44,000 Orly slots up for grabs

[Buster the Bear]

Mon 17 Feb 2003

Air Lib collapse frees up 44,000 Orly slots

France’s second carrier, Air Lib, grounded last week when its operating licence expired, has filed for bankruptcy.
The commercial court in Creteil is expected to decide today if the airline should be allowed to continuing operating while it tries to restructure or be liquidated immediately, the latter being the more likely option.

Air Lib was grounded after talks with a potential investor, Dutch group Imca, fell through over the French government’s reluctance to intervene with Airbus to negotiate a favourable price for new aircraft.

Some 3,200 Air Lib jobs are now under threat. The airline’s chairman, Jean-Charles Corbet told staff on Thursday he was seeking customers for some of Air Lib’s units in a bid to safeguard 800 jobs.

The airline’s most prized assets are its 44,000 annual landing slots at Paris Orly Airport. However, if Air Lib is declared bankrupt, the slots will be allocated to rival carriers free of charge.
Eric Herbane, deputy co-ordinator of Cohor, the body responsible for drawing up timetables are Orly, told Reuters it would be around a month after the slots became available before they could be redistributed.

easyJet is known to be keen to obtain Orly slots. Spokesman Toby Nicol confirmed the airline was hopeful it would be a beneficiary. ‘The co-ordinator will redistribute the slots and we will be a candidate,’ he said.

http://community.the-underdogs.org/smiley/moon.gifNot Edited just seeing which site Buster got the icon from he he! Hogg

[Buster the Bear]

EasyJet swoops in for vacant capacity in France
By Russell Hotten and Adam Sage



EASYJET, Europe’s largest budget airline, is to apply for about 20,000 “slots” at Orly airport, outside Paris, as part of ambitious plans to expand its services on the Continent.
The airline is drawing up a formal application for the take-off and landing rights after Air Lib, France’s second largest carrier, was declared bankrupt yesterday.

Air Lib was wound up by a French court last night in a ruling that will lead to 3,200 job losses and a battle for the group’s 45,000 slots at Orly.

EasyJet has long coveted the slots at Orly, making it clear to the French Government last year that it wanted to develop a base there from which to expand.

But the French administration will be under pressure to award at least half the vacant slots to Air France in return for a pledge that the group will serve French provincial towns and take on a large proportion of Air Lib’s redundant staff.

Last night Gilles de Robien, the French Transport Minister, said: “We are going to do as much as we can for Air Lib’s employees.”

EasyJet says possible destinations from Orly could include London, Malaga, Barcelona, Milan and Rome. The airline, which has been expanding by 25 per cent a year, at present serves only Geneva from Orly.

The company is viewed as a likely recipient for the Air Lib slots, which will be distributed by France’s aviation authority.

Analysts believe that easyJet’s surprise decision last year to buy aircraft from the France-based Airbus consortium, rather than from Boeing, was linked to a deal on the slots if Air Lib folded.

EasyJet denies any connection, though analysts point to other airlines that have ordered Airbus aircraft and later were granted more favourable take-off and landing rights.

[Buster the Bear]

Thu 20 Feb 2003

Paris Orly: now it’s slots for jobs

The French government is likely to give priority to airlines offering jobs to bankrupt Air Lib’s 3,200 staff when dishing out its vacated slots at Paris Orly airport, reports the FT.

Air Lib, which was declared bankrupt by the commercial court of Creteil on Monday, held around 45,000 take-off and landing slots at Orly. Under current regulations, the government is entitled to redistribute 20% of the total to improve links to isolated regions and overseas French territories. The remainder will be allocated by Cohor, the body responsible for drawing up airline timetables in France.

Cohor is made up of airport authorities and seven French airlines, including Air France. Air France has already offered to provide employment to 1,000 Air Lib staff by mid-2004, ‘according to the needs of the company’. The airline previously took on 670 Air Lib employees following an earlier restructuring in 2001.

Luton-based easyJet, meanwhile, has made known its interest in acquiring Orly slots. But the FT reports the French government is considered unlikely to grant access to aggressive competitors such as easyJet or Ryanair, as they could win valuable market share from Air France ahead of its planned privatisation later this year.

TUI subsidiary Nouvelle Frontières’ carrier Corsair, Air Littoral and Toulouse-based Aéris have also expressed interest in taking on Air Lib staff in exchange for vacant slots.

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[Buster the Bear]

Hogg, that is theft!

http://community.the-underdogs.org/smiley/armed/flamethrower.gif

[MarkD]

Hogg

right click on the smiley and click "Properties" [well, in Windows/IE anyway... shouldn't assume!]

that gives you the URL without all those mod powers :D

http://community.the-underdogs.org/smiley/moon.gif