Eastern Europe gets direct airline connections
Cimber Aviation Group director Jørgen Nielsen
One of Europe’s smaller airlines, Denmark’s Cimber Air, is to open two new direct airline connections between Copenhagen and Kiev in Ukraine, and Bucharest in Romania. The new routes are scheduled to start in April this year with one daily flight to and from Bucharest on weekdays one daily flight to and from Kiev, with a reduced service at weekends.
“Eastern Europe represents a large potential market,” says Cimber Aviation Group director Jørgen Nielsen. “There is clearly increasing business interest from the entire Nordic region and the two routes will be the first to fly direct for a long time.” The two routes are the latest addition to Cimber Air’s international network. The company already serves Basel in Switzerland, Wroclaw in Poland and Montpellier in France. The Montpellier route operates seasonally in spring, summer and autumn. In addition Cimber Air has a number of domestic routes and a route in Germany from Kiel to Frankfurt.
In contrast to the rollercoaster trends in aviation currently, with new budget airlines appearing and disappearing almost every day, Cimber Air sticks to its niche policy: Direct routes, quality and service at market-determined prices.
“Budget concepts in the aviation industry have come to stay,” says Jørgen Nielsen. “No passengers in their right mind would pay up to four times as much for a ticket if they can fly direct with a budget airline.” But it is not always the cheapest solution to go for the cheapest price. The time you use also has a price.
“Even so we see business travellers using 100 dollars to save 10. Future success for airlines lies somewhere between budget and full-service. And it will also be airlines which offer transparency in their pricing,” says Jørgen Nielsen.
Cimber Air aims to survive today’s turbulent conditions in aviation by offering real routes at real prices. By real routes Jørgen Nielsen means direct routes with a sensible frequency, targeted mainly at business traffic. For Cimber Air that means the long, slim routes designed for the company’s fleet of Canadian Regional Jets. And the short, fast routes which suit the fleet of ATR turbo propellers. And sensible frequency in Cimber language means neither too many nor too few.
“It also gives the opportunity for real prices where passengers always know exactly what they are offered. Without dumping, with transparent surcharges and especially with the full service we think should accompany the real price.”
www.cimber.com
|
