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It is perhaps the euphoria of many new orders that pushed Embraer's sales director, Arjan Meijer, to make a faux pas. At the Farnborough Air Show, near London, he announced that Helvetic Airways wanted to buy up to 24 planes from Brazilians – and immediately added how much the planes were flying in the Lufthansa group. be. But: Helvetic Airways does not belong to the German group Lufthansa, but to the Swiss investor Martin Ebner. The airline was founded in 2003. Its headquarters are in Zurich, with hubs in Zurich and Bern-Belp airports.
What is right compared to the Lufthansa group: Helvetic operates many flights for the Swiss and the crew for flights as the Swiss markets. And Swiss has been part of the Lufthansa Group since 2005. Swiss is now the largest Helvetic customer. Four of Helvetic's twelve helicopters are now in service for Swiss. The rest is flying for other airlines, charter or regular service for tour operators or companies. Helvetic also offers its own scheduled flights.
The dependence on Swiss, at least that is what Helvetic Airways means, means that they want to reduce their spending somewhat in the future. And the current order of new aircraft plays an important role.
The order includes the purchase of twelve Embraer E190-E2; the new version of the so-called e-jets of the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer, of which Helvetic already has seven in their fleet.
The new jet was delivered to the first Wideroe customer in Norway in April. Fuel consumption per seat should be lower by 16 to 24% thanks to new engines and other improvements, such as aerodynamics. In addition, the new models are quieter, which is particularly important for the location of Bern, as says the CEO of Helvetic, Tobias Pogorevc.
If the twelve new aircraft in the Helvetic Airways fleet are, the average age will be low. It will not only be the regional airline with the most modern aircraft, but also the newest in Europe, Pogorevc comments to this newspaper. "And that also gives room for growth," he says. What Tobias Pogorevc means: In addition, the airline has guaranteed purchase rights for twelve other aircraft of this type. And they could even be of the larger version E195-E2, in which about 25 passengers are more fit. It would be a doubling of the Swiss fleet.
Martin Ebner, owner of Helvetic Airlines, is a little more explicit in his remarks. According to the investor, the order is a sign that Helvetic is currently undergoing a "paradigm shift". Until now, we have relied on used aircraft, which were relatively inexpensive. Helvetic also had this option with the new order. "It was about the question: are we continuing the old model? Then we would have stayed with the old models. But Martin Ebner did not want it. "We wanted to take the step, with relatively more expensive jets, to lay the foundation for becoming a modern and strong regional airline," says Ebner. Does this mean that Helvetic Airways wants to become less dependent on Swiss? "Absolutely," says Ebner. "It's never good to be very dependent on a customer."
From Cheap Airline to Quality Aircraft
Even if everything is even more ambiguous than the facts: what Ebner Helvetic says, has weight. In 2006, Helvetic Airways was struggling with financial problems and was close to stranding. In March 2006, Martin Ebner and his wife Rosemarie bought the airline and saved them from the end.
Already at the change of ownership there was a successful paradigm shift at the airline. Before the arrival of Martin Ebner, Helvetic was a cheap airline with a bright purple livery. Ebner did not fit this picture. He wanted to make Helvetic a Swiss-Swiss airline. He therefore attaches great importance to Swissness and quality. Two properties that belong together according to the investor.
(Tages-Anzeiger)
Date created: 17.07.2018, 23:00
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