KLM Flying Dutchman - HV's path to profitability

From luchtvaartnieuws.nl (http://www.luchtvaartnieuws.nl/news/?ID=36362):

"Transavia wil uit de rode cijfers komen door de kosten te beperken. Dat zou kunnen door passagiers minder luxe te bieden "

HV want to become profitable by offering passengers less luxury.

Excuse me? What? Huh? Run that by me again?

Johan

That is only part of the story. Martinair will become a cargo carrier only. And Transavia will stop using jetways. Does that mean they will have to move to the low costs piers at Schiphol?

http://www.fd.nl/artikel/20291168/klm-gaat-saneren-dochters-transavia-martinair

They were not yet at the low cost piers? Imho transavia has always been in that category..

I guess what it means is that from now one Transavia passengers will be bussed in. Which I noticed is happening to more and more KL remote locations as well, which is very sad. It sucks to see Easyjet nicely docked at an airbrige while im waiting for the bus to my KL flight..

Judging from what was written in yesterday's Telegraaf, it seems that all Martinair staff are being called in for a meeting this weekend, and there's speculation that KLM will take over all its passenger flights.

The Dutch newspapers report that the Martinair staff have a big meeting coming Thursday.
Their passenger division with just 4 quite old 767's was clear to be on a rocky road.
Last year already the ground staff at Schiphol was changed to KLM and now this news.
Good luck to them, they will probably close the shop.
Their cargo division seems to be doing very well, even operating the KLM freighter 747's now (not the combi's).

The reports about Transavia surprise me, they have been doing well for many years now, throw in 1 bad year and then the news is all bad?
Seems like an over reaction although I hear from friends that the prices this year were very low, it seemed like the Dutch waited a long time to book their summer vacations because of the Worldcup and this drove prices down, airlines and tour operators were in a panic.

There was speculation about Transavia operating the Martinair flights but I doubt that will happen.

Transavia have announced that all Danish routes are to be scrapped. The routes from Copenhagen and Billund will be phased out in the period November 1 to April 1 next.

Transavia have announced that all Danish routes are to be scrapped.That means that HV Select Class on the AMS-CPH route will be scrapped as well. With a bit of luck, fare paying pax will be in a majority again.

Johan

That means that HV Select Class on the AMS-CPH route will be scrapped as well. With a bit of luck, fare paying pax will be in a majority again.

Johan

Do people actually pay for ES on this route? Thought you meant the whole ES class will be scrapped, not just the HV non-revs seats ;)

Do people actually pay for ES on this route? My regular flights are early or mid afternoon, when demand for ES is presumably lower than on early and late flights. ES loads are always low, unless Y is overbooked. On certain days in summer a few very obvious cruise ship pax may travel in ES, but otherwise HV non-revs have been in the majority by a wide margin.

Johan

If Transavia is to be profitable they are going to have to attack staff costs etc also. No way they can compete with real LCC's with their current costs.

Martinair will now definedly quit with pax flights from November 2011. Martinair Cargo will continue. Nothing is said about the faith of the personell for sure. The majority might be hired by KL or HV according to demand.
According RTL news.

Martinair will now definedly quit with pax flights from November 2011. Martinair Cargo will continue. Nothing is said about the faith of the personell for sure. The majority might be hired by KL or HV according to demand.
According RTL news.

Link in Dutch (http://www.nu.nl/economie/2340399/klm-neemt-passagiersvluchten-martinair.html)

They will try to hire all 400 flight attendants, but no guarantee is given.
During the coming months they will see which routes KLM will take over, and which routes will be axed / reduced capacity.

Nothing is said about the office staff, or are they all KLM staff already?

Gajan

I'm interested on which routes KLM will continue. Martinair was a bit of a long-haul low cost airline, espescially to the Caribbean and Florida. Martinair pax will experience a different experience for sure. They will certain have to pay extra in the ticket for IFE and other benefits which were optional on Martinair, I think a lot of people won't fly KL on the routes Martinair used to fly as it's in most cases more expensive.
Which planes will KLM use? I don't think it is profitable to send a plane equipped with J seats to for example Orlando, which is just a tourist destination.

