I am not sure if such thread exists so I will take the time to creat one since I am studying aviation and work in the field as well.

Some great news from Poland, as already announced months back, LOT will aquire 8 Boeing 787s starting in 2008. Originally these planes were supposed to replace the 7 767s in the fleet, however the airline authorities have made a decision to simply 'reinforce' the long hault fleet by the 787s. 3 of the 7 767's (oldest ones) will be replaced, however 4 Boeing 767-300ER aircraft will remain in LOTs fleet. This means that LOT will have a fleet of:

8 Boeing 787s
4 Boeing 767s

This is all due to a new program and future expansion plans which include exoanding into the Asian marker and becoming stronger in the North American market! Great news for us, such plans have been long awaited as LOT is loosing out BIG TIME right now!

Also, additional 4 B787s will join the fleet until 2012 ... so the future hopefully looks promising for LOT!

Rassian "Aeroflot" signed cotracts on buying 22 Boeing 787 Dreamliner, 22 Airbus 350 XWB, 10Airbus 330-200 and 45 Sukhoi SuperJet-100

"Siberian Airlines" ("S7") signed contracts on buying 15 Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 25 Airbus 320

Good! Such large country as Russia should have airlines with well developed fleets. It is about time Central and Eastern European Airlines started developing their airlines! Malev, CSA .... you're next!:cheers:

Bulgaria Air just signed on for 543 A380s. We're a super big country so you know, it makes sense. :)

Where can I sign up for a plane too?

Rassian "Aeroflot" signed cotracts on buying 22 Boeing 787 Dreamliner, 22 Airbus 350 XWB, 10Airbus 330-200 and 45 Sukhoi SuperJet-100

"Siberian Airlines" ("S7") signed contracts on buying 15 Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 25 Airbus 320

I don't really get it, why they'll operate the the 787s and the 350 XWBs parallelly... Naturally I could say some reasons, but still I think this was rather a political decision than an economic one...

Good! Such large country as Russia should have airlines with well developed fleets. It is about time Central and Eastern European Airlines started developing their airlines! Malev, CSA .... you're next!:cheers:

Actually MALEV for its size, has a pretty modern fleat... All NG 737s, and new CRJs. Only the Fokkers and the 3 767s (2 767-200, and a 767-300ER) needed to be replaced wiht 787s (IMO) badly...

Where can I sign up for a plane too?

^^ :hilarious :rofl:

And I want a fleet of BBJs (737, 787, 747-8)...

Where can I sign up for a plane too?
Btw, some arab bought himself a personal A380 at Le Bourget :)

Btw, some arab bought himself a personal A380 at Le Bourget :)

I'm pretty positive that rich guy could afford the whole of Aeroflot without even sweating.

Boy, this thread died! Let's give it a new lease of life!
Bulgaria Air (http://www.air.bg) is supposed to be the Bulgaria’s “national” carrier, but its ownership is very unclear meaning the money comes from nobody knows where most likely money laundering we are talking about here. Kind of like the new Russian billionaires that nobody knows where their money comes from. Well I know, everybody’s savings! Hah-hah, big secret!
I would show you the logo if their web site works! How typical!
But I would be interested to read about the EE national airlines!

Aerosvit to buy up to 14 new 737-800NG planes, first 7 confirmed for 2011-2012, then has purchase rights for 7 more during 2008-2015.

http://i11.tinypic.com/4qx81ty.jpg

P.S. How is LOT doing on the "Open Sky" program? I am really pissed off at our government, they don't want to allow low-cost carriers into Ukraine to avoid competition with Aerosvit and others. How's the situation in Poland?

Poland is part of EU, and it has effectively had OpenSky shoved up its ass:D
Today, all major European low-cost carriers fly in & out of Poland with virtually no restrictions - Ryanair, EasyJet, Centralwings, SkyEurope, WizzAir, etc.

Ukraine is in the same boat as Serbia. We're hoping that next year, Serbia will sign the Open Sky agreements, which should bring more competition and lower fares to consumers:yes:

Good news about these NG's:okay:

Malév Hungarian Airlines current fleet:

Boeing 767-300ER (1 piece) - 229 seats
Boeing 767-200ER (2 pieces) - 185 seats
Boeing 737-800 NG (5 pieces) - 180 and 168 seats
Boeing 737-700 NG (7 pieces)- 119 seats
Boeing 737-600 NG (6 pieces) - 102 seats
Fokker 70 (5 pieces) - 72 seats
CRJ 200 ER (4 pieces) - 50 seats

The 767s are used for intercontinental flights (New York, Toronto, Bangkok) :cheers:

I had the pleasure to see part of MALEV's fleet at Ferihegy, in July... very good fleet. New (especially the 737s), well maintained, aircraft and a very nice livery. I'm fond of this airline. Maybe I'll post some pictures, though they're very poor. :(

I had the pleasure to see part of MALEV's fleet at Ferihegy, in July... very good fleet. New (especially the 737s), well maintained, aircraft and a very nice livery. I'm fond of this airline. Maybe I'll post some pictures, though they're very poor. :(

Every single piece in this country in the field of aviation(apart from traffic control)is owned by foreigners:)

Yeah, MALEV, Ferihegy and other... but I wouldn't be too worried... maybe being a student of Economics kinda makes me seeing the industry as strictly business, and as long as it's run well, I don't see the problem.

From what I've heard and seen, BAA, for example, does a good job at Ferihegy.

Yeah, MALEV, Ferihegy and other... but I wouldn't be too worried... maybe being a student of Economics kinda makes me seeing the industry as strictly business, and as long as it's run well, I don't see the problem.

From what I've heard and seen, BAA, for example, does a good job at Ferihegy.

apart from that the spanish owner dont pay tax in Hungary,it is fine...
I was thinking the other day...govs issues projects to the companies that bid the best offer...how can foreign ones make better ones,than local companies? Locals pay tax in the same country,pay local workers,who pay tax there,and buy stuff that is again,tax income...but a foreigner pays tax "at home",maybe have some foreign workforce,which is again,less tax income...why cant govs see this???

Yeah, MALEV, Ferihegy and other... but I wouldn't be too worried... maybe being a student of Economics kinda makes me seeing the industry as strictly business, and as long as it's run well, I don't see the problem.

From what I've heard and seen, BAA, for example, does a good job at Ferihegy.

The new owner is essen based Hochtief Airport Ag... BAA sold Budapest Airport after the takeover by spanish side Ferrovial...

They don't necesarily go for the best overall deal, but for the one with the best quality/price ratio, or sometimes, even the cheapest one... they generally don't seem to think in the long term. And you also have to admit, that some countries are way better at certain things than our EE countries, because they have tradition and we're generally facing the issues we face today... some 10-20-30 years ago. One good example in BAA. Does Hungary have the level of expertise needed to run a competitive airport in the EU? I don't think so... at least, not at this moment.

LE: oh, I wasn't aware of BAA selling Ferihegy.

They don't necesarily go for the best overall deal, but for the one with the best quality/price ratio, or sometimes, even the cheapest one... they generally don't seem to think in the long term. And you also have to admit, that some countries are way better at certain things than our EE countries, because they have tradition and we're generally facing the issues we face today... some 10-20-30 years ago. One good example in BAA. Does Hungary have the level of expertise needed to run a competitive airport in the EU? I don't think so... at least, not at this moment.

Well,the deal was for "only"90 years,so only some..89years remains.:lol: :lol:

I was thinking the other day...govs issues projects to the companies that bid the best offer...how can foreign ones make better ones,than local companies? Locals pay tax in the same country,pay local workers,who pay tax there,and buy stuff that is again,tax income...but a foreigner pays tax "at home",maybe have some foreign workforce,which is again,less tax income...why cant govs see this???

Private ... efficiency …

The Malév Boeing 767-300ER flying over the Danube on the 20th August national day:

http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/3711/p1030862yl7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/404/p1030864rd2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/8237/p1030865yv8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/4561/p1030868dd3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Well,the deal was for "only"90 years,so only some..89years remains.:lol: :lol:

Sorry Mate, I'm not doin' it on purpose... 75 years, not 90...

One good example in BAA.

BAA is crap. If you look at statistics you’re gonna start crying

only one for the moment - http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article2195581.ece

Private ... efficiency …

You guys just issued the biggest project in the region to an american company...wonder how much more tax would have stayed in the country with a Romanian company...

The Malév Boeing 767-300ER flying over the Danube on the 20th August national day:

http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/3711/p1030862yl7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/404/p1030864rd2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/8237/p1030865yv8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/4561/p1030868dd3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Beautiful plane (767)! I'm a true Boeing fan... Ohh that new 787... It rocks... Good for the Pols...

Sorry Mate, I'm not doin' it on purpose... 75 years, not 90...

Wow..my grandchildren might see it!WOW!

You guys just issued the biggest project in the region to an american company...wonder how much more tax would have stayed in the country with a Romanian company...

Massive bribes :bash: low quality ... I'd say give all infrastructure projects to establised foreign companies

Wow..my grandchildren might see it!WOW!

^^ :lol:

Perhaps not! I think it will never return, to the state's or hungarian hand.

^^ :lol:

Perhaps not! I think it will never return, to the state's or hungarian hand.

Or it may return with a good deal like the M5 motorway :)

Massive bribes :bash: low quality ... I'd say give all infrastructure projects to establised foreign companies

Same for airlines,rail companies and maritime companies?Because that is what we do. Gov is now selling the freight segment of MÁV,which IS generating profit..your national railroad company is a candidate!

Or it may return with a good deal like the M5 motorway :)

No comment... :ohno:

^^ :lol:

Perhaps not! I think it will never return, to the state's or hungarian hand.

Its not that I'm pro or con in case of politics,but strategical things shouldnt be sold.

BAA is crap. If you look at statistics you’re gonna start crying

only one for the moment - http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article2195581.ece

I know the article... funny and sad at the same time.:nuts: I know BAA is crap in some aspects compared to Schiphol Group, ADP, Fraport, Aena and others. But it's not THAT crappy, and I was talking about it operating Ferihegy.

Malév Hungarian Airline's CRJ 200 ER give a hell of a flying experience...

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/5209/crjje4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Great plane, but on regional level I would vote for Brazil's Embraer...

Its not that I'm pro or con in case of politics,but strategical things shouldnt be sold.

Without politics, I disagree... :lol:

Or it may return with a good deal like the M5 motorway :)

Estimated cost of M6-M60 is 2-300billion HUF..M5 was like 500billion(right?),and was like a 60-70kms long,opposing to M6-M60's 140. Good deal? But if I'm wrong,and "only" 100billion..still,that was a bad deal..you buy used cars more expensive than a new one?

Well,the deal was for "only"90 years,so only some..89years remains.:lol: :lol:

you leased to them for 90 years? wtf?!?!

Gov is now selling the freight segment of MÁV,which IS generating profit..your national railroad company is a candidate!

Romanian CFR Marfă and GFR are interested in MÁV Cargo. Of course I'd be glad to see one of them buying MÁV Cargo, but I don't think that's too good for Hungary. CFR really sucks! GFR is the same.

Estimated cost of M6-M60 is 2-300billion HUF..M5 was like 500billion(right?),and was like a 60-70kms long,opposing to M6-M60's 140. Good deal?

Actually for the last 45 kms of M5 the bill is 395 000 000 EUROs. And we'll se the end price of M6-M60... You showed me the Index article RawLee... :lol:

But this thread is about flying.

Sorry for the hijack. To get back..are there domestic flights in Romania?

you leased to them for 90 years? wtf?!?!

75... But still long-long time...

wow!!

Estimated cost of M6-M60 is 2-300billion HUF..M5 was like 500billion(right?),and was like a 60-70kms long,opposing to M6-M60's 140. Good deal? But if I'm wrong,and "only" 100billion..still,that was a bad deal..you buy used cars more expensive than a new one?

I meant good deal as "good" deal :cheers:

BAA is crap. If you look at statistics you’re gonna start crying

only one for the moment - http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article2195581.ece

And to add to this … last month I paid around 1000Euro (extra) only not to sleep at Heathrow as my flight had got cancelled … and I would’ve had to queue for one day to get my flight rescheduled, and another one to wait for the "new" flight etc etc. I had to literally walk 5 min till the end of this queue; once I got there ... I gave up; within minutes I was on the net booking another flight - which I missed; than booked another one ... long story :nuts: :lol:

....

Once I missed my flight and they got me on another one the second day; my luggage though stayed at the airport and should have been transferred to the new/next flight/plane. I knew smth is going to go funny... and mentioned to BA staff twice; I even offered to take my luggage back and check in once more the second day ... anyway, when I got to Bucharest ... my luggage was still in London :lol:

you leased to them for 90 years? wtf?!?!

no:lol:just 75:lol:

are there domestic flights in Romania?

^^ http://www.carpatair.com/

Romanian CFR Marfă and GFR are interested in MÁV Cargo. Of course I'd be glad to see one of them buying MÁV Cargo, but I don't think that's too good for Hungary. CFR really sucks! GFR is the same.

