Spanair

[Chidken Sangwich]

According to the Spanish Media (Spanair reducirá su plantilla en 1.100 personas por la crisis | elmundo.es (http://www.elmundo.es/mundodinero/2008/07/16/economia/1216204706.html)) Spanair is to ground 15 aircraft.

Following routes will be cancelled.

MAD-MUC
MAD-GRO
MAD-OVD
MAD-GRX
MAD-EAS
BCN-ZRH
BIO-AGP
BIO-XRY

They lost 40.8 millions Euros in the first 3 months of 2008.

[IAEdude]

.... and almost 1100 employees to be fired....

:mad::mad::mad::mad:

[DC-8]

(AP:MADRID, Spain) Spanish airline Spanair said Wednesday it is cutting a third of its jobs and nine loss-making routes to survive reduced consumer demand and rising fuel prices.

The airline, which is 100 percent owned by Scandinavian operator SAS, said it is cutting 1,100 jobs and dropping 15 aircraft from its fleet of 60 to make savings of around 90 million euros ($144 million) by the end of 2009.

The carrier is to stop flying routes from Madrid to Vienna, Munich, Girona, Granada, Oviedo and San Sebastian, as well as Barcelona-Zurich, Bilbao-Malaga and Bilbao-Jerez.

Job losses are to be negotiated with unions over the next 10 weeks to determine how many redundancies will be voluntary and how posts will in future be shared by employees hired part-time. Job cuts will affect all levels, including management, pilots and flight crews, the airline said.

"Spanair is capable of leading a strategy to regulate the excess capacity which afflicts the market while at the same time maintaining its position as the first Spanish airline operating out of Barcelona and the second major airline to fly from Madrid," Marcus Hedblom, Spanair director general said in the statement.

Spanair is the first airline in Spain to announce job, fleet and route cuts as the economy weakens in the wake of a real estate slump prompted by the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States.

[Morbid]

Not at all surprising.

As a stand alone unit its been a looonggg time since Spanair contributed a profit to the SAS group. Yes, there have been tangible benefits for the Star alliance in keeping a presence in Spain but it cant be at any cost.

I think its obvious that if after so many airlines and investment groups looked at the airline and then backed away there are some serious financial issues. Not least fleet renewal....

On a side note also hearing rumours of Vueling / Clickair losing 600 jobs in the coming days....

[Mister Geezer]

More Spanish MD drivers to come to my outfit then if this is the case. :uhoh:

[beaucaire]

I meant having read an article that suggested that some of the Spanair managers wanted to buy AeBal in a management buy-out..

[IB4138]

If you read the article, you will see that a further 6 aircraft from the Spanair fleet are to be returned to lessors over the next month. Some of the AeBal 717s were leased to the parent company.