Easy GVA base to close...

[fly4fud]

Overheard that Easyjet's GVA base was too expensive to run and will be closed...
Any truth or news?

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... cut my wings and I'll die ...

[Few Cloudy]

Yes it is expensive, No it won't. But, Hey!
This is aviation..........

[Sleeve Wing]

Couldn't be anything to do with the fact that it's a BRITISH low-cost operation that makes life so difficult, could it?

It always seemed like a big surprise whenever WE called up for a SCHEDULED departure from GVA or ZRH at 'O' crack-sparrow - always the same hour/hour and a half delay to start the problems of the day.

Never ceased to amaze me that Swissair, Crossair, Edelweiss etc.ever appeared to suffer these irritations !!

Swiss protectionism is still alive and well !?

[BIG E]

SW

What the hell are you talking about?

[Sleeve Wing]

Big E.
Simply that the Swiss appear to make it as difficult as possible for any operator other than a "national" to function at all.
This would seem to be achieved either by financial penalty ( rents, accomodation leases etc.)or operational interference.(Arrival and Departure Slot allocation.)
GOT IT, Big E ??

Anybody else got any further intelligent
comment to support this scenario ?

[MissChief]

Sounds exactly like the Swiss to me. I worked there for them for 7 years, and a more xenophobic bunch than them I have yet to meet. National superiority complex too, based on good results employing low paid "gastarbeiters" (foreign workers) at low salaries, like yours truly. And hypocrites too boot. Yes, I am bitter about them.

[Locolito]

Here's hoping they close and come to Dublin instead! woohoo! :) :)

All the best,
Loco.

[FrappsZello]

Sleeve Wing and MissChief. Who is showing xenophobic tendencies now? As a "gastarbeiter in der Schweiz" for over 20 years I agree with a lot of what you say regarding their attitudes to other nations but not that they actively favour Swissair to the disadvantage of other foreign carriers. My experience is just the opposite. We all sit around for hours trying to get out of their poorly designed airports (single runway in GVA and converging runway/ noise restricted ZRH). Anyway, quite often the reason for the restriction is not the departure airport but rather the arrival one, especially if it is located in the UK - too many budget airlines operating there?

[BIG E]

S/W

Quite simply i required clarity on your comments as you seem to have gone off on a tangent,who mentioned there was a problem operating out of GVA?easyjet doesn't have a problem as their punctuality figures will prove,so take a deep breath and.......relax,
there's no need for petty sarcasm.

GOT IT!

[Bokkerijder]

Ok, slow down here folks ! I fly Saab 2000 for Crossair and let me tell you that we ALSO have slots ! And lot’s of them ! Our Natel (mobile phone in cockpit) always seems to make that all familiar beeping sound of receiving an SMS, stating the next slot. If we DO NOT call ZRH delivery 10 minutes before CTOT with PAX on board ready to start, we ALSO lose our slot and go back to the end of the line. Maybe because we fly a lot out these airport (logically) it SEEMS that we get a special treatement, but we do not. A typical days work at LX is fighting slots on our way out, and fighting slots on out way back home.

As far as xenophobia is concerned you can say that they are a bit odd, to say the least. Nevertheless they did give me (a Dutch national) a flying job for which I am very thankfull. Most other EU member states hide behind licence conversion problems and language barriers in order to avoid hiring a foreign national. Examples ? Try to find work in Spain, France, Italy, Greece or Belgium if you don’t speak the local language (s) and have a ton of hours in your logbook and Germany, which does not accept EU JAR-CPL’s, unless you do an expensive conversion.

Gastarbeiter/cheap pay ? Maybe, but there still are Dutch airlines (KLM exel and almost bankrupt BA$E airlines/a BA franchise BTW !!) that require DFL 70.000,- to 95.000,- for a type rating on a EMB 120 or ATR 42 and pay FAR less then Crossair pays me AFTER having paid for my type on the Saab 2000. :)

[Few Cloudy]

Matter of fact, easyJet Switzerland get very good service at GVA from ATC.

It is looked at by many Genevois as their local airline, since Swissair pulled a lot of their long range flights out of GVA some years back (this may change..) and Swiss World never got off the ground.

Problem is that the place is b... expensive -not just for easy but for all operators. Just recently, however, EZS has negotiated a deal which will benefit all operators with many movements in GVA - including Swissair, by the way.

So no - the one sided comments above do not apply.

[fly4fud]

Yeah, well, being originally a German converted to a Swiss, I have been living quite a few years abroad (mainly UK and Germany). Let me tell you...bla...bla...

;)

Oh well, let's not start on political/racial whatever issues.
To put the record straight, I really don't think foreign airlines are at disadvantage in Switzerland, actually more the other way round (at least during flight ops, not talking about ground structures I don't know about).

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... cut my wings and I'll die ...

[Mishandled]

I live in Zurich and work all over the world in aviation IT. As part of my job I spend a lot of time flying mainly on SR, out of Zurich. All I can say is that in my experience SR flights are rarely on time departures, so if foreign carriers are receiving a worse situation then i pity them. I don not believe that this is the case, though, and that runway restrictions are mainly to blame in both GVA and ZRH. As far as preferential treatment on nationalistic basis goes, I am british and proud to be so, but having worked at LHR and LGW as well as many other UK stations, I have seen many instances of preferential service given to home carriers so, if this happens elsewhere, who are we to complain?