Can you believe India’s kingfisher is still flying. The group has now slipped from the largest to sixth airline in terms of passengers but continues to fly and amazingly people keep booking seats on them!
Last week, the Indian government announced the carrier owes $US 49m (£31m) in taxes. The carrier owes money to airports, tax authorities, lenders and its own staff.
Cimber Sterling Boeing 737-700 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
On the morning of Thursday May 3rd, 2012, Denmark’s regional airline Cimber Sterling filed for bankruptcy after its owners pulled financial support from the company. The carrier had 19 international and six domestic destinations. Four of its six domestic routes were monopoly routes.
Sun-Air of Scandinavia, Danish Air Transport (DAT), Norwegian and Skyways have all taken over routes very quickly.
I have never flown them but I was interested for two reasons.
The first is how many airlines have gone this year. We are up to ten with some big names (Malev, Air Zimbabwe, and Spanair). Three went in January, four in February and three in April. Not quite as bad as 2008 when 84 carriers across the world disappeared.
The second reason is the pedigree in Cimber Sterling. Cimber has been flying since 1950. In 2008 Cimber Air bought parts of Sterling airlines and changed its name in 2009 to Cimber-Sterling. The airline operated as a combination low cost and regional carrier since. A model that was clearly not working as they had recently announced that from September, 2012, the low cost international operations would go.
Sterling (founded 1962) were Europe’s fourth largest low cost carrier after they merged with Maersk Air in 2005. They collapsed as a result of the Icelandic financial crisis in 2008.
As a kid, I first started plane spotting when I flew through the airports of in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. I became expert by the age of six at picking out all of the different tails of airlines. The bright colours of Braniff, the dignified blue of Pan Am, the proud speedbird of BOAC, the Kangaroo of Qantas and the blue and white S of Sabena all were recognisable instantly. Fast forward forty years, and most of those airlines are gone.
As an adult, I still like looking at those tails and dream both about the carrier and it service and the exotic destinations it connects. I promise I am not obsessive about my plane spotting. I don’t make many special trips to the airport, just to watch planes! I am noticing that while I see more planes at most airports, I am seeing fewer and fewer airlines.
A few years ago, a friend of mine Tony (see earlier post on how he got me into Flightmemory) and I tipped that the number of carriers globally would fall to a dozen or so with a small number of regional carriers. We saw national lines would get blurred, that fewer governments would be able or willing to prop carriers up and economics would force consolidation. Tony passed away a few years ago. He would be amazed at how quickly our predictions are indeed happening. Air France-KLM (2004), Lufthansa-Austrian-Swiss (2007-8), Delta-Northwest (2008), British-Iberia (2011), and United-Continental (2012). Now American and USAir are talking.
European airlines seem to be consolidating into seven major airline groups listed here in order of number of passengers carried:
The remaning independent airlines in Europe seem to be increasingly limping toward bankruptcy or absorption: Poland’s LOT, Portugal’s TAP, Hungary’s Wizzair, Ireland’s Aer Lingus, Slovenia’s Adria airlines, JAT Yugoslav and Czech Airlines all cannot last more than another couple of years.
Spain’s Vueling and Air Europa are now in a much stronger position with the collapse of Star Alliance member Spanair. It makes logical sense to me that Vueling consider Star Alliance membership. Their competitors Iberia are in One World and Air Europa are in Skyteam. Eventually Vueling and Air Europa will have to join the consolidation dance.
Across in Scandinavia, SAS Group has had four years of losses. Finnair is under enormous pressure after losing €87.5 million 2011 and is looking at outsourciing European flights to a new low cost joint venture. Meanwhile low cost carrier Norwegian has ordered 222 new planes: 100 737 Neos, 22 737-800s and 100 new A320neos.
I can’t see SAS, and Norwegian both surviving. One will have to give and the weaker one is SAS. Takeover by Lufthansa or Air France?
I think Finnair will merge or be taken over. Possible candidates? IAG group? JAL? SAS?
