City Star Airlines åpner Aberdeen-Houston

[FlightDeck]

Press Release for Monday 03/09/07
NEWS RELEASE

City Star Executive launch Aberdeen to Houston

City Star Executive makes history in the North East of Scotland today, with the announcement it will launch the first ever Inter-continental business only scheduled service between Aberdeen and Houston.

The service will operate four times a week between Aberdeen Airport and George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, with operations commencing in January 2008.

Specific information on flight times and fares will be communicated in the coming weeks, while the airline discusses options and opportunities with the large number of companies and executives anticipated to use the service.
Atli Arnason, CEO of City Star Airlines, said:

“There has been a growing demand from North East-based business markets to revolutionise the concept of business class travel with the introduction of a direct link connecting two hugely important economic regions - Aberdeen, Europe’s Oil & Gas Capital, and Houston, the United States’ Oil & Gas Capital. We will meet that demand with a service running four times a week between the two airports.”

With increasing demands on management time and performance, the airline recognises how much business executives appreciate opportunities for increased productivity. Where time is money, City Star Executive aims to offer executives in both locations a highly attractive solution – and direct from Scotland.

The founders of City Star Executive, City Star Holding plan to operate a Boeing 757 – 200ER VIP Business Jet Aircraft, non-stop to and from Aberdeen. The company will provide a turn key for the aviation segment in the Oil & Gas sector, operating a modern 757 – 200ER VIP Business Jet Aircraft, with a configuration of 50 1st class cradle seats and a relaxing ‘home from home’ lounge area.

Step on board and passengers cannot fail to notice the comfortable furnishings and finest wood veneers, fabrics and finishes combining practicality, comfort and style. Colour schemes will provide stylish and complementary atmospheres, where dining and business or personal conversations can continue in a pleasant environment. City Star Executive aims to offer a simple executive service, a simple onboard service with specially selected menus of exquisite cuisine and carefully selected wines, a simple ground service, a simple fare structure, a simple connection between the two cities without the need to change aircraft in London or Amsterdam, with a focus on flexibility and convenience and customer preferences - all this from your local airport.“

The City Star Airline’s CEO added:

“City Star Airlines already links Aberdeen Airport with major Norwegian Oil and Gas, business and shipping destinations. It made sense for City Star Executive to offer this wider business community another choice to fly executives between pairs of cities, for the first time ever, making connections possible between Stavanger (as well as Olso, Bergen, Kristiansund and Alesund) via Aberdeen Airport to Houston Intercontinental Airport.”

“This next step for City Star Executive has been driven by strong market demand, not only from existing customers on our route network, but also from pressure and demand from potential customers who’s needs were simply not being satisfied by other operators. One of the many reasons for which discerning travellers will choose City Star Executive is the level of service that cannot be experienced elsewhere.

“Our attendants will be specifically recruited professionals, highly trained in our own in-house training programme, to offer exacting standards of luxury service, meeting the highest levels of safety and security, and all with a sophisticated European touch. There will be a mindset at City Star Executive that says, “Go the Extra mile”, with a quicker response to our clients’ requests, short check-in and high levels of personal service. With a level of comfort that is truly rare in aviation, City Star Executive will differentiate a positive jet travel experience from a superlative one. We feel sure our customers will come back over and over again.”

The new service has been welcomed by Geoff Runcie, chief executive of Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce:

“The Chamber has been working closely with the business community and BAA Aberdeen to better understand the need for a direct service between the two Oil capitals. Our recent joint survey highlighted again the demand and service requirements. We are absolutely delighted that City Star Executive has taken this bold step to the meet the very specific needs of our key primary industry sector. We are sure that the business community will value this direct service and support it to save precious travel time and to increase their productive time in both Aberdeen and Houston”.

Aberdeen Airport Managing Director, Kevin Brown said:

“The introduction of Aberdeen’s first ever long-haul flight is a major milestone in the history of this region and a statement of intent from our airline partners on their commitment to providing unrivalled choice and opportunities.

“For many years there have been calls for a direct service between the two “Oil Capitals” and I am delighted to welcome this much-needed route. We are all about providing our customers with the benefits of flying direct from their local airport – and for the business community of Aberdeen and the North East, the opportunity to travel direct to Houston will, I am sure, be extremely welcome. They have been calling for this direct route - now they have it, and I would like to congratulate City Star Airlines for meeting that demand with the promise of a very high quality service.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

City Star Airlines
City Star Airlines Ltd. is an Aberdeen-based company with local offices in Stavanger. City Star Holding and City Star Airlines continue to support the local economy, expecting to employ in excess of 100 people by the end of the year.

