132% landing charge increase forces easyJet off London Gatwick - Zurich service

[lowfaresbuster]

from easyJet.com
easyJet today informed Zurich Airport that it is withdrawing its London Gatwick service due to an excessive increase in landing charges at Zurich since the route started in February 2001, making it impossible for easyJet to offer low fares to customers.

The service will cease on 27th March 2004.

A previously-profitable service has been impacted by a 132% increase in passenger fees at Zurich in only two years - including an increase of over 60% in the last few months. This is on top of onerous operating restrictions imposed on airlines - restrictions in over-flying southern Germany and a strict curfew.

easyJet will now use the scarce resource of its Gatwick slots for another service, to be announced in due course. The route from Zurich to London Luton is unaffected.

Ray Webster, easyJet Chief Executive, said:

"As a low-cost airline, we are always aiming to decrease our cost-base and the level of airport charges at Zurich (well in excess of two-thirds of the average fare) has made the service unsustainable.

"We have always made it clear that our future lies in working with airports that share our vision and our ability to deliver the provision of appropriate infrastructure being charged at the appropriate price to fit market conditions.

"In recent years, airport expansion in Zurich has created facilities which are simply not appropriate for the current customer base. Low-cost airline customers are not prepared to pay for terminal facilities designed a few years ago for Swissair."

[LTNman]

Easyjet have discovered that routes from Gatwick aren’t always paved with gold. Interesting that despite those increases there is still money to be made from Luton.

[LGS6753]

Interesting too that EZY quotes the same in taxes and charges from LTN and LGW to ZRH.
I think they have decided to charge a standardized amount, but surely that means they are missing out on some 'easy' revenue that they can ascribe to supplier airports?
Are they missing a trick, or am I?

[no sig]

You can be sure they (EZY) have thought this one through very carefully, easyJet have not been prone to coming off routes lightly. Also you can't be sure that they won't reconsider the LTN/ZRH at some stage in the future. ZRH are simply pricing themselves out of the market.

LTNMan, many routes out of LGW are very profitable, LGW isn't the problem, its the other end.

[johnwalton]

many routes out of LGW are very profitable, LGW isn't the problem, its the other end.

Surely the flights from both LGW and LTN incur the same charges at the Zurich end, though. So if LTN is viable, why would LGW not be unless the cost of operating out of LGW is greater than that of LTN?

[spagiola]

The route from Zurich to London Luton is unaffected.

If the problem was at the Zurich end, then both Gatwick and Luton would be pulled. But they're only pulling the Gatwick route. Make your own conclusions.

[no sig]

Read my last bit please...

'Also you can't be sure that they won't reconsider the LTN/ZRH at some stage in the future'.

and of course LGW is more expensive than LTN. But easy have made a major committment to LGW as you will know, ZRH is clearly the issue.

[Woofrey]

Anyone know if this is due to a real increase in Zurich charges or is it a question of route development discounts coming to an end ? Surely a 132% increase from Zurich Airport affects all operators there - are all the other airlines happily absorbing it then ?

[FlapsOne]

Other airlines will be happily passing on the costs to pax.

If a destination increases it's charges you REDUCE the flights into that base to balance costs.

No reason to pull ALL the flights. If statistically the LTN route is more popular, and less subject to slots perhaps, that might explain the decision to pull the LGW flights and not LTN.

With more Paris slots on offer, I doubt the base will be closing.

No-one for Berlin...........not true at all.

Anyway the announcement was only made a couple of weeks ago.

Wait and see.

[ettore]

Interestingly, this decision has been published on EZ Website right in the middle of a cow deal between EZ-Switzerland and the Geneva Airport.

Pax taxes are already almost one half lower in GVA as in ZRH (19 CHF against 36 CHF), but EZ wants them even lower, arguing she doesn't need the "all frills" offered by the airport to transit pax. An "explanation" which amounts to real bull**** since the GVA airport does not offer anything special but the plain services any provincial airport would do and has a pretty low rate of transit pax.

The deal would consist in a 10 million Swiss Francs refurbishing of the old airport, paid by the Swiss tax payers, tailored to the needs of EZ. Of course, GVA airport would never admit doing so, but argues that the plan is designed for "any" LCC which would like to use the so-called "simplified facilities". The truth is that EZ carries one of four Pax in and out of GVA.

As a counterdeal, EZ would increase the number of her A/C based in GVA from 5 to 10. If the deal doesn't materialize, EZ threathens GVA to leave for another airport. Could be Basel, forced on its knies since Swiss (Air) let it down last summer.

EZ's move in ZRH is a clear signal sent to GVA: cut the tax or else! A move that doesn't really matter for ZRH, where EZ is catching less than 1,5% of pax traffic.

[Rwy in Sight]

Please refresh my memory or correct my facts.

EZY decided some years ago to build a continental "hub". Among the contentders was Athens LGAV and Berin which won.

Could someone verify that it was based on cost ground (airport fees) or it was some other reason.


Runway in Sight