time and even our most aggressive tabloids are unlikely to have much interest in such small fry.

There are a number of likely candidates:

Dodgy operators who have sold a few hundred packages in Cyprus, pocketed the money and are reluctant to hand it over to their suppliers so make a quick getaway for their own extended holiday.

Josh and his mate Chris from Brighton who thought it would be a super idea to sell yachting holidays in Corfu but did not quite get their sums right.

The small, well-established niche operator that has failed to move with the times and lost much of their business to the internet. They tried one last gamble by investing a huge sum in a website but it did not work.

The CAA is suprisingly liberal about the way it gives ATOL cover. The absence of a workable business plan or the fact that some of the directors or management have been involved in one (or more) failures previously do not seem to be an impediment.

The figure of twenty more companies going bankrupt is perfectly feasible. However, I doubt that these will be major household names or quoted companies – many of these companies are posting losses for the current year but they have made decent profits in the past so should be more than strong enough to survive. As for Josh and his mate Chris, well, they will probably be back with a new programme for skiing holidays in Verbier and our friend who made the quick exit to Cyprus will be back next summer, but maybe with his brother running the company.

No wonder it costs such a lot to run the ATOL scheme.

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El Al’s Club of One

August 23rd, 2010

Last week, we suggested that Air India had applied for membership of Cloud Cuckoo Land, following their ludicrously high claim for damages from Boeing for late delivery of aircraft. It could be that they have competition.

El Al say that they have been unable to agree terms to join any of the three existing airline alliances. It is possible that the substantial costs of entering one of the alliances was the major stumbling block or it might be down to politics but it does look as if El Al has left it too late to join an alliance anyway. It does not have a large domestic or regional network that would make it an attractive proposition to other carriers – all of whom do very nicely indeed taking traffic from Israel and feeding it into their own networks.

Now El Al have announced they have a cunning scheme – they are going to form their own alliance. There is just a slight question mark over this. Who will join it? Almost every conceivable airline is already in an alliance. El Al are undeterred. They say they have already spoken to two or three East European airlines (presumably none of the major ones since they are already alliance members) and envisage up to twenty or thirty members. They even have a provisional name – “East West Alliance”.

Somehow, I doubt that the other alliances are quaking in their boots.

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If all safety vids were as good as this one…

August 20th, 2010

… we might be bothered to watch them rather more diligently. This is another great movie from Air New Zealand -- enjoy!

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Kiss failure – a surprise?

August 19th, 2010

The headline on last night’s BBC News was intriguing.

“The BBC has learnt that concerns emerged about collapsed travel firm Kiss Flights almost two years ago.”

The story went on to say that the head of Co-op Travel had suggested to the CAA that they were planning to sell flights too cheaply and the business plan was flawed. The CAA – who effectively insure such companies through the ATOL scheme – did not share the Co-op’s concerns and allowed the company to trade.

Any reader of Inside Traveller would hardly be surprised about the demise of Kiss because we warned two years ago that it was a “company to avoid”. We knew nothing of the Co-op’s concerns but we were aware of quite a lot of misgivings by people in the travel trade and we also felt that the company needed to be much clearer about certain issues if it wanted to have any credibility.

Now, you might wonder why little Inside Traveller can see things that other companies cannot.

The answer is simply that the many small tour operators who bought tickets from Kiss did not want to ask too many questions.

Nearly all the UK’s charter aircraft capacity is tied up by the big operators who have their own in-house airlines. This makes life very difficult for the small operators who have to scratch around to find blocks of seats for their packages. XL had previously been a major supplier to such companies but when they went bust, operators were left high and dry. The arrival of Kiss on the scene – at almost exactly the time XL went out of business – was an answer to their prayers so they chose to look the other way when anyone suggested the company might not be quite as strong as it should be.

When companies go bankrupt, there are many people who wisely shake their heads and say they always thought the company might run into problems. It is easy to be wise in hindsight but, in the case of Kiss Flights, there were plenty of people who all along have said the company either was not strong enough to survive, or if it was, had to do more to show its strength.

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Do not fly KLM

August 16th, 2010

Inside Traveller readers are used to our regular list of airlines to avoid where we highlight airlines that are having financial problems or have other issues which suggest they should not be used. We have never before put an airline on this list for reasons of bad attitude to customers but, in the case of KLM, we are happy to make an exception.

The EU is threatening KLM with legal action because it is currently only agreeing to pay the expenses of passengers who were delayed by the volcanic ash issue earlier this year for the first 24 hours of the delay. Many passengers were delayed for several days and KLM  refuses to pay.

