NEWS TRAVEL WEEKLY BUSINESS CONTINUED FROM THE BACK
Airline board member Grigoris Diakos acknowledged: “If the licences are cancelled, no new investor will show any interest.”
Anastasiadou said: “The company had asked us for time to find funding.” But she added: “If Cobalt had not announced it [the cessation of operations], we would have done so, because we had given it a deadline.” Larnaca-based Cobalt began
flying in 2016, occupying the void left by Cyprus Airways. It operated 18 flights a day, including from Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, with a fleet of six aircraft. The carrier had 280
employees. Diakos said: “We feel great responsibility toward our staff, who experienced the same with Cyprus Airways.” The airline hired many staff
who had worked for state- owned Cyprus Airways, which ceased flying in January 2015 after the EC ruled the carrier had to repay up to €100 million in state aid. Cobalt was founded by
aviation industry veteran and former Qantas pilot Guy Maclean and ex-Cyprus Airways chief pilot Petros Souppouris. They won backing from a consortium of Cypriot and other EU shareholders, as well as from AJ Cyprus – the Cyprus- registered arm of Avic Joy Air – which took a 49% stake. But the carrier hit a crunch point in early October, when two aircraft were grounded for two days following a delay in paying monthly leasing fees. Avic Joy Air reportedly
injected up to €10 million to keep the airline flying then, but balked at investing more. Avic is a state-owned aircraft
manufacturer, and Joy Air is a Chinese airline based in Xi’an, launched by Chinese Eastern Airlines and Avic in 2009.
Ryanair ‘can’t rule out base closures’ as profits fall 7%
Ian Taylor
ian.taylor@travelweekly.co.uk
Ryanair reported a 7% fall in profits for the six months to September and refused to rule out closing bases and cutting services amid “excess capacity in Europe”.
The carrier blamed overcapacity
“along with strikes” and “staff shortages” at air traffic control (ATC) for a 3% year-on-year fall in average fares, although traffic rose 6%. Chief executive Michael O’Leary
said: “Our traffic was repeatedly impacted by the worst summer of ATC disruptions on record.” In a statement, the carrier
noted: “The risk of a hard ‘no- deal’ Brexit is rising.” It expressed hope that the planned transition agreement from March 2019 to December 2020 “will be extended”. However, in the event of a hard
Cambridge and Edinburgh weigh up limiting visitors
Two of Britain’s leading city destinations, Edinburgh and Cambridge, are pursuing plans to control visitor numbers. Edinburgh city council began
a city-wide consultation on plans for a ‘transient visitor levy’ of £2 per person per night on all accommodation last week. The online consultation asks
residents and businesses what they think of the proposal and how the revenue – estimated at
86
travelweekly.co.uk 25 October 2018 6%
Ryanair’s year-on-year rise in traffic in the six months to September
Brexit, Ryanair said: “The board will restrict the voting rights of non-EU shareholders and confine them to selling shares only to EU nationals, to ensure Ryanair remains majority-owned by EU shareholders.” The carrier maintained its
full-year forecast of a profit of up to €1.2 billion, but warned: “This remains heavily dependent on fares not declining further, the impact of significantly higher fuel prices, the absence of unforeseen security events, ATC and other strikes, and the impact of Brexit developments. We cannot rule out further base
£11 million a year – should be spent. The council, run by a coalition of Scottish National Party and Labour Party representatives, also plans a series of workshops with tourism representatives, investors and residents. The Scottish government has ruled out legislating to allow the tax. Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has said she wants “a national discussion” on the issue. In a separate move, Visit Cambridge wants to cut the number of large groups visiting the city, which is increasingly associated with the Harry Potter films, and encourage the use of official guides. The tourism marketing body also
O’LEARY: ‘Traffic hit by worst air traffic control problems ever’
closures or capacity cuts if oil prices rise or airfares fall.” The carrier has so far cut winter capacity by 1%. Ryanair noted the recent
failures of six small airlines in Europe, including Cobalt Air and Primera Air, saying: “We expect more failures this winter.” It noted: “Trading may be positively impacted by other airline failures.” The airline suggested it had made “good progress with union negotiations”, despite continuing strikes by pilots and cabin crew in several countries, and said: “We can manage strikes although we do our utmost to avoid them. [But] we cannot rule out occasional industrial action.”
EDINBURGH: Council consulting on a £2 ‘transient visitor levy’
aims to ease coach congestion. Visit Cambridge chief executive
Emma Thornton said: “Many visitors, particularly those from China, arrive in large groups.”
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