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CZECH AIRLINES MARK 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF FIRST FLIGHT BETWEEN YEREVAN AND PRAGUE - INTERVIEW
http://news.am/eng/news/159411.html
June 24, 2013 | 10:39
YEREVAN. - Czech Airlines, one of the oldest air companies in Europe,
has recently marked the 90th anniversary and the 10th anniversary of
the first flight between Yerevan and Prague. Around 250,000 passengers
were transported by Czech Airlines in this drection. On this occasion
Armenian News-NEWS.am interviewed Chief Commercial Officer, Member
of the Board of Directors JiÅ~YÃ Marek, who has arrived in Yerevan
to celebrate the events.
Mr. Marek, how do you assess your company's achievements in Armenia?
What are the development prospects for your company in this market?
The best achievement is that we are sitting here today and that we
can celebrate the ten years of Prague-Yerevan flight. We opened the
flight ten years ago with two weekly frequencies and this year we
already fly daily which means that we are constantly increasing the
passenger numbers and this ended in increasing the number of flights.
There have been many speculations about the prices for services
provided by Zvartnots airport. What can you say about the prices as
a representative of an air company?
Of course, as a customer, I would always say it is too expensive and
I would like it to be cheaper. But on the other hand, the airport
prices are irrespective from pricing structure. We construct our
fares as we need as an airline customer, and the airport constructs
their charges which are charged from the passenger. Of course, the
part of the ticket price of the passenger belongs to the airport.
Global crisis has recently affected nearly all branches of economy,
including air transportation. What policy have you adopted to overcome
the consequences? Is your company reducing the number of flights or
investing more?
We are actually a little bit ahead of the competition because we
started our restructuring program already three years ago. So our
main reduction of the capacity and destination was last year. This
year we are increasing approximately five percent in our capacity.
Your company is one of the oldest in Europe. Taking into account your
90 years' experience how do you see the future 20 years for the field?
What changes will be made?
In case of Czech Airlines, this year was marked by good achievement,
because we found a strategic investor to our company. Since the end
of June we have had Korean Air from South Korea as a 44- percent
shareholder of the Czech Airlines. This strategic partnership will
help develop more connections in Europe. There will be connections
from Asia to Prague and we will be kind of secondary hub for Korea.
Our region is faced with many political problems which definitely
affect air transportation. Turkey sometimes says it will close the
airspace for Armenia, Azerbaijan threatens to shoot down aircrafts
heading to Karabakh, Georgia has problems with Russia. How do you
manage to overcome these problems and what challenges are you faced
with?
One of the basic rules for us is commenting on politics is for
politicians. We do not comment on politics. We are coming here for
business. Our domain is Central, Eastern Europe, CIS countries. Our
culture our history and our language skills are close to this region.
We are the first choice for the customers from this region. Almost
all our crews speak Russian which is also very common language for
this region and it is preferential for many locals to choose the
Czech Airlines.
As you mentioned, your company has recently established cooperation
with Korean Air and is promoting flights to the East. Do you think
the future of air transportation is in the eastern market?
Yes, definitely. The statistics shows that Europe is stagnating or
going down minus two percent. The only growing market is Asia, Latin
America. Africa is also slowly becoming a growing market. Taking into
account our interests and also attractiveness of Prague for the Asian
people, we definitely go in that direction.
http://news.am/eng/news/159411.html
June 24, 2013 | 10:39
YEREVAN. - Czech Airlines, one of the oldest air companies in Europe,
has recently marked the 90th anniversary and the 10th anniversary of
the first flight between Yerevan and Prague. Around 250,000 passengers
were transported by Czech Airlines in this drection. On this occasion
Armenian News-NEWS.am interviewed Chief Commercial Officer, Member
of the Board of Directors JiÅ~YÃ Marek, who has arrived in Yerevan
to celebrate the events.
Mr. Marek, how do you assess your company's achievements in Armenia?
What are the development prospects for your company in this market?
The best achievement is that we are sitting here today and that we
can celebrate the ten years of Prague-Yerevan flight. We opened the
flight ten years ago with two weekly frequencies and this year we
already fly daily which means that we are constantly increasing the
passenger numbers and this ended in increasing the number of flights.
There have been many speculations about the prices for services
provided by Zvartnots airport. What can you say about the prices as
a representative of an air company?
Of course, as a customer, I would always say it is too expensive and
I would like it to be cheaper. But on the other hand, the airport
prices are irrespective from pricing structure. We construct our
fares as we need as an airline customer, and the airport constructs
their charges which are charged from the passenger. Of course, the
part of the ticket price of the passenger belongs to the airport.
Global crisis has recently affected nearly all branches of economy,
including air transportation. What policy have you adopted to overcome
the consequences? Is your company reducing the number of flights or
investing more?
We are actually a little bit ahead of the competition because we
started our restructuring program already three years ago. So our
main reduction of the capacity and destination was last year. This
year we are increasing approximately five percent in our capacity.
Your company is one of the oldest in Europe. Taking into account your
90 years' experience how do you see the future 20 years for the field?
What changes will be made?
In case of Czech Airlines, this year was marked by good achievement,
because we found a strategic investor to our company. Since the end
of June we have had Korean Air from South Korea as a 44- percent
shareholder of the Czech Airlines. This strategic partnership will
help develop more connections in Europe. There will be connections
from Asia to Prague and we will be kind of secondary hub for Korea.
Our region is faced with many political problems which definitely
affect air transportation. Turkey sometimes says it will close the
airspace for Armenia, Azerbaijan threatens to shoot down aircrafts
heading to Karabakh, Georgia has problems with Russia. How do you
manage to overcome these problems and what challenges are you faced
with?
One of the basic rules for us is commenting on politics is for
politicians. We do not comment on politics. We are coming here for
business. Our domain is Central, Eastern Europe, CIS countries. Our
culture our history and our language skills are close to this region.
We are the first choice for the customers from this region. Almost
all our crews speak Russian which is also very common language for
this region and it is preferential for many locals to choose the
Czech Airlines.
As you mentioned, your company has recently established cooperation
with Korean Air and is promoting flights to the East. Do you think
the future of air transportation is in the eastern market?
Yes, definitely. The statistics shows that Europe is stagnating or
going down minus two percent. The only growing market is Asia, Latin
America. Africa is also slowly becoming a growing market. Taking into
account our interests and also attractiveness of Prague for the Asian
people, we definitely go in that direction.