Icelandair who has pegged its strategy on funnelling traffic through Iceland between the US and Europe must choose a new plane to replace its entire fleet of ageing 757s. They could remain a small regional player but more likely will be absorbed by someone else.
The British Airways/Iberia International Airlines Group is considering a possible stake in One World partner Japan Airlines when it has its IPO in September. It would seem to me that Qantas (which BA used to have a stake in) would also be a possible candidate for investment from IAG. Is it further possible that One World could move from airline alliance to airline? Eg One World Airlines combing all or most of their members?
How far will consolidation go? Will we end up with but three airline groupings in Europe all affiliated to an alliance ? And a couple of regional carriers?
Whatever it means, there will be fewer tails at airports to spot. Lets hope the mega-airlines keep the smaller brand names for a while on their planes.
Few will have heard of Amravia but this week they sounded like they were about to join the list if bankrupt airlines for 2012. Armavia is the national airline of Armenia, a small landlocked mountainous country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia. It was part of the USSR.
Armavia was established in 1996, with commercial flights to Russia and Turkey starting in 2001. It had a strategic alliance with Russian S7 Airlines who owned 68% of Armavia for a while. The carrier took over flights from Armenian airlines which went bankrupt in 2003 and then it absorbed flights operated by Armenian International Airways which collapsed in 2005.
It has a smallish fleet of eleven planes and was launch customer for the Sukhoi Superjet 100 last year. They named it after the first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin.
(Ironically, one of the largest orders for the Superjets was from the now defunct Malev Hungarian Airlines). Their second Superjet 100 comes in April, 2012.
They fly to points in Europe (eg Amsterdam, Lyon, Milan, Venice), Middle East (eg Tel Aviv, Beirut, Dubai, Istanbul), Russia (Mosow, Volgograd) and Ukraine (Kiev, Odessa). Most flights orginate from Zvartnots Airport 12 km (7.5 mi) west of the Armenian capital: Yerevan.
For much of 2011, they have been clearly in a cash flow crisis. They dismissed staff very quickly after the European summer of 2011. In addition, there have been rumors that the airline is up for sale. Armavia flights have been delayed because of the company’s high debts to Zvartnots Airport which twice surpasses the norm set. In December they reduced all fares by 7 per cent- one wonders if to generate cash. The Federal Russian Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) suspended flights in Russian airspace until air navigation fees were settled. On March 6, Armavia promised this payment by March 20.
On the same day, the airline went on “strike”, refusing to pay fees on flights out of Zvartnots Airport in protest of the high fees at that airport. The Managing Director of Armavia, Mikhail Baghdasarov said “either we declare bankruptcy or Zvartnots Airport lowers its tariffs by 25 percent“. There was an agreement on March 14, 2012 between the airport and the airline which has been kept confidential. The company said is preparing for a “busy summer” and intends to acquire new types of aircraft.
So is Armavia ailing or aspiring?
To the list of defunct airlines in 2012: Air Australia, Air Zimbabwe, Spanair and Malev, we can add the latest collapse of an airline: Directair.
After suspending all of its scheduled flights in the middle of the spring break travel season last week, there probably was not much left to do. White knights are few and far between in this economy. Initially they promised a resumption of service on March 15. This resumption was delayed until May 15. Now that option has gone. Court documents show the company has at least $10 million in debt and just $500,000 to $1 million in assets
This is not a carrier I have tried. Their model was slightly different as they had no aircraft. Instead Direct would sell seats on services and then contract other carriers to fly those services. They started flying in 2007 from the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to three destinations. They had 16 destinations as at their grounding date including their Myrtle Beach hub:
As with other groundings this year passengers had little notice and were stranded in airports around the country. Surely there must be some system or scheme that automatically guarantees a passenger will get home if a carrier goes bust?
The collapse will also impact significantly on a number of smaller airports in the USA which will hurt those local economies significantly.
One more bit of trivia: no new airlines have started this year and with rising oil prices, I cannot see any more. In fact, I am expecting a very grim year.
