Low Budget arrival courtesy of Air Polonia
The first scheduled, daily flight leaves Warsaw at 10.25 on the morning of Monday, December 15, 2003.
The event will mark a historical turning point in Polish air transport and sets the scene for the opening up of an as-yet-unseen market. If Poland is to follow the pattern of the revolution in air travel that has swept across Europe over the last eight years, the established flag carriers servicing the capital will face an immense price challenge, while the tourist industry booms as an influx of western travelers descend on Polish cities.
Similarly priced tickets on a London Stansted-Poznań route and a London Stansted-Katowice route are also to be on sale within days, while interchange and domestic flights will be available from Warsaw to Gdańsk and Wrocław, indicating that the tourist trade will receive a nationwide boost.
With return tickets also available to British customers at around L43, Warsaw will be opened up to British people using London Stansted as their local departure point, as well as travelers from all over Europe using the airport as an international low-cost interchange hub.
With no advertising in Britain, and a UK press conference planned for just a few days before the London to Warsaw route begins - despite tickets having been available online from November 20th - Air Polonia's strategy seems to be weighted towards the Polish side of demand for the route.
In response to the suggestion that its sales strategy is based on the belief that more Poles want to fly to London than foreigners wish to come to Warsaw, AP is modest. "First of all we want to focus on the Polish market. We will shift a little to the British market, where it will be much more difficult because people are used to 'low cost' there," says AP spokesman Eryk Kłopotowski.
Colin Oakley, Route Development Manager at BAA London Stansted is certain that low budget air travel is becoming a British cultural pastime, creating a seemingly insatiable appetite for new cities to visit.
Prague, in particular, is singled out as a key example. "Everyone thought there would be more traffic from Prague to London than the other way round and it has not worked out like that," says Oakley. "Warsaw is a very different city to Prague, but it is still an interesting place to visit and I am sure there will be massive demand from all over the UK."
Oakley is also sure that at least in the early stages of its business, Air Polonia will succeed as a shuttle for travelers using his airport to continue traveling on an interchange flight. "We have just launched our 'Changing Planes' Internet service that lets passengers very quickly and easily organize their own itinerary using Stansted as an interchange."
Tourism industry watchers in Poland also welcome the prospect of more travelers coming here. "Warsaw hotels need low cost travel," says Alex Kloszewski of the Warsaw Destination Alliance, an association of businesses related to the travel industry that market Warsaw internationally. "Though there are few low cost hotels in Warsaw, there are some great weekend rates at the five star hotels, which will appeal to couples flying in from Britain."
Until now, many air industry analysts were dubious about the prospect of low cost air travel coming to Poland, especially Warsaw, because it was suspected that the airports, particularly Okęcie, charged such high fees that customer ticket prices were inflated to account for them. London is the low-cost capital of Europe not least because Stansted, an entirely new airport with an entirely new pricing strategy, was created to offer a different service to Heathrow, the expensive London airport used by flag carriers.
A solution to the Warsaw pricing problem had been seen in the construction of Okęcie's new terminal, which has been rumored to be specializing in the low cost market, or else the development of entirely new sites, such as the former military airbase of Modlin. But AP are clear that the expansion of Okęcie has little to do with their ability to service the airport.
"We are being charged the same prices as Lufthansa, LOT or any other carrier using Okęcie," says Eryk Kłopotowski, spokesman for AP. "Like them, we include those costs in the ticket price. So the high prices have not been a product of high airport fees. They are a product of airlines' pricing strategy."
When pressed, AP maintain that they have no special arrangement with Okęcie and that their shockingly low prices will - thanks to increased demand for seats - translate into a profit. "At least for now, until the new terminal is built, we are paying the same amount as the national flag carriers," continues Kłopotowski.
The Irish low budget airline empire Ryannair is expected to be the main potential competitor to the future growth of AP's business, but the Poles are ready to complement the European services that Ryannair provides.
"Judging by the statement of the chairman of Ryannair - whom I know personally - we don't think they plan to develop a route to Poland," says Air Polonia's president, Jan Litwiński. "We will be exposing our customers to the choice of flying on with Ryannair from Stansted; if the time comes when Ryannair tries to directly compete with us on our routes, we will employ a strategy that remains secret."
In spite of Litwiński's personal contact with the CEO of Ryannair, he says there has been no implied or explicit agreement with Ryannair to operate a niche as the feeder of Polish customers for Ryannair flights departing from the UK.
Until now, Air Polonia's main business has been in cargo transport and charter flights to Mediterranean destinations. The company has twenty five pilots for all of its operations.
