avt100
12th May 2002, 23:36
"If we exercise our option to buy Deutsche BA, the airline will definitely be expanded with additional aircraft," Stelios Haji-Ioannou told Handelsblatt.
The British airline, which has been in talks for several months to acquire rival carrier Go-Fly Ltd, surprised the market last Wednesday by announcing it had acquired an option to buy British Airways Plc's German unit.
But Haji-Ioannou said he did not plan to add new destinations in Germany to Deutsche BA's current route network. "We can easily live without Frankfurt," he said. "Our focus is on Munich and Berlin." However, destinations served by Deutsche BA in Germany are to be linked with EasyJet's existing destinations such as Barcelona, London, Nice or Amsterdam.
Haji-Ioannou said that German customers would be offered similarly low prices than those offered in Britain as airport fees in Germany were not very much higher than in Britain. Moreover, the seat load factor was to be raised well above Deutsche BA's current level, while lucrative business traveller were to be won over from Deutsche Lufthansa, Haji-Ioannou said.
Employees of Deutsche BA didn't have to fear for their jobs, he stressed, but their work load would grow. "Pilots will have to make a few extra flights," he said. EasyJet chief executive Ray Webster is due to meet with trade union representatives on Tuesday.
aviation news (http://luchtvaart.pagina.nl) :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
The British airline, which has been in talks for several months to acquire rival carrier Go-Fly Ltd, surprised the market last Wednesday by announcing it had acquired an option to buy British Airways Plc's German unit.
But Haji-Ioannou said he did not plan to add new destinations in Germany to Deutsche BA's current route network. "We can easily live without Frankfurt," he said. "Our focus is on Munich and Berlin." However, destinations served by Deutsche BA in Germany are to be linked with EasyJet's existing destinations such as Barcelona, London, Nice or Amsterdam.
Haji-Ioannou said that German customers would be offered similarly low prices than those offered in Britain as airport fees in Germany were not very much higher than in Britain. Moreover, the seat load factor was to be raised well above Deutsche BA's current level, while lucrative business traveller were to be won over from Deutsche Lufthansa, Haji-Ioannou said.
Employees of Deutsche BA didn't have to fear for their jobs, he stressed, but their work load would grow. "Pilots will have to make a few extra flights," he said. EasyJet chief executive Ray Webster is due to meet with trade union representatives on Tuesday.
aviation news (http://luchtvaart.pagina.nl) :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: