Airline Post » easyjet

Ryanair under investigation faces a €4.5M fine

Roman — Tue, 04 May 2010 07:26:47 +0000

The French newspaper Le Figaro has revealed that Ryanair has been under investigation for several months now in regards to illegal worker contracts in France. Like EasyJet recently, Ryanair is “accused of failing to declare workers”, about 120 employees. However, Ryanair could have to pay much more compensation than the orange airline.

Indeed,while EasyJet finally ended up paying 1, 5M Euros, Ryanair’s penalties could reach €4,5M. Throughout the process, in order to lower its costs and fees, Ryanair has been using the same strategy as easyJet, which is to take advantage of the lower protection and charges of British Law/Irish law.It seems Ryanair’s streak of bad luck is not over. Ryanair is also under investigation regarding public subsidies, an Irish Times article reported just last week end. Gerry Byrne points tells the truth about the Ryanair business model, exposing just how Ryanair gets such important financial support from publics authorities.

In France, Air France has already filed a complaint against Ryanair, and it is now Lufthansa’s turn to express its discontent over the Lubeck public authorities having signed a new two-year agreement with the Irish airline. The amount of subsidies however has not been published. Ryanair is currently under investigation in relation to 7 airports over what Lufthansa calls “questionable subsidies”.

Slammed by the French Labour Court, EasyJet will have to pay €1.5M

Roman — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 11:39:58 +0000

After a 3-year investigation years over the legal status of hundreds workers (170) based at Orly Airport, EasyJet was ordered to pay up to €1.5m to the French labour healthcare public body. The orange airline was more precisely “accused of failing to declare workers in Orly between June 2003 and December 2006”.

An important fine, and a crucial judgment.

Indeed, the French Labour Court may have set a precedent in the low-cost airline market. When I first reported the news, last year, fine estimations were between £200,000 and €10M. One can now ask what will happen to other airline who fail to accurately declare their workforce? Indeed, EasyJet is not the only company with French labour law violations, Ryanair is also facing important charges. The Irish budget airline is using the same principle than easyJet, taking advantage of the lower protection and charges of British Law/Irish law. Its business model does not include employment contract protection or a union. A French MP recently denunciated Ryanair model because of its “low cost” employer policy.

British Airways reports profit in the third quarter

Kevin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:40:01 +0000

British Airways reported a shocking third quarter operating profit of GBP£25 million pounds (USD$39 million) during the last three months of 2009.

BA chief executive Willie Walsh said it is an impact of company’s capacity reduction and cost cuts and according to him it shows the impact of permanent changes across company policy. He also said the British Airways has adapted to the global recession. He further explained the reasons behind the 10.5 percent decrease in their operating costs are external spending cuts and capacity reductions.

On the other hand rival Air France has reported stabilized business, but according to experts its 2010 estimates are quite high. Finnair, the Finnish national carrier, has gone through loss in the last fourth quarter and announced that it is expecting future losses in this quarter also.

For BA the revenues fell down to 12.9% of GBP£6.14 billion. It has faced an operating loss of GBP£86 million for the first time during last year.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) this sector will face many challenges this year including new security issues.

BA reported lower cabin class sales and surcharges which in turn caused 8.8% fall in the third quarter. The airline also reported a decrease in its business class passengers by 2.1 percent and a total of 7% decrease in the month of January. BA has announced its merger agreement with Spain’s Iberia airline.

Whereas other low-cost competitors like Ryanair and easyJet have reported profits in their forecasts and said they are still able to make their market share from BA and Air France-KLM.

One more down: Flyglobespan goes bankrupt

Stewart — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:55:36 +0000

Flyglobespan entered administration on Wednesday, therefore all their 800 employees were sent home and all the flights were cancelled. The result? More than 4,500 passengers abandoned all over Europe.