Its not that I'm nationalstic and such,but do you see the paradox? We are selling a critical part of the country to out "hated" neighbour,who took Transylvania:lol:

Sure there are... flown by TAROM, Carpatair, Blue Air... I think Romavia and that's about it. TAROM, for example, uses Boeing 737s and ATR 42s on domestic flights. However, there are some cities and town that have airports but no regular service.

What about Hungary? I've always asked myself if you have domestic flights, and though I'm an aviation buff, I still don't know for sure. :lol:

Its not that I'm nationalstic and such,but do you see the paradox? We are selling a critical part of the country to out "hated" neighbour,who took Transylvania:lol:

I wouldn't care if one of the company would work well... If they really want to sell it, than they should choose DB...

Sure there are... flown by TAROM, Carpatair, Blue Air... I think Romavia and that's about it. TAROM, for example, uses Boeing 737s and ATR 42s on domestic flights. However, there are some cities and town that have airports but no regular service.

What about Hungary? I've always asked myself if you have domestic flights, and though I'm an aviation buff, I still don't know for sure. :lol:

We had between the WW's,and there was an effort a few years back,but you can reach anything with car in 4 hours..a plane cant compete with that..if only 1 hr trip,and 1hr check in and 1hr check out...

^^ http://www.carpatair.com/

I think that TAROM operates domestic flights too between Bucharest and countryside towns

I wouldn't care if one of the company would work well... If they really want to sell it, than they should choose DB...

DB dont work with shit like we have here:) Althoug germans have Ferihegy...

Sure there are... flown by TAROM, Carpatair, Blue Air... I think Romavia and that's about it. TAROM, for example, uses Boeing 737s and ATR 42s on domestic flights. However, there are some cities and town that have airports but no regular service.

What about Hungary? I've always asked myself if you have domestic flights, and though I'm an aviation buff, I still don't know for sure. :lol:

There are plans, and were rehearsals, but the regular flight between Debrecen and Budapest went bankrupt. Hungary is just too small.:ohno:

I know a few people here complaining about OTP Bank and MOL beeing in Romania as they are Hungarian companies. WTF?! Are we at war with each other? No... stop acting dumb, people!

It's not about you RawLee, it's about the ideas some people have. Qtya is right in what he says.

I think that TAROM operates domestic flights too between Bucharest and countryside towns

:gossip: I would never use TAROM...

Why not?!

I know a few people here complaining about OTP Bank and MOL beeing in Romania as they are Hungarian companies. WTF?! Are we at war with each other? No... stop acting dumb, people!

It's not about you RawLee, it's about the ideas some people have. Qtya is right in what he says.

I'm not against such things,as long as there is a national carrier. But there is not!We're selling it! completely exposing freight transport and air traffic to foreign companies!

Could You guys from Romania post info and photos about Blue Air?

Why not?!

I use MALÉV or budget airlines... That's the ONLY reason... :lol:

BTW: We should make a thread on budget airlines flying (or operating from) to CE and EE. With opinions, data, pics, and everthing...

For example: I never used Carpatair before, and I would really like to know personal experiences of the carrier...

:gossip: I would never use TAROM...

Some bad experience maybe?

I'm not against such things, as long as there is a national carrier. But there is not!We're selling it! completely exposing freight transport and air traffic to foreign companies!

That is nothing wrong with selling such assets to foreign companies as long as they're regulated properly by the governments ... Cosmin has just mentioned BAA which toghether with all major UK airports is owned by Spanish since last year (or beginning of this year)

Some bad experience maybe?

Ok. Everyone who I know, and flew with TAROM, said bad things of the Romanian national carrier, but their oppinion came from a decade back.

The main reason I posted above..

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/51/BlueAir_logo.png/150px-BlueAir_logo.png

IATA: 0B | ICAO: JOR

Blue Air is a Romanian low-cost airline based at Băneasa - Aurel Vlaicu airport in Bucharest. It was founded in 2004. The company is by far the cheapest air carrier as of November 2006 to service Bucharest and other Romanian cities. It now operates a fleet of 5 aircraft on 24 destinations.

Fleet (as of March 2007)
2 x Boeing 737-300 (YR-BAA, YR-BAC)
1 x Boeing 737-400 (YR-BAD) (another one is scheduled to join the fleet)
1 x Boeing 737-500 (YR-BAB)
1 x McDonnell Douglas MD-82 (YR-MDK) (leased from Jet Tran Air)

www.blueair-web.com (http://www.blueair-web.com)

http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/766/1224042vk7.th.jpg (http://img110.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1224042vk7.jpg)http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/9109/1152459wl2.th.jpg (http://img110.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1152459wl2.jpg)

^^ We just can not get used to the idea of selling a part of MÁV to a foreign company. It is like if the Budapest metro system were sold to RATB :D

More like selling it to Metrorex or the future Metropolitan Transport Authority of Bucharest. :lol:

As for TAROM, I think they're ok regarding service and very good regarding safety. And safety is no. 1 for me. The flight attendents suck, though. Meals are good, aircraft are good (new 737-700 and A318)... as for the 737-300 and ATRs... people complain a bit, but most of them want a 737-like flight in an ATR, so... :)

Haven't yet flown with MALEV. Heard that food is bad... and I know it's safer (statisticaly) than TAROM.

Ok. Everyone who I know, and flew with TAROM, said bad things of the Romanian national carrier, but their oppinion came from a decade back.

The main reason I posted above..

Your answer arrived quicker than my question, I just did not want to delete it :)

That is nothing wrong with selling such assets to foreign companies as long as they're regulated properly by the governments ... Cosmin has just mentioned BAA which toghether with all major UK airports is owned by Spanish since last year (or beginning of this year)

Ok,you (guys) got me. I give in. I just hope that on day,we wake up,and dont find the country under some other nation's (indirect) control. I just dont like this kind of "insecurity".

More like selling it to Metrorex or the future Metropolitan Transport Authority of Bucharest. :lol:

I did not know that not RATB is the operator of Bucharest metro. Bit offtopic BTW :)

Blue Air is a Romanian low-cost airline based at Băneasa - Aurel Vlaicu airport in Bucharest. It was founded in 2004. The company is by far the cheapest air carrier as of November 2006 to service Bucharest and other Romanian cities. It now operates a fleet of 5 aircraft on 24 destinations.

Fleet (as of March 2007)
2 x Boeing 737-300 (YR-BAA, YR-BAC)
1 x Boeing 737-400 (YR-BAD) (another one is scheduled to join the fleet)
1 x Boeing 737-500 (YR-BAB)
1 x McDonnell Douglas MD-82 (YR-MDK) (leased from Jet Tran Air)

www.blueair-web.com (http://www.blueair-web.com)

http://cdn-www.airliners.net/photos/middle/2/4/0/1224042.jpg
http://cdn-www.airliners.net/photos/middle/9/5/4/1152459.jpg

Thank You Cosmin, I was thinking of something like this!

^^ We just can not get used to the idea of selling a part of MÁV to a foreign company. It is like if the Budapest metro system were sold to RATB :D


I would not have such "problems" ... competitiveness should be main aim.

BTW RATB has improved massively in the last few years ... I mean ... lets face it: there is no capital in EE to have 1000 brand new CITAROSsssssss :cheers:

What about Hungary? I've always asked myself if you have domestic flights, and though I'm an aviation buff, I still don't know for sure. :lol:

from Wikitravel:
"Hungary's international airports are Budapest Ferihegy Airport in Budapest, Airport Debrecen in Debrecen and FlyBalaton Airport in Sármellék. The Hungarian national carrier is Malév (Hungarian Airlines). There are also several low cost carriers operating to Budapest: for example SkyEurope, Wizzair, Easyjet, Germanwings."
"Hungary presently has no regular domestic flights. As Budapest lies in the center of the country and pretty much any point can be reached within three hours by train or bus, there isn't much need for scheduled domestic flights."

Ok,you (guys) got me. I give in. I just hope that on day,we wake up,and dont find the country under some other nation's (indirect) control. I just dont like this kind of "insecurity".

I was thinking, "What the hell this guy is talking about...", than I realized I failed to read your post fully...

Its not that I'm pro or con in case of politics,but strategical things shouldnt be sold.

^^ Somehow I read should... instead of the originally written shouldn't. Ok. Sorry RawLee, I'm blind. I agree with You absolutely!

Ok,you (guys) got me. I give in. I just hope that on day,we wake up,and dont find the country under some other nation's (indirect) control. I just dont like this kind of "insecurity".

I think CE and EE needs some years to arrive at a level of confidence which is common between coutries of WE. Today it is strange for us that the Malév is under Russian or the MÁV-Cargo may will be under Romanian control. But when France survived that Air France is not independent any more, we will do it too :)

I would not have such "problems" ... competitiveness should be main aim.

BTW RATB has improved massively in the last few years ... I mean ... lets face it: there is no capital in EE to have 1000 brand new CITAROSsssssss :cheers:

We bought 40 combinos for 1billion HUF for each(total 156,155,979EUR),and build a new metro for 500billion HUF(1,950,948,871EUR). Or EE is just valid for this forum?

BTW RATB has improved massively in the last few years ... I mean ... lets face it: there is no capital in EE to have 1000 brand new CITAROSsssssss :cheers:

Yes, probably, but BKV is building a new subway line for 500 billion HUF (2,5 billion USD)

What about CITAROs ... any? :nuts: :cheers:

Seriously we're 5 years away from having decent trams; so the mayor said - so I should stick another year on top

What about CITAROs ... any? :nuts: :cheers:

No citaros:)some volvos,some solaris,but no citaro.Do we,Qtya? But that traffic control thing you wrote about in some other thread is very good! Wonder how long until we get one...

We bought 40 combinos for 1billion HUF for each(total 156,155,979EUR),and build a new metro for 500billion HUF(1,950,948,871EUR). Or EE is just valid for this forum?

And now we have over 200 new Volvo 7700 buses:

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/7478/volvo770011eq0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=11871204&postcount=11

Farther info on Budapest Public Transportation: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=444856

BKV's newest buses are Volvo 7700s. As far as I know, there are 150 of them. They are articulated BTW :D

They got some Volvo and Solaris. :) Overall, Budapest's public transport is somewhat better than Bucharest's. Overground transport is clearly better. Underground... eh, I really liked the metro, especially the modernized stations on line 2. Line 1 is a bit of a toy, but it's a jewel considering when it was build. Don't like the trains, they suck! Good thing they're about to buy new ones... I think the first should've already arrived.

The major good thing about Budapest metro is that trains arrive at 1-4 mins. intervals, as opposed to Bucharest, where they run at 3-10 mins. But we have a bigger network, we have Bombardier Movia train sets, we're working (for more than a decade now :lol: ) on two new extensions, planing two more lines and possibly even a third one. So Bucharest's potential is better. Too bad we are so f**king slow. :(

I'm not trying to brag or something... I'm just comparing the two systems.

P.S.: how off-topic are we? :lol:

Unless our Volvos fly,and your metros can levitate,we are waaaaay off topic:):)

No citaros:)some volvos,some solaris,but no citaro.Do we,Qtya?

No CITAROS, but around Budapest (and some places in the country too) we have lots of MERCEDES O345G Conectos...

http://img250.imageshack.us/img250/1716/mercedeso345conectoaw3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

More Volvo 7700A-s...

http://img250.imageshack.us/img250/5904/volvo07so3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

And we can find some Citaros too...

http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/3050/mercedeso530citarofz8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

BKV's newest buses are Volvo 7700s. As far as I know, there are 150 of them. They are articulated BTW :D

BKV ordered another 50 7700a-s with a/c units and Volanbusz ordered (don't know the exact number though) too...

Unless our Volvos fly,and your metros can levitate,we are waaaaay off topic:):)

The Volvos are used on line 200 too, which goes to Ferihegy Airport (just to bring the thing on topic:))

The Volvos are used on line 200 too, which goes to Ferihegy Airport (just to bring the thing on topic:))

Following you logic,MÁv also has a stop at Ferihegy,so the freight topic is also valid?:)

Ok guys! I had a rough day, so I'm flying :lol: to bed...

Sadly, not with this baby...

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/3093/malev05resizezg2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

And not with any other baby tonight...

:goodnight

Following you logic,MÁv also has a stop at Ferihegy,so the freight topic is also valid?:)

Well, if the freight trains stop there... It could be a great business for MÁV cargo to operate low-cost trains to Ferihegy, with freight cars :D No seats but cheap fares and huge space for baggages :)

Please Guys! Post some photos of the regions national, budget and all other carriers...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c7/Carpatair_logo.jpg/200px-Carpatair_logo.jpg
Carpatair (http://www.carpatair.ro/), founded in 1999, is the largest regional airline in Eastern Europe. It's based in Timişoara - Traian Vuia airport and operates services to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpatair_destinations in Europe with a fleet of 18 aircraft. It co-operates closely with Moldavian Airlines on fleet, maintenance and logistics.

Because it was one of the first airlines to fly internationally from Transylvania, it has been very successful in that it has not received much competition from other airlines. It is growing in terms of market share against TAROM and is the second-largest Romanian airline. Carpatair has various ticketing agreements with major airlines, such as Lufthansa and Air France-KLM.

