Europe: January 2009 Archives

"I know it looks like a baaji but it's in custard Richard, custard."

This is just one of the priceless lines in a complaint letter sent to Virgin Atlantic chairman Sir Richard Branson from a disgruntled passenger who was far from impressed with the culinary fare that was put in front of him on a Virgin flight from Mumbai to London.

The letter makes for hilarious reading, and is accompanied by photographic evidence to show the bearded one exactly what the dishes referred to in the letter actually looked like.

Along with the custard, which actually turned out to be "a sour gel with a clear oil on top", the passenger was served mashed potato, which he/she describes in the following way: "The potato masher had obviously broken and so it was decided the next best thing would be to pass the potatoes through the digestive tract of a bird."

UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph, which published the letter, took the trouble of calling Virgin's director of corporate communications, Paul Charles, who confirmed that Branson had read the letter.

He then went on to say that while he was sorry the passenger had not enjoyed the food, it was "award-winning food, which is very popular on our Indian routes".

And this is why I don't work in PR - can you imagine saying that with a straight face after reading that letter?

I've had some pretty abysmal airline food in my time, but nothing that's prompted me to write a letter of complaint, let alone one as good as the one from the Virgin passenger.

Has anyone else had airline food that was as bad as the food described in the letter sounds?  

Some satisfaction being felt in Scotland this morning no doubt, after Flyglobespan announced a small group profit for the year ending October 2008. Preliminary figures show the carrier turned round a loss in 2007 to post a £1.2 million profit for the last 12 months during what by anyone's standards has been a tough year.

Flyglobespan was spitting feathers last autumn when amid a the frenzy of airline collapses it was included in bookmaker PaddyPower's controversial - and ultimately outlawed - list of odds on the next airline to collapse. It throughout maintained it would be profitable in 2008 and so it is difficult to begrudge Flyglobespan boss Tom Dalrymple some satisfaction in announcing the provisional profit today. Here's a quick taste of what he's had to say..

 

"Despite difficulties caused by the unprecendeted increase in the cost of aviation fuel, we have turned round the problems of the previous year and are back into profit. I said that 2007 was a blip - a one-off year in what had been over 30 years of successful trading, and one that wouldn't happen again. And I was right.

"Our outlook for the future is positive. Globespan has no debt, we have cash reserves built up from nearly 35 years of trading and we also have significant property assets."

Ooh bitchy - Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary has once again sharpened his talons to have another stab at Aer Lingus (which he was yesterday prevented from acquiring by the Irish government).

O'Leary's comments about Aer Lingus have been getting more and more scathing, and this press release put out by Ryanair yesterday is definitely worth a read for a bit of Friday entertainment.

Referring to yesterday's announcement that Aer Lingus has extended its transatlantic partnership with United Airlines, in a press release entitled "Ryanair congratulates Aer Lingus on finding a partner which is even weaker and in worse shape than Aer Lingus" O'Leary spits out: "After months of trawling around looking for partners, it is a sad reflection on Aer Lingus that the best they could come up with is one of the weakest and biggest loss makers in the US airline industry."

He goes on: "This so-called 'partnership' with another 'loser' like United shows that Aer Lingus has no independent strategy, and no prospect of remaining independent."

That's fightin' talk where I come from. I'm planning to speak to Aer Lingus later today, so I'll see if they've got any equally scathing rebuttals.

Now that Ryanair has been prevented from acquiring Aer Lingus, surely it would make more sense to stop telling the world how rubbish they think the Irish carrier is. If I had shares in a company, I probably wouldn't go round telling the whole world that the company I had invested in was hopeless and dreadful in case I some day wanted to sell my shares.

Isn't it kind of like trying to sell your house and saying things to interested buyers like "it's got a terrible damp problem", and "the neighbours are really noisy and unpleasant"...? 

"Cost control is like brushing your teeth every day," Swiss chief executive Christoph Franz says a colleague at partner Lufthansa once told him. "You have to do it every day even if you don't like doing it."

Franz says cost control is one of the keys for tackling the current challenging environment. But he also stresses aviation is a long-term growth sector and that the carrier must continue to invest in the future and stick to its budgets. This perhaps is not surprising from the chief executive of an airline which has just unveiled its new first class product and which to have first class across all its long-haul flights. 

