Vbird in financial problems?

B737229 · Post by **B737229** » 25 Sep 2004, 13:56

I just read a thread on a.net about VBird's financial situation:

http://www.airliners.net/discussions/ge ... n/1753617/

Are these just rumours, or is there a real problem at VBird ?

AN124 · Post by **AN124** » 25 Sep 2004, 14:10

I just read an article that EUjet was taken over by the Manston Airport Authorities.
They hope that this will boost up the passenger volume in Manston.

Maybe the lease was ended because an other reason and not because of financial problems for VBird.

But to be honest if they had problems they would be grounded because there A320's are also leased.

Best Regards,
Yvo

Avro · Post by **Avro** » 25 Sep 2004, 15:54

Let's hope the problems will be solved quickly and that it isn't that serious....

Chris

V-Bird · Post by **V-Bird** » 28 Sep 2004, 17:34

we had one problem with the lease of the fokker f-100 and the avro liner in germany, because it was a temporary lease. in the period we leased the f-100, she was standing more at he ground due technical problems then that the plane was flying. The bae had nt the performance what we need ( she was to slow ) afcourse al problems are solved.

Post by **sn26567** » 28 Sep 2004, 17:58

Good to have the information from an insider, V-Bird (if you are getting te correct information from your management, that is!)

SN30952 · Post by **SN30952** » 28 Sep 2004, 18:04

V-Bird wrote:we had one problem ... of course all problems are solved.

Looks like you're talking like the iraqi minister of information, V-Bird

More serious now, what about that MST-BJL (Maastricht-Banjul) operation. How is V-Bird planning that?

V-Bird · Post by **V-Bird** » 28 Sep 2004, 18:17

Maastricht - Banjul i not a vbird flight but an dutchbird flight. we are 2 different airlines. Dutchbird is flying the route maastricht-banjul with a b757-200.

and so as i told before, v-bird has non financial problems!

AN124 · Post by **AN124** » 28 Sep 2004, 19:14

Good to here that there are no financial problems with VBird.

Do you already have a timeframe in wich we can expect the A321 Vbird is going to use?

Best Regards,
Yvo

V-Bird · Post by **V-Bird** » 28 Sep 2004, 19:15

the a321 is operational from the end of february 2005

TCAS_climb · Post by **TCAS_climb** » 28 Sep 2004, 19:39

Will you comment what the folks from EUJet said ("we terminated the wet-lease because no payments were made for 2 months") ?
Thanks !

Avro · Post by **Avro** » 28 Sep 2004, 19:46

Good news to hear that there are no more problems. Or at least to hear that they are solved

Chris

V-Bird · Post by **V-Bird** » 28 Sep 2004, 19:47

V-bird had made a lot of maintance cost during the short leas period of the f-100. eujet did not payed the maintancecost ( and that was much ) the f-100 had more technicals then our 3 airbusses in the last year together. Thats the reason that V-Bird terminated the contract with Eujet, and used a leased Avro liner instead of the f-100.

SN30952 · Post by **SN30952** » 28 Sep 2004, 19:52

V-Bird wrote:Maastricht - Banjul i not a vbird flight but an dutchbird flight. we are 2 different airlines. Dutchbird is flying the route maastricht-banjul with a b757-200.

and so as i told before, v-bird has non financial problems!

We got that, minister*.
Let me clarify and correct: About DutchBird / V-Bird:
http://www.dutchbird.com/ This site is under construction This site is still being built. So, at the time there will be no information available...That's all that website says, try http://www.dutchbird.nl/
Who is DutchBird?
DutchBird is the newest Dutch charterairline. It has a modern safe fleet of 3 Boeing 757-200 aircrafts and 2 Airbus A320 aircrafts.
The airline?s friendly and highly competent inflight service is appreciated by passengers and business associates alike.
DutchBird is based at Amsterdam Schiphol airport (The Netherlands).

V BIRD has positioned itself to provide low fares without sacrificing comfort, convenience and by focusing our company on our customers. How do we do this? They ask and answer: We have a simple formula that maintains low costs without sacrificing the experience of flying. Even better, we have improved the experience as well.