Carpatair is the biggest Saab 2000 operator in the world, as of November 2006.

Carpatair's fleet
2 x Fokker 100 - used on selected European destinations
14 x Saab 2000 - used on domestic & European destinations
2 x Saab 340 - used on domestic destinations

http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/8918/1235480dt6.th.jpg (http://img110.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1235480dt6.jpg)http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/7380/1226967bx1.th.jpg (http://img110.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1226967bx1.jpg)http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/6908/1202923qe9.th.jpg (http://img110.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1202923qe9.jpg)http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/7562/1199979eg6.th.jpg (http://img110.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1199979eg6.jpg)http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/1102/1180099jt8.th.jpg (http://img110.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1180099jt8.jpg)

Double post (stupid net). Sorry. :)

Do You know any info on the shareholders Cosmin?

I believe you should do what the logo says...

Do You know any info on the shareholders Cosmin?

Carpatair shareholders:
Romanian (51%)
Swiss and Swedish(49%).

The President/CEO is Nicolae Petrov. The guy came from Moldova I think.

I believe you should do what the logo says...

???

There is an aviation museum next to the airport at Budapest,here is a panoramic pic about the exhibition:
http://www.repulogepemlekpark.hu/index.php?sid=8d69c3b24e6d45d74ce96b918320094b&activePage=technical.php

Carpatair shareholders:
Romanian (51%)
Swiss and Swedish(49%).

The President/CEO is Nicolae Petrov. The guy came from Moldova I think.

^^ :bow: :okay: :applause:

???I said it to Cosmin
at the bottom
http://cdn-www.airliners.net/photos/middle/9/9/0/1180099.jpg

I got it. thank You for the info RawLee, but I think this thread would look great with some photos... Perhaps I could find them alone, but whats the point in that. This whole forum is mainly about showing what we got.

You modified Your post... :lol: I was reacting too quick... :lol:

I got it. thank You for the info RawLee, but I think this thread would look great with some photos... Perhaps I could find them alone, but whats the point in that. This whole forum is mainly about showing what we got.

NO!!I wrote that for Cosmin,to read the bottom of the logo!!!:D

It reads "AIRLINERS.NET". :lol: And?! Is this about copyright issues? As far as I know those photos are released to the public and if you don't make a profit using them, you can post them wherever needed. Also, the guy that took the photo has got it's name over it... so no biggie.

Is this what is all about?:)

It reads "AIRLINERS.NET". :lol: And?! Is this about copyright issues? As far as I know those photos are released to the public and if you don't make a profit using them, you can post them wherever needed. Also, the guy that took the photo has got it's name over it... so no biggie.

Is this what is all about?:)

No,even more below!
It says:
"for information on how to link to our photos,please read www.airliners.net/usephotos"

No,even more below!

Do You mean "Information how to post photos"? And the reason You mad this statement, because Cosmin posted the airliners.net logo about 7 times? :lol:

Just kdding...

Do You mean "Information how to post photos"? And the reason You mad this statement, because Cosmin posted the airliners.net logo about 7 times? :lol:

Just kdding...

Well,I'm not mad. that plane looks coool,but is a bit boring after seeing that many times:)

Actually, there are 3 types of aircraft in those photos... SAAB 2000, SAAB 340 and Fokker 100. Indeed, there are 3 SAAB 340 photos... I thought they're ok. :) In the future I'll post just one/aircraft type. :)

Actually, there are 3 types of aircraft in those photos... SAAB 2000, SAAB 340 and Fokker 100. Indeed, there are 3 SAAB 340 photos... I thought they're ok. :) In the future I'll post just one/aircraft type. :)

You still dont get it..we dont see any airplanes..only logos!:)

In Bulgaria the main carrier Bulgaria Air flies 737-300,-400 and -500 aircraft.
Bulgarian Air charter has 10 MD80s Balkan Holidays 4 A320s and Air Via 3 A320s. Aviostart is a regional airline which operates AN-24 aircraft. The cargo airlines all operated AN12 aircraft, but these have been banned from the skies.:ohno:

WTF?!:bash: I see them perfectly. Check them now... you should see them.

WTF?!:bash: I see them perfectly. Check them now... you should see them.

Now they are working.Thank you!

The Malév Boeing 767-300ER flying over the Danube on the 20th August national day:


Nice pictures. I've seen 737 fly-by, but never 767.

In Bulgaria the main carrier Bulgaria Air flies 737-300,-400 and -500 aircraft.
Bulgarian Air charter has 10 MD80s Balkan Holidays 4 A320s and Air Via 3 A320s. Aviostart is a regional airline which operates AN-24 aircraft. The cargo airlines all operated AN12 aircraft, but these have been banned from the skies.:ohno:

No, that isn't it.This information is :old:
In Bulgaria the main carrier Bulgaria Air flies 6 Boeing 737-300, 1 737-400, 3 737-500, 3 BAe 146-200, 5 BAe 146-300 and 2 ATR-42 or total 20 aircrafts. Bulgarian Air charter has 12 MD80s Balkan Holidays 4 A320s and Air Via 4 A320s.:)

TAROM (http://www.tarom.ro/en/) is the flag carrier airline of Romania. Its main base is the Henri Coandă International Airport in Bucharest. 95% of it is owned by the Romanian Government (Ministry of Transport). The brand name TAROM is an acronym for Transporturile Aeriene ROMâne (Romanian Air Transport).

Founded in 1920 under the name CFRNA - (French-Romanian Company for Air Navigation), the airline adopted the name TAROM in 1954. The logo, representing a swallow in flight, has been used on all TAROM aircraft since 1954.

In November and December of 2006, TAROM took delivery of its first two Airbus A318-111, becoming only the second commercial operator of this type of aircraft in Europe. The aircraft are being used on routes from Bucharest to Brussels, Frankfurt, Munich and Paris.

Today, TAROM has a fleet of 20 (+2 on order) aircraft and serves 47 destinations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAROM_destinations) in Europe, Africa and the Middle East and has sharing agreements with Aeroflot, Air France-KLM, Air Moldova, Alitalia, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, El Al, Iberia, LOT, Lufthansa, Malév, Syrian Arab Airlines.

TAROM Fleet (as of August 2007)
2 x Airbus A310-300 (used on flights to Larnaca, London and Tel Aviv)
2 x Airbus A318-100 (used in Europe)
5 x Boeing 737-300 (used in Romania and Europe)
4 x Boeing 737-700 (used in Europe, Middle East and Africa)
7 x ATR 42-500 (used for domestic & short haul international routes)

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/1535/1123783py3.th.jpg (http://img210.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1123783py3.jpg)http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/3501/1245073kx2.th.jpg (http://img210.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1245073kx2.jpg)http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/6362/1137381uo5.th.jpg (http://img210.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1137381uo5.jpg)http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/2619/1174133yo1.th.jpg (http://img210.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1174133yo1.jpg)
http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/7131/1191117rf7.th.jpg (http://img210.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1191117rf7.jpg)http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/9350/1194442aj5.th.jpg (http://img210.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1194442aj5.jpg)http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/5489/1201314jb0.th.jpg (http://img210.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1201314jb0.jpg)http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/3628/1208635jz3.th.jpg (http://img210.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1208635jz3.jpg)

Nice fleet!

BTW,how do you do that the text becomes the link? like the "47 destinations". with "href":)?

you just press Quote and see how its done ... :nuts: :cheers:

how its done? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAROM_destinations)

LOT - Polish Airlines

5x Boeing 767-300ER
2x Boeing 767-200ER
6x Boeing 737-500
8x Boeing 737-400
3x Boeing 737-300
6x Embraer 175
10x Embraer 170
11x Embraer ERJ 145
8x ATR - 72
5x ATR-42-500

Total fleet: 64

8x Boeing 787-8 (Entry into Service: October 2008)

http://widebodyaircraft.nl/b787lot.jpg

Wizz Air is the biggest low-cost airline in CE. It was founded by former Malév leader József Váradi, in Hungarian-Polish cooperation. The airline has 6 bases: Katowice, Warszawa, Gdansk, Budapest, Sofia and Bucharest. The 7th will be opened in Poznan in 2008.
Wizz Air has 13 Airbus A320 with 180 seats. They are flying to about 50 destinations in Europe.
http://k43.pbase.com/u13/philjones/upload/38423112.HALPD_01.jpg

5x Boeing 767-300ER
2x Boeing 767-200ER
6x Boeing 737-500
8x Boeing 737-400
3x Boeing 737-300
6x Embraer 175
10x Embraer 170
11x Embraer ERJ 145
8x ATR - 72
5x ATR-42-500

Total fleet: 64

8x Boeing 787-8 (Entry into Service: October 2008)


Did you forget to mention the name of the airline?:lol: :lol:

So now Hungary & Poland are in Central Europe? You guys really need to make up your mind. Either you go with what the UN says, and in that case, the concept of "Central Europe" in nonexistent, and thus Hungary and Poland are in Eastern Europe, or you go for Central Europe, which ends, mind you, with Romania and Moldova. Just pick one. :lol: I don't want to argue, but c'mon...

I love Wizz Air's livery.:nocrook: HA-LPF landing at Girona - Costa Brava.
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/4537/1256165rw0.jpg

Did you forget to mention the name of the airline?:lol: :lol:

ooops sorry, I'm fixing it now :)

We all know it's LOT. :lol:

ooops sorry, I'm fixing it now :)
My goal for the future is (unless LOT goes crazy with ticket prices) to fly on LOT 787, JFK-WAW and E175, WAW-SOF. :cheers:

We all know it's LOT. :lol:
Well, not everybody in the world can recognize an airline from a picture! :nuts:

After TAROM (of course), LOT is my favourite airline in Eastern/Central Europe*.:) And then comes MALEV.

*pick one region, according to your beliefs and geography knowledge.

I love Wizz Air's livery.:nocrook: HA-LPF landing at Girona - Costa Brava.
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/4537/1256165rw0.jpg

I will be flying (first time) wizzair in September

So now Hungary & Poland are in Central Europe? You guys really need to make up your mind. Either you go with what the UN says, and in that case, the concept of "Central Europe" in nonexistent, and thus Hungary and Poland are in Eastern Europe, or you go for Central Europe, which ends, mind you, with Romania and Moldova. Just pick one. :lol: I don't want to argue, but c'mon...


I don't think that CE can be exactly located. It is called Central Europe by geographical means, because it is in the middle of Europe. On this forum, under CE runs Czech Rep., Slovakia and Hungary but I think CE is more than that. Sometimes the whole former eastern block is called Eastern Europe, by the way I have a Central Europe Road Atlas from 1992, including the BeNeLux states, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, Czechslovakia and Hungary :) I don't think that Hungary and Romania are not belonging to the same part of Europe as being neighbours. If you want to regard Romania as a CE country, I am not against it, the same way with Poland, Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, etc. :cheers:

actually CE term came with Visegrad Group : Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visegrad_Group

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b9/Visegrad_group_countries.svg/680px-Visegrad_group_countries.svg.png

Poland?-We are everywhere:D:lol:

I don't think that CE can be exactly located. It is called Central Europe by geographical means, because it is in the middle of Europe. On this forum, under CE runs Czech Rep., Slovakia and Hungary but I think CE is more than that. Sometimes the whole former eastern block is called Eastern Europe, by the way I have a Central Europe Road Atlas from 1992, including the BeNeLux states, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, Czechslovakia and Hungary :) I don't think that Hungary and Romania are not belonging to the same part of Europe as being neighbours. If you want to regard Romania as a CE country, I am not against it, the same way with Poland, Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, etc. :cheers:

It all depends on who's writing the book. In my college in USA I took Western History class. According to the book, England was in Western Europe, France was in Central Europe and Germany was in Eastern Europe and I'm not joking!
Geographically, the Balkans are in the middle of Europe (kind of little to the south). Armenia and Georgia are the real Eastern European countries!

Also from Wikipedia :D :
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/09/Mitteleuropa21.PNG
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Europe

"It is sometimes joked that Central Europe is the part of the continent that is considered Eastern by Western Europeans and Western by Eastern Europeans."

So Romania is WE :nuts:

http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/5361/51348023oc0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

So Romania is WE :nuts:

Then Great Britain or Portugal are the Far-Western Europe :D

Old new s ... ON topic ...

Bucharest Baneasa airport reopens after upgrades
The Associated Press
Published: August 19, 2007

BUCHAREST, Romania: Bucharest Baneasa International airport, which is used by low-cost airlines, reopened Sunday for commercial flights following upgrades of its terminal and repairs of its runways.
The airport, also known as the Aurel Vlaicu Airport and located in the northern part of the Romanian capital, has been closed since May. In the meantime, all flights have been diverted to the main airport in Otopeni, causing delays in security screening areas.
Despite being closed for four months, the Baneasa airport expects traffic to rise by 30 percent this year from 2006 to a total of about 1 million passengers.
Companies operating at Baneasa include Blue Air, Wizz Air, MyAir, Germanwings, SkyEurope and AlpiEagles.

