Csődöt jelentett be a mai napon a Sterling.dk low-cost légitársaság. A cég törölte összes járatát a mai naptól. Mindez hatással van a légitársaság ferihegyi működésére is, mivel a Sterling megszűntette heti három járatát Budapest és Koppenhága között.
Az utasoknak a BA azt javasolja, hogy további információért keressék fel a Sterling honlapját (http://www.sterling.dk). A Sterling nem téríti vissza a honlapján megvásárolt és kifizetett jegyek árát és nem gondoskodik a külföldön rekedt utasairól sem áll a cég közleményében.
A Budapest Airport felvette a kapcsolatot a Koppenhágába járatot üzemeltető Malévvel, illetve más érdekelt felekkel, hogy ezzel is segítse az itt rekedt utasokat úti céljuk elérésében.
A Budapest Airport az alábbi Koppenhágához közeli városokba közlekedő útvonalakat, járatok javasolja:
- Göteborg – Malév heti három és a Wizz Air heti két járat
- Malmő – Wizz Air heti háromszor
- Hamburg – Malév naponta és Lufthansa heti ötször
„A Budapest Airport sajnálatát fejezi ki, hogy a Sterling csődöt jelentett. A légitársaság érdekes színfoltja volt a ferihegyi kínálatnak. A történtek ellenére a magyar diszkont légiközlekedési piac erős, a teljes forgalom közel harminc százalékát adja. Annak érdekében, hogy tovább erősödjön a piac, a Budapest Airport ösztönző tarifarendszert és költség-érzékeny terminál szolgáltatásokat vezetett be. A BA a jövőben is keresi azokat a lehetőségeket, amelyekkel támogathatja a Ferihegyre közlekedő légitársaságokat” – közölte Szollár Domokos a BA szóvivője.
„Koppenhága a 10. legnépszerűbb célállomás Budapestről: a dán fővárosba közlekedő járatok helykihasználtsága közel 75%-os. A Sterling járatai is jól mentek, átlagos helykihasználtságuk több mint 80% volt” – modta el Szollár.
A csődbe jutott Sterling Stockholmba tartó utasait október 30-án csütörtökön és november 2-án vasárnap a Nordic Airways helyettesítő járatai viszik el Ferihegyről. A 162 fős repülőgép az 1-es terminálról indul és Bologna érintésével érkezik meg Stockholmba.
A Budapest Airport azt tanácsolja, hogy holnapi és vasárnapi Stockholmba tartó járat utasai az eredeti indulási időpontoknak megfelelően jöjjenek ki Ferihegyre.
A cég weblapján az alábbi közleményt jelentette meg:
Dear customers, employees and other stakeholders,
During the last few weeks, the management, board of directors, and the shareholder of Sterling Airlines A/S have been fighting a battle to keep the company alive. Sadly, this has not had a positive outcome, and we have therefore decided to file for bankruptcy which will be done later today.
Background
During the last three years, Sterling Airlines A/S has been through a lot of changes and since acquired by new shareholders in spring 2005 the company has taken on a merger with Maersk Air A/S. In 2005, the total loss of both airlines exceeded 800 MDKK and both owners wanted out one way or the other. Therefore, all jobs in both airlines were at stake and so was also the competitive landscape in Scandinavian aviation since only the presence of a low cost carrier would ensure healthy competition and pricing on the market.
The merger process started in the autumn of 2005 and lasted until mid-year 2006, and by that time we employed over 1,200 employees with far more job security than before, and we had expanded our route network to enable more customers in Scandinavia to travel for less money.
Our operation was progressing positively and our finances were improving considering the massive losses that had been encountered in the preceding years. In 2007, we were doing very well and saw that more and more customers were choosing Sterling, and we ended the year with a positive EBITDA (operational profit) for the first time in many years.
Oil and financial crisis
With the global financial recession that started in the autumn of 2007, Sterling by winter 2007 – 2008 was seeing signs of stagnation in the market. Significant fuel cost increases, and at the same time a planned heavy expansion of our activities, made us more exposed than we would have been otherwise.
By spring 2008, the airline industry was hit by decreasing demand and rapidly increasing fuel prices. That led to Sterling accumulating large losses. During summer and autumn the management of Sterling implemented a restructuring plan of the company resulting in a reduction in fleet and manpower, and a pull-out of a lot of loss-making activities, without compromising our services. The full effect of these actions were planned to have impact start of 2009.
To get the company restructured, the shareholder of Sterling gave financial support from the end of July 2008 to the end of September 2008 transferring 444.5 million DKK to the company. The plan was to continue financial support into 2009. On the 29th September 2008, the Icelandic financial environment started to collapse. Over a 3 to 4 weeks period, the whole financial system melted down, and that resulted in our shareholder being unable to continue his support to the company. Negotiations have been conducted with several potential investors, but it was impossible to make ends meet. The inevitable result is that Sterling Airlines A/S has no option but to file for bankruptcy.
Sterling Airlines’ trademark has always been excellent staff and service. Among the staff the Sterling spirit will continue to exist. We have made our mistakes over the years. But hopefully we have done more right than wrong, and at least we have made the market more competitive to the benefit of our customers.
Information to Sterling Passengers
Customers who have directly purchased their tickets on Sterling’s website will unfortunately not be refunded neither will their return flights. You therefore have to book your return flights with another airline company.
If you have paid for a flight by credit card, we advise you to contact your bank or credit card company to ask for a possible refund.
Customers who have booked their flights through a travel agency or tour operator should initially contact them.
Passengers who have booked their tickets through Sterling, but is flying with Norwegian, should contact Norwegian directly on one of the below phone numbers:
+47 21490015 (from outside Norway)
815 21 815 (from Norway)
Passengers currently staying abroad in hotels, or hiring a car through Sterling business partners, are still able to stay in their hotel or keep the hired car for the relevant period of time, as such services are paid for through our business partners and not Sterling. However as for your return flight, you will need to find alternatives for your final destination.
Please note that if you have booked your travel/hotel/car through a travel agency or tour operator, please contact them upon your return for possible refund of expenses for your return flight.
We understand that most travel insurance does not protect holders from airline insolvency but should you have taken insurance please contact your insurance company for clarification.
We will later put on a FAQ and hope that this will help you in this very unfortunate situation.
Sterling Airlines A/S
29th October 2008
