Nationwide Airlines suspends flights
Nationwide Airlines suspends flights
Yet another budget airline has fallen victim to spiraling oil prices and seen itself forced to suspend all its
flights, the second such case in under a week. South African low-cost carrier Nationwide Airlines has this week
grounded its planes due to financial problems, the Telegraph reports.
In its heyday Nationwide Airlines operated 50 routes, both international and domestic, including four weekly flights
from
London Gatwick to Johannesburg. Several factors have been attributed to the demise of the South African carrier, which failed to recover completely after the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) last November grounded its entire fleet, following an engine falling off one of the planes shortly after take-off from Cape Town.
Vernon Bricknell, the airline's chief executive, felt that this was, however, not the only reason behind the fate of
Nationwide, laying blame with rising fuel costs and fewer passengers: "Our cash-flow has become critical and as a
result we have decided to voluntarily cease all flight operations until further notice. In December and January we
resumed operations and attained a gradual recovery of the business. However, in March and April we faced a 30 per
cent increase in fuel costs coupled with a decrease in passenger load factors."
It is not just the economy class airlines that are experiencing turbulence; EOS, the executive airline operating
between London and New York, filed for bankruptcy last weekend. Passengers left in the lurch are in the meantime
able to take advantage of special fares with Virgin Atlantic, as stranded holidaymakers are informed on the Virgin
Atlantic website.
Nationwide Airlines is the latest in a long list of casualties who have fallen foul of the rising cost of oil, the
Telegraph writes. In recent months many airlines, aside from Nationwide and EOS, have been forced to cease
operations, including Oasis Hong Kong, ATA, and MaxJet. Holidaymakers can, however, take heart in
the fact that the big boys in the world of economy airlines continue to expand their route networks. As was widely
reported, easyJet this week announced flights from
Manchester to
Alicante, due to take off from September.
This story was brought to you by holiday
lettings.co.uk, the UK's No.1 holiday home website.
2 May 2008
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