BTW Cosmin … any renders or news regarding Baneasa new terminal (small one I should imagine) that was suppose to be completed by the end of this year ?!?!?!

^^ Not that I know of. I don't know what's with this lack of transparency.:ohno: Anyway, the plan is for 4 new terminals to be built, but that will happen in the future. For now, only one new terminal...

One more pic of MALÉV's 767 over the Danube, near Szabadság híd. Bigger version available here (http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=1255131&size=L&width=1024&height=694&sok=&photo_nr=&prev_id=&next_id=).
http://img111.imageshack.us/img111/633/1255131ih1.jpg

[QUOTE=Cosmin;15076025]So now Hungary & Poland are in Central Europe? You guys really need to make up your mind. Either you go with what the UN says, and in that case, the concept of "Central Europe" in nonexistent, and thus Hungary and Poland are in Eastern Europe, or you go for Central Europe, which ends, mind you, with Romania and Moldova. Just pick one. :lol: I don't want to argue, but c'mon...


In that case the Balkans could easily be called Southern Europe.

In that case the Balkans could easily be called Southern Europe.

South-Central!

http://img111.imageshack.us/img111/633/1255131ih1.jpg


SUPER! :master:

Wizz Air, the Hungarian budget airline that has built a business shuttling Polish and Hungarian workers between eastern and western Europe, is planning to float on the London Stock Exchange in a listing that could value it at £400m-£500m, reports The Daily Telegraph.

The Budapest-based airline, founded in late 2003 by chief executive Jozsef Varadi, has been holding a beauty contest of six investment banks to advise on an IPO, which the company hopes will include as much as £200m in fund-raising to finance expansion.

The banks vying for the adviser role, according to banking sources, include the trio behind the successful flotation of Spanish low-fare airline Vueling: Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley. The other banks pitching for the business are UBS, Credit Suisse and Citigroup. Morgan Stanley and Citigroup are thought to be favourites to land the bookrunner role.

The float is planned before the year end and Wizz Air is expected to have a higher market worth than Vueling, currently valued at €640m (£435m), including the new money raised.

Last year, Wizz Air flew 3.1m passengers, with Poland and Hungary its major markets. It will expand its nine-strong fleet of A320 aircraft to 13 by June, flying 86 routes, and expects to carry 4.5m passengers this year.

Wizz Air’s major investor is Indigo Partners, a US private equity group with affiliations to TPG - currently a bidder for Qantas and Iberia airlines. New money raised in the flotation will help fund Wizz Air’s order for a further 32 A320 aircraft by 2012.

The Wall Street Journal in March noted that Wizz Air’s rise is a stark illustration of the impact of the EU’s deregulation of airlines combined with its expansion into a 27-country bloc. Mr Váradi told the Journal that, like Ryanair, Wizz is more focused on keeping costs low, an approach that has already generated an operating profit — although the closely-held company won’t give details.

The next challenge comes from Ryanair itself, which has belatedly entered the market it first disdained. Ryanair quickly grabbed 12 per cent of the Polish market, flying to nine airports there in the first half of last year, up from almost nothing in 2005. It now flies to most of the countries that most recently joined the EU.

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary predicted last month that Wizz and others will get squeezed out by the Irish airline’s heft. But Mr Váradi told the Journal that Wizz’s low costs match Ryanair’s. Wizz also has a running start, he says, because its business is built on Poland’s reliable ethnic travellers.

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2007/04/25/4095/hungarys-wizz-air-plans-london-listing/

Some pics of Wizz Air:

http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/4686/intheairix3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/6857/aircraft3ho3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/7633/intheair5ds3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/6421/intheair4zk7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/1522/intheair3em7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

^^ Post it here Qtya, than to the Yugoslav regions airline thread.

budget airline company from Bratislava

http://www.aukcie.sk/markiza/upload/skyeurope_new.jpg

http://www.airways.cz/images/novinky/sky-europe-adriana-2.jpg

http://www.airways.cz/images/novinky/sky-europe-adriana-3.jpg

http://www.exon.sk/Data/Travel_Information/Mapa1.jpg

^^ I've travelled with them (SkyEurope) on Budapest-Amsterdam route and it was OK, apart from the fact that the seats were really close to each other (or I might be too tall with 1,91m :D)

budget airline company from Bratislava

http://www.aukcie.sk/markiza/upload/skyeurope_new.jpg

http://www.airways.cz/images/novinky/sky-europe-adriana-2.jpg

http://www.airways.cz/images/novinky/sky-europe-adriana-3.jpg

http://www.exon.sk/Data/Travel_Information/Mapa1.jpg

Super.:)
It's very nice airline.
:okay:

SkyEurope is a great airline, I'll definitely fly them again. :okay:

^^

they are starting to fly from Skopje in October

Very good airline.But is going out from Cracow:(.

September the 1st - Lufthansa started flying to Sibiu (formerly known as Hermannstadt), making it the third city in Romania after Bucharest and Timisoara to be served by the airline direct from Munich. The new destination is the latest addition to Lufthansa`s expanding network in Eastern Europe. This autumn, Lufthansa will operate 360 flights per week to 22 destinations in Eastern Europe. Sibiu is served five times a week by a Dash 8-300. With the introduction of the winter timetable on 28 October, a daily service will be operated. "Sibiu is one of the fastest-growing markets in Romania. For business travellers, Lufthansa is thus offering another direct flight to an important growth region in Eastern Europe," says Thomas Kluhr, Group Representative and Head of Hub Management Munich.

With its extended catchment area, the Transylvanian city of Sibiu has a population of more than five million. Since Romania joined the European Union in 2007, its economy has expanded significantly. Romania`s conducts most of its foreign trade with the European Union, Germany being the largest trading partner of Transylvania. About 15,000 companies with German investment have been set up in this region, including numerous firms in the engineering and plant manufacturing sector, the textile industry, the construction industry and the chemical and pharmaceutical sector. Sibiu is also a major tourist attraction: the mediaeval city in the foothills of the Southern Carpathian Mountains is the European Capitals of Culture in 2007.

What about Rijeka, Pula, Zagreb :D.

Sky Europe, wtf are you waiting for :lol:


http://www.exon.sk/Data/Travel_Information/Mapa1.jpg

Very good airline.But is going out from Cracow:(.

And also from Budapest... :ohno: Wizzair and Ryanair is just way too strong here in Hungary and in Poland too...

The first romanian low cost company(2003):

http://www.blueair-web.com/index.php?LANG=EN

you have here just the departures from bucharest:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1099/1312546172_0f4d29f89d.jpg

Very good airline.But is going out from Cracow:(.


:ohno: Bad news. They offer the most and best destinations from Krakow out of all the other airlines.

There is explanation, why SkyEurope's management decided to close a bases in Budapest and Cracow.

Dear fellow SkyEuropeans,

Today is a difficult day as we have to inform you that we have made our decision to close our bases in both Krakow and Budapest effective with the winter schedule (October 28). This decision was not taken lightly and was debated within the board right up until the final decision was made this week. Our People team is putting together offers for those of you who wish to re-locate to one of our other bases. We have also spoken with other companies who are interested in employing some of our staff, particularly cabin crew. We will be providing further information on this quickly. This decision in no way reflects on the efforts of our people in Budapest or Krakow as you have all been delivering an excellent product we are all proud of; this is strictly an economic decision and is one of many being made to allow us to reach our mission of profitability.

I will now explain why we made this decision and what this means for our staff currently located in these bases.

1.) With our current fleet of 14 aircraft it is inefficient for us to be spread thinly across our region with small bases and we have made a strategic decision that it is better to be strong in a few places rather than weak in many places;

2.) We see a lot of progress being made in our performance in the past 5 months as we have improved significantly over last year in both revenues and costs, but we still need more;

3.) We have identified multiple ways we will save costs by simplifying our operation by reducing the number of bases and the number of companies we have. Our operation has been too complex and these complexities add cost. By eliminating complexities, we will reduce our cost base and also make our operation run more smoothly as it becomes more concentrated;

4.) We have decided after much research that our best chance of achieving long-term success is to build our operation around Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Vienna. The short and long-term potential of these markets is significant and we know we have a superior cost base and product than our main competitors in Prague and Vienna. These markets have a good mix of both leisure and business traffic and are growing rapidly with very healthy national economies and most importantly, they have a less pronounced seasonality as their winter season is not as poor as in Krakow and Budapest.

5.) Prague and Bratislava/Vienna are also better located physically than Budapest and Krakow. For example our flight time from Prague to Amsterdam is approximately 1 hour less than from Budapest, yet the fare people are willing to pay is similar. We can achieve more production in these bases as there are more short-sector possibilities than in Krakow or Budapest where the sectors are longer and we can only fly 6 sectors a day, while in others we can do 8. These extra 2 sectors per day make a significant difference in revenue generation. Moreover, we will be able to have a much more stable and consistent roster for our crews with the new schedules we have developed for these bases;

6.) One of the major problems we have experienced with both Krakow and Budapest is the strong effect of seasonality. We do very well in these markets in the summer months and at Christmas time, while the rest of the year the market is weak. Simply put: it is difficult to make up the money lost in 40 weeks in the 12 weeks when the traffic is strong.

7.) There are other problems associated specifically with Budapest surrounding the economic conditions in Hungary. Our current passenger mix has very few Hungarians flying. This is the same for every airline flying in Budapest. Our primary market on Budapest flights has become incoming traffic and we cannot sustain this. We have clearly seen a reduction in Hungarian passengers as the economic condition in Hungary has continued to get worse. The excessive taxation in Hungary has left Hungarians with low disposable income to be able to afford a trip abroad when compared to the people in Czech Republic, Slovakia and especially Austria where disposable income is rising significantly. We know that if the economy in Hungary were different, our results in Budapest would be different. The tax regime in Hungary also makes it difficult to compete with our cost base as a Slovak company where the taxes are much lower.

8.) In Krakow we have many problems that negatively effect our operation that we cannot afford any longer. The airport is significantly below an operational readiness stage for a commercial airline base. There is only a Category 1 runway in one direction, the airport is built in an area where fog and strong tailwinds are common thus causing a lot of diversions every winter, there is no hangar at all for maintenance and most importantly the costs are far too high for such an airport.

There are many more reasons why we have taken this decision. One of these is our cost base at these airports in relation to our other bases. For example, our costs per departure in Krakow are more than 30% higher than in Prague and 52% higher than in Bratislava!!! To put this in perspective, it is cheaper to operate in Barcelona, Rome, and Milan than in Krakow. We tried to negotiate a reduction in charges in Krakow in order to remain with a base there. Unfortunately the offer we received was not enough to make a difference to overcome all of the costs and issues we have in staying in Krakow.

In Budapest, although cheaper than Krakow, we encountered a similar problem where we tried unsuccessfully to lower our costs. As with Krakow, the offer made by the airport was too low for us to be able to remain in Budapest and still realistically have a chance of reaching our target of profitability in our next fiscal year.

We believe that our agreements and locked-in low-cost base in Bratislava, Prague and Vienna ensures that we will be able to grow significantly in these bases without sacrificing profitability. Moreover, we firmly believe in the philosophy that we are better served to be a major player in fewer markets as we can benefit from the scale we can achieve this way.

We are not ruling out a return to these bases and will continue to serve Krakow this winter with flights from Vienna. We would dearly like to fly from Budapest, but under the current economic conditions, this does not work for us. When things change in Hungary, we will evaluate a return, but we have decided that we cannot continue to invest in markets that cannot be profitable for us in the short and even medium-term.

I hope many people choose to relocate and continue to be a part of the SkyEurope team in another base.

Sincerely,

Jason Bitter

A lot of to think over.

SkyEurope is expensive! RyanAir Dublin-Krakow 55 Euro, cheapest SKyeurope Dublin-Krakow 76 Euro.

Dear fellow SkyEuropeans,

Today is a difficult day as we have to inform you that we have made our decision to close our bases in both Krakow and Budapest effective with the winter schedule (October 28). This decision was not taken lightly and was debated within the board right up until the final decision was made this week. Our People team is putting together offers for those of you who wish to re-locate to one of our other bases. We have also spoken with other companies who are interested in employing some of our staff, particularly cabin crew. We will be providing further information on this quickly. This decision in no way reflects on the efforts of our people in Budapest or Krakow as you have all been delivering an excellent product we are all proud of; this is strictly an economic decision and is one of many being made to allow us to reach our mission of profitability.

I will now explain why we made this decision and what this means for our staff currently located in these bases.

1.) With our current fleet of 14 aircraft it is inefficient for us to be spread thinly across our region with small bases and we have made a strategic decision that it is better to be strong in a few places rather than weak in many places;

2.) We see a lot of progress being made in our performance in the past 5 months as we have improved significantly over last year in both revenues and costs, but we still need more;

3.) We have identified multiple ways we will save costs by simplifying our operation by reducing the number of bases and the number of companies we have. Our operation has been too complex and these complexities add cost. By eliminating complexities, we will reduce our cost base and also make our operation run more smoothly as it becomes more concentrated;

4.) We have decided after much research that our best chance of achieving long-term success is to build our operation around Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Vienna. The short and long-term potential of these markets is significant and we know we have a superior cost base and product than our main competitors in Prague and Vienna. These markets have a good mix of both leisure and business traffic and are growing rapidly with very healthy national economies and most importantly, they have a less pronounced seasonality as their winter season is not as poor as in Krakow and Budapest.