So how does Franz and marketing chief Christoph Beckmann feel about rolling out a new first class product at a time of slumping global premium demand? Here is the piece I wrote for our sister online news service Air Transport Intelligence on it, after unveiling its new product to the media in Zurich:

 

Swiss upbeat on new first-class cabin despite premium slump

As for the product itself, you can read more detail here about the "contemporary yet warm" Swiss design approach, but one of the most trumpeted features is an impressive guest seat featuring back and arm rests enabling passengers to dine or work with fellow travellers.

New airline premium products seem to be all the rage in the FlightGlobal blogosphere right now. Click here for Brendan Sobie's blog about United Airlines new business class and click here for the low-down from Runway Girl on Singapore Airlines's new business class.

Mexicana has flown its first service to London, marking the carrier's first foray into transatlantic operations (see picture).

The carrier now operates two flights a week between Mexico City and London Gatwick, but this will increase to four flights a week on 17 February.

Here's what Mexicana chief executive Manuel Borja had to say about the new service in a press release:

"The decision to fly to London reaffirms our commitment to our passengers and illustrates how Mexicana is taking steps to address the challenges posed by the airline industry. It also positions us as an innovative international airline, concerned about the development and consolidation of the commercial aviation industry."

As I wrote here, Mexicana also plans to launch flights to Madrid in February, taking on rival Aeromexico head-to-head. As Mexicana announces additional flights to Europe - and I'm told by the carrier's senior vice-president customer service and communications, Adolfo Crespo, that this is the plan - it will be interesting to see how Aeromexico responds.

Airline Business has been following the Latin American market closely - if you haven't already seen the daily newspapers we published at the Latin American Airline Leaders' Forum in November, check them out here. 

Here's something you don't see very often - an airline chief executive speaking out against plans to build a third runway at London Heathrow.

In an interview with UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph, Monarch Airlines managing director Tim Jeans says the decision to expand Heathrow "will affect countless people living under the flight path".

He adds that "environmental concerns must be taken seriously and decisions that may seem unpalatable for business need to be taken".

But before you start to see Jeans as some kind of environmentalist who happens to work in the aviation industry, I should point out that later in the interview he says expansion at London Gatwick (one of Monarch's bases) would be preferable.

This sounds like the opposite of nimbyism - while many anti-Heathrow expansion lobbyists are against the third runway because it will quite literally be in their backyards, Jeans seems to be saying airport expansion is OK as long as it is in Monarch's backyard. (Lets out exasperated sigh.)

Well easyJet has certainly cashed in big style on the move to travellers paying for checked bags in the past year. In its last quarter, the UK-based low-cost player made a huge £105 million out of ancillary fees (quarter to 31 Dec 2008). That is up from £57 million in the same quarter in 2007 and driven, says easyJet, by the increase in its checked bag charge.

It just goes to show how fantastic the whole shift to paying for checked bags has been for so many carriers.

Ancillaries, such big news everywhere, represented 23.5% of easyJet's revenues in that quarter. In the 2007 quarter the percentage was just 15.7%.

Ancillary revenue per seat is now £8.68 compared to £5.06 in the 2007 quarter.

Low-cost carriers have generally been the best at tapping the ancillary revenue stream. As we reported recently network carriers find it a little harder to move.

And in the US too, carriers are seeking to cash in on the trend.

Here is easyJet's Q1 management statement issued today.

 

I'm sorry for those workers at Alitalia who just want to get on with their jobs as we watch the latest antics of those who feel strike action is the way forward.

As we comment in the latest print edition of Airline Business, this hardy carrier has finally found a strategic investor willing to take a big gamble on its future. It's a precarious future too, what with the industry recession and competitors from all sides biting chunks out of the Italian market every day.

So, to those taking strike action, the message has got to be give it a chance and give your fellow workers a chance. Your current action is selfish and I believe totally futile.

 

Ryanair has shown its power to stimulate the market by revealing that it has just has sold more tickets in a week than ever before - a cool 1.5 million between Friday 9 January and Thursday 15 January.

It also had its best ever sales day, with 350,000 tickets being flogged on Monday 12 January.

Of course many of these tickets are at rock bottom prices, but they do prompt people to get flying. For example, a friend of mine told me of a group from a local rotary club he is taking to Bergamo with Ryanair for the princely sum of just a few Euros each. The lunch in Bergamo for the day trip will cost seriously more than the flight.

But the seats are occupied with travellers willing to pay for Ryanair's myriad of other services, which is just what the carrier wants of course.

