Editorial

Whilst it may be politically incorrect to say it, in years gone by we knew summer was approaching as Air France and the Greek aviation sector would be announcing their next set of annual strikes. If that is felt to be tarring the brush unfairly of these two industry sectors in France and Greece, then we should also add that at some point the penny dropped and both are now (almost) exemplary in their recent attitude and the strikes associated with them seem to have been consigned to history. In their place it seems that the Germans are in a rush to be considered the disruptors of air travel and that’s not an inference to their adoption of new technology. Rather it’s the fact that, according to Chat GPT/Google and other sources, there has been around 14 strikes in the past two years connected with the aviation sector. This can be down to strike action taken by pilots, cabin crew, ground handlers et all. Many, though not all, of these are direct Lufthansa employees and this is now starting to become rather troublesome for the reputation of one of Europe’s behemoth’s that continues to grow in size.

The fact of the matter is, that from both a local and regional perspective, connectivity via air travel is heavily dependent on the Lufthansa Group (Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian etc) and taking the view that “’I will avoid Lufthansa at all costs as they are unreliable’” is not going to happen. To some extent this was often an individual view taken by travellers when offered an Air France option in the past, but equally at that juncture there were many other options to get from A to C via B, options that don’t really exist today.

That does not however mean that positive sentiment towards the group will prevail forever, particularly when travellers are not only inconvenienced but also find themselves out of pocket due to the strikes. Airlines are particularly good in squeezing every cent out of travellers even when its verging on unethical, yet what do they do when they themselves create havoc and by “’they themselves”’ one has to bracket the direct staff of a company as being  in legal terms “’the company”, the answer is very little.

An airline can turn around and say they are not responsible for any other travel service booked such as a hotel or car hire, but are responsible for the air transportation element only. They could equally be snide and advise travellers impacted by a strike to “check their insurance”, a sure fire conversation killer. This in theory is true but in such scenarios is the airline worried about reputational damage? Probably not is the answer as the airline can claim force majeure – though how would this stand up in law when the force majeure is created by their own employees?

During the (many) recent Lufthansa strikes, travellers have had their plans severely impacted, this could have impacted not only business meetings but weddings, funerals, graduations, medical appointments and not to mention holidays. The AI robots introduced “’to enhance the process”” that re-book travellers onto the next suitable flight are a chocolate fireguard that are not for purpose and which only creates further chaos and cost. If the ‘’bot’’ rebooks a ticket from a TMC like ourselves, it has taken the control of the ticket away from that TMC and now controls it itself. As is the case with 90% of these rebookings that are not what the travellers wanted, control is only taken back by the TMC and hence by the traveller via phone calls to the airline call centre located in whichever country. Guess if you can get through to the said call centre during such times – no chance. Even more cost and annoyance prevail.

How about if an airline whose employees take strike action are charged a fee by the traveller for the time he/she needs to spend in rebooking the travel services, for the time spent in trying to reach under-staffed call centres and for the extra costs incurred with any new ticket (price difference). If someone were to be brave enough to take this into the EU courts, then the consumer minded EU will almost certainly take a positive view of such an action. One appreciates that its not the airline’s stakeholders who should be responsible for such financial consequences so therefore, they in turn would follow the legal chain and sue the trade unions who initiate the strike action. Simple. Or is German legislation giving the right to German workers to financially damage and impair European consumers with no financial consequence?

Mark Thomas

It’s not only Birds up in the Nest

Many people will be familiar with the Couchette concept in rail travel, that is, the concept of sleeping arrangements on trains that are effectively four or six person compartments with the beds akin to bunk beds. Whilst these are not uncommon on selected long distance rail links, finding them onboard an aircraft is a different conversation and in the modern era it’s never been tried commercially. Until now.

Air New Zealand have introduced what it refers to as the “’Economy Skynest”’ which is six lie flat pods (think bunk beds) situated between the Premium Economy and Economy sections of the aircraft. The beds are bookable in four-hour blocks and are charged at 292 USD per four hours. Note should be made however, that this charge is over and above the cost of any actual ticket purchased.

The idea of these is that people often either cannot justify the cost of a Premium Seat ie First, Business or Premium Economy, but are willing to pay a bit extra for that valuable commodity on long haul flights: sleep. Air New Zealand, due to its remote home location, have many “ultra” long haul flights lasting into the teens of hours and many passengers who appreciate the ability to grab some sleep, also are not interested in expansive onboard food and drink options nor on using an airport lounge.