*the other one never got angry, hope V-Bird is not angry about us asking.

TCAS_climb · Post by **TCAS_climb** » 28 Sep 2004, 22:07

Sorry to insist, but there's something I don't quite understand...

This was a wet-lease, right ? Why would VBird pay for something that's already included in the leasing costs of the aircraft ? Unless it's a dry lease, I've never ever seen a lessor pay for maintenance instead of the lessee.

V-Bird · Post by **V-Bird** » 28 Sep 2004, 22:11

TCAS_climb wrote:Sorry to insist, but there's something I don't quite understand...

This was a wet-lease, right ? Why would VBird pay for something that's already included in the leasing costs of the aircraft ? Unless it's a dry lease, I've never ever seen a lessor pay for maintenance instead of the lessee.

with wetlease there is a amount reserved for maintance. but when a plane must have much more maintance then expect, you get this kind of problems.

The things that i know are:
there was much more maintance costs then expected,
it was on wet-lease short base ( summer period ),
we had a lot of technical probs with that plane,
and also logisic probs with the plane,
the f-100 is replaced by a avro liner.

AN124 · Post by **AN124** » 29 Sep 2004, 11:18

Sorry the say but according to Luchtvaartnieuws ( http://www.luchtvaartnieuws.nl/news/?id=5712 ) Vbird has financial problems.
The article is in Dutch.

At this moment Erik de Vlieger is working together with Vbird to execute a resque plan for the airline. According to the article they have bills between the 10 and 15 Mil. Euro.

Let's hope they can survive because it would be a pity of they have the disappear from the market. Their product is really good.

@VBird:
I really hope they survive for you. This must be a hard period for all VBird employees.

Best Regards,
Yvo

LX-LGX · Post by **LX-LGX** » 29 Sep 2004, 15:17

Sosorry for Bart / V-Bird, but there's another story in "De Reiskrant" = the travel edition from De Telegraaf today, confirming the problems but also the take over rumours:

http://reiskrant.nl/reiskrant/reisnieuw ... lemen.html

(sorry, De Telegraaf is a Dutch newspaper without English version)

Schuldenlast zet V Bird mogelijk aan de grond - door Arnold Burlage

NIEDERRHEIN - De Nederlandse prijsvechter V Bird, die low-budgetvluchten uitvoert vanaf de luchthaven Niederrhein, pal over de grens bij Nijmegen, is in financiële moeilijkheden. Gedelegeerd commissaris Henny Pelsers, statutair ook de enige directeur van de maatschappij, heeft dat tegenover deze krant bevestigd.

De Amsterdamse zakenman en luchtvaarttycoon Erik de Vlieger, die inmiddels tien luchtvaartmaatschappijen bezit, is in gesprek over een reddingspoging. Hij heeft samen met de investeerder Herman Buurman, grootaandeelhouder van V Bird, 500.000 euro op tafel gelegd om een faillissementsaanvraag van twee crediteuren af te houden en tijd te winnen voor een reddingsplan. V Bird telt 178 medewerkers, een vloot van vier Airbus toestellen en vervoerde dit jaar tot dusver 693.000 passagiers uit Nederland, Duitsland en België. De stekker gaat eruit als er geen oplossing wordt gevonden voor de vorderingen, die inmiddels tussen de 10 à 15 miljoen euro zouden bedragen.

sab319 · Post by **sab319** » 29 Sep 2004, 16:25

It's a very sad thing for their employees but I'm convinced that there is a problem. Wich probably means a bankrupty...

Buzz · Post by **Buzz** » 30 Sep 2004, 15:01

Very sad for all the V-bird employees, but with Ryanair competing on some of their routes (Stockholm & Rome I believe) it's even going to be harder to survive...
Seems MOL's prediction is comming true, and the winter hasn't even started yet.

The topic on A.net is very informative, for people who want to know more!

conrad · Post by **conrad** » 30 Sep 2004, 16:08

There seems to be takover talks with the Exel Group in NL.