We do have some sympathy with airlines on this point. The EU legislation on delays and cancelled flights is badly-drafted and imposes much stricter penalties on airlines than on any other form of public transport. We feel that airlines should protest and try to get back some of the compensation for this unique event from their governments. However, such a protest should be done at a much higher level, with all airlines involved. For one rather insignificant carrier to go its own way is stupid and puts its customers at a serious disadvantage. Nor can we understand why KLM is paying for the first 24 hours of the delay – they appear to be accepting the theory but then quibbling about the amount which makes their case look very shaky.

This shows KLM in a very poor light. They appear tight-fisted and arrogant. If all other European airlines can pay (even Ryanair has paid) why not the silly Dutch? Are they above the law?

Unfortunately, the volcanic ash issue will be forgotten in due course but we would urge you not to forget the attitude KLM has shown in this case. The only way we would ever be persuaded to book a ticket with them is if most of their Board resigned and they made a public apology. Their cheap, grubby behaviour deserves wide-spread publicity and we very much hope it rebounds on them.

Meanwhile, just remember, there are plenty of other, fairly honest, airlines so you can leave KLM well alone.

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Air India Applies to enter Cloud-Cuckoo Land

August 11th, 2010

It is hard to imagine a major airline with more problems than Air India. It has been grossly badly-managed by the government for decades and has lost money consistently. It is now as good as bankrupt, some of its senior staff face corruption allegations, it struggles to pay its staff on time, it has a bad reputation for service and serious safety issues. In short, a huge financial headache for the government.

So what is the solution? Easy – just sue Boeing for $1 billion.

Air India ordered 27 Boeing 787′s and delivery has been delayed due to the set-backs to Boeing’s development programme for the new aircraft. Compensation will no doubt be paid to airlines affected by the delays – but $1 billion is simply crazy.

This nonsense has not just been dreamt up by someone at Air India but is actually supported by the Indian government. In turn, the US government is using pressure to persuade the Indians to be more realistic.

Air India is already something of a laughing-stock so this affair probably cannot make matters worse. However, the Indian government is anxious to show the world that they are now a major economic force, not a poor developing country that needs aid at every turn. This case shows that the government has a very long way to go before it can be taken seriously.

Meanwhile, as we have long reminded readers of Inside Traveller, Air India is an airline to avoid.

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Pakistanis Find London Hotel Bargains

August 9th, 2010

The visit to London of the Pakistan President, Asif Ali Zardari, had not gone down well with Pakistanis who feel he should have stayed at home to supervise the flood relief. The London High Commission for Pakistan has caused some derision attempting to defend the President by saying he was being economical and staying at “London’s cheapest 5 Star Hotel”.

We probably would not turn to the Pakistan High Commision for hotel advice in London but, on this occasion, it looks as if they are right and might well have found a good deal.

The Hyatt Churchill in Portman Square certainly fits the profile of a hotel suitable for a head of state, but its prices are notably lower than the obvious competition. Looking at rates for tonight (Monday 9th August) the prices of a standard twin room are:

The Churchill – £235

Carlton Tower – £265

Browns – £305

Intercontinental Park Lane – £340

Dorchester – £346

Hyde Park Hotel – £398

Claridges – £690

London has been so heavily-booked over the last few weeks that even budget hotels have been quoting rates of £100 a night so, whilst £235 might not sound “cheap”, it is actually quite a good deal for a hotel of that standard.

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Sale Time in London

August 6th, 2010

London hotels have had a very good 2010 so far with strong demand through the year. The period from the Chelsea Flower Show to the end of July is always particularly good as wealthy tourists flock to London to enjoy the many summer events. August is normally much more mixed as the tourist-type hotels are busy with holiday visitors but higher-level hotels take a dip as businessmen and the better-heeled tourists stay away until September. Normally, August is boosted by an influx of Arab visitors who come to London to avoid the summer heat at home but this year is different.

Ramadan begins next week which means that most Arabs will want to be back home for the whole month. July saw a huge influx of Arab visitors as people rushed to take their summer breaks before Ramadan. London hotels have been almost constantly sold out since May with some very high rates.

Next week, this will suddenly change and we have already seen a large number of special deals for some of the better London hotels. This will trickle down to even budget hotels as some people trade up to take advantage of lower rates at the higher grade hotels. September already looks to be busy again for London so, if you want to grab a quick break in London, August is definitely the time. Shop around carefully because hotels are bringing out new deals on a daily basis.

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