The Indian air market is estimated to be the ninth largest in the world but with the population size the country has, the Indian government believes it will become the world’s third largest market by 202o. 87 foreign and five Indian airlines fly to and from India to 40 countries. Approximately five million Indians fly every month domestically. Domestic traffic more than doubled between Jul-2006 and July 2011, with growth of 101%. One reason for the growth was the deregulation of Indian domestic aviation in 2003- 2004 followed by international deregulation in 2007-2008
Today, India’s airlines have some of the youngest fleets in the world and new airport facilities have blossomed across the country. For example Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) was awarded the fourth best airport award in the world. When I flew there prior to the rebuilding of the airport, it was an awful airport.
India has three full service airlines Air India, Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and four Low cost carriers: GoAir, IndiGo, JetLite (owned by Jet airways), and SpiceJet. Kingfosher also had a discount version: Kingfisher Red known formerly as Simplifly Deccan and before that Air Deccan. I have only flown Jet, preferring to travel through India on their amazing railway system but that’s another story. Market share from September, 2011 is shown below.
The industry, however is not making money. Indian airlines will lose up to $3 billion in the fiscal year that ends this month, according to CAPA, with state-owned Air India accounting for the bulk of the losses. Three of those airlines are in severe financial trouble: Air India, Jet, and Kingfisher:
Indians know the Kingfisher name as it is the country’s most popular beer accounting for a third of domestic beer consumption. Owned by United Breweries, the beer was launched in 1987 and enjoyed phenomenal growth. The logic that anything with the Kingfisher name can grow in the same way seems to have propelled an insane airline expansion. For example, in 2008 it was stated: UB group has become the market leader in each core business it has ventured into.
Kingfisher Airlines began operations on 9 May 2005 with an inaugural flight from Mumbai to Delhi. A month later (June 15, 2005,) it ordered five A380s, five Airbus A350s aircraft and five Airbus A330s. It seems staggering that an airline a month old could order the world’s biggest plane in an untested market. They went international in 2008, less than four years ago. In May 2009, they became India’s largest airline by passenger numbers.
Kingfisher aimed to offer a premium service on all of its flights. Dr. Vijay Mallya, the Chairman of Kingfisher Airlines Limited said: I intend to make Kingfisher Airlines the best in the world and pursue this goal seriously… I have always aimed at delighting you and giving you nothing but the best.
It aimed to see customers as guests not passengers. As a result Kingfisher could boast it was one of the only seven airlines awarded the coveted 5-star rating by Skytrax. This put it in the same category as Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways, Asiana Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines, and Hainan Airlines. It gave every guest a free welcome on board kit including pen, facial tissue and headphone to use with their entertainment system. They had the greatest leg room with a 34 inch pitch (distance between seats) and won accolades for their best economy class seat. Kingfisher was the first of India;’s airlines to install an interactive entertainment system and made a deal with Dish TV to provide live TV entertainment to passengers. Passengers are served meals on most flights and bottled lemonade (not beer!) before take-off.
Kingfisher grew their fleet size to 68 aircraft with 90 on order ncluding those A380s mentioned previusly. The average age of its fleet was just 2.3 years. The carrier was flying to 63 domestic destinations and eight international destinations across Asia and Europe. It had code share agreements with American Airlines, British Airways and Philippines. They were also accepted into the One World Alliance.
Fast forward to the last year and Kingfisher have moved from flying high to the verge of bankruptcy. The crisis unfolded as:
Kingfisher Airlines is now down to fifth largest airline in India as their passengers desert them (do you blame them?).
I am just disappointed I never got to try Kingfisher (and get my free pen) and I don’t think I will ever fly them. I give Kingfisher airlines a month to survive unless a very wealthy benefactor buys them out. It won’t be Air India, Jet air or any existing Indian airline, though. Nor will it be the Indian government or the State Bank ofm India.Nor will it be a foreign carrier as currently, India bans foreign airlines from investing directly or indirectly in domestic airlines. If that were lifted in the next week (unlikely), I wonder how many foreign airlines would beat a path to buy a substantial stake in Kingfisher? Has Etihad got 1.2 billion spare and an interest in India?