5.) Prague and Bratislava/Vienna are also better located physically than Budapest and Krakow. For example our flight time from Prague to Amsterdam is approximately 1 hour less than from Budapest, yet the fare people are willing to pay is similar. We can achieve more production in these bases as there are more short-sector possibilities than in Krakow or Budapest where the sectors are longer and we can only fly 6 sectors a day, while in others we can do 8. These extra 2 sectors per day make a significant difference in revenue generation. Moreover, we will be able to have a much more stable and consistent roster for our crews with the new schedules we have developed for these bases;

6.) One of the major problems we have experienced with both Krakow and Budapest is the strong effect of seasonality. We do very well in these markets in the summer months and at Christmas time, while the rest of the year the market is weak. Simply put: it is difficult to make up the money lost in 40 weeks in the 12 weeks when the traffic is strong.

7.) There are other problems associated specifically with Budapest surrounding the economic conditions in Hungary. Our current passenger mix has very few Hungarians flying. This is the same for every airline flying in Budapest. Our primary market on Budapest flights has become incoming traffic and we cannot sustain this. We have clearly seen a reduction in Hungarian passengers as the economic condition in Hungary has continued to get worse. The excessive taxation in Hungary has left Hungarians with low disposable income to be able to afford a trip abroad when compared to the people in Czech Republic, Slovakia and especially Austria where disposable income is rising significantly. We know that if the economy in Hungary were different, our results in Budapest would be different. The tax regime in Hungary also makes it difficult to compete with our cost base as a Slovak company where the taxes are much lower.

8.) In Krakow we have many problems that negatively effect our operation that we cannot afford any longer. The airport is significantly below an operational readiness stage for a commercial airline base. There is only a Category 1 runway in one direction, the airport is built in an area where fog and strong tailwinds are common thus causing a lot of diversions every winter, there is no hangar at all for maintenance and most importantly the costs are far too high for such an airport.

There are many more reasons why we have taken this decision. One of these is our cost base at these airports in relation to our other bases. For example, our costs per departure in Krakow are more than 30% higher than in Prague and 52% higher than in Bratislava!!! To put this in perspective, it is cheaper to operate in Barcelona, Rome, and Milan than in Krakow. We tried to negotiate a reduction in charges in Krakow in order to remain with a base there. Unfortunately the offer we received was not enough to make a difference to overcome all of the costs and issues we have in staying in Krakow.

In Budapest, although cheaper than Krakow, we encountered a similar problem where we tried unsuccessfully to lower our costs. As with Krakow, the offer made by the airport was too low for us to be able to remain in Budapest and still realistically have a chance of reaching our target of profitability in our next fiscal year.

We believe that our agreements and locked-in low-cost base in Bratislava, Prague and Vienna ensures that we will be able to grow significantly in these bases without sacrificing profitability. Moreover, we firmly believe in the philosophy that we are better served to be a major player in fewer markets as we can benefit from the scale we can achieve this way.

We are not ruling out a return to these bases and will continue to serve Krakow this winter with flights from Vienna. We would dearly like to fly from Budapest, but under the current economic conditions, this does not work for us. When things change in Hungary, we will evaluate a return, but we have decided that we cannot continue to invest in markets that cannot be profitable for us in the short and even medium-term.

I hope many people choose to relocate and continue to be a part of the SkyEurope team in another base.

Sincerely,

Jason Bitter

BTw: Why aren't they mentioning that Wizz Air is just too strong opponent? :lol:

The first romanian low cost company(2003):

http://www.blueair-web.com/index.php?LANG=EN

you have here just the departures from bucharest:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1099/1312546172_0f4d29f89d.jpg

^^ Some investors that see the potential ...

Greek Aegean Airlines confirms in talks to acquire stake in Romania's Blue Air

ATHENS (Thomson Financial) - Greek passenger airline Aegean Airlines said that it is in talks to acquire a stake in Romanian low cost carrier Blue Air, confirming yesterday's reports in Romanian newspaper Ziarul Financiar.
In a filing to the Athens Stock Exchange, Aegean Airlines said that the talks are ongoing and have not come to a conclusion.
Brokers said that Blue Air has a fleet of four Boeing (nyse: BA - news - people ) aircrafts and flies out of the second largest airport of Bucharest to major European cities.

Aegian was one of the bidder for Bulgaria Air but they lost to a Bulgarian consortium.

Hmm, well now Krakow needs to get another low cost carrier in cause the others ones only fly to England and Ireland. :ohno: Maybe this would be a good opportunity for Centralwings to expand.

Easyjet announce flights to Romania
British no frills airline EasyJet announced on 8th August it would add seven new routes to its network this autumn, including Romania. EasyJet, which is considered to be the second-biggest low fare airline company after Ryanair, will start regular flights from London Gatwick :banana: . Flights are available from €22.99 and the route will be serviced daily with flights from Gatwick, connecting at Milan Malpensa and arriving at Bucharest Baneasa Airport starting in September 2007.


British Airways is looking into offering flights to Transylvania from the UK.
BA doubled the number of flights it operates between London and Bucharest last year, and it is now likely to expand its services to other Romanian regions.
BA’s Romania commercial manager, Emil Delibashev, said: "Romanian destinations outside Bucharest are important to us and we are particularly interested in Transylvania.”
Targu-Mures airport, the gateway to Transylvania, has reported a three-fold increase in traffic over the last year, although only Wizzair currently offer flights there from the UK. Flights from the UK to Bucharest are a little more competitive, with Wizzair (Liverpool, London Luton) and Easyjet (London Gatwick) offering flights to the Romanian’s capital’s Aurel Vlaicu airport. Romanian national carrier Tarom slugs it out with BA on the route between London Heathrow and Bucharest’s main international hub, Henri Coanda airport.

Alright well I guess I'll contribute a bit to this thread as well representing airlines of Ukraine. According to the Ministry of Transportation / Aviation Administration as of 30.3.2007 there are 92 registered airlines that have a certificate to operate as an air carrier. Which means that in their capacity they own at least one type air transport vehicle, whichever it may be. However most are fairly small and operate from small and mostly unknown and unused airports such as Mykolaiv, Poltava, Rivne, Symu, etc. So I'm going to present a few of the larger airlines and those that have a significant share of the airline market domestically and abroad. Let's begin then.

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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/ca/AeroSvit_Airlines_logo.svg/300px-AeroSvit_Airlines_logo.svg.png
Aerosvit is Ukraine's largest air carrier with over 60 destinations, including long haul routes to New York, Toronto, Asia, and Middle East.

The current fleet consists of:

1- В737-200
2 - В737-300
7 - В737-400
3 - В737-500
3 - В767-300ER
7- Boeing 737-800 (on order) 7- Boeing 737-800 (options) 11 - Boeing 737-800 (leasing soon)
10 - Antonov An-148 (on order)

http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/5004/b737200el6.th.jpg (http://img409.imageshack.us/my.php?image=b737200el6.jpg) http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/6592/b737300bn8.th.jpg (http://img122.imageshack.us/my.php?image=b737300bn8.jpg) http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/7130/b737400wi7.th.jpg (http://img409.imageshack.us/my.php?image=b737400wi7.jpg) http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/4971/b737500nw5.th.jpg (http://img339.imageshack.us/my.php?image=b737500nw5.jpg) http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/3199/b767300erfn3.th.jpg (http://img339.imageshack.us/my.php?image=b767300erfn3.jpg)

Destinations: http://www.aerosvit.ua/ukr/flightsinfo/map.html

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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/66/Ukraine_International_Airlines_logo.svg/300px-Ukraine_International_Airlines_logo.svg.png
Ukraine International Airlines is mostly state owned (61%). It flies to 27 destinations, including domestic and Middle Eastern routes.

Its current fleet:

15 Boeings 737. Various complexions, of 737-300, 737-400, 737-500.

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/266/737300ma7.th.jpg (http://img213.imageshack.us/my.php?image=737300ma7.jpg) http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/8831/737400on5.th.jpg (http://img213.imageshack.us/my.php?image=737400on5.jpg) http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/5615/737500si5.th.jpg (http://img65.imageshack.us/my.php?image=737500si5.jpg) http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/8687/routesvd8.th.png (http://img213.imageshack.us/my.php?image=routesvd8.png)

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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/06/Umair-logo.gif
Also known as Ukrainian Mediterrenian Airlines, operates to over 20 destinations including a number of domestic, and international mostly to CIS countries.

Its fleet consists of:

2 - Airbus A320-200
4 - Antonov An-24
2 - Tupolev Tu-134A
3 - McDonnell Douglas MD-82 ?
1 - McDonnell Douglas MD-83 ?
4 - DC 9

http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/2971/a320ns4.th.jpg (http://img505.imageshack.us/my.php?image=a320ns4.jpg) http://img471.imageshack.us/img471/4528/an24be4.th.jpg (http://img471.imageshack.us/my.php?image=an24be4.jpg) http://img471.imageshack.us/img471/9674/dc9le0.th.jpg (http://img471.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dc9le0.jpg) http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/874/md82wu7.th.jpg (http://img505.imageshack.us/my.php?image=md82wu7.jpg) http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/6558/tu134lc8.th.jpg (http://img523.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tu134lc8.jpg) http://img471.imageshack.us/img471/9093/routesff3.th.jpg (http://img471.imageshack.us/my.php?image=routesff3.jpg)

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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/09/Donbassaero_logo.png/250px-Donbassaero_logo.png
DonbassAero is an airline operating on the domestic and international market. It flies to 19 international destinations.

Its fleet consists of:

2 - A320 10 - Yak42 6 - An24

http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/4858/a320bd5.th.jpg (http://img509.imageshack.us/my.php?image=a320bd5.jpg) http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/4548/an24ka9.th.jpg (http://img294.imageshack.us/my.php?image=an24ka9.jpg) http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/3870/yak42ed5.th.jpg (http://img509.imageshack.us/my.php?image=yak42ed5.jpg)

Destinations: http://www.donbass.aero/m1/ru/timetable/map

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I'm too lazy to post more airlines, but if you want to see the entire list go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airlines_in_Ukraine. Thank you for your attention.

Super.:)
It's very nice airline.
:okay:

Who cares about the airline?
Look at the girls.

A lot of interesting info here:okay:

Some statistics from the airlines of former Yugoslavia - Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia & Macedonia:



In year 2006, the four largest airlines in the region transported more than 4.2 million passengers

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v94/CrazySerb/airports/Erlajns-1.jpg


Their fleets as of May/June 2007...


Adria Airways
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v94/CrazySerb/airports/AdriaAirways.gif


Fleet: 17 aicraft

Airbus A320-231 x3
Boeing 737-500 x1
Boeing 737-4C9 x1

Bombardier CRJ-200 LR x 7
Bombardier CRJ-900 x 2
Saab 340 x 3 (CARGO)



Croatia Airlines

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v94/CrazySerb/airports/CroatiaAirlines.gif

Fleet: 11 + 4 aicraft on order

-Airbus A319-100 x4
-Airbus A320-200 x4
-ATR 42-300 x3
-Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 x 4 (2) ORDERS


Dubrovnik Airlines
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v94/CrazySerb/airports/DubrovnikAirline.jpg

Fleet: 5

2 McDonnell Douglas MD-83
3 McDonnell Douglas MD-82


BH Airlines
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v94/CrazySerb/airports/BHAirlines.jpg

Fleet: 2 + 2 on order

ATR 72-210 x 2
Airbus A319-100 x 2 (ORDER)


Montenegro Airlines
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v94/CrazySerb/airports/MontenegroAirlines.jpg

Fleet: 5 + 2 ORDERS

Fokker 100 x5
Embraer E195 x 2 (ORDERED)

Jat Airways
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v94/CrazySerb/airports/JatAirways.jpg

Fleet: 17

ATR 72-202 x5
Boeing 737-200 Advanced - 1
Boeing 737-300 x10
Boeing 737-400 x1

MAT Macedonian Airlines
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v94/CrazySerb/airports/MAT.gif

Fleet: 3

Boeing 737-300 x1
Bombardier CRJ-900 x2


Total Fleet: 60 aicraft + 8 ordered aircraft

Comparably, Czech CSA has a fleet of ~50-60 aicraft so the adequate aicraft number to service ex-Yugoslav countries would be closer t0 200 aircraft. Its a long way but we're getting there.

Recently, Russia's Aeroflot has shown in interest in becoming Serbia's Jat Airways "strategic partner" and increasing the size of the fleet from its current level to 40-60 aicraft virtually overnight.:yes:

Recently, Russia's Aeroflot has shown in interest in becoming Serbia's Jat Airways "strategic partner" and increasing the size of the fleet from its current level to 40-60 aicraft virtually overnight.:yes:

KM, you put your "strategic partner" as a light term. What you should really say is that Aeroflot is planning to buy out Jat.

