Last update: 03.10.2002

Monthly news coverage of the only tri-national airport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg - Regio TriRhena

Features of the month
Schedule Updates: Lufthansa, Khalifa Airways, Air France, Swiss - Charter Updates: FTI, Air Algerie, Sports Events - Statistics - Swiss Fleet - Cargo Updates: Korean Air Cargo - Express Freight - Novartis Jet - Why pay business class? - Jet Aviation

>> download (MS Word)

SCHEDULE UPDATES

Photo: Marc Seidel

LUFTHANSA has started its 5th flight to Munich, now offering 3100 seats and 31 flights every week. LH will also augment seat capacities to Frankfurt by re-introducing RJ85, seating 80 passengers on October 27. The total of seats offered is 4'480 on 28 flights a week.

KHALIFA AIRWAYS continues to thrive. September 17 marked the beginning of its winter schedule 2002/2003. Twice a week (Friday, Sunday) flights are bound for Algers and three weekly services (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) are heading for Constantine. All services are operated with Airbus 319/320 with 1st Class seating as well.
The traveling public has welcomed the much-improved schedule between Algerian ports and the EAP.
(number of passengers roundtrip : 1st quarter 2002 : 3'200, 2001: 13'800, 2000 : 6'900).

AIR FRANCE announces the cancellation of the 5th service to Paris CDG (20.30 hours) and the introduction of Embraer 145 equipment to Lyon and Nice, starting on October 27. 

SWISS will further reduce services: Marseille once a day, Cologne cancelled altogether, Naples downgraded to seasonal status with re-introduction in April 2003. The morning flight to Munich has been rescheduled now departing at 07.25 hours.

CHARTER UPDATES

FTI is to change charter carriers again. LTU will reappear with Airbus 330-200 on flights to Punta Cana (Friday every other week) and Puerto Plata (Monday every week). The change is scheduled for November 1.

Photo: Vincent Preneux

AIR ALGERIE (AH) is going to signal winter presence starting on Saturday, September 28 (until April 24, 2003). The airline will offer services to Djanet and Tamanrasset on a weekly basis on behalf of Desert Team Berne, Switzerland. The TO's specialty is desert trekking. The deal with AH is based on a 70 to 80 seat block agreement. The remaining capacity is held by French and German travel agencies.

SPORTS EVENTS help to fill terminal capacities. The airport and SWISS are benefiting from the BASEL SOCCER CLUB's (FCB) most. The club is getting high ratings from its fans after qualifying for the prestigious Champions League.
Liverpool, Spartak Moskau and Valencia are competing with Basel for the next round of games.
Fan requests to attend the Liverpool match flooded the ad-hoc charter market. 2'000 fans finally boarded nine planes provided by SWISS (A-321/330, MD-83), Belair (B-757-200), Eurowings (A-319), Neos (B-737-800) and AirLib (DC-10-30) on September 25. Another SWISS MD-83 transferred the Basel soccer team to Liverpool on September 24.
After the team's successful launch in the royal class of soccer more fan charters can be expected (to Valencia presently standing at 6 flights) offered by Frossard Travel, GTU Travel, Travel Point and Tripi Travel.

THE INTERNATIONAL BOARD ON BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE is celebrating its 50th anniversary at Basel on September 29 thru October 3. The Empress Michiko of Japan and Mrs. Mubarak will also be present. Mrs. Mubarak is to arrive on board of a Gruman III Jet, which is operated by the Egyptian government. 

2002: 2'079 MIO. PASSENGSERS have been reported from January thru August, -11%.
Traffic generated by scheduled carriers is statistically classified into four categories Swiss, German, French and other carriers. Data for 2002 (2001) : 
SWISS 528'843 (581'307) -9%
EuroCross 390'319 (472'087) -17%
Lufthansa/Hapag 199'685 (186'996) +7%
Air France Group 469'885 (494'768) -5%
Others 55'484 (36'794) +51%

FLEET COMPOSITION AT SWISS (status June 30, 2002)

source : 6 month report by SWISS

Photo: Marc Seidel

CARGO UPDATES

KOREAN AIR CARGO will operate four flights from the EAP to Seoul, starting on September 30. Boeing B-747-400F will touch down on RWY 16 every Monday ex Brussels.
We are told that restarting services is closely linked to traffic rights approval or revoking of such by Korean authorities. If not exercised traffic rights might go to rival companies (Asiana). KE hopes to continue services after October 22 with SWISS on board. SWISS is mulling a hard or soft block agreement with Korean Air Cargo.


EXPRESS FREIGHT has changed slightly in 2002 (January- August). 14'404 to. (-2.6%) were handled by all integrators compared to 14'786 to. in 2001. 
A change of operation will take place at UPS. Farnair Europe ATR72 is being deployed to Cologne as soon as a/c certification is completed. Also, Panair (Spain) is reported to run additional flights a week with BAe-146QT Munich-Basel-Dublin.

THE EAP STILL HOPES TO STRIKE A DEAL with one Low Cost or Low Fare carrier with a decision due by early 2003. 
The management is evaluating the low cost/ low fare scene in Germany which it considers as new key-market for all players involved. The network (city pairs) offered ex EAP and the range of incentives agreed upon by the EAP Board and the chosen carrier are instrumental for a win-win situation.