According to Anant Rangaswami where Kingfisher went wrong was that while their planes were veyr comfortable, their punctuality was very poor. Anant notes ” when it comes to short-haul, domestic flights, the most fundamental needs are pricing and punctuality. The ‘luxuries’ such as great food, more comfortable seating, extra leg-room and in-flight entertainment come into play only AFTER these two needs are met. How much of a premium will a passenger pay for extra leg-room for a 90 minute flight? How often, in a domestic flight, can one see an entire movie?”
This week I fly from the Middle East to Paris where I will be competing in the Paris Half Marathon. Then I have a quick train trip to see friends in Amsterdam! See map below.
Last week, I landed at my 195th airport in my life: Bahrain in the emptiest plane I have ever been on. It was an Etihad 777 from Abu Dhabi that I swear was 10 to 15% full. Crew said the large plane was used because it was transporting freight.
Arrival at Bahrain was frustrating because of the “security situation” (petrol bombs, tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades were used in last week’s clash between police and demonstrators in the Gulf kingdom). We had extra screening which meant that the usual 5 minute max processing became a frustrating 2 hours.
The political situation in Bahrain is really taking its toll on Gulf Air, the national carrier. The carier used to be owned by a series of gulf states but they pulled out to start their own carriers so Gulf Air now belongs to Bahrain alone.
The on going protests in Bahrain and the Arab spring have reduced Gulfair passenger numbers by 25 per cent. The airline is in an on-going contraction. In the last month, they have ended services to Athens, Damascus, Entebbe, Geneva, Kuala Lumpur and Milan. The airline is pleading for government funds to keep going.
Will Gulfair be another carrier to go in 2012 or will the government bail them again? We have already lost four in 2012: Spanair, Cirrus, Malev and Air Australia
In response to an 83 per cent fall in its first-half net profit to $A42 million to December 31 and as a part of a half a billion dollar cost cutting measure. Qantas is pulling out of two more routes in May and cutting 500 jobs in catering, engineering and heavy maintenance. The sectors being lost are:
These cuts are in addition to the previously announced withdrawals in March from the Hong Kong-London and Bangkok-London routes.
The Singapore to Mumbai cancellation is not a total surprise. This route has had a checkered history over the last decade. Qantas planes used to fly non stop to Bombay.Then the Singapore stopover was added.
Then the flight went back to non-stop.
In 2009, the stop in Singapore was added again.The stop meant Qantas could pick up Indian passengers who fly between Singapore and India. The biggest disadvantage of the service was the passenger unfriendly 2am arrival time.
I suspect Jetstar will take up this route soon.
The Auckland to Los Angeles axing is more of a surprise. Qantas have been flying this sector for many decades.I have flown on this route ten times, evenly split between Qantas and Air New Zealand. Up to 2009, the service was operated by a 747 which started in Melbourne, flew to Auckland and then onto Los Angeles.
The 747 was phased out and the route was split into two parts. Today, the time table looks like this:
The two aircraft basically turn around so the 737 is shuttling between Melbourne and Auckland and the 330 between Auckland and Los Angeles. There is now a more significant wait in Auckland than there used to be when the same aircraft went all the way through. Passengers can also fly from Sydney to Auckland on QF 55 which arrives at 2;25pm and connect on to the LAX bound A330.
The biggest advantage to me of this service was it allowed me to stop over in New Zealand on the way to or from the USA. This meant I could combine business in two markets in a time efficient cost effective way. I have also noticed that Qantas consistently prices flights on the MEL to lAX via AKL more cheaply than the direct MEL- LAX flights.
I have four concerns with the announced changes:
1. Market Loss
Qantas is effectively removing itself from potential travellers coming from North America, who may wish to combine Australia and New Zealand without backtracking and Australians who may want to combine the USA and New Zealand. I am not sure how big the market is or will be and I know Qantas can re enter the route.
