Red Wings was founded in 1999 as  VARZ-400. It aimed to be a discount airline.  It became Airlines 400 in 2001 and then adopted their current name Red Wings in 2007.

The airline owned ten Tupolev TI 204-100B, passneger jets capable of flying 210 passengers.

On December 29, 2012, one of their planes crashed in Moscow overshooting the runway and ending up on a highway. killing five crew. Faulty brakes were found to be the cause. This was the second overshoot for the carrier.

The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsiya  held a series of unscheduled operational and maintenance inspections of Red Wings from 10 to 16 January 2013 The Agency found  significant violations across the carrier. Flight operations, aircraft maintenance and pilot training were all discovered to have shortcomings.

Rosaviatsiya suspended the operator on February 4 because of safety issues. They noted that Red Wings lacked the financial resources to provide ongoing operations while maintaining a high level of safety. A somewhat scary assessment. The airline had already ceased flying and had announced there would be no attempt to revive the carrier.

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Background

Aer Lingus is the flag carrier and second biggest airline in Ireland. Operating since 1936, its name an Anglicisation of the Gaelic Aer Loingeas means “air fleet” .    A lot has changed for Aer Lingus in the last six years not the least being the Irish economic situation. The government reduced its 85 per cent stake to 25 percent through a listing on the Stock Exchange in 2006. Ryanair, arch rival and biggest Irish airline has now picked up close to 30 percent and attempted three takeover bids in five years. Abu Dhabi-based and owned Etihad Airways acquired 3 percent in May-2012. Aer Lingus operates a “hybrid model” here they compete as a Low Cost Carrier on European flights and operate as a full service carrier on North American flights. As part of this move, Aer Lingus moved out of One World but continued some relationships with One World carriers. Ryanair claims that since privatisation, Aer Lingus cumulative after tax losses are 91 million Euro and Ryanair’s profits have been over two billion Euro.

Booking: 5 out of 10

AerLingus.com has to be one of the most cumbersome booking systems I have ever encountered.  In many ways, Aer Lingus is repeating the Ryanair model of charging for every extra possible. It took seven screens from enquiry to completion. On the plus side, there are very good explanations for each step.

One frustration I had, was that Aer Lingus quoted everything in Forints. Yes, this is the currency of Hungary but I don’t use Forints very often.  I have no reference point to understand fares in Forints.    There seemed to be no option  on their website, unlike many other airlines to switch currencies. I  used XE.com  to understand the costs of luggage and seats etc. For example 1600 Forints is meaningless to me but 5.66 Euros or USD 7.35 makes sense.

Aer Lingus offer three types of fares. For this 1916 kilometre, three hour  flight the options and fares for the same Economy seat were (rounded to nearest dollar):

• Low:  Free Check-in and Assigned Seating (a dig at rival Ryanair who charge for check in and to get an assigned seat) $US91
• Plus: 1 checked bag, Free Seat Selection, Gold Circle Points  $115
• Flex: 2 checked bags, Full flexibility, Lounge access, $142 Refundable ticket

Aer Lingus have an option where you can hold the flight for around 5 Euros/7 Dollars. If you proceed with the booking within 24 hours, that money is deducted off your fare. Handy way to lock in a fare or a handy way for Aer Lingus to make more eruos?

They then added an admin fee of around seven dollars for my Credit Card. I imagine their actual processing cost would be closer to one dollar.  If I wanted an sms confirmation of my flight, that would cost me $1.40. Seeing that would cost the airline a few cents to do, here is another way of making Euros.

Bags were an extra $18.37 each for a 20kg bag.   Seat selection costs $5.51. To get an emergency exit seat cost me another $11.70.

So for a customer who chose the Low fare, accepted what ever seat they got would pay around $US98. If they had the same fare but added a bag and chose their seat selection, the price would work out at close to the Plus price. The advantage of the Plus price are the frequent flyer points you would earn.

For the fare difference of $51 dollars between Low and Flex, if you were carrying two bags and wanted to choose your seat, then your lounge access and full flexibility works out at less than ten bucks extra.  Note that I was doing these high financial calculations in Florints!

 Check In: 7 out of 10

I thought the Aer Lingus online check in system to be very “clunky”. I still needed to see an agent at the airport to sight travel documents. Check in was a little slow. Three passengers ahead of me had to repack their bags as they were over the regulation 20kilos. Instead of stepping to the side to do it and letting the agent serve others, they removed items at the counter. It is all a joke really because the person they wore the item removed from the luggage or put it in their carry-on. My check in agent was very pleasant and friendly. No questions were asked of my hand luggage.

