Michael Kraus, President & CEO, Air Dolomiti
» Interview 18/11/2012
ATN: How the current crisis in euro zone and in Italy affect your operations and what measure did you undertook?
MK: The actual crisis in Italy will accelerate the reshuffle of the Italian air transport system. As far as Air Dolomiti is concerned we will prepare ourselves by restructuring our fleet in the next years to come.
ATN: Which is Air Dolomiti’s main competitor, a legacy carrier or a low-cost carrier?
MK: As being today basically a feeder carrier for Lufthansa’s Group network our most important competitors are the same as for Lufthansa.
ATN: What are 2-3 things about your airline you expect your customers to be excited about?
MK: Our “italianità” which is based on hospitality, creative service and style making sometimes the difference,
Furthermore attention to punctuality, regularity and reliability have always been the most important assets that created the Company’s brand.
ATN: What type of passengers do you focus mainly on, business class, economy and what is the percentage of each?
MK: As our operation is focused on high frequency services from fourteen Italian cities to Lufthansa’s hubs we mostly rely on business travelers. On the other side we observe an increasing demand of leisure passengers making also use of higher frequencies due to their more and more short term holiday planning. The use of classes will be less oriented by travel motives than by individual price/comfort- considerations. We are prepared to offer good services for both segments.
ATN: What is the percentage of connecting passengers for Air Dolomiti in total to Lufthansa Group?
MK: About two third of our passengers are transfer passengers.
ATN: How important is to be under the Lufthansa group and also to be part of the Miles and More program?
MK: Being Air Dolomiti the only italian feeder carrier within the Lufthansa Group it is absolutely important for us to take part in the Miles & More program offering our passengers benefits like: competitive fares for connecting flights, intercontinental network, participation in a global frequent-flyer program and possibility to get the Lh ground assistance and facilities of Star Alliance partners.
I am convinced that we could not survive the last years without the support of such a big organization
ATN: Air Dolomiti operates the Embraer 195. How satisfied are you?
MK: We are very satisfied. It seems to be the right designed aircraft for a company with our service attitude and philosophy. If its purchase price would be a little less high as it is at the moment there would be no critics at all.
ATN: Do you plan to retire the ATR fleet?
MK: In our market environment it gets increasingly tough to operate aircraft below 120 seats with good economic results . So it’s not a question of type but aircraft size and all seventy seater - be it prop or jet - will have a hard time at least in our market.
ATN: Can you explain in details the greenskies project and what financial benefits had?
MK: In 2011 we launched the Green Sky Project to reduce the environmental impact of our aircrafts getting maximum operational efficiency. In cooperation with ENAV (the Italian company for Air Navigation Service) and german DFS (Air Traffic Authorities ), together with our expert team of pilots and engineers, we studied and redesigned new operational procedures in order to achieve the most linear flight patterns. As a result we reduced specific fuel consumption by 2-4% as well as a significant amount of CO2.
ATN: Do you plan to have new destinations in your network in the summer schedule?
MK: At the moment we are looking into some new ideas for the future but in this very unstable market we are foremost interested in stabilizing our existing program to Munich, Frankfurt, Vienna and Zurich.
ATN: Are you optimistic about revenues, yields, and passenger traffic? Why or why not?
MK: In these very competitive times and given the high impact of fuel prices on our industry it would be not very honest if one insists to be content about the yields you actually earn. On the other side there is still a moderate passenger growth to be observed which gives hope for improving market parameters in the future after the crisis.
ATN: What are the 3 mains concerns your airline will face within the next 24 months?
MK: The most important concern is that competitors in less stable situation get unpredictable concerning their actions on capacity and pricing.
Besides that we are closely watching the ongoing dynamics of the oil market.
ATN: What do you think your airline will look like 10 years from now?
MK: Ask me in ten years.
ATN: Do you have any additional thoughts you’d like to share with the readers of Air Transport News?
MK: I hope that in the future some customers will reconsider their position that an air travel ticket should cost less than the parking place in front of the airport
Da AirtransportNews.aero
Ciao
V.