2. Air New Zealand gains Monopoly status
I don’t believe Air New Zealand will go too crazy with fare increases but we will see some reduction in the number of discounted seats available. Air New Zealand still has to price the route at a rate the market will bear and one which is low enough to entice people to fly that distance. In addition Air NZ are still competing with Qantas on LA-SYD and must bear Qantas pricing in mind
3. One World Alliance impacted
There is now a gap for One World round the world tickets. Passengers wanting to include Nee Zealand in a one world round the world itinerary will have to go via Australia to fly a one word carrier to or from North America. We also lose the option of earning One world points on this sector. Every reduction in One world earning capacity pushes me further toward Virgin Australia and partners and Star Alliance (Air New Zealand belongs to Star).
4. The Joyce Grand Plan
As I have blogged before, I am not a big fan of Alan Joyce’s (pictured) new plan for Qantas. The plan consists of trimming Qantas to a few key routes which
feed int One World partner routes at key points (e.g. Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Dallas, London), the creation of a Premium Qantas Asian carrier and the expansion of low cost carrier Jetstar. I fear the trimming of Qantas will reach a point where Qantas is almost a skeleton only. It reminds me of the Uk railway system under Lord Beeching in the 1960s. He reduced the rail system to a few trunk lines by closing as many rural branches as possible. It was only a few years later that people realised that successful main lines gained their passengers from these branch lines. Chopping the branches pushed people into motor vehicles and they by passed the trains altogether. This is now being reversed in the 21st century but the damage to rail lasted almost five decades.
Reaction
The announced changes have not been greeted with excitement by passengers or employees. Qantas is currently, the subject of an Australian Parliamentary inquiry as a result of the grounding of the whole airline last October by Mr Joyce. The relationship with the Unions is already at the lowest ebb. That seems to have got even worse with the Transport Workers Union head Tony Sheldon today saying”. “It’s clear the Australian people have got one foul liar running a company and destroying the company,” Sheldon said of Joyce. “It’s become clearer and clearer from both statements within Qantas management privately, and from our politicians in Canberra on both sides of the house, that Qantas intends to strip the flying kangaroo and Jetstar in an operation to maximise profits for the executives.” He went on to demand Qantas be prosecuted as the union felt the job cuts violated Fair Work Australia’s requirements.
The skies will remain turbulent for the Australian Flag Carrier especially as it seeks to avoid a demise like Malev, the Hungarian Flag carrier.
In the meantime, thanks to the crews who have looked after me on the Auckland service. May see you one more time in April!
With the collapse of Malév this seems like the only time to post about my last Malev flight in July 2009 – 2.5 years ago from Rome to Budapest.
My ticket was actually booked in conjunction with a Cathay Pacific fare (Malév were part of the One World alliance). I travelled to Budapest from Australia via Hong Kong and Roma. From my visits to Malév ’s website, I found it to be streamlined, straightforward and effective.
Signposting for the Malév check in at Rome’s Leonardo Da Vinci (Fiumicino) (ROM) was appalling. It was hard to work out of this was in fact a Malev desk. There appeared to be no priority for business passengers at check in. I was flying in Economy class but was Platinum status with qantas which is the top tier One World. The clerk was efficient, fairly pleasant and made sure I got an exit seat on he 737. She told me where the lounge was.
Despite my status, I was refused entry to the lounge because I was flying in Economy Class. The lounge Malev was using was run by a separate company and the reception did their best bouncer technique to make me feel as small as possible for even asking. What amazed me was that the Check in clerk had referred me to the Lounge!
Boarding: 7 out of 10Boarding was initially very efficient. As I reached the check in counter, the agent looked at my boarding pass: “ah Mr Cowling, we were paging you in the lounge, we have upgraded you to business” and handed me a boarding pass for Seat 1A. So pleased with this development, I did not explain that I had been denied entry to the lounge.
We then boarded a bus out to the tarmac.I have mixed feelings about this. I personally love walking on the tarmac and seeing close up the plane I am flying on (pictured here). I always find the bus trip a jarring annoyance, however. It also is a terrible option if you have a physical disability.