Since nobody is posting any info on airlines in Moldova, I'll post some on Air Moldova and Moldavian.
http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/6223/airmoldovalogowe0.gif
Air Moldova (http://www.airmoldova.md/) (9U | MLD) is based at Chişinău Airport and has a fleet of 5 aircraft.

The airline was established and started operations in 1992 on the basis of the local Aeroflot unit. It is wholly owned by the Republic of Moldova and has 598 employees, and in the first half of 2007 the company made a profit of 840.000 USD.

Air Moldova operates scheduled services to Athens, Bucharest, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Larnaca, Lisbon, London, Moscow, Paris, Prague, Rome and Vienna. Regular charter flights to Antalya in summer and Sharm El Sheik in winter take place.

Fleet
1 x Airbus A320-200
1 x Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia
1 x Tupolev Tu-134A-3 (government aircraft)
1 x Yakovlev Yak-40
1 x McDonnell Douglas MD-82 (leased from SkyWings till end of October 2007)
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/7936/1117292yc3.th.jpg (http://img257.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1117292yc3.jpg)http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/1568/1203938ux5.th.jpg (http://img257.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1203938ux5.jpg)http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/6282/1158946aa5.th.jpg (http://img257.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1158946aa5.jpg)http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/4716/1263982nu4.th.jpg (http://img257.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1263982nu4.jpg)http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/5905/1244523bp8.th.jpg (http://img257.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1244523bp8.jpg)

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/9996/logoug2.gifhttp://img259.imageshack.us/img259/3231/mdvwe6.gif
Moldavian Airlines (http://www.mdv.md/) (2M | MDV) is based at Chişinău International Airport and operates on destination in Europe with it's fleet of 4 aircraft.

Moldavian Airlines was established on 26 July 1994 and started operations on 19 August 1994. It was the first private airline in Moldova. It became a joint Swiss-Moldavian company in November 1999, forming a partnership with the Romanian airline, Carpatair.

In 2006, MDV transported 89,200 passengers.

Fleet
1 x Fokker 100
2 x SAAB 2000
1 x SAAB 340
http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/918/1145091mi5.th.jpg (http://img212.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1145091mi5.jpg)http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/7779/1120327bo4.th.jpg (http://img212.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1120327bo4.jpg)http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/8554/1088346fm3.th.jpg (http://img212.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1088346fm3.jpg)http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/320/0766214fw3.th.jpg (http://img212.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0766214fw3.jpg)

Embraer ERJ-145 for Ukrainian carrier Dniproavia, seen here at Warsaw - Frederic Chopin awaiting delivery to Ukraine. I understand they've aquired two such aircraft, one former British Airways, the other former FlyBe. Very nice aircraft!:cheers:

Dniproavia has a fleet of 13 aircraft consisting of Boeing 737-300/400, Yak-40 and these Embraer beauties.
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/2140/1267626ub0.jpg

It is not exactly for this thread, but Delta will announce significant international expansion this week. The possible new EE non-stop flights from JFK are to Zagreb and Sofia. As you all know Delta is flying to Bucharest already.......

Didn't they mention Belgrade also?

Check the www.airliners.net forum I didn't see Belgrade, but some of the predictions such as Atlanta-Stockholms came out to be true. It was announced today!
http://news.delta.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=10857

I am surprised that Delta would consider Sofia. Is the BG market big enough to sustain a regular flight to Atlanta (and this is not NY)?

I am surprised that Delta would consider Sofia. Is the BG market big enough to sustain a regular flight to Atlanta (and this is not NY)?
If there is a flight to Sofia it would be from JFK. They started flying 4-time a week to Bucharest. Sofia's new runway and terminal are compatible with Delta's big jets and I would think that 3-time a week would be nice! There is a rumor in the aviation forums that Delta will have major expansion of its international routes.
They started today with the Atlanta-Stockholm news.
A friend of my friend of my friend of my friend of my friend of my friend who works at the airport said that Delta is negotiating with the Sofia airport authorities.
Also, the source is from www.bgspotters.net forum.

No, they'll not introduce an Atlanta - Sofia flight! The flight will be from Kennedy Intl. to Vrazhdebna.

No, they'll not introduce an Atlanta - Sofia flight! The flight will be from Kennedy Intl. to Vrazhdebna.
Believe it or not, Delta has Atlanta-Prague flight. Atlanta is more important airport for Delta than JFK because Atlanta is Delta's hub base.

For passengers in Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia, I think Kennedy is better than Atlanta. Don't forget that Delta has the entire Terminal 3 at JFK at it's disposal, and you can catch a (Delta) flight to a multitude of destinations in North America and not only...

My bet is on Kennedy. :)

Oh, if they select Atlanta instead of JFK I will be EXTREMELY disappointed. The truth is that Delta has more flights from Atlanta even more international flights!
It is cheaper for them to fly you from anywhere in USA to Atlanta and then fly you to Europe, but I would hate if I have to go to Atlanta first.
Again, we don't even know if they are starting to fly to Sofia!
BTW, I've flown Atlanta-Vienna (another "strange" Atlanta route).

Atlanta-Vienna is not that strange, cause you have good connections with New York from Vienna. You have Austrian and/or Lauda fly to NY, so for Delta it's better to fly from Atlanta. But this is from a very simple point of view. :)

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/2140/1267626ub0.jpg

Wow, I like this livery a lot!

For passengers in Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia, I think Kennedy is better than Atlanta. Don't forget that Delta has the entire Terminal 3 at JFK at it's disposal, and you can catch a (Delta) flight to a multitude of destinations in North America and not only...

My bet is on Kennedy. :)

Yes,flights will be from JFK.

Yes,flights will be from JFK.
WOW, you are so confident? How so?
BTW, todays's big news from Delta is Atlanta-Shanghai in 2008 and Atlanta-Beijing in 2009, not a concern for this forum. :ohno:
http://news.delta.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=10860

Trust me,it's only logical possibility ;)

I doubt that Delta will start flights to those markets in the near future.

^^ With Bucharest currently being served I believe Zagreb and Sofia being possible new routes for Delta but I'm surprised why Belgrade hasn't been mentioned.

^^ With Bucharest currently being served I believe Zagreb and Sofia being possible new routes for Delta but I'm surprised why Belgrade hasn't been mentioned.
How do you expect them to fill a B767 from Zagreb? They would barely be able to do that from Serbia. For an airline to be profitable from the Balkans to the US and Canada it must have an extremely good local network. When Jat was planning to fly to the US they wanted flights from Tirana, Sarajevo, Podgorica, Tivat, Skopje and Ohrid (they also wanted to introduce Bucharest and Sofia) to land at Belgrade in the morning at the same time so could all connect to the US flight. Unfortunately this didn’t happen because of political relations between the US and Serbia but I believe that only then this can be profitable.

Yesterday, the owner of Malév "Hungarian" Airlines, MR. Boris Abramovic announced that Malév is considering of buying 15 russian Sukhoi Superjets (75-95 seats) for regional routes.

According to russian sources contracts will be signed in the first quarter of 2008, and the first plains will arrive end of the same year.

Summary only in Hungarian:

Tizenöt Superjetet venne a Malév

2007. szeptember 26. szerda 12:54:54

A Malév tizenöt Szuhoj Superjet repülőgép beszerzésének lehetőségét vizsgálja Borisz Abramovics, a légitársaság tulajdonosának szerdai bejelentése szerint.

Az orosz hírügynökség információi szerint nem kizárt, hogy a 15 gép vásárlásáról szóló szerződést már 2008 első felében aláírják, adta hírül az MTI.

A Szuhoj Superjet regionális közlekedésre kifejlesztett, a 75-95 személyes kategóriába tartozó gép. Ára 28-30 millió dollár. Szakmai honlapokon közölt információk szerint a gépre eddig 7 légitársaság összesen 98 megrendelést és 75 opciót adott le. A szállításokat legkorábban 2008 második felében tudja megkezdeni a Szuhoj.

Mint arról kedden beszámoltunk, a Superjetet most szerdán mutatják be a nagyközönségnek az oroszországi Komszomolszkban. A gyártó Szuhoj cég a géppel a regionális légi ipart kiszolgáló jetek piacára kíván betörni, így például a brazil Embraer és a kanadai Bombardier repülőgépgyártó cégek rövid távú utazásra alkalmas gépeinek támaszt majd konkurenciát.

A Malév parkja jelenleg 21 Boeing, négy Fokker F-70-es és öt Bombardier CRJ 50 gépből áll. A társaság már korábban jelezte, hogy a Fokkereket és a CRJ 50-eseket el akarja adni.


Photos of the new Superjet from yesterday's roll out ceremony:

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/2912/sukhoieb0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/7721/sukhoi2ru0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/9382/sukhoi3hc5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Believe it or not, Delta has Atlanta-Prague flight. Atlanta is more important airport for Delta than JFK because Atlanta is Delta's hub base.

Delta is flying to Budapest also... I came home from the US with Delta back in 1994 too...

Delta is flying to Budapest also... I came home from the US with Delta back in 1994 too...
In EE, Delta is flying to Prague, Budapest, Bucharest, Kiev, Moscow, Athens. The next logical flight could have been Sofia (not because I am from Sofia :) ).

I doubt that Delta will start flights to those markets in the near future.
You are correct! All of the new 2008 Delta flights are to mostly Africa and Middle East. The closest to EE is the JFK-Edinburgh and Atlanta-Stockholm.
These new flights might actually work out for some of you......

New flight from Sofia!
http://www.novinite.com/media/images/2007-08/big_84425.jpg
^^
Novinite (http://www.Novinite.com)

Sofia to Skopje: monday, tuesday, friday
Starting Dec. 14th, 2007
Bulgaria Air (FB 817)

dep: 23:15 - Sofia (SOF)
arr: 22:55 - Skopje (SKP)<--It arrives earlier than the departure time :)

equipment: Aerospatiale/Alenia ATR 42/72
-----------------------------------------------
Skopje to Sofia: tuesday, wednesday, saturday
Starting Dec. 15th, 2007
Bulgaria Air (FB 818)

dep: 05:05 - Skopje (SKP)
arr: 06:45 - Sofia (SOF)

equipment: Aerospatiale/Alenia ATR 42/72

Sky Europe to connect Bulgaria to 11 European cities

Low-cost airline Sky Europe launches new direct flights from Bulgaria to 11 European capitals and major cities in October 2007, Sky Europe commercial director Karim Maklouf said on September 24 2007.

The company would launch daily flights to Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Innsbruck and Warsaw. Flights three times per week would be launched to Thessaloniki, Venice and Nice. The company would fly four times a week to Krakow and Athens.

Sky Europe would fly twice a week between Sofia and Vienna, starting October 2007, Focus news agency reported.

Ticket prices were announced to start at 27 euro. The company would make business offers for its regular clients, which would allow last-moment change of reservation or of the name of the passenger.

In August 2007, the company sold 91 per cent of seat on its flights. The company transported nearly 50 000 passengers to and from Bulgaria in 2006.

Maklouf said that Bulgaria was a key market for the company.

^^
WOW,
that is a BIG news, but they are talking about connecting flights, not direct flights...

Sofia-Skopie?!?

LOL, this flight takes less than Sofia-Varna I suppose :)

Sofia-Skopie?!?

LOL, this flight takes less than Sofia-Varna I suppose :)
Just like Sofia-Gorna Oryahovitsa from the past. 40 minutes flight with An-24, equivalent to ATR-42.

Sofia-Ruse was 45 minutes back then. They landed on Straklevo airport, about 15-20 km away from the town. You needed about 20 minutes to get to Ruse from the airport, provided the fact your bus is already at the airport :) I've never flew Sofia-Ruse but I really would like to. BTW they are going to open the airport again for passenger flights, but the concession procedure is just too slow :(

BTW my mother was kinda extreme person. She liked planes and she even jumped with parachute on several occasions (she was training parachute jumps, lol :) ). Her obsession about planes turned into hatred after a flight Sofia-Ruse that almost turned into an aircrash, fortunately their pilot succeeded to land the plane despite the technical difficulties and the bad weather. This reminds me of my Paris CDG-Sofia landing, eheh :)

Her obsession about planes turned into hatred after a flight Sofia-Ruse that almost turned into an aircrash, fortunately their pilot succeeded to land the plane despite the technical difficulties and the bad weather.
What year was that?

Dunno, I wasn't even born then. I presume 60s-70s.

Press Info on the RRJ or Sukhoi Superjet:

Sukhoi Superjet 100 was officially unveiled to the international aerospace community at the roll out ceremony. The Sukhoi Superjet 100 is a regional jet family in the 75 to 95-seat category. The Superjet 100 was formerly referred to as the Russian Regional Jet (Самолёт Российский Региональный Сухого), or “Sukhoi RRJ.” The name was changed on 17 July 2006.

