Editorial

Controlled by technology

A job with a future

It’s a bit of a conversation for anorak aviation watchers but there is a lot happening in Germany that not so long ago would have been unthinkable. Our past Newsletters have mentioned the fact that Ryanair are moving in on the home turf of Lufthansa at Frankfurt Main airport. Firstly, this will massively impact the thought process longer term of how the German national carrier operates its short haul flights. Secondly the scenario panning out will be being watched carefully at London Heathrow where like Lufthansa, BA has been able to keep Low Cost Carrie away from its home base so far that is. Heathrow though is massively constrained by a lack of landing slots and runway limitations i.e. There are only two whereas Frankfurt now has four runways and therefore a need by the airport operators to generate new traffic to use the ‘” new’” extra runway and this means attracting new airlines rather than impeding them in the interests of the national carrier; which is where Ryanair and Wizz enter the game. In response to having its nose blooded at Frankfurt, Lufthansa has now decided to move five A380 Superjumbos out of the total fleet of 14 away from Frankfurt to its second hub at Munich.

What this may then mean is that more people will transfer through Munich which means Frankfurt loses more Lufthansa passengers which in turn means they operate less flights which then leads to the Low Cost Carriers filling the gaps (cheaply) that Lufthansa vacate.

It’s a slippery downward spiral at the end of the day.

Biting off the hand that feeds you

Bulgaria’s Deputy Prime Minister has promised to bring an end to what he describes as ‘” alcohol tourism”, or put another way, the trips or excursions to consume large amounts of alcohol that are aimed primarily at youngsters. What the Deputy PM should be aware of is that this phenomenon is hardly new although it may be new to Bulgaria. Going back over the years what is now taking place on the Black Sea in Bulgaria is that same that was once the domain of Benidorm in Spain, Kavos in Corfu and Ayia Napa in Cyprus.

These resorts evolved successfully from this era and if anything, the booze and youngsters market acted as a marketing tool for the resorts advancement. The Deputy PM should also be aware that currently the success of the Black Sea is not based on its culinary offerings, its culture or the quality of its service; people come because it’s cheap. Indeed, a recent EU study showed that the costs of alcohol and tobacco were the cheapest out of all Eu countries at 56% of the EU average. This compares with Ireland and the UK who sit at 175% and 162% of that average.

There is nothing wrong with being a cheap destination and it’s a space in the market that Bulgaria successfully fills, trying to un-naturally change the make-up of the market be it to a more family environment or to make it more attractive to higher spenders is not a recipe for guaranteed success no matter how well the intent is. A lot of people are employed on the Black Sea and the income from tourism is a massive chunk of the country’s GDP. The policy to best adopt for the future might, to some extent be to leave it alone to market forces and it will find its own market.

Nice to Wizz

Wizz Air are to expand its service offering from Sofia with flights to Nice and Lisbon from March 2018. The flights will operate twice weekly. In addition, the airline plans to expand its existing services to destinations its already serves including London Luton, Barcelona and Brussels.

The flights to Lisbon fill a gap in the market as travel for business or pleasure to Portugal from Sofia has never been easy. The choice of Nice is an interesting one as Nice and the south of France generally are at the opposite end of the price spectrum to Bulgaria and certainly Nice is not the choice for a quick cheap weekend away. France generally is under served by Low Cost airlines from this part of the world so it will be interesting how this route performs for Wizz.

All looking good for Varna

UK based EasyJet has started summer services to Varna from London Gatwick Airport. The route is the airlines 138^th destination on its flight plan and the flight will operate three times weekly. Some 18,000 passengers are expected on this new route which will add nicely to the tourist numbers on the Black Sea. At the end of June EasyJet will also add flights twice weekly to Berlin.

Just for the record Varna is already served by Wizz Air flights to London Luton and from the end of July, Dortmund, Larnaca, Memmingen, Eindhoven and Bergamo will be added.

Stay in a war office

We don’t usually note the opening or planned opening of too many hotels as there are so many of them opening each week but if you have the cash and fancy something with history attached to it then the plans for a new Raffles Hotel in London are noteworthy. They plan to turn the iconic War Office in Whitehall into a mixed use i.e. part hotel part residence facility.

The location is in the heart of London close to Downing Street, the Houses of Parliament and other government buildings and the building itself was the office to many influential political figures including Winston Churchill during World War 2 as well as being the home of the Secret Services.

Change to confusion

The latest idea in the never ending world of new airline pricing offerings that quite frankly leave just about every travel professional totally confused, comes from Air France who now have an option that allows flights to be taken later than originally scheduled. The option is called ‘After Show’ and is different to its’ Go Show”” offer which allows an earlier flight to be taken than the one scheduled. Confused yet?

Silly suggestion but why not just have one flexible ticket that allows changes to it? Might be that the French Trade Unions would complain and strike because of it. Sic.

Don’t ask for compensation

Bulgaria Air discovered the world of bad PR this month when they were identified as the third worst airline in the world! This is perhaps an unkind tag as the prime issue for the national carrier was their almost total inability in handling passengers’ compensation claims. As a part of the measurement criteria, the on time performance was also measured but here Bulgaria Air’s performance was outstanding.

As regards to handling compensation claims goes, it might just be that the concept of ‘” ignore it and it will go away’’ is the unofficial line taken or it might simply be that there are no staff designated to this task. Then again, if the flights are hardly ever delayed then why would you need such staff in the first place?

EU to scrutinize airlines

The European Union transport commissioner has been asked by various European Trade bodies to investigate the non-competitive practices by certain Eu airlines. The target of the move are Lufthansa and British Airways who are accused, perhaps justifiably so, of reducing transparency   in the booking process and forcing travellers to book solely with them and not via intermediaries.

Looking at this objectively it’s hard to fathom out how the consumer focused EU will view this valid claim; the supplier of a product can choose how he/she sells and distributes their products. However, the aviation industry is not a consumer product and restricting people’s ability to purchase travel is not in the wider interest of the EU consumer and especially in the EU interests if financial penalties are charged via selective booking models.

The Eu will, at the same time, investigate airline alliances and codesharing agreements to see whether this cozy alignment is also anti-consumer.

Amsterdam win direct

Amsterdam Schiphol Airport has over taken London Heathrow as Europe’s busiest airport for direct flights. The reason for Schiphol’s rise from 6^th place 10 years ago is the number of Low Cost Airlines that operate to Amsterdam which now makes up 21% of all flights. Heathrow meanwhile has been constrained by a lack of runway capacity.

Another interesting fact is that 99% of the growth in Europe’s top 20 airports has been delivered by Low Cost Carriers.

Bordeaux is closer than ever

Thinking of travelling around Europe by train this summer? Then think quickly as stacks of rail tickets and passes have discounts of up to 80 Euro available on them but need to be bought before the end of June. Contact HRG Bulgaria for more details.

Also on the subject of rail, the South West region of France and particularly Bordeaux has never been the easiest place to reach from Paris but from July 2nd the journey time will be reduced to just two hours, reducing the current journey time by one hour.

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;
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e-mail:mark@bg.hrgworldwide.com