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Aviation History
1997
1997 - 1229.PDF
REGIONAL AVIATION tions since 1995. The airport will operate for east-west routes, he says. "We intend to build up both national and international business from Nice... we're already the third largest operator there in terms of passengers carried." Brit Air's Leclerc, who has recently signed a wide-ranging franchising agreement with Air France, does not, however, share his contempo raries' enthusiasm for hubbing: "We have no policy on hubs. Direct routes take longer to develop than those using hubs, and require more investment, but we are a trans-regional airline and we prefer to fly our passengers to major destinations and provide the onward ser vice through accords with other airlines." With a turnover of Fr720 million ($124 mil lion) in 1996 against Fr650 million the previous year, constant profits for the past 12 years, and winner of both European and US regional air- line-of-the-year awards in 1994/95, Leclerc can reasonably claim to know what he is doing. He says he is targeting an increase in turnover to Fr 1.1 billion for 1998/9. The new regional jets are central to a route- development policy that will enable Brit Air to promote more longer-range direct flights from its two main operating centres: Rennes, from which 20 destinations are served daily; and Lyon, with 65. These two airports, says Leclerc, "...will remain points of departure to an increasingly developed route structure". He adds that the order for the CRJ-700 four years before it enters service "...is a clear expression of our confidence". Airport access remains a problem, however, and Dufour says he is "convinced" that sec ondary airports will have their day, as the major airports fill up and the smaller regionals are excluded. "In the provincial airports, we can have easier connections, and provide a better environment for passengers, which often have to walk a very long way if they are disembarking from a regional aircraft," he says. CLERMONT FERRAND SUCCESS The story at Regional Airlines is slightly differ ent, Jean-Paul Dubreuil having been perhaps less committed to the hub concept initially, but Air Littoral's colourfulATR fleet is now being operated from a new hub in Nice finding that Clermont Ferrand, which lies almost in the centre of France, became a natur al hub as the carrier developed its route struc ture. "We believe that point-to-point op erations are more profitable than feeding [to the majors]," he says, adding that Clermont Ferrand, which handles 37% of the airline's activity, is now "...part of our strategy, even though there was no original plan for it to be a hub". He says that Regional Airlines".. .was the first" to develop a hub concept of operations. "We showed that the idea could work," Dubreuil adds. Now, Dubreuil is considering Regional's next move, in the light of its purchase during 1996 of the turboprop operations of Deutsche B A. This immediately opened up new possibilities, one of which was the potential for development of a second hub at Deutsche BA's old base at Stuttgart. "We're still not sure about going in this direction," he says. "We need to check whether it will work in Germany as well as in France. A lot depends on whether German pas sengers will take to the idea of passing through a hub to get to their final destination." Dubreuil thinks that the European regional market "...will continue to grow...the majors are still cancelling their shorter-range routes. We have a very important role to play-but what is it?" Freighting, franchising and codesharing all have their place, and as far as Dubreuil is con cerned, "... we won't depend on any one system. We think flexibility is the key." CONTINUED GROWTH Whatever the answer, the fact is that passenger growth continues, with Brit Air passing 1 mil lion for the first time in 1996, Regional Airlines recording a 22% increase during the year, to 408,000 passengers, while the larger Air Littoral saw a growth of 200,000, to 1.7 million. Policies on partnerships vary, although the general trend is the development of feeder ser vices for the majors. Brit Air's move towards Air France was an extension of the existing rela tionship between the two carriers on the Paris- Southampton and Rennes-Paris routes, and will see the Brittany-based carrier operating, under Air France flight numbers, a host of domestic and European routes considered more suit- ^ MCC WANTED: ILTT LEASES. Aircraft Leasing, Inc. MCC is one of the largest independent lessors of regional airliners, specializing in aircraft in both passenger and cargo configurations. Please contact Bill Buckland, Fred Dibble or Walt Troyer at 703.847.6595 or by Fax at 703.734.1474 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 7 - 13 May 1997 41
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