Maybe Bhoy knows more.
Good for Mulhouse-Basel airport anyway.
August 18, 2004
British low-cost carrier easyJet said on Wednesday it would stop flying to Zurich, blaming higher passenger fees and operating restrictions at the Swiss airport.
The low-cost airline, which faces declining fare prices and high fuel costs, said it would launch a new twice-daily Switzerland service to a cheaper airport base at Basel.
“No airline likes to remove services from its network, but our focus on enhancing margins and reducing costs is relentless,” Chief Executive Ray Webster said in a statement.
EasyJet, which operates out of a low-cost base at Luton near London, said passenger fees at Zurich had risen 132 percent in the last two years, making it the airline’s most expensive airport.
Other low-cost carriers such as Dublin-based Ryanair are also complaining about airport charges as they seek to cut costs due to intense competition and rising fuel costs.
EasyJet said it was talking to other airports about future services.
(Reuters)
By: Bmused55 - 19th August 2004 at 11:43
Seems everyone operating in and out of Zurich are pi$$ed at poaying higher fees for seemingly troglodytic airport services.
EZY are in the position to move and they are.
Swiss unfortunately cannot, around 56% of movements at Kloten are by Swiss.
I’d expect to seem others leave if services do not improve in direct relation to this ludicrous tax increase.
By: Bhoy - 19th August 2004 at 11:21
It’s great fun to be vindicated, I’ve been moaning about ZRH for ages (and didn’t I say about a year and a half ago that easyJet would eventually move their ops from ZRH to BSL?).
First up, on Tuesday, Swiss announced their half yearly results (33Million CHF, but a considerable improvement on the same period last year (333Million CHF 😮 )), and CEO Christoph Franz fired a broadside against ZRH’s punctuality ratings. (no surprise there, I can hardly even remember the last time I left there on time… 1990, I think it was?)
Then, on Wednesday, easyJet announce they’re pulling out of ZRH, citing ridiculously high fees.
If anyone’s interested, there’s some excellent newspapaer articles on it (although they’re in German) at…
http://www.baz.ch/invoke.cfm?ObjectID=713DDBBF-60CF-2062-F49845DA513F8CDD&method=displayFull
http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/dyn/news/wirtschaft/406462.html
And finally a Map of Switzerland to give you a general idea… Basel’s about 100km from Zurich, 55 minutes by Train, just over on the Motorway.
Map of Switzerland © 2003 by James Martin, licensed to About
By: andrewm - 18th August 2004 at 14:45
Geneva is a major base for easyJet zurich was just an airport not a base
By: Pablo - 18th August 2004 at 14:23
whats going to hapen to easyjet switzerland? will it move all operations to geneva? or are all operations there anyway.
According to the news story, Basel will be developed as an EZY base.
By: EAL_KING - 18th August 2004 at 14:17
whats going to hapen to easyjet switzerland? will it move all operations to geneva? or are all operations there anyway.
By: Bmused55 - 18th August 2004 at 13:42
This has been unoffical for ages now.
MMM is Luton next with its Fat Cat Charges as most people seem to be aware of the move towards Gatwick which basing all new aircraft (A319s) there as a primary base in the UK for them…
No, they are just making a rational decision to bad the A319s at Gatick and 737s at Luton. Keep the types apart, saves ground equipment clutter and confusion along with other things.
By: Hand87_5 - 18th August 2004 at 13:41
Thanks Andrew.
What are doing in Toulouse?
By: Bmused55 - 18th August 2004 at 13:39
Bhoy is gonna love this news!
By: andrewm - 18th August 2004 at 13:32
No probs – Where is Basel? Is it near Zurich?
By: dan777 - 18th August 2004 at 13:31
Sorry – didn’t see the other post till mine came up! 🙂
By: Pablo - 18th August 2004 at 13:30
MMM is Luton next with its Fat Cat Charges as most people seem to be aware of the move towards Gatwick which basing all new aircraft (A319s) there as a primary base in the UK for them…
They have recently announced new routes from LTN though…
By: dan777 - 18th August 2004 at 13:29
easyJet cuts costliest airport from its network – Zurich
easyJet today announces that it has chosen to stop flying to Zurich, the most expensive airport in its network.
The Zurich to London Luton route was previously profitable, but this has been impacted by a ludicrous 132 % increase in passenger fees at Zurich in the last two years, and onerous operating restrictions. As a result, the route will move to Basel and the airline leaves Zurich after six years of operations.
easyJet recognises the demand for passengers to travel to and from northern Switzerland, and has found in Basel Mulhouse EuroAirport a management team that is also enthusiastic about low cost, and who are interested in further developing this market.
The last easyJet flight to Zurich will operate on Sunday 31st October, and the new twice-daily service to Basel will commence on Monday 1st November 2004.
Ray Webster, easyJet Chief Executive said:
“No airline likes to remove services from its network – but our focus on enhancing margins and reducing costs is relentless. Airports and their ground handling costs account for 32% of our total cost base – higher than most other airlines. This is a rip-off, particularly as our customers do not value the airport experience – they simply use them to get from A to B.
“In order to reduce costs we aim to work in partnership with airport operators to help them deliver the right infrastructure, services and charges demanded by today’s travelling public. A very large number of European airports understand this arrangement; since the beginning of April, easyJet has started flying on 24 routes and announced a further 32 for the coming winter season.
“But other airports assume they can charge whatever they want, use ‘cost-plus’ pricing models, and charge for services that airlines don’t want or use. This is ‘old world’ thinking. Airports need to live in the ‘new world’ and provide the right infrastructure at the right price.
“As Zurich Airport has now realised, if there is no realistic prospect of progress, we will take our business and passengers, elsewhere.
“At any one time we are talking to a number of airports about future services – to date we have six new European cities for this winter. We continue to search for airports that are willing to restructure, and want passenger growth. Airports that ‘get-it’ and grasp the new reality will be rewarded with growth from Europe’s leading low-cost airline.”
One-way fares start from just £22.99, including taxes.
LTN – BSL 07.05 – 09.50
LTN – BSL 18:25 – 21:15
BSL – LTN 10:10 – 11:00
BSL – LTN 21:35 – 22:20
By: andrewm - 18th August 2004 at 13:26
This has been unoffical for ages now.
MMM is Luton next with its Fat Cat Charges as most people seem to be aware of the move towards Gatwick which basing all new aircraft (A319s) there as a primary base in the UK for them…
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August 18, 2004 at 1:23 pm