We've written about Michael O'Leary's desire for ancillary revenues to outrank flight revenues in importance and about the spate of New Year ticket sales.

So are you taking a cheap flight anywhere which you wouldn't otherwise take if the price wasn't so pitiful? And what would you spend on board or at the airport?

EasyJet chief executive Andy Harrison has bravely, or stupidly, gone head-to-head with UK newspaper The Guardian's environmental warrior George Monbiot in a web video interview. And by the look on Harrison's face by the end of the interview, I think he might have regretted it!

For those of you unfamiliar with Monbiot, he's a regular contributor to The Guardian website's "Comment is free" section and his focus is man's impact on climate change. Yesterday he was railing against the evil of Agas and today he is challenging Harrison about easyJet's environmental record - in particular the viability of the Ecojet design it unveiled last year and its carbon offset scheme.

I couldn't help thinking that Harrison looked more than a little uncomfortable with the line of questioning, and could perhaps have been better prepared. After all, you only have to read some of Monbiot's opinion pieces to see what his agenda is and what line his questioning will take.

But kudos to Harrison for going ahead with it anyway. I'd pay to see a similar interview between Monbiot and Ryanair's Michael O'Leary! And as for Monbiot, I admire his passion for a cause but can't help being turned off by his earnest pomposity. 

Interesting piece on the BBC's website today if you haven't already seen it - apparently a Greenpeace coalition has bought some of the land earmarked for the construction of London Heathrow's third runway.

The coalition, which includes UK actress Emma Thompson, is hoping that buying up the land will throw a "massive spanner" in the works, should the proposed third runway get the go-ahead.

This is a great example of the phrase "putting your money where your mouth is", and whatever your feelings about the controversial third runway, you have to respect the obvious strength of people's feelings towards this proposal.

It's going to be a hell of a battle!

If the reports in today's newspapers are correct, the UK government will give the proposed third runway at London Heathrow the go-ahead any day now.

This debate has been rumbling on for a long time and it finally looks set to be decided, although this will not be without a fight. Protestors who are against the third runway are reported to be planning more demonstrations at Heathrow, so be prepared for yet more delays if you're flying out of the airport in the coming days.

My colleague David Learmount has written a good blog on the whole will they/won't they build a third runway saga - you can read it here if you haven't already done so.

BA's traditional New Year reception for the press was early this year. Yesterday in fact in a very frozen London at a warmer Langhan's Brasserie in Piccadilly.

 

The airline's ever chirpy chief executive Willie Walsh thanked the assembled media for the volume of column inches (web inches?) they devoted to the airline in 2008. His tongue was a little bit in his cheek as 2008 of course contained the London Heathrow T5 opening debacle, covered so eloquently by my colleague Kerry Ezard.

"I use to count up to it," said Willie, of the countdown to the opening of T5. "Now I count away from it." The countaway stands at something over 280 days.

The airline was "rightly criticised" for the T5 affair, but "it is now performed better than expected" and has handled some 16 million customers, said Willie.

T5 is rather cool in my experience, although I must confess I spent most of it in the BA lounge so I'm heavily biased. Here's what Kerry thought about it.

OUTLOOK

Willie is understandably downbeat about the prospects for this year: "2009 is looking like a difficult environment, not just for airlines but for all industries". It is however an environment when radical changes can take place. "We will use this as an opportunity to transform and strengthen BA," said Walsh.

Happy New Year everyone. It seems that Virgin Atlantic's New Year's resolution is to re-establish itself as the glamorous airline with the red hot cabin crew.

If you haven't seen the new ad campaign, have a look here and let me know what you think.

It seems to hark back to a bygone age when air travel was deemed sexy and glamorous, rather than the delay-prone, overcrowded means of getting from A to B that it has become today.

The brick-sized 1980s mobile phone in the ad is amusing - did people really did used to think they looked anything other than ridiculous with such clunky, oversized pieces of plastic clamped to their ears?

But will the ad have its desired effect? Will a bunch of attractive women in red stilettoes encourage people to forget their money worries and fly Virgin in these difficult economic times?

I'd be more interested in finding out what Virgin's plans are for this year in terms of being a standalone carrier in the midst of a frenzy of consolidation activity. Will the carrier end up in some kind of deal with Lufthansa over bmi? And if not, will some smart red uniforms be enough to help it navigate the choppy seas ahead?