SkyWork Airlines
Starting scheduled fl ights It began scheduled operations in October 2009, with fl ights between Bern and Rotterdam, and services to Barcelona followed in March 2010. Both routes performed well, he says, attracting a loyal customer base. However, as the global economic crisis hit, things became tough. “I am not going to lie; we have had to work hard to keep the airline alive,” he says. “We were quite lucky that our new owner was impressed with the product we were offering and simply walked into our offi ce after a couple of fl ights and asked if there was any opportunity for him to invest in the business. That was seven months ago. One month later we were building our new corporate strategy.”
The launch of a new corporate brand was a key part of the new scheduled business plan, which was introduced on October 20, 2010 and was followed two months later by the inauguration of scheduled fl ights from Bern to Berlin and Hamburg.
This was in addition to its seasonal leisure connections to Palma de Mallorca, Ibiza, Elba and Djerba. “We had to make sure that we grew in a sustainable manner, plus we didn’t have the capacity to expand the network further,” says Lang. This has been facilitated by the acquisition of a second Dornier 328 in March. For the longer term, the company is looking at regional jets – including the Embraer E-Jet family, Bombardier CSeries and the MRJ Regional Jet from Mitsubishi.
Bern-Belp Airport SkyWork is now the largest operator at Bern-Belp Airport, which is conveniently located for the Swiss Alps, providing short transfer times to some of Switzerland’s best ski resorts, including Interlaken,
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Adelboden, Grindelwald, Château-d’Oex, Kandersteg, Lenk, Mürren and Wengen. “Bern Airport has never seen an expansion on this scale. We are bringing regular, year-round routes, plus seasonal summer destinations. We are very pleased to be making a signifi cant contribution to the development of Bern and offer our clients a real alternative to Basel and Zurich,” says Lang.
At the start of the summer schedules,
SkyWork expanded its network to eight destinations, with a new six-times weekly fl ight to London City. This has been upgraded from a 31-seat Dornier 328 to a Dash 8-Q400.
The new service, the only direct fl ight between London’s premier business airport and Switzerland’s capital, means that visitors headed for the Bernese Oberland no longer have to travel to Bern via Basel, Zurich or Geneva. Plus, the recent suspension of London City–Basel services means travellers destined for Basel can take SkyWork Airlines’ service and be in Switzerland’s second city within an hour by car.
Increasing frequencies
The airline is also planning to increase frequencies on existing routes, offering 11 fl ights per week to Berlin (up from six), six to Hamburg (from four) and a daily service to Barcelona (from six a week). “Our bookings are getting better and better,” said Lang, “and we are looking at average loads of between 54% and 60%, which is what we need on the Dornier and Dash 8.”
Fleet expansion To support the next stage of its expansion this winter, SkyWork has already agreed deals to acquire two more Dash 8-Q400s. The fi rst of these is already undergoing pre-delivery
confi guration work in Canada, and should be delivered by May. A third should be introduced in October. “We are also fi nalising the purchase of a third Dornier 328 turboprop and hope to have this deal fi rmed up in the coming few weeks to allow delivery this year,” says Lang. “This will take the SkyWork fl eet to six aircraft by the end of the year.” These additional aircraft will be used to add a second weekday rotation on the London City route from September 5. New links to Milan Linate, Rome and Vienna will be added the same day, while Amsterdam, Belgrade, Budapest and Madrid will follow in October. The introduction of the Amsterdam link will mark the closure of the carrier’s fl ight to Rotterdam, its fi rst scheduled destination.
The past year has been one of growth
for SkyWork, but what will summer 2012 bring? “At this stage I honestly don’t know,” says Lang. However, he does expect there to be “a few new routes”, although acknowledges that some consolidation will be required. “We could look at Brussels, that fi ts our business model, but I think I need to be locked in a room for a few hours in September to look at the options and the data we have available.” For the short-term the airline’s focus will remain on Bern, but Lang believes there is potential to serve other Swiss markets, highlighting Lugano as one option. “We could look at basing one aircraft there in the future but that is a little way ahead,” he concludes.
READ MORE The full interview with Tomislav Lang, SkyWork Airlines’ CEO, is on The Hub on
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