AIR POLONIA FARES
(prices include all taxes)
WARSAW (OKĘCIE) LONDON (STANSTED) return 282.20 PLN
KATOWICE LONDON (STANSTED) return 247.20 PLN
GDAŃSK WARSAW (OKĘCIE) one way 74.90 PLN
The event will mark a historical turning point in Polish air transport and sets the scene for the opening up of an as-yet-unseen market. If Poland is to follow the pattern of the revolution in air travel that has swept across Europe over the last eight years, the established flag carriers servicing the capital will face an immense price challenge, while the tourist industry booms as an influx of western travelers descend on Polish cities.
Similarly priced tickets on a London Stansted-Poznań route and a London Stansted-Katowice route are also to be on sale within days, while interchange and domestic flights will be available from Warsaw to Gdańsk and Wrocław, indicating that the tourist trade will receive a nationwide boost.
With return tickets also available to British customers at around L43, Warsaw will be opened up to British people using London Stansted as their local departure point, as well as travelers from all over Europe using the airport as an international low-cost interchange hub.
With no advertising in Britain, and a UK press conference planned for just a few days before the London to Warsaw route begins - despite tickets having been available online from November 20th - Air Polonia's strategy seems to be weighted towards the Polish side of demand for the route.
In response to the suggestion that its sales strategy is based on the belief that more Poles want to fly to London than foreigners wish to come to Warsaw, AP is modest. "First of all we want to focus on the Polish market. We will shift a little to the British market, where it will be much more difficult because people are used to 'low cost' there," says AP spokesman Eryk Kłopotowski.
Colin Oakley, Route Development Manager at BAA London Stansted is certain that low budget air travel is becoming a British cultural pastime, creating a seemingly insatiable appetite for new cities to visit.
Prague, in particular, is singled out as a key example. "Everyone thought there would be more traffic from Prague to London than the other way round and it has not worked out like that," says Oakley. "Warsaw is a very different city to Prague, but it is still an interesting place to visit and I am sure there will be massive demand from all over the UK."
Oakley is also sure that at least in the early stages of its business, Air Polonia will succeed as a shuttle for travelers using his airport to continue traveling on an interchange flight. "We have just launched our 'Changing Planes' Internet service that lets passengers very quickly and easily organize their own itinerary using Stansted as an interchange."
Tourism industry watchers in Poland also welcome the prospect of more travelers coming here. "Warsaw hotels need low cost travel," says Alex Kloszewski of the Warsaw Destination Alliance, an association of businesses related to the travel industry that market Warsaw internationally. "Though there are few low cost hotels in Warsaw, there are some great weekend rates at the five star hotels, which will appeal to couples flying in from Britain."
Until now, many air industry analysts were dubious about the prospect of low cost air travel coming to Poland, especially Warsaw, because it was suspected that the airports, particularly Okęcie, charged such high fees that customer ticket prices were inflated to account for them. London is the low-cost capital of Europe not least because Stansted, an entirely new airport with an entirely new pricing strategy, was created to offer a different service to Heathrow, the expensive London airport used by flag carriers.
A solution to the Warsaw pricing problem had been seen in the construction of Okęcie's new terminal, which has been rumored to be specializing in the low cost market, or else the development of entirely new sites, such as the former military airbase of Modlin. But AP are clear that the expansion of Okęcie has little to do with their ability to service the airport.
"We are being charged the same prices as Lufthansa, LOT or any other carrier using Okęcie," says Eryk Kłopotowski, spokesman for AP. "Like them, we include those costs in the ticket price. So the high prices have not been a product of high airport fees. They are a product of airlines' pricing strategy."
When pressed, AP maintain that they have no special arrangement with Okęcie and that their shockingly low prices will - thanks to increased demand for seats - translate into a profit. "At least for now, until the new terminal is built, we are paying the same amount as the national flag carriers," continues Kłopotowski.
The Irish low budget airline empire Ryannair is expected to be the main potential competitor to the future growth of AP's business, but the Poles are ready to complement the European services that Ryannair provides.
"Judging by the statement of the chairman of Ryannair - whom I know personally - we don't think they plan to develop a route to Poland," says Air Polonia's president, Jan Litwiński. "We will be exposing our customers to the choice of flying on with Ryannair from Stansted; if the time comes when Ryannair tries to directly compete with us on our routes, we will employ a strategy that remains secret."
In spite of Litwiński's personal contact with the CEO of Ryannair, he says there has been no implied or explicit agreement with Ryannair to operate a niche as the feeder of Polish customers for Ryannair flights departing from the UK.
Until now, Air Polonia's main business has been in cargo transport and charter flights to Mediterranean destinations. The company has twenty five pilots for all of its operations.
AIR POLONIA FARES
(prices include all taxes)
WARSAW (OKĘCIE) LONDON (STANSTED) return 282.20 PLN
KATOWICE LONDON (STANSTED) return 247.20 PLN
GDAŃSK WARSAW (OKĘCIE) one way 74.90 PLN
