ANZEIGE
Auch ein Opfer der Krise - Andalus/Spanien stellt Flugverkehr ein.
Hier mehr aus dem Gibraltar Chronicle.
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ANDALUS AIRLINE ON VERGE OF COLLAPSE
The future of Ándalus Líneas Aéreas looks increasingly shaky, according to a media report in Spain yesterday.
The strife-hit company pulled out of Gibraltar completely earlier this amid concern about its future, but continued to fly on other routes.
That situation now appears to have taken a turn for the worse.
Onda Local de Andalucia [OLA] reported yesterday that the airline had suspended all its operations and that dozens of its workers had not been paid for months.
According to the report, some 80 workers were taking collective legal action over their unpaid salaries.
OLA cited company managers as saying that they were seeking investors to step in and rescue the airline.
But repeated efforts by the Chronicle to reach senior personnel at the airline proved futile. The mobile phone for the director who dealt with the media was dead, as was the airline’s general number.
Although its website was still up and running, the airline’s online booking system was inoperative.
Ándalus was established in 2008 using exclusively Andalusian capital, including investment from the Junta de Andalucia. It flew from major cities in southern Spain to destinations in the Iberian peninsula and Morocco using small jets.
But the airline’s business model ran foul of the economic downturn.
BUMPY RIDE
Ándalus had stepped into the Madrid-Gibraltar air bridge after two airline majors pulled out of the route.
Iberia and GB Airways had tried their luck but found passenger volumes did not justify the costs of the service, particularly at time when the global economy was slowing down and fuel prices had risen to crippling levels.
Enter Ándalus with a different business model: where Iberia and British Airways had operated large passenger jets, the start-up airline was opting for 50-seat plane.
The idea was that smaller capacity would result in higher passenger yields on a low-volume route.
The problem was that no one anticipated just how low those volumes would be. According to the 2009 Air Traffic Survey published by the Gibraltar Government, load factors on flights to Spain averaged a paltry 41.5% during the year. At times, services were pulled altogether because no one was booked to fly. The company tweaked its schedules and pricing, with flights aimed at enabling businessmen from the area to fly to Madrid and back in one day.
But still the numbers were low.
Undeterred, Ándalus responded by launching a service between Gibraltar and Barcelona in July last year. But it was a short-lived exercise. By September, less than three months after they started, Ándalus pulled the Barcelona flights.
Behind the scenes, the problems facing Ándalus were far deeper than simply low passenger volumes. In March this year, reports emerged that the company had allegedly built up unpaid debts running into hundreds of thousands of pounds. An Ireland-based aircraft leasing and financing company called GE Capital Aviation Services called in the lawyers and moved in.
By April, Ándalus had announced that all flights between Gibraltar and Madrid were suspended.
Hier mehr aus dem Gibraltar Chronicle.
e-mail Print
ANDALUS AIRLINE ON VERGE OF COLLAPSE
The future of Ándalus Líneas Aéreas looks increasingly shaky, according to a media report in Spain yesterday.
The strife-hit company pulled out of Gibraltar completely earlier this amid concern about its future, but continued to fly on other routes.
That situation now appears to have taken a turn for the worse.
Onda Local de Andalucia [OLA] reported yesterday that the airline had suspended all its operations and that dozens of its workers had not been paid for months.
According to the report, some 80 workers were taking collective legal action over their unpaid salaries.
OLA cited company managers as saying that they were seeking investors to step in and rescue the airline.
But repeated efforts by the Chronicle to reach senior personnel at the airline proved futile. The mobile phone for the director who dealt with the media was dead, as was the airline’s general number.
Although its website was still up and running, the airline’s online booking system was inoperative.
Ándalus was established in 2008 using exclusively Andalusian capital, including investment from the Junta de Andalucia. It flew from major cities in southern Spain to destinations in the Iberian peninsula and Morocco using small jets.
But the airline’s business model ran foul of the economic downturn.
BUMPY RIDE
Ándalus had stepped into the Madrid-Gibraltar air bridge after two airline majors pulled out of the route.
Iberia and GB Airways had tried their luck but found passenger volumes did not justify the costs of the service, particularly at time when the global economy was slowing down and fuel prices had risen to crippling levels.
Enter Ándalus with a different business model: where Iberia and British Airways had operated large passenger jets, the start-up airline was opting for 50-seat plane.
The idea was that smaller capacity would result in higher passenger yields on a low-volume route.
The problem was that no one anticipated just how low those volumes would be. According to the 2009 Air Traffic Survey published by the Gibraltar Government, load factors on flights to Spain averaged a paltry 41.5% during the year. At times, services were pulled altogether because no one was booked to fly. The company tweaked its schedules and pricing, with flights aimed at enabling businessmen from the area to fly to Madrid and back in one day.
But still the numbers were low.
Undeterred, Ándalus responded by launching a service between Gibraltar and Barcelona in July last year. But it was a short-lived exercise. By September, less than three months after they started, Ándalus pulled the Barcelona flights.
Behind the scenes, the problems facing Ándalus were far deeper than simply low passenger volumes. In March this year, reports emerged that the company had allegedly built up unpaid debts running into hundreds of thousands of pounds. An Ireland-based aircraft leasing and financing company called GE Capital Aviation Services called in the lawyers and moved in.
By April, Ándalus had announced that all flights between Gibraltar and Madrid were suspended.