News: Smintair Smokers Airline Page 2

German airline to offer smoking, not non

Jul 16th 2009
by Tom Johansmeyer

How did this one get by me? An all-smoking airline!

Alexander Schoppmann is on the prowl for startup capital for an all-smoking airline. Once he gets the cash, he’s going to lease two Boeing 747s and run a route from Dusseldorf to Tokyo. This doesn’t do much for the few Americans who still prefer to light up, but if the Schoppmann can squeeze a profit out of this (which conventional airlines aren’t even doing), maybe he’ll export the idea.

If all goes according to plan, Smintair (for “Smoker’s International Airways) will go wheels up for the first time next year. Each plane will accommodate 138 passengers, with no economy seating. You’ll have to pay to play on Smintair, but if you have a serious tobacco jones, it could be worth the trouble – especially if you’re stuck on a plane from Germany to Japan.

Schoppmann is looking to use the upper deck as a passengers’ lounge, rather than cramming it with more seats. Smintair will be an upscale affair, so the poor and the nic-free should book their travel arrangements elsewhere. Flight attendants and pilots who aren’t interested in a smoke-filled workplace, the company says, need not apply.

The price tag is hefty: approximately $56 million. Part of this will pay for an older approach to pushing fresh air through the cabin – instead of the cheaper systems being used now. Even with the barriers, Schoppmann is optimistic. I guess the former stockbroker has some solid connections.

Cigar smokers: if you’re worried about discrimination, the hopeful founder remembers fondly the days when Lufthansa would serve a selection of Montecristos in flight.

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SMINTAIR Video Interviews
In German: Page 1
In German: Page 2
In English: Page 3

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In-Flight Incentives
November 19, 2006
By Clayton Neuman
Posted Sunday, Nov. 19, 2006
Jet-setters just can’t catch a break. Ticket prices are rising, and U.S. airlines, trying to pump up their bottom lines, keep stripping amenities. So book a flight overseas: international carriers are rolling out unique luxuries that could offer solace to the weary traveler.

BLAZING TAILWINDS Guess what the new German airline Smintair (Smokers International Airways) will let you do? When flights begin next October, every passenger–and crew member–is welcome to light up, from takeoff to landing.

CELLULAR CABIN As early as January, Dubai-based Emirates will become the first airline to let passengers use cell phones during flight, provided they’re set to vibrate. And please, no loud yapping with on-ground friends during the in-flight film.

JET-STREAM JACKPOT Ryanair is testing its luck. The budget Irish carrier recently formed a partnership with the Internet bingo group Jackpotjoy.com to offer in-flight gambling–with winnings as high as $380,000–by mid-2007.

FIRST-CLASSICAL The Spanish low-cost operator Vueling prides itself on landing below industry averages for lost luggage. It also names its aircraft after passengers and occasionally brings a string quartet on board to serenade them.

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High-flying response to smoking bans

November 16, 2006
ELIZABETH HOVDE for The Columbian
Smoking bans are all the rage. This month was as victorious for the anti-smoking lobby as it was for the Democrats. Consider that Ohio, Arizona and even Nevada passed various levels of clean-indoor-air initiatives.

Now don’t go thinking that means the casinos in Sin City will be smoke-free. That’s just crazy talk. Nevada could never kick that old habit. But Nevada did pass a law that prohibits smoking in all offices and restaurants. Outside of Nevada, 16 states, including Washington, now have comprehensive smoke-free legislation that prohibits smoking in offices, restaurants, bars and non-Indian casinos.

I’m not a fan of smoking bans. I think business owners were doing a sufficient job of giving people ample choices, especially in Washington. And I think customers and employees had plenty of options for avoiding smoke. I hadn’t been in a smoke-filled restaurant for years before our state’s smoking ban was enacted. Why? Because so many restaurants and bars voluntarily put the kibosh on smoking and I chose to frequent those.

