ASIAN SPIRIT under new management
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where are the aircraft?
isn't the press funny or is it the truth?
Zest Airways buys 7 aircrafts | balita-dot-ph
2 DASH 7 plus 2 MA60 = 4 aircraft (according to mathematics). where are the rest?
what happened to the remaining MA60 and the A320?
Zest Airways buys 7 aircrafts | balita-dot-ph
Zest Airways buys 7 aircrafts
MANILA, Nov. 11 – Zest Airways, Inc. formerly Asian Spirit Airlines, recently acquired seven brand new aircrafts from Canada.
Alfredo Yao, chairman of the Yao Group of Companies, said “Of the seven, five MA 60 with 60 seats have already been delivered and the remaining two are Airbus planes which seat 160 that should be delivered this month.”
Yao said this adds up to a total of 11 aircraft that is serving mostly tourists destinations.
MANILA, Nov. 11 – Zest Airways, Inc. formerly Asian Spirit Airlines, recently acquired seven brand new aircrafts from Canada.
Alfredo Yao, chairman of the Yao Group of Companies, said “Of the seven, five MA 60 with 60 seats have already been delivered and the remaining two are Airbus planes which seat 160 that should be delivered this month.”
Yao said this adds up to a total of 11 aircraft that is serving mostly tourists destinations.
what happened to the remaining MA60 and the A320?
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Pilots for the Zest A320s are winding up training in HK, from what I've heard.
Pax load for the MA-60 out of Caticlan is in the 30s. Now as to whether money can be made at that load factor...
Pax load for the MA-60 out of Caticlan is in the 30s. Now as to whether money can be made at that load factor...
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any news? guess they are strangling specially with cpt. loudmouth around! hearing that he is a member of NATO=No Action, Talks Only! and these talks are loud and foul talks!
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any news?
they managed to screw up (CNXLD/REDUCED) the flights to some destinations starting 28 Nov 08 until 26 Dec 08 due to aircraft situation. rumor has it that 1 of the 2 Dash 7s is again down awaiting parts!
Oh, the 2 MA60s are doing fine. the rest are coming 3rd week of Dec including the 2 buses.
their opening never did create the impact they prayed for, simply due to very poor corporate planning. they assumed too much or simply ignored the realities of the trade.
they managed to screw up (CNXLD/REDUCED) the flights to some destinations starting 28 Nov 08 until 26 Dec 08 due to aircraft situation. rumor has it that 1 of the 2 Dash 7s is again down awaiting parts!
Oh, the 2 MA60s are doing fine. the rest are coming 3rd week of Dec including the 2 buses.
their opening never did create the impact they prayed for, simply due to very poor corporate planning. they assumed too much or simply ignored the realities of the trade.
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will they ever learn?
they managed to screw up (CNXLD/REDUCED) the flights to some destinations starting 28 Nov 08 until 26 Dec 08 due to aircraft situation. rumor has it that 1 of the 2 Dash 7s is again down awaiting parts!
Oh, the 2 MA60s are doing fine. the rest are coming 3rd week of Dec including the 2 buses.
their opening never did create the impact they prayed for, simply due to very poor corporate planning. they assumed too much or simply ignored the realities of the trade.
Oh, the 2 MA60s are doing fine. the rest are coming 3rd week of Dec including the 2 buses.
their opening never did create the impact they prayed for, simply due to very poor corporate planning. they assumed too much or simply ignored the realities of the trade.
or does he think the owner has so deep pockets that he will always fly in the red?
better, take the aircraft and make zesto cans out of it. if they can't keep the DASH 7 flying how will they keep one or two busses flying? must be dreaming.
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Well, well what do you guys know?
Zest will be launching their Davao and Cebu sectors this coming 20 Dec 08, utilizing A320!
Puerto will use the Ma60, afternoon flight. I remember Asian Spirit flying this sector with their BAe146, also in the afternoon. They failed miserably. Perahps this time it would be different since fares will be very competitive with the other carriers.
Heard what CebuPac can offer, Zest will also offer lesser fares!
Meantime, established routes are still suspended due to lack of MA60!
Zest will be launching their Davao and Cebu sectors this coming 20 Dec 08, utilizing A320!
Puerto will use the Ma60, afternoon flight. I remember Asian Spirit flying this sector with their BAe146, also in the afternoon. They failed miserably. Perahps this time it would be different since fares will be very competitive with the other carriers.
Heard what CebuPac can offer, Zest will also offer lesser fares!
Meantime, established routes are still suspended due to lack of MA60!
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Cheaters
A couple of days back I spoke to a friend of mine whose wife bought a ticket online for Manila to Tacloban for a flight before X-mas. Last Monday she received a call from the airline that the flight is not operating because of some operational reasons (guess they don't have the aircraft).