Photo: Marc Seidel

HB-INJ "NOVARTIS JET" IS NOW AIRBORNE. The pharma company decided to go the extra mile for top cadre by operating one Global Express corporate jet acquired from Bombardier.
The aircraft was registered with the Swiss aircraft register on July 29, 2002, owned by Japat AG, Basel and operated by Avcon Zürich. Japat is a company closely tied to Novartis International. Its core activity is to engineer financial packages in order to buy into other companies and real estate.
The first flight of HB-INJ lifted off nonstop to Langkawy/Malaysia. The jet is capable to fly nonstop more than 6'000 nmi (9'600 km). When on flying duty, HB-INJ is carrying the call-sign "Norvartis Jets". The aircraft has also been spotted at Jet Aviation.
Another Global Express (N700BK) is also reported to operate on behalf of Novartis International (Wander Inc., Morristown/NJ).
Financial Times' latest report on corporate jets saw big-sized planes (BBJ's and Airbus 319CJ) holding a market share of 7% and mid-sized aircraft (Global Express and Falcon Express 2000) holding a share of 11.9% of the market.

WHY PAY B-CLASS ON Y-STANDARD FLIGHTS?

A Financial Times survey concluded: "if business travelers catch on to cheaper airfares they hardly return to the expensive business class. As travel budgets are held tight, available funds have to be spent wisely".
A business travel seminar for small and mid-sized companies made this (budget-minded) point. Companies present wished to know more about the tariff systems applied by the airline industry as they anticipated much to gain from professional insights. Information was provided how to get the best out of the actual tariff system with 10 areas to look at:

1) planning ahead to optimise all savings available,
2) Y-class instead of business class,
3) combination of trips due anyway,
4) Y-booking to destination and business class back to origin 
5) crossing of special fare tickets,
6) apply excursion tariff to/from destinations both ways,
7) thru-tariffs (city pairs in opposite directions MUC & BIO),
8) apply city packages with airfare, hotel accommodation,
9) weekend option (meeting on Friday, return on Saturday),
10) ticket sales abroad (cross-border Alsace or Germany).

(US) business communities are favouring low fare airlines to keep in line with the travel budget

HIRSCHMANN PONDERS THE SALE OF JET AVIATION in an effort to provide a sustainable future for the company. Goldman-Sachs is called in to evaluate all options possible. This may result in an all-out sale, a partnership with a financial group, or a merger with another player in the industry.
According to iWon Money & Investing, the Hirschmann Group
drew up a short-list of for buyout firms and signed exclusivity with 3i. The deal could still fall through, however. 
Another buyer may be InvestCorp a Bahrain-listed firm. Warren Buffet's company Berkshire Hathaway that owns Net Jet, a direct competitor with Jet Aviation's bizjet operations was temporarily interested but backed out on grounds that the price was too high.
Jet Aviation is priced at 65 mio. US $. It is believed that 3i has made an offer that is close to 520 mio. US $. 3i is known as buying GO from BA last year and selling the carrier to Easyjet.

LATEST NEWS
THE MALEDIVES ON THE EAP MAP ? Tour Operator Avione Travel is presently sorting out all options for a Malé Charter.

A WEEKLY FLIGHT TO CAIRO BY MS ? until further notice it remains a statement of the incoming station manager of Egypt Air for Switzerland.

Saturday charters to Hurghada by TAS and Sharm-El-Sheik by SWISS have been re-introduced after a two-month break. A 3rd flight is apparently in the works offered by Avione Travel, starting on October 27. (more details are welcomed) !
www.flieg-ab-basel.de is a new website promoting flight-only, package tours and last minute offers ex EuroAirport to Mediterranean and Caribbean holiday resorts.

Dear Editor, LOBBY GROUPS DEAF AND BLIND ? yes, this is possible ! 

The EAP has three groups which use all their (at times hot) air to push for better services both on ground and in the air. 
The Basel Chapter (IG Luftverkehr) is the brainchild of a closed circle chaired by a lady with strong ties to Crossair (SWISS). At Crossair, she sat on the board of directors. 
Ever since, the Basel Chapter is SWISS turf with a granted seat on the board. The IG has increasingly become a red carpet service for SWISS and a circle that wishes to celebrate itself. General assemblies are often turned into events to dwell on achievements.

The IG has so far not welcomed representatives of other carriers as board members working at Air France or Lufthansa, not to mention Khalifa Airways. The show is not meant to challenge SWISS at all.

At this time it should be such a place. SWISS ought to be highly criticized by the IG because of faltering service qualities. In July 2002 alone, the carrier cancelled over 100 flights due to operational mishaps leaving thousands of passengers stranded at the EAP and at other European gateways. 

The IG pays little attention to other airlines! Lufthansa is about to attack SWISS on its home market. Mulling options to exercise 36 daily slots in the near future would be something to welcome under the present circumstances. 
Novartis and Roche are regularly approaching carriers about travel concerns (i.e. EAP - Newark services). Some discomfort with SWISS is apparent.
Air France is a good match for connecting services via Paris (CDG, Orly), Clermont-Ferrand, Lyon, Nice and Rennes. 
Khalifa Airways has greatly and successfully upgraded the airway to Algeria.

Have we ever heard any (positive) comment from the IG about these airlines ? None to this day !

Yours, Monty's Flying Circus

AIRTRAFFIC PROMOTION GROUP, WANDERSTRASSE 77, 4054 BASEL - TEL./FAX. ++41 61 302 5775 / E-MAIL. EAPNEWS@HOTMAIL.COM

back to top