Security was thorough and very structured with agents actively helping each customer with their computers, liquids etc

Boarding: 8 out of 10

The incoming plane was late. Boarding did not start until well after departure time. No announcement was made to advise us of the situation or to apologise.

When boarding commenced, the boarding area became a bit of melee with multiple lines cutting across each other. Despite specific rows being called, that did not actually matter.

Got the warmest welcome in lilting Irish tones from three of the cabin crew. If there is one way that Aer Lingus and Ryanair would differ, this would be it. I find the Ryanair greeting non existent or surly. The welcome was so warm, it made up for the lateness.

As I chatted to the flight attendant standing near my seat, I asked her if there any pain killers on board as I had an aching tooth. She got some for me before takeoff and brought them down to me (in exchange for my name and address to satisfy regulations). She did not charge me for the water.

On Board: 6 out of 10

The 174 Economy seats on the Aer Lingus A320 have a pitch of 30″ and a width of 18″.  My emergency exit seat had more room but not a huge amount more. Ryanair have the same pitch on their 737s but an inch less width on ever seat. Aer Lingus seats recline- whereas Ryanair’s don’t. The interior looked tired and didn’t grab me.

Meals: 4 out of 10

Aer Lingus sold a selection of snacks, sandwiches and hot and cold drinks on this flight. I wanted the chicken sandwich but the last one was sold to a gentleman a row ahead of me! Not wanting a BLT or a “Toastie”, I opted for a Snack Pack. Aer Lingus make a big deal that they sell the Irish Independent newspaper on board. Service was very warm and friendly.

Entertainment: 0 out 10

There was the window to look out of or sleeping. No wifi.

Landing

We landed a little late. Passport control was swift and I was in Dublin after a short ride.

The Verdict

My rating: Overall 62% (3.1 out of 5)- my overall rating of Aer Lingus based on my  previous flights is: 3.0 out of 5. I think the friendly welcome boosted this score. By comparison, I give Ryanair 3 out of 5.

Skytrax Rating of Aer Lingus: 3 star

Positives:   Friendly staff

Negatives: Entertainment system, lack of wifi, booking system, check in

Would I fly them again?  Yes- it was okay

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In September, commenting on South Africa’s only truly independent airline  going into bankruptcy protection to reorganise, I asked the question “will 1time run out of time and become another lost carrier in 2012?”

On November 2nd, CEO Blacky Komani  announced that the “1Time board, together with business rescue practitioners, decided to suspend services with effect this afternoon“. Planes in the air at the time flew back to the Johannesburg base. All other scheduled flights remained grounded. South African banks promised their Credit Card customers full refunds for any tickets bought using their cards.  The National Consumer Commission began investigating claims that 1time  was selling tickets just hours before ending its services knowing that they were about to go under.

On November 6th,  the airline filed for provisional liquidation. On December 11th, The North Gauteng High Court will rule on the final closure of the business. According to 1time, the liquidator’s ultimate objective is to revive the company and save jobs. The CEO has said that a UK investor was looking at options. Media speculation suggested that the investor might be Fastjet which is commencing operations in Tanzania at the end of November (see route map here). Fastjet is the brainchild of Easyjet founder  Stelios Haji-Ioannou and plans to operate across Africa. South Africa would be a perfect complement to their strategy. A Tanzanian base and a South African base would make it easier to expand through Angola and Botswana into Ghana, Nigeria and Zambia.

On the other hand, it might be cheaper and easier for Fastjet to expand organically into South Africa with its own brand name.  I don’t think that 1time really offers them much now-  a loyal customer base yes but from what I can see 1time collapsed because their load levels were only around 70 per cent. No airline is viable at this level.  In addition 1time has no useful planes as its MD80s are way too fuel inefficient.

These facts will weigh heavily on any other potential investor especially as the South African air market is already very crowded with four airlines (albeit two airlines and two subsidiaries) and any new carrier will need to successfully differentiate itself enough to make money.  Two more complicating facts. Firstly, SAA owned Mango is planning to expand beyond South African borders on its regional routes to Zanzibar, Mombasa and Livingstone.  Secondly, the previous 1time CEO is planning a new low cost carrier for South Africa.

In addition,  once an airline has suspended flights, it is a very challenging prospect to win back business under its current brand name. People remember being bitten once…

The current CEO of 1time, said he was emotional  at the time of service suspension. Possibly because the airline has gone and probably because  he put his own family home up as security to buy into 1Time a year ago. He loses that security on December 11 unless Fastjet rescues him. In the meantime 1time are the 24th airline to close in 2012 (although Air Zimbabwe are back it seems)

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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.