It is amazing how emotional the Dutch get about their airlnes. It was big news on TV, some lady who used to be Martinair stewardess ages ago could not hold back her tears when reminiscing about the Good Old Days in Funny Red Hats.

Jeez! Time to forget all about nationale trots and het blauwe gevoel. Any number of airlines offer flights from various airports in Holland and just across the border, who cares what nationality they are?

Johan

KLM's cabin crew union is concerned about the transfer from MP crew to KL. The MP personell will most likely hold on to their status. The union is angry because when this happens it would blow the chances of promotion for KL personell to higher ranked functions. They find that the MP personell have to begin at the bottom.
According "Brabants Dagblad"

KLM's cabin crew union is concerned about the transfer from MP crew to KL. The MP personell will most likely hold on to their status. The union is angry because when this happens it would blow the chances of promotion for KL personell to higher ranked functions. They find that the MP personell have to begin at the bottom.
According "Brabants Dagblad"

Indeed on the FNV Union website there are some strong words.
They recognise their rights as to keeping their salary, but not regarding seniority and position.
Understandable seeing most of MP's cabin staff seem to be in a purser position - apparently all the young ones have left.
I have some aquaintances who have been waiting for years to make a promotion within KLM, they are quite scared that all these older ladies from MP will jeapardise their chances.
Oh no.... more aged FA's thumping up and down the KLM aisles coming up!
:D

Interesting development.

One should not forget that MP used to fly 500+ seat 742 to Florida, Canada or the Caribbean...resulting in amazingly low fares in the mid 1990's

Additionally, they also operated flights on behalf of KLM to ATL or YVR, using MP 763 some years ago, when KLM ( somehow ;) ) miss-calculated the maintenance periods for their M11.

KLM also used to operate flights with MP crew, but KL metal, e.g. KL 621/622to/from ATL about 10 years ago.

The union is angry because when this happens it would blow the chances of promotion for KL personell to higher ranked functions.Here we go again. The cabin crew unions are apparently cast in the same mold as the pilot ones, i.e. concrete imported from Cuba. Here's a shocking but truly revolutionary idea: how about promoting people on merit?

By the way, MP employs 142 pursers, 97 assistant pursers and 144 CAs. Indeed an interesting ratio!

Johan

Here we go again. The cabin crew unions are apparently cast in the same mold as the pilot ones, i.e. concrete imported from Cuba. Here's a shocking but truly revolutionary idea: how about promoting people on merit?

By the way, MP employs 142 pursers, 97 assistant pursers and 144 CAs. Indeed an interesting ratio!

Johan

Couldn't agree more. It's devastating to learn how KLs cabin crew career planning path is set. 4 stripes for nothing but years in service. Promotion only possible when someone else steps aside.

Yeah, the unions need a hard kick in the pants, hard enough to send them flying straight from the Stone Age to the 21st century without any stops or change of aircraft en route.

BA may be onto something with their new Mixed Fleet (http://www.britishairwaysjobs.com/baweb1/?newms=info42) concept. Having to deal with unions run by Trotskyist troglodytes, they really need to start from scratch. I hope they are successful enough to compel their European competitors to follow suit before the unions suffocate them.

Johan

Couldn't agree more. It's devastating to learn how KLs cabin crew career planning path is set. 4 stripes for nothing but years in service. Promotion only possible when someone else steps aside.

Apparently this is not entirely true anymore (this is how it was before).
It is on merit these days, but KLM (unlike MP), calculates quite accurately how many pursers it needs.
With a growth in flights, more pursers are needed, when the growth slows down, less are needed, if pursers retire then the ones at the top of the list of "suitable candidates" are promoted.
So if the 142 of MP that Johan mentions are made KL purser, that would definitely slow down the chances of "suitable candidates" from KLM quite a bit, despite the extra flights KL takes over from MP.