Houston,Texas
Texas, the Lone Star State, is a giant of a state. And Texans are known for their large, welcoming hearts. "Friendship" is the state's motto, and the people of Texas live by that motto.

Texas is a state of superlatives. It leads the nation in total productivity. It is the leading oil producer in the nation. More beef is produced in Texas than in any other state. It is still the nation's largest cotton producer. Texas is a giant in the space industry, and is a major player in high technology.

Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, which handles all of Houston’s International traffic, in 2006 ranked eighth among U.S. airports in International passenger volume. More than one in seven Houston air passengers is travelling internationally. In 2006, International volume grew 7.3 percent, while domestic volume rose 6.4 percent. There are non stop or direct flights to more than 121 United States markets.

Houston is the U.S. energy headquarters and a world centre for virtually every segment of the petroleum industry. More than 3,600 energy-related establishments are located within the Houston Metropolitan Statistical Area, including more than 550 exploration and production firms, more than 200 pipeline transportation establishments and hundreds of manufacturers and wholesalers of energy-sector products.

Ten of the 25 largest publicly traded oil and gas exploration and production firms (based on 2004 assets) have headquarters in Houston; 8 of the remaining 15 have subsidiaries, major divisions or other significant operations there.

Of the world’s 100 largest non-U.S.-based corporations, more than half have operations in Houston.

For further information, contact Wendy Buist, Sales & Marketing Executive, City Star Airlines, on +44 1224 348 531 or mobile +44 7917 896 553.

[Someone]

Did not see that coming:huh:

Spennende å se om det går, men skal de feede fra Norge må de slutte å kansellere flighter.

[Olap]

Hmm Hadde vel faktisk trodd SVG hadde et større marked... men kanskje ikke. ABZ er vel noe redusert med tanke på Oljå... er vel det markedet de først å fremst sikter seg inn på her da... Uansett... Morro at de prøver seg.

[Eriksan]

Står ingenting om hvordan de skaffer flymaterialet til veie i pressemeldingen, noen som sitter med info om dette eller har noen gode gjetninger?

[ThomAAs]

En Avro klarer vel ikke det?

[WestAir]

Spennende, men vil det bety begynnelsen på slutten for City Star Airlines?

[FlightDeck]

Originally posted by WestAir

Spennende, men vil det bety begynnelsen på slutten for City Star Airlines?

De har jo etter hvert fått en ganske imponerende rekke med ruter fra Norge til Aberdeen (Stavanger, Oslo, Ålesund, Bergen, Kristiansund), så det må jo være noe som går i riktig retning...?

Litt morsomt: man kan bestille innenriksruter i Norge med dem: Kristiansund-Stavanger og Ålesund-Stavanger. Ser ut til at billigste billett starter på kr. 928 på disse rutene.

[WestAir]

Originally posted by FlightDeck

De har jo etter hvert fått en ganske imponerende rekke med ruter fra Norge til Aberdeen (Stavanger, Oslo, Ålesund, Bergen, Kristiansund), så det må jo være noe som går i riktig retning...?

Ja, de har åpnet mange ruter de siste årene. Spørsmålet er om de klarer to så forskjellige ting som regionalruter i Nordsjø-området og transatlantiske ruter.

[CK]

WOA!!! Interessant kombinasjon - 757 på transatlantisk og 328 over Nordsjøen.... Vet ikke helt om jeg hadde satt penger på dette prosjektet

[OJB]

Originally posted by Olap

Hmm Hadde vel faktisk trodd SVG hadde et større marked... men kanskje ikke. ABZ er vel noe redusert med tanke på Oljå... er vel det markedet de først å fremst sikter seg inn på her da... Uansett... Morro at de prøver seg.

ABZ er definitivt et større marked en SVG. Oljeindustrien har en enda større infrastruktur i Nordøst Skottland . Her ligger mange oljeserviceselskaper sine engineering og fabrikasjonssteder.
Mange oljeselskaper har også ABZ som hovedkvarter for områder utenfor Nordsjøen også. Så trafikalt kan ikke ABZ sammenlignes med SVG når det gjelder C klasse grunnlag.
Her kan KLM få en alvorlig konkurrent på IAH fra SVG.
At ruten mellom SVG og ABZ kan oppgraderes med større fly vil jeg tro er fullt mulig for City Star dersom denne ruten til IAH genererer trafikk fra SVG også og det er jo noe av grunnlaget i følge CityStar selv.