I think this is the last time we will hear from the Sterling name.

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Since the start of aviation , Australia’s domestic airline market has been largely composed of two major national airlines. From time to time the cozy duopoloy is challenged by a new entrant with a blaze of low fares.The latest such carrier is Air Australia.

2011 Background

Twelve months is a long time in aviation. Qantas the dominant domestic carrier suffered a series of rolling disputes in 2011 culminating in the dramatic three day grounding of the carrier’s services. Tiger Airlines Australia was also grounded be the safety authorities in mid 2011 for safety breaches. Virgin Blue the nation’s largest discount carrier has made a move to full service airline.

Brisbane-based Strategic Airlines

Operating as a full service charter airline since 1991, its biggest  client has been the Australian Defence Force  until last year . Strategic purchased Ozjet in 2009 along with its staff , Air Operator Certificate and the Perth-Derby  route.

On 15^th November, 2011, Strategic retired its name, red white and blue brand and full service model. It became Air Australia, a new international and domestic low-cost carrier. Its route network expanded on December 15, 2011. The carrier has a mixture of A320s and A330s.   Why the shift? Simple. Air Australia, needs to make money. It lost that major contract with the Australian Defence Force last year amidst a police investigation. The airline is cash flow positive because of its charter business but made a significant loss last year. 

Services now include:

• One domestic flight:  Melbourne to Brisbane
• Melbourne and Brisbane to Phuket
• Brisbane to Bali,
• Melbourne and Brisbane to Honolulu
• Brisbane-Port Hedland
• Perth to Derby
• The airline also plans to fly between Brisbane and Darwin. It has permission to fly to China and has applied to fly to Vietnam.

There is no competition on the Hawaiian routes.   This seems to be the strategy- to build an international network that is not Sydney focused and not in direct competition with the “big boys”. Jetstar/Qantas and Hawaiian all operate only from Sydney to Honolulu. I am interested to see if there is enough traffic on those sectors for Air Australia. Honolulu used to be a very popular destination for Australians but they have seem to moved onto other destinations no. Air Australia is a brand new carrier and have no US partnerships to feed traffic to or from.  From Brisbane to Bali via Darwin, Air Australia competes with both Jetstar and Virgin.

Unique Selling Points

CEO Michael James (who has been with the airline since 2002) said in contrast to Qantas and Virgin, the airline would offer: “Simplicity, value, operational integrity, genuine fares and service are our promise and all that we believe many Australian travellers want in order to get safely and enjoyably from A to B,” Air Australia are emphasising the following:

• their 100 per cent Australian ownership
• planes that are serviced in Australia (a dig at Qantas)
• first bag free (a dig at Virgin, Tiger and Jetstar)
• the option to buy a meal when booking and/or snacks on board (I am not convinced many people will take the meal option)
• an eight-seat fully serviced business class (with no lounge,  no frequent flyer points and fares that are not much less than competitors)
• an economy class with just 152 total seats on its A320s, compared with 180 seats on the same planes flown by Jetstar

They are believed to be considering introducing a frequent flyer program similar to the one Southwest Airlines had in the USA where a free trip is awarded after every ten flights.

Operational Integrity

This is a major issue.  Reading through the Trip Adviser’s discussion page on Strategic, there is complaint after complaint about the airline’s reliability. For example, Never again!!! 2 hour delay there, 9 hour delay on the way home!!!  In June, 2011, a “minor fault” on an A330 stranded several hundred people in Kuala Lumpur for four days.  The episode cost the airline more than $1 million in expenses to look after the people stranded. It has said that internal procedures have been overhauled and aircraft schedules changed to ensure there are always backup planes available.

The Big Question

Who will fly an airline that has no other significant domestic network, only flies twice a day on one domestic route and a couple of times a week on their international routes,  and offers fares that are not much different to the others?? If Air Australia tries to expand and directly compete on other domestic routes then it will be in a risky space. The CEO reassuringly has said: “Many of our staff and advisers have extensive airline backgrounds and we have seen it all before, we understand the challenges of the industry and we understand the market”  I don’t see enough differentiation to grab passengers, however and an emphasis solely on discounted fares will ultimately fail. Without a significant differentiation, I can’t see Air Australia filling their planes and therefore survival is at risk. There are a few directions, Air Australia could go with their model.

