newstodate.aero
DEC 22, 2004 (newstodate): Newcomer to the Faroese air transportation market, Danish airline DAT reports its new route to and from Denmark on budget - and slightly above.
-We have met a very positive response in the Danish and Faroese markets, and 50 percent of all seats are now sold, meaning that from now we will watch the situation to see how the non-budget sales develops, says Jesper Rungholm, DAT CEO.
-Our current trial program expires, as planned, on January 2, and then we will assess the operational results and analyse the route economics to decide on where to go from there. Plans are, if this analysis proves constructive, to resume traffic on a full program from Easter, 2005.
-The next step, therefore, will be to open negotiations during January-February with the Danish Ministry of Transportation, which in reality means with the Faroese authority, to seek a feasible model for future operations, says Mr Rungholm.
-As civil aviation in the Faroe Islands is strictly regulated we will need a political decision on how to treat budget airline traffic that requires a sharing of the total capacity in the market which is currently served by Atlantic Airways alone.
-Atlantic Airways operates five daily flights, and our traffic comes on top of that. The situation is not that we step in to fill a void after Maersk Air's pull-out. That void has already been filled by Atlantic Airways. Our traffic actually increases the market as our low fares probably attracts passengers that would not otherwise have booked tickets. For a trial period the situation is satisfactory. But to commit ourselves to a full-year program we need fair and agreed markets conditions that will require a political decision by the Faroe Islands' Ministry of Transportation, says Jesper Rungholm.
Mr Rungholm says the airline want to see a mix of passengers and freight on future flights, but so far only the passenger market has been served.
-We have met a very positive response in the Danish and Faroese markets, and 50 percent of all seats are now sold, meaning that from now we will watch the situation to see how the non-budget sales develops, says Jesper Rungholm, DAT CEO.
-Our current trial program expires, as planned, on January 2, and then we will assess the operational results and analyse the route economics to decide on where to go from there. Plans are, if this analysis proves constructive, to resume traffic on a full program from Easter, 2005.
-The next step, therefore, will be to open negotiations during January-February with the Danish Ministry of Transportation, which in reality means with the Faroese authority, to seek a feasible model for future operations, says Mr Rungholm.
-As civil aviation in the Faroe Islands is strictly regulated we will need a political decision on how to treat budget airline traffic that requires a sharing of the total capacity in the market which is currently served by Atlantic Airways alone.
-Atlantic Airways operates five daily flights, and our traffic comes on top of that. The situation is not that we step in to fill a void after Maersk Air's pull-out. That void has already been filled by Atlantic Airways. Our traffic actually increases the market as our low fares probably attracts passengers that would not otherwise have booked tickets. For a trial period the situation is satisfactory. But to commit ourselves to a full-year program we need fair and agreed markets conditions that will require a political decision by the Faroe Islands' Ministry of Transportation, says Jesper Rungholm.
Mr Rungholm says the airline want to see a mix of passengers and freight on future flights, but so far only the passenger market has been served.