[Thomas]

Originally posted by Olap

Hmm Hadde vel faktisk trodd SVG hadde et større marked... men kanskje ikke. ABZ er vel noe redusert med tanke på Oljå... er vel det markedet de først å fremst sikter seg inn på her da... Uansett... Morro at de prøver seg.

NB:
Vær så snill å gjør noe med den avataren din som ikke funker, den forskyver hele posten helt ut av bildet.

[MartinL]

Wow, den hadde jeg ikke gjetta på om jeg så stod på Hodet!

Om de nå skulle gjøre suksess på denne ruten fra Aberdeen, tror jeg fort at Stavanger får en slik rute med "the oil airline". Uansett blir dette et hardt spark i leggen til KLM fra Stavanger nå som Houston paxen kan mates inn med City star via Aberdeen.

[B767]

Tviler på at KLM vil lide av det fordi city star har tentk å ha BARE business i 757, ikke noe turist.. så folk som betaler billigt velger nok fortsatt KLM.... slik som eg oppfatter det som står der oppe..

[N2630B]

Originally posted by Someone

Did not see that coming:huh:

Spennende å se om det går, men skal de feede fra Norge må de slutte å kansellere flighter.

My words exactly!

Blir jo veldig spennende dette!

Og det sies jo mange ganger at det beste angrep er å gjøre noe ingen forventer!

[flyKSU]

Det hadde jeg ikke ventet :huh:
Snodig kombinasjon da, med Dornier 328 og Boeing 757. Men positivt at de satser i alle fall

[Someone]

Originally posted by B767

Tviler på at KLM vil lide av det fordi city star har tentk å ha BARE business i 757, ikke noe turist.. så folk som betaler billigt velger nok fortsatt KLM.... slik som eg oppfatter det som står der oppe..

Den ruten til KLM som sannsynligvis vil merke det her er AMS-IAH som nå kan risikere å miste endel feed fra SVG, OSL og andre norske byer. Dette er en rute som ikke trafikkeres primært av turister, men ansatte i oljeindustrien og det kjøper normalt business eller flexible billetter og ikke billigbillettene.

Dessuten er det på businessclass pengene i trans-atlantisk virkelig ligger, turisitklassebilletter på billigsalg gir kun volum og ikke noe igjen på bunnlinjen

[Olebno]

Ryktene eller rettere spekulasjoner rundt en rute til Houston, har gått ett års tid i ABZ. For det meste har det vært snakk om Continental. Om islendingene får dette til å gå gjenstår å se. Her er det snakk om å få lønnsomhet i en rute som flyes med 757 med kun 50 seter (sjeik-versjon). Med den service det tydeligvis legges opp til må nok City ha billettinntekter som tilsvarer F-class. 50 pax med C-class billett blir nok for lite til å dekke alle kostnader. Spennede blir det i alle fall. Jeg tror ikke KLM (og andre som flyr til Houston) får panikk over dette. Gutta som flyr C-class og over er veldig opptatt av å beholde sine gull-, pandium- og hva de nå heter-kort. Et kort hos City (hvis de har noe) åpner ikke verden ennu.

[LN-MOW]

Pmm .. Privatair har en 49-seters 757 ... Pace har en 63-seter ... Eos' sine har 48 ....

Originally posted by FlightDeck
.... operating a modern 757 – 200ER VIP Business Jet Aircraft, with a configuration of 50 1st class cradle seats and a relaxing ‘home from home’ lounge area.

[pirk] Foroevrig ingenting som heter 757-200ER ... [/pirk]

[Olebno]

OK da, men hvor flyr de og ikke minst... tjener de penger. Privatair flyr vel for LH fra FRA og/eller DUS.

[Someone]

Originally posted by Olebno

OK da, men hvor flyr de og ikke minst... tjener de penger. Privatair flyr vel for LH fra FRA og/eller DUS.

LH:
DUS-ORD
DUS-EWR
MUC-EWR

LX:
Litt usikker, men tror det var enten GVA eller ZRH til EWR

KL:
AMS-IAH