 The Allegiant Airlines model

At the moment, they seem to be following the Allegiant Airlines model. Allegiant is a US Carrier that is similar to Air Australia in that they operate charter and regular services. They have been doing so since 1997 and had their current business model since 2001. Some of the features ofAllegian’s model include:

• Generating high ancillary incomes in addition to ticket revenue- they currently average  $33 per passenger in ancillary revenues
• Selling 400 000 hotel rooms to their passengers (and receiving commissions)
• Flying from from smaller airports which have limited regular carrier services
• Flying only to to leisure destinations
• Marketing to leisure passengers traveling to warm-weather destinations
• A significant focus on  low operational costs
• A “RyanAir” feel
• profitability every year since 2003, unusual for an airline

An extended Jet Blue Model

I would like to see Air Australia go after the JetBlue model. JetBlue also a US airline aims to be low cost but in terms of passenger amenities and services, they outshine the big carriers. I think there is room for JetBlue to go really radical to attract passengers:

• Market the legroom advantage heavily (modelled after JetBlue in USA)
• Ditch Business Class and fill the space with one class seats (again JetBlue in USA) simplifying operations
• Reduce their fare types from five to two
• keep the one bag free (Southwest in USA markets this heavily)
• Offer wifi on all planes at a fee (AirTran in USA)
• Install seat back entertainment (to compete against other carriers) -possibly a couple of free options and the rest pay per view
• Offer free Tea and Coffee in departure lounges (AirTran)
• Offer free drinks on board (Southwest in USA)
• Emphasise Australian snacks and drinks on board
• Market the snacks heavily- offerring deals and options
• Paint each tail as a different Australian animal (like Frontier in the USA)
• Push the sale of duty free on board ensuring duty free is a significant part of revenue (following Korean Air)
• Provide an Australian candy/sweet like a Minty upon landing and approach (Air New Zealand still provides candy in this situation)

All of this will require capital. Capital, I am not sure Air Australia has. Personally, I would be fairly pessimistic about their future but am ready to be surprised.

I will report on my first Air Australia flight next Tuesday.

Their website: http://www.airaustralia.com/

One passenger (Robert Tyler) who disliked Ryanair immensely set up ihateryanair.co.uk in February 2007. The site has acted as a place for passengers to share horror stories. In January 2010, Mr Tyler began accepting ads on the site which earnt him 365 pounds. 

Ryanair then took Mr Tyler to a domain name tribunal complaining “that the site took unfair advantage of the Ryanair name for commercial gain.” The adjudicator agreed saying: “It cannot be fair to take advantage of the reputation attached to another party’s trade mark in this manner, whether it be good or bad.” and has demanded that the doman naem “ihateryanair.co.uk” be handed over to the airline. 
Mr Tyler has simply moved the content to http://www.ihateryanair.org! Check out these other anti Ryanair websites

• http://davefaq.com/Opinions/RyanAir-Sucks/
•  http://www.ryanaircampaign.org/ 
• Ryanair be fair (employee complaints). 

How an airline with four websites against them can continue to survive and grow makes you wonder! Cheap fares win every time it seems.

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Ryanair is the discount airline that everyone loves to hate.  Overall, they are the 8th largest in the world by total passneger numbers but Ryanair is the largest airline in the world in terms of international passenger numbers carrying 66 million passengers  annually. They fly more international passengers than Lufthansa. Staggeringly they carry more international passengers than British Airways  and Air France combined. They operate   250 Boeing 737-800 aircraft on over 1,100 routes across Europe.

They have a very poor reputation.

While, my experiences with Ryanair have been okay. I rate them only 3 out of 5 which makes them my eighth most disliked airline! Tripadviser earlier in 2010 declared Ryanair to be the worst for amenities (4th year in a row). Reasons why Ryanair is disliked:

1. Ryanair charge very low fares and then add extras like luggage and credit card fees (see my article: Discount Airline Ripoffs). Holiday Which?, said Ryanair is the “worst offender” for charging for optional extras. Check out this very very funny spoof of Ryanair’s practices by Fascinating Aida (NB naughty language!).
2. Many of the airports they claim to fly to are nowhere near their destinations e.g. “Hamburg Lübeck”, Germany is an hour by bus from Hamburg. Their Paris airport is Beauvais-Tillé, 85 km from Paris.
3. They have been fined by Advertising Authorities several times
4. They have been accused of abandoning passengers at the wrong airports
5. Covalence’s 2010 annual ranking of the overall ethical performance of multinational corporations put Ryanair at the bottom 12
6. Passengers arriving at an airport without a pre-printed online check-in have to pay €40 for their boarding pass to be re-issued
7. Customer complaints can only be made via a premium rate phone line, by fax or by post

I have friends who often fly Ryanair as if they were a bus. As I have said before: I dont particularly like bus travel!

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