Concerto

Would Sun Express play any role in this? I believe it was created by or is owned by Lufthansa, is it not?

oliver2002

XQ is a TK/LH JV and it works very well, working completely separate from TK & LH in the cabin, but with crew and support from both LH & TK. Its most certain that they are looking at a longhaul version of that.

Key8

According to this source (sorry in German only)
There are rumours that sun express will be the base for LH's low cost long haul operations.
Planes should by Boeing 767 or Airbus 330.
Starting points will Germany first, but then also flights out of Switzerland, Belgium and Austria.

http://www.travelinside.ch/travelins...objectID=31268

Sun Express - buhu.
They mainly fly old Ryanair planes...

I only had one flight with them but I got the full load
Outbound:
- Flight cancellation
- lugagge destroyed

Inbound
- 4 hours delay (actually it was more a flight cancellation and merging with the later flight)
- only got my seats I had paid for after insisting with at the check in counter
- toilet broken
- flight attendands yelling at me, when askind for help with baby...

If this a good basis to compete with the bling bling...airlines???

TRAVELSIG

If this is true the problem is even far worse than my greatest concerns.

oliver2002

Huh? XQ has 18 738, of which 11 are leased with various previous owners, but not Ryanair. The other 7 are newly purchased by XQ:
http://www.airfleets.net/flottecie/S...ive-b737ng.htm

XG (Sunexpress Germany) have 14 738 mostly AB and NG stock, with 3 former Ryanair aircraft and 3 from GOL:
http://www.airfleets.net/flottecie/S...eutschland.htm

The interior of all are redone in the XQ/XG look and the MRO is done by LHT and TKT.

Dover2Golf

It seems that TK do not know anything abou this joint venture:

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/turki...ts-557369.html

TRAVELSIG

Except now apparently they do according to this released just one hour ago:

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/luf...&NewsCatID=345

Concerto

Ha, so my suspicion was right. To me, Sun Express was the obvious candidate because it seems to be a reasonably successful operation. I don't think it will be ad bad as some folk fear, but who knows. On a side note, I never understood why it never became possible to earn or spend miles on XQ. Maybe they don't want that segment of the population engaging in such activities!

N1003U

"What we've got here is failure to communicate..."

But the question to me is, who is not communicating with whom before going public with information...? I have my own suspicions, but it would be interesting to know how (theoretically) and if (practically) LH and TK coordinate public communication...

Lack

Straight from the Akbar Al Baker playbook.

whiskey_sk

The question is, is it going to be guns or roses in the end?

oliver2002

I would fathom a guess that LH talked to XQ and some higher ups at TK but not TK mainline. If you look at their org chart you see the SVP 'Participations' not really reporting to anyone. Must be a cool job.

The IR statements are hillarious though:

N1003U

I guess that is the guy who works out/negotiates the details before the projects go to the full board for approval. I am betting the president/CEO has his hands full these days keeping the operational side running and doesn't need to spend time in lots meetings with LH (or any other "participating" partner).

Those kind of jobs are cool, but they are a also dangerous from a career-limitation point of view. One danger: information leaks that occur before you are ready for them...notice the job is very high up on the chart, but no one is underneath to make sure you don't fall..

It is clear to me someone inside TK got blindsided by the public announcement of the discussions. Whether LH blabbed before they were supposed to didn't feel the need to let TK know ahead of time (possible), or TK wasn't really good about keeping everyone on the Board in the loop (more likely), would be interesting to know. Seems a good lesson in corporate communication (under how not to do it... )

TRAVELSIG

Lot of discussions between the night of the 9th and the morning of the 10th! Poor IR team must have been working 24 hours straight to keep up with this

Rambuster

The LH PR / IR people must have been really p!ssed at this.
Perhaps LH shouldn't have sent Klaus Walther for "retirement".
Under his reign this would not have happened.