Whether this new concept will catch on remains to be seen, as it will only likely be of commercial interest for airlines on long haul flights and where they feel the revenue gained from such a concept is greater than having X extra standard or premium seats in its place. As far as innovations go however, it certainly has the potential of being a winner and in airline parlance, that means it can be profitable!

In Praise Of

Always choose the (more) positive is the mantra when it comes to the local tourist figures. Indeed, with the results from February showing that “’revenue” was 17% higher than in February the previous year, the figure of 68.9 million Euro being the incoming revenue of which 29.5 million Euro was from non-residents, the mood should be one of positivity. The issue is that arrivals from overseas dropped by just under 1% so the growth appears to be from the domestic market. What should also be pointed out is that these figures include local business’s etc holding local meetings or conferences, it can be company representatives travelling around the country, it can be weekend city breaks and it can be people visiting the mountains for skiing etc.

February is the peak winter month for the leisure part of the equation and with the massive increase in costs over the past year, even a 17% increase in ‘”revenue” is hardly out of line with the country’s annual (real) inflation and most hotels have increased their rates by more than 17%!

The country continues to attract short stay visitors if we use the city streets of Sofia as an example, but whether this attraction extends beyond the city break visitor is a totally different question.

Dangerous Trend

Spanish airline Volotea seem to have pushed the boundaries of ethical tolerance recently when they requested an additional payment from travellers who had already booked and paid for tickets citing the increase cost of fuel as a justification. Whilst the amounts requested were relatively small: between 8.21 – 10.55 Euros per passenger, it’s the principle that’s the issue.

Apparently, the airline has, buried deep in its booking clause, a condition that allows for a temporary fare adjustment, either up or down, when price swings affect the cost of fuel. The airline argues this can also mean a refund for passengers. Seriously!

The takeaway from this are that if the airline gets away with it and without to much negative publicity, other airlines (mentioning no names) may follow suit, which translates to the fact that a price paid for a ticket is not necessarily the final price to be paid!

One final and indeed worrying point is that unlike say Ryanair or Wizz Air, Volotea are an IATA member airline in the same manner that Lufthansa, BA and Air France are. Such airlines like to take the high moral ground and make the point that as an IATA member airline they are bound by the same rules, regulations and ethics. These ethics might soon get tested even further.

Would You Believe It!

Italian airline ITA, the successor to Alitalia, has become the 26^th member of the Star Alliance following its acquisition by the Lufthansa Group. Previously they were a Air France-KLM backed Skyteam member. The transition to Lufthansa influence now extends to ITA adopting the Lufthansa Groups digital platform for its website and mobile app; the same as with Lufthansa and Swiss.

Together with this announcement, the airline also reported something Alitalia could never do: a profit. For 2025, the financials revealed a 209 million Euro profit after reporting a 227m Euro loss the previous year. This was based on increased revenues of 3.2 billion Euros though the actual passenger numbers fell by 8%. Obviously, the yields per passenger have increased considerably and no doubt swathes of cost cutting have been engaged.

Technology Failing Again

The EU’s new Entry-Exit System (EES) which became fully operational across the 29 Schengen Zone countries on 10^th April is not quite so fully operational! The Greek Government have taken matters into their own hands upon seeing the system working in a less than satisfactory manner in other countries and told UK citizens the process will be ignored for them.

Tales of passengers waiting three hours and more at border controls whilst the technology stuttered along; or rather it didn’t stutter along, forced this decision by the Greeks. The Greek Economy is supported heavily with income from the UK market and it wants to avoid shooting itself in the foot by supporting its own economy rather than inadequate EU border controls. 

Turning the clock back a couple of years, the German and Dutch governments vetoed an earlier introduction of the EES system as they (accurately) pointed out that insufficient testing had taken place before its planned introduction. Even now, the supposed testing of the mechanisms seems to be left wanting somewhat. That said, it is the EU that’s involved here so at least the fact its doesn’t work properly shouldn’t be a surprise.

Merger Mania Drives Talk

“Never let the truth get in the way of a good story” is an old Mark Twain saying and it certainly seems appropriate at this moment when it comes to the giants of US air travel. The rumour mill abounds that American Airlines and United Airlines are in talks regarding a merger. Something that really would set the industry alight in more ways than one.

