Greek regional carrier Minoan Air has this week formally launched UK domestic operations from its new base at London’s Oxford Airport, as exclusively first revealed by The HUB at last year’s World Routes forum in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE). The small scheduled, charter and ACMI specialist will also launch an operation in the Swiss city of Lugano later this month as it expands its activities across the Continent.
The Independently-owned carrier is initially basing a single Fokker 50 at London Oxford Airport and has used the 50-seat turboprop to introduce six weekly flights to Edinburgh from March 4, 2013 and five weekly rotations to Dublin from March 6, 2013. This represents the first time Oxford has been linked to Dublin on a schedule basis and the resumption of a short-lived link to Edinburgh which was previously flown for just a week in 2010.
Speaking to The HUB this week, Marcos Caramalengos, Chief Commercial Officer, Minoan Air detailed more about the carrier’s network selection in the UK which was supported by Routesonline’s Route Exchange online platform. “We were keen to expand our operations into the UK marketplace and our research identified London Oxford Airport as the ideal location to inaugurate these services, offering great traffic potential. We are confident passengers will enjoy our service offering and we are already considering the possibility of introducing further routes from Oxford,” he said.
“We were keen to expand our operations into the UK marketplace and our research identified London Oxford Airport as the ideal location to inaugurate these services, offering great traffic potential.”
Marcos Caramalengos
Chief Commercial Officer, Minoan Air
The airline is launching flights from London Oxford on a phased basis. A second Fokker 50 is due to arrive in the next month after completing an existing contract flying in the Greek islands and will enable Minoan Air to boost its schedule on its two launch routes with double daily weekday flights and a single weekend rotation to both Edinburgh and Dublin from May 10, 2013.
Minoan Air is mainly targeting business clientele but also expects to generate leisure demand on these two routes. These past five years London Oxford Airport has focused mainly on the business aviation market and Minoan Air is making use of its smart FBO terminal, Oxfordjet, offering a stress free alternative for passengers from its sizeable catchment than flying from the capacity constrained London Heathrow.
“Our studies show a strong demand for the Edinburgh route. The Scottish capital is the number one destination from the area around Oxford Airport according to UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data. We have been conservative with our data analysis but the demand is certainly there to make this work,” said Caramalengos.
Together, London Oxford Airport and Minoan Air are creating up to 30 new local jobs in support of the new routes. Minoan has appointed a new marketing manager Monica Slottensjo, dedicated to supporting the new routes. She, together with ten new local cabin crew are being based at Oxford, while London Oxford Airport has added extra customer services, administration and ground personnel, to handle the new Fokker 50 flights.
This year marks the 80th anniversary of when Oxford City Council decided to have a municipal airport to serve the city back in 1933. “It’s been rather a long time, but this week marks the establishment of Oxford’s first based commercial airline operation, something the councilors of that period probably thought they might see a little sooner,” said Andi Pargeter, Managing Director, London Oxford Airport. “We are delighted to welcome these new Minoan Air scheduled services to two key destinations, which will suit leisure and business travelers alike.”
Minoan Air, based in Heraklion, Crete is the first Greek airline to establish an operational base outside its own country. In addition to the Oxford flights, the company, headed by Chairman George Mavrantonakis, will introduce scheduled flights from Lugano, Switzerland later this month. From March 29, 2013 the carrier will introduce a seven times weekly, although not daily, operation between Lugano and Rome and a three times weekly link from the Swiss city to the Austrian capital Vienna using a single based Fokker 50.
“We are delighted that Minoan Air has chosen Lugano Airport as a base to fly to Rome and Vienna. These are popular destinations for our catchment area and we are confident that the airport’s location together with the possibility to fly directly will prove a success with our passengers,” said Alessandro Sozzi, Chief Executive Officer, Lugano Airport.
The arrival of the Greek carrier will help boost financial trading links between Switzerland and its neighbours, Italy and Austria, and attract new passengers from Rome and Vienna to a region rich in tourism attractions such as the famous three lakes (Lugano, Como and Maggiore). Vienna is a brand new route for the Lugano network, while the Italian capital, Rome was served by Darwin Airline up until November last year.
“We received a promising proposal and excellent traffic incentives from the team at Lugano last summer. We looked very seriously at the proposition but at the time it did not include the Rome link. When we learnt of Drawin’s decision to close the service to the Italian capital it represented the final piece of the jigsaw we required to formalise the deal and dedicate an aircraft to Lugano for summer 2013,” said Caramalengos.
Minoan Air sees a lot of potential at London Oxford and Lugano. It has recently completed the crew training required to serve the Swiss airport and has ambitions to grow both new bases. “We may seek more routes at London Oxford and Lugano in the future,” explained Caramalengos. “We already have a couple in mind.” From London the markets of Amsterdam and Copenhagen are being explored, while Munich remains an attractive proposition, although not viable with Minoan Air’s current fleet.
The carrier has already agreed a lease to introduce another Fokker 50 into its fleet in June 2013 and is exploring the market for a further aircraft for delivery later in the year. There are even suggestions over the introduction of a second, larger aircraft type to support alternative routes. “A larger aircraft type could be an option for the future but we need to establish ourselves in these new markets first. We are under no illusion it will be a tough job to build our brand in both Switzerland and the UK but we are highly confident that we will succeed. It will be up to investors to decide, if we need to look at another aircraft type to develop our activities in the future,” said Caramalengos.
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