The Sukhoi Superjet 100 is the first aircraft designed and produced in the new Russia. Today’s ceremony would not have happened without the support of all three states participating in the project – Russia, France and Italy. The rollout was attended by representatives of the ministries and state authorities of these countries. Mikhail Pogosyan, Sukhoi Company’s CEO, said: “Sukhoi Superjet 100 is a child of thousands of people around the globe, committed to the project success with their hearts and souls. It took us all six and a half years to get here, overcoming skepticism and finding our way in translation of international rules of play to Russian aerospace industry and incorporating world industry standards in it. Have a look at the aircraft – I’m sure, it was worth it.” The revealed aircraft airframe is ready for the flight tests – the fuselage had been joined, as well as the wings, control surfaces, and the attached engines. The aircraft is equipped with the major systems, for instance, auxiliary power unit and landing gear. Avionics blocks installation is under completion and pilot cockpit holds all panels, indicators, side-sticks, thrust levers and pedals.

Speaking about the program status, Victor Soubbotin, Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company’s President, said: “It’s a special day for us. A day when we can once again say – it’s just a beginning. We are on the way towards flight tests, entry into service in the fleet of our launch customer and a long life for the aircraft in the sky.” In the coming two months the aircraft is due to be ready for flight tests. For instance the static tests, being performed in TsAGI (Zhukovsky) should be completed. The same relates to system tests at suppliers’ test benches and their integration tests at Electronic Bird at SCAC. After that Sukhoi Superjet 100 will take off for its first flight. Today would be nothing special without the Program partners and suppliers. Strategic partner Alenia Aeronautica, a Fimeccanica company, who will soon become a SCAC shareholder (25%+1 share) and who with Sukhoi Company had already established the Superjet International joint venture for sales at mature markets and worldwide aftersales support. Boeing, who was a consultant to the project from its very launch. Risk-sharing partner Snecma, who together with Russian NPO Saturn (through their joint venture PowerJet) is responsible for the SaM146 engine.

Project suppliers contributed beyond estimation to the aircraft and developing Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company competences:
Avionics: THALES; Flight control system: LIEBHERR (with Russian partner – Teploobmennik); Environmental control system: LIEBHERR; Landing gear: MESSIER DOWTY; Fuel system: INTERTECHNIQUE (ZODIAC); Interior: B/E AEROSPACE; Fire protection system: AUTRONICS (CURTISS WRIGHT); Oxygen system: B/E AEROSPACE; Auxiliary power unit: HONEYWELL; Crew seats: IPECO; Hydraulic system: PARKER; Electrical system: HAMILTON SUNDSTRAND; Engine vibration sensors: VIBRO-METER; Wheels, brakes: GOODRICH

Major subcontractors include Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Ilyushin, Yakovlev, and PowerJet. Boeing provides consulting in such areas as project management, market planning, certification and customer support. Snecma is providing some level of funding for the project. Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. is negotiating a participatory role.

The aircraft will be equipped with two PowerJet SaM146 turbofans.

The Superjet 100 is intended to compete against the Antonov An-148, Embraer E-Jets and the Bombardier CSeries programs. Sukhoi’s director general Mikhail Pogosyan claims the SSJ will have 10-15% lower operation costs than its Embraer or Bombardier counterparts and its wider cabin will offer more comfort; at the catalogue price of $27.8 mln, it should also be cheaper by 18-22%. On the other hand, both Embraer and Bombardier offer much more comprehensive after-sales and maintenance network.

Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company (SCAC) is a Sukhoi Company subsidiary. Founded in 2000, SCAC primarily aims to produce new models of civil aircraft. The Company’s pilot project is production of Sukhoi Superjet 100, a new family of Russian regional aircraft. SCAC is focused upon the following scope of activity: design and development, marketing and sales, production, certification of the aircraft. Worldwide aftersales support and sales at mature markets is handled by Superjet International, a joint venture founded by Sukhoi Company and Alenia Aeronautica. SCAC has several branches at the production sites located in Komsomolsk-on-Amur and Novosibirsk altogether employing 1,500+ people. Sukhoi Superjet 100 firm order portfolio totals 73 aircraft. Deliveries are to begin in 2008.

Website of the plane: http://sukhoi.superjet100.com/

Farther photos from the roll out ceremony:

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/8551/sukhoisuperjet100rollouwm2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/5713/sukhoisuperjet100rollouit0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/5030/sukhoisuperjet100rollouwv8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/7969/sukhoisuperjet100rollouou8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

If sources are correct Sukhoi is negotiating with International Aero Engine Group to install the V-2500 (Same as Wizzair is using on it's Airbus A320s)engines.

^^ those are good news for Malev, 15 SSJs will surely strengthen its presence on the European market of regional flights. However, I really doubt the engines for an A320 can be installed on a 95-seater, those would be too powerful. The current engines were specially developped for the plane by the Russians in cooperation with France's Snecma.

Has anyone got info why the hell Malév is not flying to Beograd?

Hungarian Airlines fly to:

-Bucharest
-Chisinau
-Cluj Napoca/Kolozsvár
-Constanta
-Dubrovnik
-Kiev
-Ljubljana
-Odessa
-Podgorica
-Pristina(!)
-Sarajevo
-Skopje
-Sofia
-Split
-Timisoara/Temesvár
-Tirana
-Tirgu Mures/Marosvásárhely
-Varna
-Zagreb

in the region... But not to the capital of Srbija... Why not?

^^ those are good news for Malev, 15 SSJs will surely strengthen its presence on the European market of regional flights. However, I really doubt the engines for an A320 can be installed on a 95-seater, those would be too powerful. The current engines were specially developped for the plane by the Russians in cooperation with France's Snecma.

Yeah I figured the same...

And last I don't think I remember the type right. May be they are considering of using a weaker version...

Sky Europe to connect Bulgaria to 11 European cities

Low-cost airline Sky Europe launches new direct flights from Bulgaria to 11 European capitals and major cities in October 2007, Sky Europe commercial director Karim Maklouf said on September 24 2007.

The company would launch daily flights to Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Innsbruck and Warsaw. Flights three times per week would be launched to Thessaloniki, Venice and Nice. The company would fly four times a week to Krakow and Athens.

Sky Europe would fly twice a week between Sofia and Vienna, starting October 2007, Focus news agency reported.

Ticket prices were announced to start at 27 euro. The company would make business offers for its regular clients, which would allow last-moment change of reservation or of the name of the passenger.

In August 2007, the company sold 91 per cent of seat on its flights. The company transported nearly 50 000 passengers to and from Bulgaria in 2006.

Maklouf said that Bulgaria was a key market for the company.

WTF? SkyEurope pulls operations out of Krakow and Budapest because they say it's not worth it to have so many bases operating, yet barely a month later they open a new base in Bulgaria?! That is complete bullshit. Such a good airline has to resort to bullshit excuses, next time they want to abruptly pull out of a market, maybe they should give us the real reasons instead of making up false excuses.

No offense to any Bulgarians, good luck getting this airline they really are good, I'm just pissed at their shitty reasoning for the decisions they make.

WTF? SkyEurope pulls operations out of Krakow and Budapest because they say it's not worth it to have so many bases operating, yet barely a month later they open a new base in Bulgaria?! That is complete bullshit. Such a good airline has to resort to bullshit excuses, next time they want to abruptly pull out of a market, maybe they should give us the real reasons instead of making up false excuses.

No offense to any Bulgarians, good luck getting this airline they really are good, I'm just pissed at their shitty reasoning for the decisions they make.
Where in the news say that SkyEurope are pulling from Krakow and Budapest?

WTF? SkyEurope pulls operations out of Krakow and Budapest because they say it's not worth it to have so many bases operating, yet barely a month later they open a new base in Bulgaria?! That is complete bullshit. Such a good airline has to resort to bullshit excuses, next time they want to abruptly pull out of a market, maybe they should give us the real reasons instead of making up false excuses.

No offense to any Bulgarians, good luck getting this airline they really are good, I'm just pissed at their shitty reasoning for the decisions they make.

They are not opening a base in Sofia. SkyEurope is just doubling the number of flights from Sofia to Vienna from where you are suppose to connect to all other destinations.

Where in the news say that SkyEurope are pulling from Krakow and Budapest?

SkyEurope reinforces its position in Prague and Vienna
31. 08. 2007



SkyEurope Airlines today announces that it is reallocating its capacity to Prague and Vienna and as a result confirms the closure of Budapest and Krakow bases. Effective from the IATA winter schedule (October 28), SkyEurope will cease to operate bases in both cities. SkyEurope will continue to fly to Krakow from Vienna. With a strong focus on profitability and delivering the best product to passengers SkyEurope is centralising its young fleet in Vienna, Bratislava and Prague.

The success of Vienna, and Prague and considerable potential of Slovakia made the company’s management revise the situation and focus on large business potential. “We have decided after much research that the way to achieve long-term success is to build our operation around Slovakia, Czech Republic and Vienna. These markets have a good mix of both leisure and business traffic and are growing rapidly with very healthy national economies and they have less pronounced seasonality than Krakow and Budapest,” said Jason Bitter, CEO of SkyEurope Airlines.

With most of the crews relocated to other bases within the company SkyEurope continues to further develop Central and Eastern Europe with a clear direction towards profitability.

All passengers are encouraged to keep taking advantage on the low fares offered in Budapest and Krakow until 27th October.

http://www1.skyeurope.com/EN/Default.aspx?CatID=10&NewsID=1644

Oh, well.....
Supply/Demand

How do you expect them to fill a B767 from Zagreb?

Croatia has pretty large tourist receipts from America and they have fairly good links with cities like Sarajevo and Mostar, which takes care of the Bosnian diaspora in the US trying to fly back home. Also, when Delta opens flights to Sydney, which should be around next year, Croatians in Australia can fly to Zagreb via the Americas rather than Asia as they can fly one airline the whole way which saves a lot of hassle. It has a chance.

They are not opening a base in Sofia. SkyEurope is just doubling the number of flights from Sofia to Vienna from where you are suppose to connect to all other destinations.

The article said that you can now fly SkyEurope from Sofia to 11 new cities, so not just Vienna. Plus LCC don't codeshare, they only do point-to-point transportation, so they don't really work around getting you from point A to C through B. If you happen to snag a good layover, then it's more of a chance of luck then them purposely scheduling flights that way.

Wait I don't get it, you guys are all saying "connecting flights through Vienna," but the article clearly states Low-cost airline Sky Europe launches new direct flights from Bulgaria to 11 European capitals and major cities in October 2007, Sky Europe commercial director Karim Maklouf said on September 24 2007.

Well, up to this moment, we didn't have a low-cost airline flights to Paris and Amsterdam..

Wait I don't get it, you guys are all saying "connecting flights through Vienna," but the article clearly states

The article was written by a journalist who didn't know what he/she was talking about. Happens all the time!:)

Croatia has pretty large tourist receipts from America and they have fairly good links with cities like Sarajevo and Mostar, which takes care of the Bosnian diaspora in the US trying to fly back home. Also, when Delta opens flights to Sydney, which should be around next year, Croatians in Australia can fly to Zagreb via the Americas rather than Asia as they can fly one airline the whole way which saves a lot of hassle. It has a chance.
There's always next year......

Wizz Air orders additional 50 A320 aircraft and 25 options

10/10/07

Wizz Air, the largest low fare-low cost airline based in Central and Eastern Europe announced today that it had signed a contract with Airbus for an additional order of 50 firm A320 aircraft and 25 options increasing its total orders up to 107 aircraft. The new order follows Wizz Air's existing A320 order, addresses its capacity requirements until 2014 and is the largest Airbus fleet order recorded in the CEE region. The firm aircraft deliveries will position Wizz Air to become one of the preeminent airlines in the region over the next decade.
In line with Wizz Air’s existing fleet, the new A320 aircraft come with enhanced cabin features and single-class configuration seating 180 passengers in comfortable leather seats.
The delivery stream of existing and new orders will result in the Wizz Air fleet having an average age of less than 3 years for the next 10 years promoting high operational efficiency and technical reliability, increased passenger comfort, environmental efficiency and one the lowest seat mile cost in the region.
"Wizz Air has demonstrated its ability for sustainable growth in a competitive environment, where low cost leadership is fundamental to market share growth and to remaining competitive. The A320 is a proven contributor to our low cost base and continues to deliver low seat mile costs, high operational reliability and customer satisfaction using an environmentally friendly platform. The new aircraft order will put Wizz Air in the league of the largest fleet operators in the region. By 2016 Wizz Air would operate a fleet of over 100 A320 aircraft." said József Váradi, Chief Executive Officer of Wizz Air.
"We are very proud to take part in the tremendous growth of Wizz Air in the Central and Eastern Europe region" said Airbus Chief Operating Officer Customers, John Leahy. "The new order strongly underpins Wizz Air's aspirations to expand. The A320 Family is clearly the leading aircraft in its category, and this milestone order really endorses the superiority of our product" he added.

http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/2765/aircraft3eu4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

You know what this means.....expansion in Budapest, Katowice and Warsaw.:banana:

Delta wont be going to Zagreb for one main cause.

Croats come to JFK and connect to Zagreb via London on Wizzair. sAME GOES for canada.

