European charter airline eyeing SEAsia

MANILA, Philippines - European charter airline Small Planet Airlines Lithuania (SPA) is focusing more on overseas markets, particularly in the Southeast Asian region, as it seeks further growth opportunities.

A report from the Centre for Aviation (CAPA) said the airline is now relying heavily on Southeast Asia to support future growth. 

Although no talks have been made between the airline and the Philippines, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) said it is open to any negotiations with SPA should the airline express interest. 

“The more the merrier. We want more airlines to come in,” CAB executive director Carmelo Arcilla said on the sidelines of the Philippine Aviation Summit yesterday. 

CAPA reports showed SPA carried 1.2 million passengers in 2014, generated €130 million in revenues and turned an operating profit of €8.1 million.

Furthermore, the carrier is projecting 37 percent revenue growth for this year, a big jump compared to the nine percent in 2014, as it takes delivery of seven Airbus A320. SPA also targets to carry two million passengers for 2015 and turn an operating profit of €14 million.

It recently opened an office in Bangkok, Thailand and placed three of its Airbus A320s in Cambodia from December 2014 to March 2015 as part of a partnership with Cambodian leisure carrier Sky Angkor. The report said SPA is keen to further build its presence in Southeast Asia through similar partnerships and potential new operators’ certificates. 

CAPA added that the idea is to place a large portion of its fleet in Southeast Asia during the northern winter months. SPA sees opportunities to continue rapid growth in Europe during the northern summer season but does not want to continue to invest in fleet expansion unless it can succeed at finding markets to place the additional aircraft during the much leaner winter months.

The airline is one of only a few narrow-body charter operators actively shifting its assets across markets depending on the time of the year. 

“Moving aircraft and crews can be costly, particularly when an aircraft has to change registry multiple times every year. But SPA has concluded the revenues that can generated with peak season flying in Southeast Asian markets justify these costs and outweigh the alternative of keeping aircraft and crews idle during the off peak months in Europe,” it said. 

SPA, part of the Small Planet Group, has a fleet of Boeing 737, 757 and Airbus A-320 aircraft which operates in over 75 destinations across Europe and the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States).