Danish regional Sun-Air has signed a franchise agreement which will see it operating as British Airways Express from August. The deal marks the first time BA has franchised its Express brand to an airline based outside the UK, although 49 per cent-owned TAT European Airways of France is licensed to operate some international flights using the mainline BA brand.
Sun-Air had wanted a partner for some time to help it expand and add larger aircraft. The Billund-based carrier operates 10 Jetstream 31s and two J41s on domestic and regional routes, with major traffic hubs at Copenhagen and on the Jutland peninsula at Aarhus. Last year, it carried 120,000 passengers on scheduled services.
'We talked to SAS but they were not interested,' says Sun-Air's marketing manager Kristian Tvergaard. The carrier plans to expand in the Scandinavian market and add direct links between Jutland and the UK. In the long term, the carrier is also looking to get 60 or 70-seat aircraft, including jets.
Tapping into a global brand has clear advantages for Sun-Air's international expansion, but using a foreign carrier's identity on domestic routes is uncharted territory. But David Fraser, director at London-based consultants Fitch, says it makes sense for the UK major to launch the concept in a northern European market where there are no major cultural differences: 'I think the Scandinavian marketplace is ready for it.'
Sun-Air joins Brymon Airways, CityFlyer Express, Loganair and Manx Airlines (Europe) in flying under the BA Express brand, while Maersk Air and GB Airways operate as BA. In the financial year ending March 1995, the six airlines carried 3.2 million passengers and generated more than £50 million (US$34 million) of revenue for BA in passenger feed and service fees.
BA has also expanded its international partnerships by signing a codeshare deal with Canadian Airlines Inter- national, which has rapidly replaced one strong European partner with another, after Lufthansa switched to an alliance with Air Canada. The deal includes BA's first transatlantic codeshare as well as linking frequent flyer programmes. The codeshare comes into effect from 15 June, allowing BA to sell Canadian's daily nonstop Calgary-London/Heathrow service as part of a connecting journey. Initially, BA will not market point-to-point Calgary-London seats under its own designator and the two carriers are reviewing other codeshare options.
BA and Canadian share a common alliance partner in Qantas, and the deal brings BA closer to Canadian's 33 per cent shareholder American. There has been speculation about the UK and US majors linking up if BA abandons struggling USAir.
* A second round of UK-Singapore bilateral talks which will start in June in London could see BA gain unrestricted fifth freedom rights at the southeast Asian hub.
The talks have been initiated by Singapore, which wants more frequencies for Singapore Airlines at London/Heathrow and Manchester as well as London-New York rights, and has proposed a full open skies deal. BA still has unused rights under the existing bilateral, including hubbing rights at Singapore, but a source says the carrier would like more fifth freedoms.
Ultimately, BA could combine transpacific rights from Singapore with dormant transpacific rights from the US to offer a global service.
Mark Blacklock
Source: Airline Business