Flyglobespan was Scotland’s biggest airline, carrying more than 1.5mil passengers, on 12,000 flights in 2008. The main departures city were Edinburgh, Glasgow Prestwick and Aberdeen. The company had also several transatlantic flights from Gatwick and Blefast.

Yesterday’s announce stranded 4,500 passengers in Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Egypt, although the PricewaterhouseCoopers administrators declared that all the booked passengers were contacted. The Civil Aviation Authority is running an operation for repatriating about 1,100 of the abandoned customers. If the rest of the people booked their flights on the Flyglobespan website or at the call center, they may qualify for a reduced fare back home.

“I urge all affected passengers to identify themselves as former Flyglobespan customers to alternative carriers in order to ensure they benefit from these special repatriation fares”, said the Transport minister, Paul Clark.

easyJet and Ryanair offered special “rescue” rates to the affected passengers, where the routes overlapped with those of Flyglobespan. The 100,000 people that have travel plans booked should be protected under the credit card transaction or their personal travel insurance.

Flyglobespan went into administration after failed efforts of signing a financing deal with the Jersey-based Halycon Investments.

EasyJet undergoes changes in the Boardroom

Abbey — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 08:22:47 +0000

EasyJet’s Chief Executive Andy Harrison recently quitted from the company. This is the third major executive board departure that occurred during this year. The cause of such leavings is a long executive board fight with the founder of EasyJet Haji-Ioannou.

According to Harrison, he wished to leave the company because of the budget and also find new challenges. But he did not say anything about his future plans.

It was decided that he would continue working in the company until June 30, 2010 despite the fact that his contract was revised in order to guarantee a smooth transition till a new chief executive would hold the post.

Also EasyJet said Michael Rake would accept the post from David Michels chairman from January 1, 2010. Since June Rake held the post of chairman and senior independent director. As for Michels, he was acting Chairman since the retirement of Colin Chandler in July.

The company is also looking for a chief financial officer as Jeff Carr quitted in May because Haji-Ioannou refused to approve the annual accounts of the last year.

A boardroom dispute occurred between the EasyJet founder and the board last year. Haji-Ioannou expressed his concerns about the growth strategy of EasyJet describing it very aggressive during the economic recession. As a result both the EasyJet founder and the board decided to set 7.5% of seat flown instead of 15%.

It is planned that the company will have 207 aircraft in its fleet by 2012.

Carr became the director of finance at bus and rail company FirstGroup PLC for that reason Bob Rothenberg held the post of non-executive director in August. Such appointment was done according to the request of Haji-Ioannou.

The company believes that the three major boardroom leavings that occurred in this year will not influence negatively on the company’s future.

“Andy Harrison has done a great job over the past four years and under his leadership, easyJet has developed into a truly pan-European airline operating Europe’s leading air transport network. EasyJet has a very strong senior management team and I look forward to being part of the continuing development of the business,” said Rake.

Easyjet reports increase in revenue

Abbey — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 08:17:57 +0000

The fight on driving revenue on Easyjet’s flights has been making progress. The revenue of the average flight is increasing and it seems that Orange Crew leaves the Ryanair crew behind in this fight.

EZ reported about its progress on the conference that was held 10 days ago. According to the report ancillary revenue increased by 22%, expelling baggage costs, the figure of baggage charges became huge, i.e. it went up by 62.3%, as for business travel accounts, the figure was over 20%.

It is probably the last thing that requires to come into notice of the other LCCs specifically Ryanair.

The enlargement of Biz Travel can be described as the availability in the GDS and one can say that it is an important fact that can serve as a lesson to any LCCs. Meanwhile the GDSs can be regarded as an anathema there is sense to provide support, i.e. a well established tool that the TMCs offer to its corporate clients.

There is an opinion that TMCs conduce to be process driven and often thanks to the growth of revenue. It looks like EZ is corroborating this fact on the coattails of improved revenue by Southwest that happened due to its reentering in the GDS.