Now here comes the really cheating part: The lady in the reservation told her that she can only get back her money which she paid via credit card online only in TWO MONTHS!
Is this the way this airline is financing their rubbish aircraft? They steal money from potential passengers for flights they are not operating and than they are only refunding it after two months meaning that they use the clients money for several months (booking was done as early as October 2008).
Who in the Philippines is responsible to control these cheaters? Where can she file her complaint? Who is in charge in this god forsaken B.S. airline?
Now here comes the really cheating part: The lady in the reservation told her that she can only get back her money which she paid via credit card online only in TWO MONTHS!
Is this the way this airline is financing their rubbish aircraft? They steal money from potential passengers for flights they are not operating and than they are only refunding it after two months meaning that they use the clients money for several months (booking was done as early as October 2008).
Who in the Philippines is responsible to control these cheaters? Where can she file her complaint? Who is in charge in this god forsaken B.S. airline?
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A couple of days back I spoke to a friend of mine whose wife bought a ticket online for Manila to Tacloban for a flight before X-mas. Last Monday she received a call from the airline that the flight is not operating because of some operational reasons (guess they don't have the aircraft).
Now here comes the really cheating part: The lady in the reservation told her that she can only get back her money which she paid via credit card online only in TWO MONTHS!
Is this the way this airline is financing their rubbish aircraft? They steal money from potential passengers for flights they are not operating and than they are only refunding it after two months meaning that they use the clients money for several months (booking was done as early as October 2008).
Who in the Philippines is responsible to control these cheaters? Where can she file her complaint? Who is in charge in this god forsaken B.S. airline?
Now here comes the really cheating part: The lady in the reservation told her that she can only get back her money which she paid via credit card online only in TWO MONTHS!
Is this the way this airline is financing their rubbish aircraft? They steal money from potential passengers for flights they are not operating and than they are only refunding it after two months meaning that they use the clients money for several months (booking was done as early as October 2008).
Who in the Philippines is responsible to control these cheaters? Where can she file her complaint? Who is in charge in this god forsaken B.S. airline?
Zest Airways - Asia's most refreshing airline.
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ads1963...the situation faced by your friend's wife was faced by me numerous times...dunno if it had been 7 or 8 times. Ususally when you buy online tickets there is a checkbox that you have to check to accept the terms and conditions before you can make payment for the online ticket. Usually if you read that it states that any refund will be credited back to your credit card only after TWO MONTHS. I believe this has become a SOP for various airlines across the globe. I personally have not faced this in the Philippiens coz none of the airlines here accept Foreign Credit cards, however I have faced this back in India and other countries. On one occassion i had a tough time because the amount did not get credited back after 2 months! Easy to lose track of it if you book multiple tickets and also have a few cancellations here and there.
However i do undertsand the fact here is that the particular airline advt for a route which they could not operate as advertised...but again it all depends on what was written in the terms & conditions of that particular fine print checkbox when booking online! From my experience nothing much a customer can do when he/she has accepted to those terms as usually those terms are favourable to the airline...not the PAX! Again i have not seen what those conditions are for Asian spirit/Zest air...but just reading 5Js conditions gave me a fair idea!
Yeah i have heard of a few compaints/lawsuits being filed...but after a year in courts it gets thrown out because the customer chose to check that terms & conditions checkbox! Nothing pretty much a PAX can do!
However i do undertsand the fact here is that the particular airline advt for a route which they could not operate as advertised...but again it all depends on what was written in the terms & conditions of that particular fine print checkbox when booking online! From my experience nothing much a customer can do when he/she has accepted to those terms as usually those terms are favourable to the airline...not the PAX! Again i have not seen what those conditions are for Asian spirit/Zest air...but just reading 5Js conditions gave me a fair idea!
Yeah i have heard of a few compaints/lawsuits being filed...but after a year in courts it gets thrown out because the customer chose to check that terms & conditions checkbox! Nothing pretty much a PAX can do!
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Condition of Carriage
thanks fernandeztv for your advise but I couldn't find a thing about this condition. I called my friend in Manila and also he could not find anything here:
Untitled Document
The strange thing is that this airline is selling flights which are not existing and are collecting money for it. This looks to me like a fraud! Why sell a flight, collect money for it and than refund it only after two months or so?
It looks as if this Chinaman is using my friends money and I am sure hundreds or even thousands of other Pax's money for bridge financing of his re-fleeting program.
Don't you have an authority in the Philippines which controls such illegal practices?
If you look at there conditions on the page referred to you will find the following sentence:
Wasn't the airline sold to Yao?
Untitled Document
The strange thing is that this airline is selling flights which are not existing and are collecting money for it. This looks to me like a fraud! Why sell a flight, collect money for it and than refund it only after two months or so?
