Last update: 23.01.2002

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Charter UPDATES

CORSICA IS GETTING MORE SCHEDULED SERVICES Compagnie Corse Mediterranée (CCM) is a new visitor to the EAP with a weekly ATR-72 flight to Bastia from April 27 thru September 28. The link is running under AF flight numbers. Saturday, Sunday and two mid-week services (high season) to Ajaccio will be introduced by Crossair again.

NOUVELLES FRONTIERES WILL OFFER A CORSICA CHARTER. Aeris International is heading for Bastia once a week from July thru September.

EUROWINGS IS TO COMMENCE FLIGHTS TO HERAKLION. An Airbus 319 will lift off from the EAP during Summer period 2002 to the Greek Island of Crete.

VACCATIONING AT VARNA's BLACK SEA SHORES IS BECOMING MORE POPULAR TUI will offer charter services to this spot, starting in April with TU-154 operated by AIR VIA - Bulgarian Airways. Holiday resorts in Eastern Europe have become highly attractive to families with tight budgets.

Jet Aviation an the BBJ

JET AVIATION BASEL HAS STARTED COMPLETION OF A BBJ FOR SOUTH AFRICAS' ARMED FORCES which is due for delivery in the third quarter of 2002. The aircraft's cabin will seat 18 VIP passengers. The company has also started building a new 6'500 sqm. service center which would help to free up space within the present hangar complex for future business charter activities already offered by Jet Aviation's Business Jet Aviation. If offered as a maintenance and charter package, aircraft handling would not pose any problem. Approving licenses to handle aircraft is still in the hands of the airport authorities.

Statistics 2001 and comment

Total Passenger Count

-6% = 3'550'696 Passengers
red=2000, blue=2001

Total Cargo handled

-8% = 114'269 Tons of Freight
green=2000, brown=2001

2001: WITH MIXED RESULTS Passengers and airfreight went down as a result of economic downturns and the collapse of Swissair. The market has since been hit by a lack of confidence and tight security. Following suite, airlines cut back on services and capacities. The EuroAirport lost 6% in passengers, now standing at the 1999 level of close to 3.6 mio. and 8% in flown and trucked freight tonnage, again arriving at levels reached in 1999 with 114'200 tons. Expresscargo (21168 tons +6%), Hapag Lloyd and Lufthansa posted solid increases. Passengers shifted to LH services in great numbers (LH and HLF each at 130'000 pax + 30%). Crossair saw its figures slip to 1.55 mio passengers - 6% and its ZRH link reported a 30% decrease in traffic due to massive reductions in services after the October grounding and train/bus links now on the market. Decline in European travel with AEA members is at 12.3% in 2001. Charter traffic also slipped by 13% to 740'000 passengers which was caused by the withdrawal of Swiss tour operators and reduced seat capacities in November and December by FTI. The latter had to restructure its business in Switzerland. Belair and Edelweiss, the airline brands of Hotelplan and Kuoni are operating out of ZRH only. Negative trends by Swiss TO's may be offset by strategies of TUI, Thomas Cook, New Avione, Starter Voyages which can graze on Swiss territory with competitive Euro rates, traditionally claimed by Zurich's major TO's. Cross border booking is common place in the Basel region with a population of 6 mio. within a two hours car drive - three countries and three markets are at the EAP's doorsteps.

Carribean comeback 2002

CARRIBEAN DESTINATIONS ARE PICKING UP STEAM AGAIN. After setbacks in catching passenger bookings to Caribbean holiday resorts (Puerto Plata), recent announcement to introduce new and additional charter services the picture starts to look brighter once again. Market entries of large-scale tour operators like TUI and Terramar are a clear signal to longstanding locals that their judgment to see a market ex EAP to Caribbean and Central American destinations proves right.
Starting in May, a total of five resorts will be served ex EAP by Aeris, Condor and Monarch Airlines. (see chart below).

Passenger tax increase

DEPARTURE TAX FOR PASSENGERS WILL GO UP BY 3 EUROS (CHF 5) THIS YEAR The old tax was set at CHF 19 (12.70 euros). The airport management wishes to off-set the losses in passenger revenues incurred by the Swissair collapse and the present uphill struggle for passenger confidence by the New Crossair. At a 3.5 mio. passenger volume in 2002 the additional income will amount to 11.7 mio. in Euro currency. The EU Parliament and EC Commission is considering new legislations concerning security, control on noise levels, and state aid to airports review. Mandatory standardization on airport security measures is promising to raise costs to new heights. ACI Europe is anxious to learn who will be called in to foot this bill.

Embraer 145 CatIII - Update

CAT IIIA LANDING CERTIFIED CREWS ON THE EMBRAER 145 ARE DUE TO BE CLEARED SOON. Presently, most Crossair crews are flying with CAT II landing minimas of 300 meters visual range (RVR) and 100 feet cloud base on RWY 16. Landing CAT III requires 200 meters RVR and 100 feet cloud base, only. Under CAT IIIA the minimas are 200 meters RVR and 50 feet vertical visibility, and CAT IIIB at 150 meters of RVR and 20 feet vertical visibility. CAT I minimas are 550 RVR and 250 feet vertical visibility. In order to be certified for any CAT I-III approach extensive hours of simulator training and en-route landings under CAT 1-III conditions have to be successfully managed and supervised by certified flight instructors. All but one Embraer 145 are equipped with hard and software to perform CAT IIIA and B approaches. HB-JAI is due to be readied soon. In March 2002, additional ERJ-145 jets are expected for delivery.

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UNIQUE SELLING POINT IN THE RACE FOR BUSINESS AT THE EAP!

Many are only talking about it - just a handful are really going for it ! - DIRECT ACCESS to the EU- MARKET (via MLH) and to the SWISS MARKET (via BSL) for imports and exports makes the EuroAirport a gateway in Europe. This market edge starts to sink in with airlines, integrators and forwarders.

The INTEGRATORS are negotiating better access to the EU-markets with French customs. They want to go for one customs clearance only for the entire EU zone when shipping via EAP. By this way, delivery times become even shorter. It also would result in larger market volumes available for the freighter capacities just a few trucking hours away in Germany and France.

CROSSAIR CARGO is already going this way when taking on cargo on its EuroCross network with X-presso (and soon to come with Railwings Europe, a same day delivery system ex Swiss railway stations). Goods with EU origin can be transferred plane-to-plane or plane-to-truck with airway bills issued to final destination without any customs clearance. Shipments to non-EU countries (Switzerland, Eastern Europe) have to be cleared by Swiss customs.

Advantages of this nature may enlarge the import market via EAP when freight is carried on FREIGHTERS operated by carriers like Korean Air or Singapore. Clearing cargo at the entryway to the EU market (at MLH) the EAP's catchment area would reach South Germany, the North & South of France with large exports and imports. In the past SQ freighters to BSL carried large shipments for Hewlett Packard to nearby warehouses at Metz and Stuttgart.

FORWARDERS could also benefit from expanded import markets to Germany and France via EAP if they are out to convince the partners in overseas. Fast transits for EU clearance and the EAP's proximity to Europe's main arteries of transportation (highways and rail) are clear cost savers. If all ends meet, airlines will offer better shipping rates.

This still calls for better infrastructure at the EAP which presents a real bottleneck. The present downturn offers some relief for cargo handling. But new freighter services may contribute to warehouse congestion once again.

AIRTRAFFIC PROMOTION GROUP, WANDERSTRASSE 77, 4054 BASEL - TEL./FAX. ++41 61 302 5775 / E-MAIL. EAPNEWS@HOTMAIL.COM

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