There is not doubt that it is necessary for LCCs to make changes due to which it will be possible to offer not only standard services of booking for the Corporate business. But it is very important to weigh all pros and cons. In order to improve revenue one should augment footprint in front of the TMCs and the Corporate Travel Depts.

On Friday it was announced by the company that it carried more passengers in November if compared with the same period in 2008. 3.4 million passengers flew with Easyjet last month that led to the increase of load factor to 84.8% from 83.9%.

easyJet blamed for Holocaust fashion shoot

Dave — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:25:29 +0000

easyJet, the London-based lowcost airline, has recently published an inflight magazine featuring models that posed at the Berlin Holocaust memorial. The November issue of the magazine caused quite a stirr and it was considered offensive by their Jewish passengers.

As a result, this month’s edition was withdrawn. The controversial photo shoot featured male and female models wearing designer clothes posing at the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

The Memorial’s Uwe Neumärker director said he gave no permission for the shooting to take place. He “grants permissions only to projects which are related to the memorial, the Holocaust or some aspect of commemoration.”

“The Foundation Memorial does not support commercial shoots, and fashion photography is considered to fall into this category. The Foundation Memorial will contact the easyJet airline company in writing in order to clarify the circumstances of the photo shoot,” he added.

easyJet officialy apologized to anyone that was offended by the pictures. easyJet was not aware of the images until the magazine was printed by the company in charge of producing it, INK.

Ryanair’s growth plan goes down the drain

Abbey — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:26:05 +0000

According to Stelios Haji-Ioannou, establisher of EasyJet, the plan of its competitor Ryanair concerning the company’s growth can lead to a sticky end. It is very important for Ryanair in Dublin to augment numbers of passengers by 50pc over next two-and-a-half years. Such plan will help to fill its 200 aircraft and also other 100 on order.

Mr Haji-Ioannou was against the strategy at Luton-based EasyJet, the aim of which was to increase the number of seats by 7.5pc a year in July, despite the fact that 15pc was an average of the seat numbers between 2005 and 2008.

Mr O’Leary considered that there is no use to fulfill such plan and, moreover, the company did not have future. He also added that in case Stelios was ready to rival with Ryanair, the company would have to diminish its ticket prices.

It was noted that during six months the average ticket price of Ryanair went down 17pc to €39. As for EasyJet, its passenger income per seat went up 6.4pc to £41.42 in the third quarter by the end of June 30.

One should say that Ryanair is considered to be number one discount airline in Europe and was planning to purchase the 200 aircraft from Boeing by the end of the year.

Soon negotiation will be carried between Ryanair and EasyJet. But even now one can feel tense atmosphere between the companies. Mr O’Leary said that he would go away from negotiations and even abrogate some commitments in case it was impossible to make a deal.

“It must be difficult for Stelios to see us continue to grow while his airline grows more slowly, if at all,”said Stephen McNamara, spokesman of Ryanair.

According to Mr Haji-Ioannou, EasyJet offered a growth plan that was considered to be more reasonable and much more profitable. “The company is performing very well and the growth rate has been moderated,” said Mr Haji-Ioannou

During this year EasyJet earned 33pc and the value of the company is £1.59bn, as for Ryanair, its shares fell 3.4pc and worth €4.24bn.

22 New routes from easyJet

Dave — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:09:17 +0000

Winter is approaching, which means airlines are launching their winter schedule and, with it, some changes to their routes. easyJet has recently announced that it will open 22 new routes during the next months. By the looks of it, easyJet is focusing on more exotic places, where the sun will shine throughout winter. So if you want to get a tan this winter, you might want to book a ticket on their flight to Morocco, Israel or Egypt. Here is the full list of new easyJet routes:

Opening October 29th:

Manchester to Marrakech

Opening November 2nd:

Liverpool to Fuerteventura
Lyon to Nantes
Rome Fiumicino to Lamezia
Rome Fiumicino to Amsterdam
Rome Fiumicino to Lisbon
Madrid to Amsterdam
London Gatwick to Porto
London Luton to Tel Aviv