It looks as if this Chinaman is using my friends money and I am sure hundreds or even thousands of other Pax's money for bridge financing of his re-fleeting program.
Don't you have an authority in the Philippines which controls such illegal practices?
If you look at there conditions on the page referred to you will find the following sentence:
SOLD SUBJECT TO TARIFF REGULATIONS ISSUED BY AIRLINE EMPLOYEES INCORPORATED / ASIAN SPIRIT AS APPROVED BY THE CIVIL AERONAUTICS BOARD
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don't worry about your friend's money. its common over in the islands that you get money from people and don't perform the service. he should be lucky if he ever get's his money back.
maybe he should complain to cpt. loudmouth.
thats nothing but "old wine in new skins".
i doubt they will survive for a long time, as long as they dont retire all their old planes and improve their pathetic organization, management and their systems.
people in the phils are wary, and with both SEAIR and CEB flying to popular domestic destinations with brandnew turbo-props, ZEST will hardly be able to fill its seats.....
but well, they bought new chinese-made aircraft which have been recommended by reputable aviation experts such as the military forces of Zambia, Laos, Indonesia, Congo and Bolivia.
then nothing can go wrong in the future with them cause they'll be stopping flying soon, me thinks
maybe he should complain to cpt. loudmouth.
thats nothing but "old wine in new skins".
i doubt they will survive for a long time, as long as they dont retire all their old planes and improve their pathetic organization, management and their systems.
people in the phils are wary, and with both SEAIR and CEB flying to popular domestic destinations with brandnew turbo-props, ZEST will hardly be able to fill its seats.....
but well, they bought new chinese-made aircraft which have been recommended by reputable aviation experts such as the military forces of Zambia, Laos, Indonesia, Congo and Bolivia.
then nothing can go wrong in the future with them cause they'll be stopping flying soon, me thinks
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MA60 etc
The rumour is that 1 of their MA60 already has metal chipping in one engine and they have to pull down the engine!
What ever happened to their A320? They are selling flights already without having the aircraft. I think these guys need money to finance their re-fleeting program and get advance payments on not existing flights!
How long will this "airline" exist with this dishonest ways of raising funds?
The net is full of such complaints:
myPH Philippines // Log in
Tsikot Philippines 2008
Troubles hound airlines, bus line | Airlines | News | en.AvBuyer.com.cn
Boracay Forum: Post a Reply - TripAdvisor
And many more in Tagalog
What ever happened to their A320? They are selling flights already without having the aircraft. I think these guys need money to finance their re-fleeting program and get advance payments on not existing flights!
How long will this "airline" exist with this dishonest ways of raising funds?
The net is full of such complaints:
myPH Philippines // Log in
Good luck with Zest Air. They may be a shorter walk away than Cebu Pacific but that's only if the plane is actually there. Zest Air has been canceling more flights than it's been flying ever since it took over Asian Spirit.
Is the MA-60 airplane safe?
The following text...
MA-60
The MA60 is an advanced 50-60 seat class regional turboprop aircraft developed by Xi'an Aircraft Company of China aviation Industry Corporation I (AVICI).
I don't know about you but I won't be able to feel safe with this craft. I googled (MA60) and apart from the manufacturers website, page 1 of the search engine hits is an article about the aircraft being not FAA certified (at least not yet).
The following text...
MA-60
The MA60 is an advanced 50-60 seat class regional turboprop aircraft developed by Xi'an Aircraft Company of China aviation Industry Corporation I (AVICI).
I don't know about you but I won't be able to feel safe with this craft. I googled (MA60) and apart from the manufacturers website, page 1 of the search engine hits is an article about the aircraft being not FAA certified (at least not yet).
Troubles hound airlines
One passenger, Virac businesswoman Lanie Isidoro, told the Tribune that she bought her ticket from the Asian Spirit ticketing office in town weeks before the flight. When she was already in Manila, she sent a text message to the ticket office to confirm the flight. It was only then that she was told that all flights had been cancelled. Other irate passengers bombarded the Asian-Zest Airline ticketing personnel with complaints following the scheduling snafu.
It may be recalled that sometime this October, Asian Spirit announced that its flight to and from Manila would be cancelled for an entire week to allow management time to have the new planes repainted and then certified for airworthiness by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP).
Capt. Ivanhoe V. Arcilla revealed that the Zest Air management failed to anticipate the fact that CAAP would not have qualified check pilots to test the new MA-60 aircraft, which he said is being assembled in mainland China using parts from the US. He said that he hopes management would be able to have the aircraft fleet certified and ready to fly by the first week of next month.
On the other hand, riders of PAL Express hesitantly boarded the regular jetprop plane assigned to the route. The reason? The same plane, a 78-seater Bombardier Q400, was involved in a landing incident last Oct. 18.