No, Croats connect through Star Alliance hubs like Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna or Zurich. When you would like to use Wizzair to connect for flights to North America you have to buy 2 separate tickets, not to mension much lower baggage allowance in Wizz (max. 20 kg + fee for each bag vs. 2 bags, each max 23 kg on BA transatlantic flights). You also have to transfer from Luton to Gatwick or Heathrow and check in again. It doesn't make much sense.

SkyEurope has announced a couple of days ago flights to Belgrade making it the third low cost airline to fly scheduled destinations to Belgrade next to Lufthansa's Germanwings and Norwegian Air.

SkyEurope has announced a couple of days ago flights to Belgrade making it the third low cost airline to fly scheduled destinations to Belgrade next to Lufthansa's Germanwings and Norwegian Air.

^^ Good news! Where are they flying to?

Delta wont be going to Zagreb for one main cause.

Croats come to JFK and connect to Zagreb via London on Wizzair. sAME GOES for canada.
Oh, yeah! So, the Croats transfer from Heathrow and Gatwick to Luton only to fly on Wizz Air? :) :)

^^ Good news! Where are they flying to?
According to the internet rumors, Bratislava.

Serbia joined Open Sky??

Serbia will sign the OpenSky agreement ONLY after the government successfuly sells off the national airline, Jat Airways. Until then, nothing.:ohno:

Oh, yeah! So, the Croats transfer from Heathrow and Gatwick to Luton only to fly on Wizz Air? :) :)

That's what Delta staff are saying. Could be.

Serbia joined Open Sky??

It was implemented last week and will be signed when our national airlines is sold which should be by the end of the year at earliest, latest August next year.

It was implemented last week and will be signed when our national airlines is sold which should be by the end of the year at earliest, latest August next year.

Lucky bastards :(

Why lucky?:?
Kosovo just might be the price of this and other similar "agreements" Serbia will sign in the coming months:(

I wonder what Ukraine will have to do.

Hello, low-cost airlines = competition = low-cost airfare.

Ukrainian officials are idiots. SkyEurope wanted to enter the Ukrainian market but most likely will be denied for a couple of reasons: 1) Government doesn't want competition 2.) Airports won't be able to process low-cost-airlines within their "money saving" time 3) Monopoly on the petrol market will kill the low-cost-airline dream. It's enough for a low-coster to fuel up in Ukraine: there goes your money saving.

Officials say Ukraine will join Open Sky in 2010 (but this is optimistic, which is never the case :( ).

Lucky bastards :(

The open sky agreement is crap in general when you think that it gives Western Europe a chance to suck out your aviation market in the East. On the other hand the EU gives out ultimatums and criticises your country for not being good enough. If they want a free aviation market then it should be implemented only when your country is given an exact date of entry into the EU. On the other hand around 20 airlines flies to Belgrade so it isn’t that bad.

There are talks that Tarom want to lease widebody airplanes for longhaul operations. They just fixed their A310. Why would they do D checks on A310S and than be leasing A340?

iN CASE OF anything, their will restart north american market with the A310.




Tarom Do it for the pride.

The open sky agreement is crap in general when you think that it gives Western Europe a chance to suck out your aviation market in the East. On the other hand the EU gives out ultimatums and criticises your country for not being good enough. If they want a free aviation market then it should be implemented only when your country is given an exact date of entry into the EU. On the other hand around 20 airlines flies to Belgrade so it isn’t that bad.

But that's why you need to consolidate national air-companies in order to be able to compete with the foreigners, not sell them off. I don't think that they should set the date for entry to Open Sky as the date to enter EU, I mean it wouldn't be fair to many passengers wishing to travel cheaply to your country. And yeah, 20 airlines fly to Belgrade, but how many of them are willing to carry you from Belgrade to say London for under 50 euros?

iN CASE OF anything, their will restart north american market with the A310.




when?

http://www.sofia-airport.bg/images/Aircompany/FB.gif (http://www.air.bg) is trying to become a Balkan regional airline.

http://air.bg/propics1/prom_99_s0.444965001191917832.jpg
^^
Skopje

http://air.bg/propics1/prom_101_s0.258669001191929291.jpg
^^
Belgrade

http://air.bg/propics/prom_89_s0.015885001189759520.jpg
^^
Istanbul

There's also Prishtina and Tirana, but no images for them.

when?


December . Both of their A310 got D check done and the company is in a good shape financialy.

http://www.sofia-airport.bg/images/Aircompany/FB.gif (http://www.air.bg) is trying to become a Balkan regional airline.

http://air.bg/propics1/prom_99_s0.444965001191917832.jpg
^^
Skopje

http://air.bg/propics1/prom_101_s0.258669001191929291.jpg
^^
Belgrade

http://air.bg/propics/prom_89_s0.015885001189759520.jpg
^^
Istanbul

There's also Prishtina and Tirana, but no images for them.

They should advertise their real prices. Sofia - Belgrade 250 Euros in December.

No offence but the new CSA colours don;t look that great to me

http://www.skyliner-aviation.de/photos/01okdgl.jpg

Yeah, they kinda fucked it up. I like the old livery better, has more Czech identity to it. The new one looks like the livery of some low-cost airline, but I guess we'll have to get used to it.

NetJets expects 15-20 Romanian clients for luxury flights
http://www.zf.ro/articol_145612/netjets_expects_15_20_romanian_clients_for_luxury_flights.html

NetJets, the private jet operator owned by Warren Buffet, one of the wealthiest people in the world, intends to attract 15-20 new clients among Romanian companies, in comparison to the 7 clients it has now. All contracts signed so far by NetJets in Romania have been with corporate entities, however the company representatives would not specify any names. "NetJets clients are businesspeople who fly 50 to 400 hours a year first class. Our target clients are companies with over 70-80 million euros in turnover, which can afford the cost of a fraction of an aircraft, the monthly maintenance cost and the cost per hour of a flight, which is smaller when shared with 7 or 14 people taking the same flight," said Mike Costache, alliance partner of NetJets in Romania.

The policy of NetJets is to sell fractions of the jet, with the smallest fraction being 1/16, and the largest 1/2. The price of the smallest fraction of the cheapest jet in NetJets' fleet is 400,000 dollars (around 280,000 euros), to which the cost per hour of flight is added, of around 2,400 euros.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/40/Swiss_logo.png/150px-Swiss_logo.png
Starting March 2008, Swiss International Air Lines will operate 3 flights a week between Geneva and Bucharest. It now operates flights between Zurich and Bucharest only.

The airline will also introduce flights on routes in Eastern Europe (Sankt Petersburg and Sofia), but also in Western Europe (Manchester and Florence).

Business Standard article in Romanian (http://standard.ro/articol_15641/swiss_va_introduce_zboruri_catre_geneva.html)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/40/Swiss_logo.png/150px-Swiss_logo.png
Starting March 2008, Swiss International Air Lines will operate 3 flights a week between Geneva and Bucharest. It now operates flights between Zurich and Bucharest only.

The airline will also introduce flights on routes in Eastern Europe (Sankt Petersburg and Sofia), but also in Western Europe (Manchester and Florence).

Business Standard article in Romanian (http://standard.ro/articol_15641/swiss_va_introduce_zboruri_catre_geneva.html)

When Lufthansa bought a stake in Swill, it stopped flying to Sofia and started re-routing its passengers through Germany. I am glad that this practice is over.

December . Both of their A310 got D check done and the company is in a good shape financialy.
How much for round trip?

They should advertise their real prices. Sofia - Belgrade 250 Euros in December.
They should enjoy the monopoly while it lasts...

How much for round trip?


What route are we reffering to?

Their service was very good and their airplanes are in good shape. The problem is, they YYZ destination needs a refueling stop, and the flights becomes less attractive.

Turkish Airlines is going to join Star Alliance in 01.01.2008
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/5319/thyena1ti4.jpg


All aircrfats have been repainted and have the Ottoman tulip on them.
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/7728/thytulipbu1.jpg


TURKISH AIRLINES sees its global Quality Rating upgraded to the prestigious ranking as a 4 Star Quality Certified Airline
http://www.airlinequality.com/images/TK-upgrd.jpg
SKYTRAX have today announced that Turkish Airlines Star Ranking status has been upgraded from 3 Star, to its new ranking as a 4 Star Quality Certified Airline.

Star Ranking levels applied to airlines throughout the world reflect the standards of front-line Product and service delivery standards being delivered to their customers. Introduced across the airline industry by Skytrax Research in 2000, the World Airline Star Ranking Programme is the most respected and recognised programme of quality evaluation for this specialist market.


Commenting on the upgrading of Turkish Airlines to 4 Star status, Skytrax CEO, Mr Edward Plaisted said .."we congratulate Turkish Airlines in achieving this 4 Star World Airline Ranking, which in line with our rigorous and exacting analysis of quality standards is not an easy task. Clearly led by some dynamic management leadership that is delivering change within Turkish Airlines, I would also highlight that it is the front-line staff working for the airline who play such an important role in achieving this upgrading to 4 Star airline status.


Some more news:
-28 of 56 ordered aircrafts arrived. The current fleet consists of 103 aircrafts

Turkish Airlines awards this year:
-The most punctual airline in Europe.
-The airline with the lowest number of lost baggage in Europe.
-The fastest growing airline in 2005 and 2006
-3rd rank worldwide with the best multimedia onboard
-Turkish Technic awarded by Federal Aviation Administration world's only maintenance centre in 2005 with 0 tolerance in fault and mistakes.

All aircrfats have been repainted and have the Ottoman tulip on them.[/B]


You surely can't win customers from the Balkans with a screwed up marketing like this. Anything even remotely related to the Ottomans puts us off! Major blunder.

You surely can't win customers from the Balkans with a screwed up marketing like this. Anything even remotely related to the Ottomans puts us off! Major blunder.

Turkish Airlines awards this year:
-The most punctual airline in Europe.
-The airline with the lowest number of lost baggage in Europe.
-The fastest growing airline in 2005 and 2006-3rd rank worldwide with the best multimedia onboard
-Turkish Technic awarded by Federal Aviation Administration world's only maintenance centre in 2005 with 0 tolerance in fault and mistakes.

Do you think Turkish Airlines cares much about that if they are already the fastest grwing airline? :nuts: Btw not everyone has complexes about the Ottomans in the Balkans like in Bulgaria and in addition to that (just an example) Bulgaria Air doesn't fly outside Europe (only Israel and Dubai) so do you want to tell me that many Bulgarians won't take Turkish Airlines to fly to Asia, Afrika, or to America because Turkish Airlines has a tulip on the planes? I mean Istanbul is the next big hub near Bulgaria and I think those who don't take Turkish Airlines have bigger problems (mental) than Turkish Airlines has beaus eof loosing some Bulgarian passengers.

You surely can't win customers from the Balkans with a screwed up marketing like this. Anything even remotely related to the Ottomans puts us off! Major blunder.

Dude, I like tulips... Ottoman, Dutch, wtv. Just chill. THY always seemed to me like a very pro airline. I like the revised tulip livery.

Err...I thought the crescent was the Ottoman symbol..

Tulip and turquoise are typical Ottoman symbols as well. There is a whole era in the Ottoman history which is called tulip era http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_Era_in_the_Ottoman_Empire .
Tulip is an Ottoman flower and was brought to the Netherlands by the Ottomans and you can imagine why the colour is called turquoise ;)

Btw the interrior colour is changed to turqouise as well ;)
http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/5174/thycabinay5.jpg

http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/3752/thycabin2nm1.jpg

What route are we reffering to?

Their service was very good and their airplanes are in good shape. The problem is, they YYZ destination needs a refueling stop, and the flights becomes less attractive.
I thought we are talking about JFK.

Dude, I like tulips... Ottoman, Dutch, wtv. Just chill. THY always seemed to me like a very pro airline. I like the revised tulip livery.

I guess, I am guilty of association, but I have the right to my reaction. :)

Turkish Airlines awards this year:
-The most punctual airline in Europe.
-The airline with the lowest number of lost baggage in Europe.
-The fastest growing airline in 2005 and 2006-3rd rank worldwide with the best multimedia onboard
-Turkish Technic awarded by Federal Aviation Administration world's only maintenance centre in 2005 with 0 tolerance in fault and mistakes.

Do you think Turkish Airlines cares much about that if they are already the fastest grwing airline? :nuts: Btw not everyone has complexes about the Ottomans in the Balkans like in Bulgaria and in addition to that (just an example) Bulgaria Air doesn't fly outside Europe (only Israel and Dubai) so do you want to tell me that many Bulgarians won't take Turkish Airlines to fly to Asia, Afrika, or to America because Turkish Airlines has a tulip on the planes? I mean Istanbul is the next big hub near Bulgaria and I think those who don't take Turkish Airlines have bigger problems (mental) than Turkish Airlines has beaus eof loosing some Bulgarian passengers.

Boy, aren't you defensive?

Hmm no. You said Bulgarians wouldn't fly THY because of the Ottoman tulip on it and I explained that THY can survive without some Bulgarians that won't fly THY because of the THY. Think twice who's absurd here.

i'm romanian and i always fly THY (i live in singapore) it's a really good airline

Really, you don't have any problems with the Ottoman tulip on the plane? :tongue2: :jk: :cheers: