The charter marketer Green Airlines has finally ceased sales on the holiday routes from Groningen, Paderborn and Rostock-Laage due to a lack of “flight partners”. A few days ago, the company posted on its homepage and in social networks that it should fly again from August 1, 2021.
Green Airlines wanted to market “climate-friendly flights” with around 30-year-old Boeing 737-300s from Alk Air from Paderborn and Rostock-Laage. After only a few days, the Bulgarian airline jumped head over heels and publicly criticizes the payment behavior of the ticket seller. Just Us Air decided not to fly for Green Airlines in the first place and publicly stated that they would be with this company have not signed a contract at all. Still, tickets were on sale under the Alk Air and Just Us Air codes.
Green Airlines originally announced that the holiday flights from Groningen, Paderborn and Rostock would be operated by German Airways. But the former WDL only flew sporadically from Groningen and that too is an end. "With immediate effect, German Airways no longer flies for Green Airlines from Paderborn and Groningen," the airline announced. The reason given is: "The reason for this is the rapidly changing market environment due to the Covid pandemic and the increasing incidence in some countries."
German Airways only wants to continue flying on the Cologne / Bonn-Paderborn-Westerland route. Last one took for this extremely long positioning flights in purchase, which do not exactly make the "green image" of Green Airlines seem "eco". With this background, the official statement from Green Airlines seems downright absurd. It should also be noted that competitors can achieve the best capacity utilization on some identical routes. "Green Airlines is suspending its tourist flight offer with immediate effect. This affects the Spain and Greece connections from Paderborn/Lippstadt and Rostock-Laage airports to Mallorca, Rhodes, Crete and Kos. The routes from Groningen Airport Eelde to Mallorca, Ibiza Corfu and Faro will also be suspended for the time being. Tickets booked will be refunded. The reason for the decision is the ongoing difficult situation due to the corona pandemic. The scheduled connection between Cologne/Bonn or Paderborn/Lippstadt and Sylt will remain in place," writes Green Airlines in a media connection. It should be made clear that Green Airlines is not an airline and is therefore not allowed to operate scheduled flights. These are charter flights and On top of that, Green Airlines tries to avoid compensation payments according to EU 261/2004 with the help of a law firm. To the outside world you present yourself as an airline, but when it comes to fulfilling passenger rights, you don't want to be any more.
“The airline based at Cologne / Bonn Airport had leased up to two Embraer 190 aircraft including crews to the young Green Airlines in the past few weeks. One jet was stationed in Groningen, the Netherlands. The second jet will no longer start operating from Paderborn, ”said German Airways in a broadcast. This means that the grandly announced vacation program by Green Airlines has disappeared after just a few legs. Only the Sylt flights can be booked via their homepage. Furthermore, the “ghost route” in Zurich can still be found, but it has not been booked for a long time.
From the point of view of Green Airlines boss Stefan Auwetter it sounds like this: “The decision to suspend our tourist offer was difficult for us. In view of the incidence developments in Spain and Greece and the associated tightened entry and exit regulations, however, there was no alternative. Many travelers with a destination in southern Europe are unsettled and maintaining operations with aircraft that are likely to be underutilized was out of the question for us ”.
Environmental projects disappeared from the homepage
The last line of the charter marketer's press release reads: "An expansion of the scheduled flight offer and the addition of new routes is already planned." The current non-airline has submitted an application to the Federal Aviation Office for an AOC and operating license. It is completely unclear whether the authority will approve this. The criteria regarding competence, safety and especially financial performance are very strict. It could also be just a act legal trickin order to be able to avoid the passenger rights.
The Airliners.de portal revealed that some of the environmental projects advertised on the Green Airlines website did not even know about the cooperation. For this purpose, chargeable (payment fee) donations were requested. The statement made by the orchards indicates that not much of it may have arrived. At least the sponsoring association didn't know anything about it. Green Airlines has now removed the allegedly supported projects for orchards and Hamberger Moor from the homepage.
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