Slovakian low-cost carrier SkyEurope has signalled its expansion intentions with an order for 16 Boeing 737-700s and 16 options in a move the airline says will make it the same size as neighbouring Austrian Airlines is today by 2009.
Of the 16 firm orders, 12 will be leased from GECAS, with six coming from the lessor's current order book. The remainder will come from a new GECAS order.
Investment relations manager Jaroslav Sopuch says: "Some people are saying there is excess capacity in the market, but there is also growth potential, especially in central Europe."
"We have benefited from the competition between manufacturers," he adds, suggesting a substantial discount to the $55 million list price for the 737-700. Sopuch adds that the carrier had looked at the second-hand market but the right aircraft proved scarce.
The 16 firm orders will be delivered over 2006-2007 and the options from 2008 to 2009. The carrier's four Embraer Brasilia turboprops will be phased out by the end of the year with seven 737-500s following once their leases expire.
Sopuch says that SkyEurope will have around 1,600 seats in its fleet by the end of 2005, rising to around 5,000 by 2009.
The carrier is interested in expanding into other Eastern European markets that, unlike Slovakia, are not yet in the European Union (EU), and is currently looking at Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria, and in the longer term, Russia and Ukraine. The carrier started operations in 2001 before the European nations in which it operates joined the EU, and its Single European Sky.
"We have significant experience in operating in non-open skies countries," says Sopuch.
Source: Airline Business