Of course, the airlines deny it and particularly American have been forthright in their statement that they are not in any talks nor pan to be in any talks about any merger with anyone. Seeing that this is America such a denial probably sets the tongues wagging even more in true American fashion,

The US Department of Transport didn’t help stifle the rumours when he stated that “’there is room for some mergers in the (US) aviation industry.

An interesting few week/months are likely to ensue and keep jobbing journalists in a frenzy in the meantime.

Sustaining Credibility

Whilst not all travellers pay a huge amount of detail to the carbon emissions, they help aviation to generate, the great and good of the world now demand airlines pay attention to the measure of carbon emissions even if the measurement criteria might be considered opaque in some quarters. To that end, the Oscar like awards for airlines who tick all the boxes in sustainability is an award an airline can turn into great PR, especially if its struggles to garnet positive PR from other quarters.

Top of the pile this time around of the most CO2 efficient airlines see’s Singapore Airlines sister ‘Scoot’” top the pile followed by, wait for it, Wizz Air, who actually came in first last year. Behind Wizz came UK leisure airline TUI followed by Spain’s Air Europa, US budget airline Frontier came in 5^th.

If we look at the world’s ‘” Largest’ airlines (those emitting the lowest emissions per seat), the top dog is Qatar followed by Ryanair.

Does all this impact traveller’s choice of airline? Probably not for 99% of people.

Uber Expands

Back in 2010, a new “’ride-hailing app” was founded with the original brief to offer budget taxi seekers an alternative to traditional state-controlled taxis. The app was called Uber. Sixteen years later and Uber is a household name and one could argue its meteoric rise mirrored that of say Apple or Microsoft. Today, booking an Uber is akin to using an iPhone, not everyone uses it, but everyone knows about it. Uber has evolved since 2010 and continues to evolve and the latest step has seen the company purchase the German based Blacklane, a booking platform that connects to premium chauffer drivers and used mainly by business travellers.

Uber’s foray into the Premium travel sector has been growing steadily over recent years as it seeks to extend its global reach and customer base. Already service tiers such as Uber Lux and Uber Exec as well as airport transfers have been added and just last month, Uber Elite was launched in Los Angels and San Francisco targeting executives and high-end customers. The addition of Blacklane will provide Uber users new access to premium products in 500 cities across 60 countries.

The challenge for Uber will be how to translate the availability of Blacklane into premium bookings and its high service standards into its portfolio that traditionally views the product as a mass market offering.

Notice no mention of Uber in Bulgaria then!

Looking at Lisbon

Another European Airline looks like it will be “’gobbled up” in the non-too distant future as both Air France/KLM and the Lufthansa Group have made non-binding bids for a stake in Portuguese Carrier TAP. The other European heavyweight IAG Group (BA and Iberia) have withdrawn their own interest.

The share of the airline available is up to 49.9% with 44.9% stake available for investors and 5% for employees.

For both the interested parties, they see Portugal and in particular Lisbon Airport, as a potential key gateway to connect Europe with both South America as well as Africa. Lufthansa are particularly weak in connections to South America, a fact it openly admits and which it hopes will be used by the regulatory authorities to its advantage. Air France/KLM meanwhile want to make Lisbon its Southern hub.

Flying High

Authorities in the United States are starting to see airlines as being a useful and consistent source of additional income when it comes to drug testing! Whilst drug testing per se would probably largely be irrelevant for flight crews in Europe, in the USA it’s a different world and the latest reports sees American Airlines fined 250,000 USD for authorising 12 of its cabin crew to fly when they had tested positive for drugs. 

The USA operates – through necessity – strict return to duty protocols for anyone failing a drug test prior to flying and they must pass return to duty checks as well as having random testing for between 12 months and 5 years.

Its not just American Airlines crews who made the news as Southwest also received a fine for 11 of its staff failing tests. The US policy on drug testing within the industry is interesting as it is policy for all US carriers to conduct random drug testing at a rate of 25% (plus 10% for alcohol). In 2024 the policy was even extended to include foreign workers based outside the USA who work on American planes.

The moves for stricter controls in the USA are being driven by a rash of accidents and incidents, some fatal and perceived lack of compliance with security and safety protocols. Given the role of flight attendants during a flight, reduced reaction times due to being under the influence of drugs can have extremely serious repercussions further down the line.

If you’d like to subscribe your friends or colleagues and for all your travel requirements, reservations or for more information about any of the items mentioned in the newsletter, please contact us:

Tel:+ 359 (2) 943 3011
e-mail:mark @jamadvice.eu