easyJet moves Zurich route to Basel

vueling · Post by **vueling** » 19 Aug 2004, 11:41

easyJet have announced that on 1 November 2004, they will commence a new twice-daily route between London (Luton) and Basel (Mulhouse).

This will replace their Luton to Zurich service, which will fly for the last time on 31 October 2004. easyJet refuse to continue flying to Zurich after a reported 132% increase in landing fees at the airport in recent years, making it the most expensive airport currently used by the low-cost airline. Apparently Basel has a “management team that is also enthusiastic about low cost", and easyJet are keen to emphasise the importance of this to their business model.

Avro · Post by **Avro** » 19 Aug 2004, 11:53

I read that news yesterday as well, and it's sad for ZRH to see EZY leaving. But ZRH is like BRU a very expensive airport and thus not perfect for low cost carriers.

Chris

Comet · Post by **Comet** » 19 Aug 2004, 11:58

Unlike many other low cost operators, EasyJet always seemed to prefer using more mainstream airports - AMS and CDG are two which come to mind. I would have thought that would have been to their advantage, as the ones they serve often have better transport links and facilities than the ones served by Ryanair. But Switzerland is not the cheapest country in Europe to operate into.

Robin_Bamps · Post by **Robin_Bamps** » 19 Aug 2004, 12:38

In my opinion it's quite a miracle that EZY stayed at ZRH that long ! I expected they would leave even more quickly as ZRH is one of the most expensive airports in Europe when talking about passenger fees and taxes.

@ Avro :

But ZRH is like BRU a very expensive airport and thus not perfect for low cost carriers.

Indeed, that's also the reason why Helvetic isn't the most succesful LCC I guess. A friend of mine flew with Helvetic from ZRH to Prague a couple of months ago, and on the return flight PRG-ZRH there were just 8 passengers on board

Regards, Robin Bamps.

Post by **sn26567** » 19 Aug 2004, 12:53

After the demise of Sabena, Virgin Express started flying to both Geneva and Zurich. They retreated from ZRH after less than six months, but they are still flying to GVA.

It tells you something about ZRH!

etihad · Post by **etihad** » 20 Aug 2004, 02:04

Robin_Bamps wrote: Indeed, that's also the reason why Helvetic isn't the most succesful LCC I guess.

Helvetic Airways is about to get serious competition from another Swiss LCC start-up in 2005.

Helvetia Express is the name of the new airline, and it is the Swiss affiliate of the German LCC Germania Express.

More importantly, Helvetia Express is set to inaugurate services to Brussels with F100 equipment somewhere in 2005.

This is no big surprise, given the fact that mother company Germania Express already wanted to inaugurate services to Brussels in January 2004.

The Germania Express plans were aborted due to the fact that Helvetic Airways also entered the ZRH-BRU-ZRH market around the same period of time.

Germania Express still has slots at their disposal in Brussels who will be transferred to Helvetia Express, and since Helvetic Airways is no longer serving Brussels, they feel its time to finally break the Swiss International Airlines monopoly on this route.

Let us wait and see if they really take-off, though Helvetia Express is currently recruiting: http://www.hxx.ch

Avro · Post by **Avro** » 20 Aug 2004, 09:35

I wish them all the best but doubt if they will be more succesful on the ZRH-BRU-ZRH route than Helvetic

Chris
8)

Post by **sn26567** » 20 Aug 2004, 09:54

etihad,

Thanks for your breaking news.

That is the kind of information that would be appreciated in the Luchtzak Latest News section.

t0m · Post by **t0m** » 22 Aug 2004, 09:54

anybody know how much the landing fees are at ZRH?