I am a nonsmoker. And I do think second-hand smoke is harmful to some people. I avoid smoky environments and stand upwind from my extended family members who smoke when we’re outside. But I don’t like these government bans in the U.S. and around the world. They hurt businesses, limit people’s options and create recluses.

And they have backfired on non-smokers in some ways, too. The bans have sent even more smokers to public street corners and sidewalks. I have encountered more second-hand smoke than I used to in the pre-ban days as a result.

It was my distaste for these government bans drove me to smile when I heard about SMINTAIR.

Smoke on the horizon

SMINTAIR is an airline coming to a destination near you (it hopes). What’s different about the airline, formed by former German investment banker Alexander W. Schoppmann?

For starters, “SMINTAIR reinstates the liberty of smoking in all seats,” the company’s Web site (smintair.com) says. “Non-smokers will find the cabin air more refreshing than on any other flight with any other airline, as SMINTAIR adds fresh outside air to the conditioning system! This is more expensive, as it burns more fuel, but it is seen as an additional service to our guests.” The airline also promises to spend more on passenger nourishment and give more seating space to each customer. (I know some people who might even take up smoking if promised more leg room.)

I almost thought the proposed airline was a hoax when I read this line: “Charming and beautiful flight attendants in uniforms designed by famous couturiers are there to take the very best care of you. Every two years, a new designer will be elected to keep the uniform design a la mode.”

And I shook my head when I read that SMINTAIR dismisses the danger of second-hand smoke as “the biggest scam of all time.”

But SMINTAIR appears to be a legitimate attempt to take back the friendly skies for smokers. And I wish the airline well. Its first flight (Dusseldorf to Tokyo to Shanghai) is scheduled for Oct. 28, 2007.

It is up to individual airlines to determine their smoking policies. And state and country bans on smoking should hold no jurisdiction over international flights. But Ian Willmore, a spokesman for a United Kingdom-based anti-smoking lobby group, says he hopes the airline never takes off. He told CNN, “I hope that it will be stopped by the German government as they move toward a smoking ban in public places. I hope that onboard a plane is considered a public place.”

When I asked SMINTAIR how it would combat such legislative attempts, the company responded: “We will neglect those ridiculous laws, await prosecution and win.”

Hoo-haa! The airline’s resolve is addictive.

I probably won’t ever fly SMINTAIR. But I can’t help but root for an airline whose founder argues, “In these days of continuous cuts to personal freedom, political- and self-restrain, a refuge of tranquillity and relaxation is in utter need.”

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Take off, light up, chill out on smokers’ airline

November 8, 2006

BERLIN, Germany — “We would like to remind passengers that smoking is permitted on this flight.”

It has been a long time since most European air travelers heard anything like this, but a German entrepreneur has set up an airline that will give its customers the freedom to chain-smoke from take-off to landing.

Alexander Schoppmann, the 55-year-old founder of Smoker’s International Airways — Smintair — said he got the idea for a smokers’ haven in the heavens after he’d had enough of expensive non-smoking long-haul flights with poor service.

“I got so annoyed that ticket prices were rising while service was getting worse,” said Schoppmann, who is a 20-a-day cigarette smoker.

Once Smintair flights begin in October 2007, smoking will be allowed in all 138 seats aboard a spacious Smintair Boeing 747. Normal airlines fit up to 559 passengers in a 747.

“The crew can smoke as well,” the former stockbroker said.

Schoppmann came up with the idea as Germany considers toughening its smoking regulations, among the most lenient in Europe. Germans have been loath to ban smoking because of memories of Adolf Hitler, who forbade it in public places.

The center-left Social Democrats, who are part of the grand coalition, have drafted a proposal to ban smoking in many public places.

Berlin, the city-state that is Germany’s capital, may go even further. It is considering a ban in all public places.

Large ashtrays
Nicotine-friendly Smintair is already popular, even though tickets are not on sale yet.

“Demand is strong,” Schoppmann said. “We get people who say they want to fly with us, even though they have no business in Tokyo or Shanghai,” he said.

