JUSTIN WASTNAGE / LONDON
No-frills airline set to quadruple fleet and widen network coverage across Europe
KLM is to undertake massive expansion of its UK low-cost carrier Buzz, the centrepiece of the Dutch airline's strategy for the no-frills segment. Buzz will quadruple its fleet and expand its network in a bid to join EasyJet and Ryanair as a pan-European low-cost market leader.
Buzz operates eight BAe 146-300s and three Boeing 737-300s and earlier this year unveiled plans to expand its fleet with more 737-300s (Flight International, 14-20 May). The six new aircraft will arrive over three months from December, leased from International Lease Finance.
The new 737s will replace Buzz's 146s, which are being phased out over two years from March, and Buzz chief commercial officer Tony Camacho says the aim is to have 30-40 737s in service within three to four years. "We are negotiating with a number of parties, but it is tricky to obtain batches of aircraft," he says, adding that the deals include upgrade clauses for Next Generation 737s.
Buzz will carry 1.8 million passengers in 2002, and the fleet expansion will give it the potential to expand to about 7 million a year. The airline was divested from KLM UK last week, and has acquired that carrier's air operator's certificate. KLM UK has been merged with KLM's wholly owned Dutch regional KLM Cityhopper and will concentrate on Amsterdam feeder flights from points in the UK.
The new Buzz operation will continue to operate from its London Stansted base and will set up a new hub in Bournemouth, UK, early next year. It plans to have an offshore base in Europe before the end of next year. Buzz rules out using KLM's congested base at Amsterdam Schiphol and says Rotterdam is unlikely because the Dutch market is not big enough, and landing fees are still controlled by the Schiphol Group.
In lieu of a Buzz base, KLM is encouraging its charter subsidiary Transavia to expand its fares-only charter airline Basiq Air from Schiphol. The carrier will launch seven new routes from Amsterdam next April. Meanwhile, Transavia's "mainline" fleet will be dedicated solely to charter flights from Amsterdam, some of which will also be sold on a fares-only basis.
Ryanair will open its third mainland European hub at Milan's Orio al Serio airport in Bergamo, Italy, in February. Four 737s will be based there and 30 daily flights will be operated to Barcelona, Brussels, Frankfurt, Hamburg, London and Paris. Ryanair will increase daily flights between London and Milan to six, with two flights to Luton. From 20 February Ryanair will fly from Stansted to Girona, Spain, its first Spanish destination.Additional reporting by Herman de Wulf in Brussels
Source: Flight International