Opening November 3rd:

Liverpool to Lanzarote (Arrecife)
London Luton to Sharm El Sheikh

Opening November 4th:

London Stansted to Fuerteventura
London Luton to Paphos ( Cyprus)
London Gatwick to Agadir

Opening November 6th:

Manchester to Copenhagen
Manchester to Munich

Opening December 12th:

Geneva to Copenhagen

Opening December 15th:

Geneva to Sharm El Sheikh
Geneva to Toulouse

Opening December 17th:

Edinburgh to Lyon
Lyon to Brussels

Opening February 2nd:

London Gatwick to Hamburg

Make sure to keep an eye out on their website. These new routes are bound to be accompanied by some discounted tickets.

The 5 Most Eco-Friendly Airlines

Stewart — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:41:46 +0000

According to the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, the CO2 from aviation accounts for 1.6% of all global greenhouse gas emissions and is set to reach 2.5% by 2050. IATA started the environmental movement for airlines by setting an important and semnificant goal – creating a zero-emissions airplane within 50 years. Last month, the airline industry also made a pledge to halve emissions by 2050 to force the development of a new, greener technology they can use. Some airlines have went further by pioneering new eco-friendly technologies that really make a statement. Here’s our pick for the five most eco-friendly airlines at the moment.

5. Virgin Airlines started its environmental efforts by signing a deal with Boeing that supposes the purchasing a number of eco-friendly aircrafts to use on their routes. The airline will receive 15 787-9 Dreamliners, that use 20% less fuel for every passenger onboard than other planes of a similar size. The new aircrafts will also be able to offer less bumpier takeoffs and landings, cleaner air, larger windows, more storage space and enhanced lighting onboard. Boeing also announced that over 500 787-9 Dreamliner aircrafts were ordered.

4. Continental Airlines replaced a large part of their fleet with planes that are more energy-efficient. The company saved an impressive amount of fuel and reduced emissions by 5%, after installing winglets on all their Boeing 737s and 757s. Moreover, the airline has begin experimenting Boeing 737s flights with bio fuel, which is made from extracts of algae and jartopha plants.

3. easyJet plans on installing new energy-efficient engines on all their Airbus A319s. By doing that, the low cost company intends to cut the mono-nitrogen oxide emissions by 25 percent. By 2015, the Easy Jet officials have in mind reducing noise by 25%, CO2 emissions by 50% and NOx by more than 75%. According to the company’s officials, EasyJet has cut its CO2 emissions per passenger kilometre by 18% since 2002. Their efficiency and use of smaller airports allows easyJet to fly more passengers/flight and emit 27% less carbon per passenger km than regular companies. Here’s a crazy takeoff with an A319:

2. Lufthansa is one of the companies that made a commitment to the environment starting with the 1970s. Now, the airline plans to use at least 10% of bio fuel of the total fuel needed for flying and adopts new technologies and rules that will cut carbon dioxide emissions by 25% until 2020. Lufthansa also has a set of instruments onboard (Mozart) ozone, water vapor, N02 or CO2, which scientist use to understand weather and make forecast more precise. One of the most prominent accomplishments was
growing its traffic annually since ’91 while maintaining its CO2 emissions low. Also, installing 20,000+ lighter seats on aircraft in 2006 saved 12,000 tons of CO2 in one year alone. Here’s a report from DW:

1. Nature Air – What’s more eco-friendly than an airline built on a its 100% carbon neutral aviation program. Nature Air, Costa Rica’s national airline, engages passengers in a carbon offset scheme and a commitment for fuel reduction, both on the ground and in the air. They operate 74 daily flights with 8 aircrafts and improved fuel efficiency by 7% by training their crew, reducing aircrafts’ weight and focusing on flight planning. Nature Air has developed Costa Rica’s only bio-diesel fueling station and aims to become climate neutral by 2021, when the country will celebrate 200 years of independence.