» Interview 18/11/2012
ATN: How the current crisis in euro zone and in Italy affect your operations and what measure did you undertook?
MK: The actual crisis in Italy will accelerate the reshuffle of the Italian air transport system. As far as Air Dolomiti is concerned we will prepare ourselves by restructuring our fleet in the next years to come.
ATN: Which is Air Dolomiti’s main competitor, a legacy carrier or a low-cost carrier?
MK: As being today basically a feeder carrier for Lufthansa’s Group network our most important competitors are the same as for Lufthansa.
ATN: What are 2-3 things about your airline you expect your customers to be excited about?
MK: Our “italianità” which is based on hospitality, creative service and style making sometimes the difference,
Furthermore attention to punctuality, regularity and reliability have always been the most important assets that created the Company’s brand.
ATN: What type of passengers do you focus mainly on, business class, economy and what is the percentage of each?
MK: As our operation is focused on high frequency services from fourteen Italian cities to Lufthansa’s hubs we mostly rely on business travelers. On the other side we observe an increasing demand of leisure passengers making also use of higher frequencies due to their more and more short term holiday planning. The use of classes will be less oriented by travel motives than by individual price/comfort- considerations. We are prepared to offer good services for both segments.
ATN: What is the percentage of connecting passengers for Air Dolomiti in total to Lufthansa Group?
MK: About two third of our passengers are transfer passengers.
ATN: How important is to be under the Lufthansa group and also to be part of the Miles and More program?
MK: Being Air Dolomiti the only italian feeder carrier within the Lufthansa Group it is absolutely important for us to take part in the Miles & More program offering our passengers benefits like: competitive fares for connecting flights, intercontinental network, participation in a global frequent-flyer program and possibility to get the Lh ground assistance and facilities of Star Alliance partners.
I am convinced that we could not survive the last years without the support of such a big organization
ATN: Air Dolomiti operates the Embraer 195. How satisfied are you?
MK: We are very satisfied. It seems to be the right designed aircraft for a company with our service attitude and philosophy. If its purchase price would be a little less high as it is at the moment there would be no critics at all.
ATN: Do you plan to retire the ATR fleet?
MK: In our market environment it gets increasingly tough to operate aircraft below 120 seats with good economic results . So it’s not a question of type but aircraft size and all seventy seater - be it prop or jet - will have a hard time at least in our market.
ATN: Can you explain in details the greenskies project and what financial benefits had?
MK: In 2011 we launched the Green Sky Project to reduce the environmental impact of our aircrafts getting maximum operational efficiency. In cooperation with ENAV (the Italian company for Air Navigation Service) and german DFS (Air Traffic Authorities ), together with our expert team of pilots and engineers, we studied and redesigned new operational procedures in order to achieve the most linear flight patterns. As a result we reduced specific fuel consumption by 2-4% as well as a significant amount of CO2.
ATN: Do you plan to have new destinations in your network in the summer schedule?
MK: At the moment we are looking into some new ideas for the future but in this very unstable market we are foremost interested in stabilizing our existing program to Munich, Frankfurt, Vienna and Zurich.
ATN: Are you optimistic about revenues, yields, and passenger traffic? Why or why not?
MK: In these very competitive times and given the high impact of fuel prices on our industry it would be not very honest if one insists to be content about the yields you actually earn. On the other side there is still a moderate passenger growth to be observed which gives hope for improving market parameters in the future after the crisis.
ATN: What are the 3 mains concerns your airline will face within the next 24 months?
MK: The most important concern is that competitors in less stable situation get unpredictable concerning their actions on capacity and pricing.
Besides that we are closely watching the ongoing dynamics of the oil market.
ATN: What do you think your airline will look like 10 years from now?
MK: Ask me in ten years.
ATN: Do you have any additional thoughts you’d like to share with the readers of Air Transport News?
MK: I hope that in the future some customers will reconsider their position that an air travel ticket should cost less than the parking place in front of the airport
Da AirtransportNews.aero
Ciao
V.