I am not a big fan of the 737 but the interior on this Malév one felt quite airy. Business Class pitch (distance between seats) is 34.4″. As I was in the front row, this was less relevant. Width was 18″.The Business class cabin feels a little cozy as it is arranged in a 2-3 configuration after row 1. Economy seating is 3-3 with a pitch of 30.5″ and seat width of 16.9″
By contrast low cost competitor, Wizz on the same route offers 28″ to 30″ seat pitch. Qantas on a short haul 737 offers 35″ pitch and 21.1″ width in business and 30″ and 17″ in economy.
The crew’s attitude is hard to describe. They were definitely smiling, polite and very happy to serve but I did not feel they were overly warm
I am not being critical here, because their efforts contributed to this being one of the most relaxed flights I have ever had as well as the amazing entertainment (see below). There was no special welcome for me as a platinum flyer. Qantas and Cathay Pacific do make a point of having the cabin manager visit you. American, Lan, have never done it and British Airways has sometimes done it. A small inconsistency across the One World network.
I liked the cartoon-like human figures used in their safety video. I like the very authoritative “Please locate the exit nearest to you now” Hear the emphasis on now! The music used is the same as in a couple of their advertisements. Crew appeared to take safety very carefully and gave a reassuring perception that they knew what they were doing. That always scores high marks from me. Cabin crew chatting through a safety briefing really angers me! This crew didn’t. 
We were served a cold but delicious meal: roll and chocolate dessert. There was a reasonable drink selection.
There was no entertainment provided by Malév hence my rating but…
The flight itself provided huge entertainment in the landscape below. It was an incredibly clear day and we flew over Italy crossing a sparkling Adriatic sea and then across Croatia into Hungary. We flew over Lake Balaton in Hungary, which I would be swimming in the very next day! It was one of the smoothest flights I have ever had with not a hint of turbulence. 
My rating: 77% (4 out of 5)
Positives: Cabin crew, Meal
Negatives: Check in and lounge at Rome airport, boarding at Rome, Non existent on board entertainment
Would I fly them again? Yes, but I won’t ever get that chance.
My last Trip Report: January 31: Etihad Evaluated
After several horror years of airline failures globally, 2011 was a relatively quiet year with only a small number of airline names vanishing.
Stranded Passengers in Budapest: http://www.euronews.net/
2012 has already been busy, however, with the collapse of Spanair and Cirrus in January. This week I was sad to see the collapse of Malév, the Hungarian flag carrier. The airline has been on the edge of collapse for years. Shutdown was triggered by a European Commission order to repay €300 million in “illegal” government subsidies and forced when Tel Aviv and Dublin airports grounded two of Malév’s jets.
On closure day, 30 000 passengers were stranded. The airline had 2,600 employees and transported 9.2 million passengers last year. The collapse has wider impacts for Budapest airport, the Hungarian government budget, tourism in Hungary and the Hungarian economy.
Malév is an airline I have had some affection for and I am sad to see them go. I have long followed their progress (or lack of it more recently). Other airlines I have been sad about going include Laker (1982), Pan Am (1991), Ansett Australia (2001), Sabena (Belgium) (2001), Independence Air in USA (2005), Origin Pacific in New Zealand (2006) and Slovakia’s SkyEurope (2009).
Yesterday, the Hungarian free Metropol newspaper had what is probably the last ever advertisement by Malév: “We Thank You! We hereby thank all Malév passengers who chose to fly with the national airline in the last 66 years, for flying with us. Much love, The Employees of Malév The last Malév ad was published from money collected by the employees of Malév with the support of this newspaper.”
Who was this airline?
1946 -1988: Blood, planes and speed
The carrier started as the joint Hungarian- Soviet carrier: Maszovlet in 1946. In 1950 when Budapest’s Ferihegy Airport (now Liszt Ferenc International Airport) opened, the Carrier looked after the airport and also operated Hungary’s air traffic control.
