Basiq Air Expansion for 2004

[lowfaresbuster]

ROTTERDAM NEW DESTINATION FOR LOW COST AIRLINE
- Basiq Air launches Stansted - Rotterdam and Dublin - Rotterdam routes -



Basiq Air, the low cost airline from Transavia airlines, has announced plans to launch a Stansted - Rotterdam route from Sunday 28 March 2004.



The Stansted - Rotterdam service will replace the airline's Stansted - Amsterdam service. The final date of travel for the Stansted - Amsterdam flight will be Saturday 27 March 2004. The confirmed early morning and evening flight times to Rotterdam and neighbouring Amsterdam will allow passengers to visit the city and its surrounding area for day trips, short breaks and holidays, in addition to appealing to business travellers. Basiq Air will be the only airline operating the Stansted - Rotterdam route.



The cost of the Stansted - Rotterdam flights will remain the same as the Amsterdam service, with return flights available from just £49 return inclusive of airport taxes, online credit card booking fee and reserved seating at check-in.



Basiq Air has also announced the launch of a new Dublin - Rotterdam route, currently not serviced by any other airline. This route will begin with a daily service from Sunday 29 February 2004. The cost of the Dublin - Rotterdam flight will be from 29.99 Euros one way, plus airport taxes and online credit card booking fee. Basiq Air includes reserved seating at check-in.



Rotterdam airport is close to the city centre and public transport. It is also just 45 minutes away from the city of Amsterdam. Gerard Helming, executive vice president marketing and sales, Basiq Air said: "There has been a growing demand among business and leisure travellers, particularly the youth market, for more flights to Rotterdam.





"Rotterdam is a great city, well known for its nightlife and café culture and attracts clubbers from all over Europe. The city offers easy access to Amsterdam and neighbouring cities such as The Hague and Delft."



These two new routes from the UK and Ireland are part of a major expansion plan for the airline within Europe, and will substantially intensify its activities at Rotterdam airport. With this expansion, Transavia has consolidated its leading position in the fast growing Dutch market for low-cost air travel.



Basiq Air has also announced the following new routes from Rotterdam and Amsterdam, launching on 29 February and 28 March 2004 respectively:

From Rotterdam: Berlin, Copenhagen, Gerona, Oslo, Stockholm

From Amsterdam: Venice, Verona

[OLNEY 1 BRAVO]

So why are Basiq Air pulling off of the Amsterdam - Stansted route? Surely not the easyJet influence already?

Or are there wider reasons - I also understand that Basiq Air are stopping Amsterdam - Palma and Amsterdam - Seville at the end of the winter season. If they can't make a go of the Palma route .... ??

[lowfaresbuster]

if you check out the prices from Rotterdam to Stansted on basiqair.com the airport taxes are zero (so they have possibly done an illegal deal..), I often compared basiq vs. easyjet on the the STN-AMS route on openjet (http://www.openjet.com) - 9 times out of 10 easyjet was cheaper, so easyjet is definitely part of the reason they are pulling out.
It also may have been very difficult (or expensive) to market their product in the UK, with only one route ex Stansted? Rotterdam will be easier as they will have a lot of support from Rotterdam, and businesses in Rotterdam will let their assosiates in the UK know of this new route, rather than collecting/sending cars for them in Schipol.

Basiq still go head to head with easyjet on AMS-BCN & AMS-NCE

I think they are pulling out of Seville/Palma as over half the seats were being sold as part of packages, so these are now being sold on transavia.com- seat only on a charter, possibly not enough scheduled traffic on these routes.

[jmc-man]

It is also likely that BAsiqAIr will pick up a "Marketing" subsidy from BAA Stansted for opening a "new" destination.

I think Rotterdam was on the list of destinations NOW were hoping to fly.

W.R.T . any "subsidy" from Rotterdam, this would only be classified if was made availoable exclusively to BasiqAir. If the same subsidy was available to any new entrant, or an existing carrier opening new routes, then it is not illegal.

The Ryanair case in Strasbourg centred around the fact that their entrance into the market drove out the existing carrier on the route, as the "subsidy" was available only to RYR.

[4U338]

Basiq Air are now advertising RTM as "Amsterdam (Rotterdam) Airport" and marketing the new routes as for example Dublin to Amsterdam(Rotterdam).

AFAIK the airport is officially just Rotterdam Airport. Is this likely to change or are Basiq Air simply starting to use some Ryanair style marketing?

[LGS6753]

Basiq Air are part of KLM. So was Buzz.
Does this announcement say that they can't run a successful loco?
Does it say that major flag carriers can't run successful locos?