In the aviation industry there are always impressive, fascinating, but also curious, incomprehensible or even disturbing events. Aviation casts a spell over many people - both positively and negatively. All the more so when on the one hand the image of aviation as a “climate scapegoat” has been stamped on it and on the other hand a German provider thinks that it has to sell everything green, although research by some media has raised an image that is at least questionable.
When it comes to marketing yourself as an airline, even though you are not one, the management of Green Airlines was happy to have you photographed or quoted by name in press releases. But as soon as it comes to paying compensation claims according to EU Regulation 261/2004, a law firm is called in to let abandoned passengers who have not even been organized a replacement transport go away empty-handed. So-called airline partners raise serious allegations against the company, ranging from “different opinions about the contract” to “we have no contract with Green Airlines” to public denunciation of payment behavior. Disgruntled passengers used the “bad B-word” in at least one media report from a regional newspaper and had their names quoted. Aviation.Direct received several confirmations from police departments about criminal charges. This is not news because it was reported a few weeks ago.
But when the media keep an eye on this aspect and truthfully report that the Karlsruhe public prosecutor's office is conducting an investigation, one tries to eradicate this from the public. Two law firms are demanding that publishers, including Aviation.Direct, take the relevant report offline. One invokes identity protection. A German medium was only given 45 minutes in the evening to take a report offline.
The public has a right to the truth
But why is the complained report at Aviation.Direct still online when legal requests have been received? Because the fact that the Karlsruhe public prosecutor has initiated an investigation against a manager who has recently been shy of identity is true. The decision to “let it come down to the action” was made after extensive consultation with a well-known law firm and the legal protection insurer.
The media coverage of Green “Airlines” in the last few weeks has left a picture that is at least questionable. The fact that tickets were on sale in several cases, although it was clear that the flights would not be operated, should not have exactly strengthened confidence. For example, connections with Alk Airlines flight numbers were still on sale when the carrier had long since withdrawn the plane. The Bulgarian company then denounced Green Airlines' payment practices to Aerotelegraph. Airliners.de revealed that no contract was signed with Just Us Air, but tickets under their flight numbers were still on sale. This continued after the termination without notice by German Airways and only after the threat of legal action were flights with ZQ flight numbers quickly taken offline and “maintenance work” was written on the homepage. Passengers who have nevertheless placed their trust in the sales company will be “scraped off” with letters from a lawyer when their compensation payments are requested in accordance with EU Regulation 261/2004. Trust looks different and in combination of all circumstances it is not surprising that angry customers could have burst their chops.
Media critically question “promises” and “money-burning”
Airliners.de, for example, brought to light that some “environmental partners” did not know anything about a collaboration or that only minimal donations were transferred. Green Airlines conceded and appeased at the same time. But how “green” are flights when the aircraft is flown in and out of deepest Spain (German Airways), France (Chalair) or Bulgaria (Alk Air) ferry? And then there are only a handful of passengers on board between Paderborn and Zurich, despite the “free children's campaign”? This not only raises environmental issues, but also the question of where the money, which is obviously burned like in an oven, actually comes from? Exactly this aspect could play an important role in the AOC application that was submitted to the Federal Aviation Office. Question after question, but transparency and green “Airlines” are two terms which, with regard to the uncoverers of various media, are presumably not quite compatible.
Incidentally, a downright surreal image can be experienced on Green Airlines' social media presence. Critical comments have recently been downplayed, including a link to a newspaper report from Güstrow in which an obviously angry customer who was abandoned raises the evil "B-word". That would have been a few weeks ago and the bookkeeping would have been very busy. You write to another user that you have had a few "stumbling blocks" in the last few weeks. The respective official account of the ticket seller did not react at all to many critical comments from users on Facebook and Instagram. Sometimes no answer is an answer ...