On 26th of November, 1956 Malév Hungarian Airlines (Magyar Légiközlekedési Vállalat) began independent operations as the legal successor of Maszovlet. I am not sure if this separation was linked to the Hungarian uprising that started on the 23rd of October and was brutally crushed on 10th of November 1956?. There was a famous incident at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics in the semifinal water polo match between Hungary and the USSR which turned into a violent battle in the water. The match that what would later be known as the “Blood in the Water match.”-It is the subject of a documentary: Freedom’s Fury). I am curious that two weeks after the uprising containment, the airlines separated.
At that time Malév had a fleet of 15 aircraft (mostly 21-seater Lisunov Li-2s – the Soviet build version of the DC3). It had 18 domestic routes mostly between Soviet bloc countries. In its first year they carried 103,356 passengers and Malév replaced the Li-2s with much faster Ilyushin Il-14s.
In 1960, Malév was the first Soviet bloc airline to fly the Ilyushin Il-18 (pictured here in a museum). This plane gave Malev the ability to fly non-stop to the Middle East and North Africa.
In 1969, Malév shut down all of its domestic flights. It was now flying to 33 cities in 28 countries. 68-seat Tupolev Tu-134 jet passenger aircraft began operations.
1974 saw the arrival of 143-seater Tu-154 planes to replace the Ilyushin-18s from passenger service. Here is a Malev 1980s advertisment featuring a family flying on a TU 1-154. Spot the 80s hairstyles! 
Malév became a full member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in 1984.
1988- 2007: a new world
With the collapse of Soviet communism, Malév was one of the first of the Eastern European airlines to start introducing non Soviet aircraft with its first Boeing 737 in 1988. The entire Soviet built fleet was replaced by 1999.
Malév Photo by Kok Vermeulen (CC-BY).
At the same time, Hungarian graphic artist László Zsótér designed a new logo- one which survived the transition from communism to this week’s collapse. A rarity in the airline world to have an airline logo last over two decades!
The stylised ”M” symbol was usually depicted in the three colours of the Hungarian flag – red, white and green – although it sometimes appeared in a single colour scheme.
At this time, Malév was carrying over a million passengers a year to 40 cities in 30 countries. Malév was ranked among the top 10 companies in Hungary by annual revenues.
In the 1990s, Malév issued shares which were owned by the government. There was a brief part ownership by Alitalia
2007-2012: hurtling toward the inevitable
The airline was sold to a Russian company in 2007 after a desperate search for an owner. By this time, the airline was viewed as a massive financial burden on the state. At privatisation, the Hungarian government absorbed a 2003 loan. Malév also received shareholder “loans” which were all converted to shares and a tax deferral. All of these transactions were to raise the fury of low cost competitor Wizz air and the interest of the European Commission and lead to the inevitable demand to repay the money.
Malév under their new ownership dropped loss making flights particularly transatlantic services and attempted to use Budapest as a hub connecting all parts of European plus the Middle East. Major cost saving initiatives began. Also in 2007, Malév joined One World alliance.
In February, 2009, Malév had to pay wages in two parts because it could not afford to pay them in full.
Malév was re nationalised in 2010 on condition it become profitable by 2012 (which it didn’t). The Hungarian government has said a new Malév could rise if private “investors were prepared to operate it profitably and risk their own cash.” I am very pessimistic, we will ever see Malév again.
Competitor Changes from Budapest:
Impact on Budapest airport
The collapse will rob Liszt Ferenc International Airport of 1.5 million passengers a year- 40 per cent of airport revenue. Although these figures may be changed with the massive Ryanair expansions. Privatised in 2007, the airport is owned by five investors. Hungary’s Development Ministry said that the Hungarian state has effectively a full guarantee for any losses in airport revenue. The airport bill could be as much as $3 billion.
Impact on Hungary
The International Monetary Fund, has said Malév’s demise poses new threats to an already struggling Hungarian economy. Malév’s collapse comes as Nokia scales back its Hungarian manufacturing operations. Combined 5,000 jobs will go. There are tourism implications in the short and medium term.
The two big questions of course are: What could have been done differently? and Who is Next? I predict ČSA - České státní aerolinie (Czech Airlines)
Vale Malév
There are a few tribute videos for Malév. This one is by Airlineguy29
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