The plane, which suffered damage to one of its nose wheels, stayed on the tarmac of Virac airport for a week before mechanics managed to fly it out to Manila.
One passenger, Virac businesswoman Lanie Isidoro, told the Tribune that she bought her ticket from the Asian Spirit ticketing office in town weeks before the flight. When she was already in Manila, she sent a text message to the ticket office to confirm the flight. It was only then that she was told that all flights had been cancelled. Other irate passengers bombarded the Asian-Zest Airline ticketing personnel with complaints following the scheduling snafu.
It may be recalled that sometime this October, Asian Spirit announced that its flight to and from Manila would be cancelled for an entire week to allow management time to have the new planes repainted and then certified for airworthiness by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP).
Capt. Ivanhoe V. Arcilla revealed that the Zest Air management failed to anticipate the fact that CAAP would not have qualified check pilots to test the new MA-60 aircraft, which he said is being assembled in mainland China using parts from the US. He said that he hopes management would be able to have the aircraft fleet certified and ready to fly by the first week of next month.
On the other hand, riders of PAL Express hesitantly boarded the regular jetprop plane assigned to the route. The reason? The same plane, a 78-seater Bombardier Q400, was involved in a landing incident last Oct. 18.
The plane, which suffered damage to one of its nose wheels, stayed on the tarmac of Virac airport for a week before mechanics managed to fly it out to Manila.
Asian spirit was a cooperative managed by its employees and a board of directors that, like most board in this country, has no clue whatesover about the business they are supposed to manage. The board is just there because it looks good.
That is why they bought the wrong planes for the wrong destinations at the wrong possible time then were forced to sell to juice maker, owner of Zesto.
The "jet" planes have now been repossessed, the airline will be renamed Zest Air and fruit juice will be given free on all flight.
Present propeller planes are about 35-40 years old and are a nightmare to keep up in maintenance.
Zest Air is buying chinese-made-russian-reconditioned jet planes to re-fleet by next year. Problem is that those planes are not air-worthy by any accreditation outfit, except in China.
I am so happy Seair was not bought by Zest Air. Seair is the only professionally managed domestic airline. It is owned by people who are pilots, passionate about planes and who know the bolts and nuts of the business.
That is why they bought the wrong planes for the wrong destinations at the wrong possible time then were forced to sell to juice maker, owner of Zesto.
The "jet" planes have now been repossessed, the airline will be renamed Zest Air and fruit juice will be given free on all flight.
Present propeller planes are about 35-40 years old and are a nightmare to keep up in maintenance.
Zest Air is buying chinese-made-russian-reconditioned jet planes to re-fleet by next year. Problem is that those planes are not air-worthy by any accreditation outfit, except in China.
I am so happy Seair was not bought by Zest Air. Seair is the only professionally managed domestic airline. It is owned by people who are pilots, passionate about planes and who know the bolts and nuts of the business.
Last edited by ads1963; 9th Dec 2008 at 11:38.
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I think that atleast there are people providing good job opportunities for many out there in need of work.These are just birth pangs,Zest is after all,a new airline despite its Asian Spirit roots.Management,owner and operational philosophies have changed.
What company has ever started out sans the difficulties?,and besides things at Zest are NOT as bad as some would lead you to believe.Problems that have been highlighted in this thread are being rectified as we speak.
Folks,these are just teething problems and I only wish that there were more people like Mr.Yao and co. with the daring to compete against the big players.Heck,alot of Christmases have been saved due to the break provided by such start ups and I;m not just talking about pilots,but office guys,mechanics etc alike.
By the way,watch out for the Airbus arriving within the week,dont ask me how I know I just do hehe
Regards guys and a Merry Christmas to all of you
What company has ever started out sans the difficulties?,and besides things at Zest are NOT as bad as some would lead you to believe.Problems that have been highlighted in this thread are being rectified as we speak.
Folks,these are just teething problems and I only wish that there were more people like Mr.Yao and co. with the daring to compete against the big players.Heck,alot of Christmases have been saved due to the break provided by such start ups and I;m not just talking about pilots,but office guys,mechanics etc alike.
By the way,watch out for the Airbus arriving within the week,dont ask me how I know I just do hehe
Regards guys and a Merry Christmas to all of you
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job oppurtunity
planewhisperer,
i completely agree with you. all of us pilots should be wishing success for this new or any new upcoming airline company. they are(airline companies) afterall, our employers. there are now many new filipino pilots who need employment after spending quite a sum in a flying school.
i completely agree with you. all of us pilots should be wishing success for this new or any new upcoming airline company. they are(airline companies) afterall, our employers. there are now many new filipino pilots who need employment after spending quite a sum in a flying school.