On daily flights from Duesseldorf to Tokyo and Shanghai, Smintair will offer Cuban cigars, caviar served by flight attendants in designer uniforms, a deluxe on-board entertainment system and large ashtrays at every seat.

There will be a lounge with a duty-free shop.

The extravagance will not cost any more than a flight to Japan with any other airline, Schoppmann said.

A first-class return ticket — Smintair offers only business and first-class tickets — from Duesseldorf to Tokyo will cost 10,000 euros ($12,680), while a business-class seat will go for 6,500 euros on the same route, he says.

Schoppmann expects to make profit within the first 12 months. He forecasts a rise in annual sales to 500 million euros and a pre-tax profit of 120 million euros by October 2008.

Airline industry experts are skeptical.

“I don’t think an all-business class smoking flight can be run economically from Duesseldorf,” said Andreas Kretzschmar, chairman of the Board of Airline Representatives in Germany.

Ernst-Guenther Krause, vice-president of the Non-Smoker Initiative Germany, said Schoppmann’s idea would never fly because people were increasingly aware of the risks of smoking.

“Most people have realized by now that tobacco is not good for them,” he said.

Nearly one in three German adults smokes regularly and about 140,000 Germans die every year from tobacco-related illnesses.

Schoppmann, who dismisses the effects of second-hand smoking as “nonsense”, is not worried about a future smoking ban.

“Quite the opposite. We’ll benefit from it,” he said.

Smintair does not have an airline licence yet, since it still lacks one crucial piece of equipment — planes.

Schoppmann said he was taking over three used Boeing 747s from airlines that hoped to replace them with the new Airbus A380 super jumbo, whose delivery is delayed.

Once his airline takes off, the chain-smoking Smintair founder hopes to open a chain of hotels, restaurants, pubs and holiday resorts.

He may also expand the airline’s route to the southern hemisphere. Johannesburg and Sao Paulo are on his radar.

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Airline for smokers will fly by March, founder says

10/15/2006

BERLIN (AP) — A German entrepreneur wants to create a nostalgic smokers’ haven above the clouds by starting a nicotine-friendly airline offering Cuban cigars, caviar and flight attendants in designer uniforms — as well as smoking allowed in every seat.

Alexander Schoppmann, a 55-year-old former stockbroker, has come up with a business plan for Smoker’s International Airways, or Smintair, which he says will offer flights between his home town of D?sseldorf in western Germany and Tokyo.

It’s all about service, he says — and that includes helping people avoid long hours confined without a cigarette break during a long-haul flight.

“I’ve been an airline passenger for 50 years,” said Schoppmann, perhaps not surprisingly a smoker with a 30-cigarette per day habit. “It made me very angry that the gap between service and price became so big with regular airlines. Especially in the first class and business class, service is at its lowest point ever.”

Schoppmann said in an interview he plans to start flying in March with three leased Boeing 747s, two of them plying the route and one as a backup. The idea is to bring back “the luxury of the old days” by using only 138 business- and first-class seats on a plane that has space for more than 400 people.

TVs, DVDs, telephone and Internet access and flight attendants “in uniforms designed by famous couturiers” are just a few of the frills.

Schoppmann has not started selling tickets yet. He says he’s got investors willing to provide $81 million to get started — including the $50 million he’ll need to get a license from the German government — and sponsors ready to sell luxury goods on board.

“We are on the same price level with Lufthansa, British Airways and other airlines that operate on similar routes,” he said. “Frankfurt-Tokyo and back costs $12,500 with Lufthansa for the first class and $8,125 for business class both ways. And those are exactly our prices.”

The German entrepreneur said he plans to supplement ticket revenue by selling luxury products in an extra lounge on the upper deck and also put to use the cargo hold. “The cargo rates to Tokyo and back are among the highest in the world,” he said.

Schoppmann recalls his flights in the 1950s, 60s and 70s as “a luxurious experience above the clouds,” with room to relax and Cuban cigars on offer.

Aviation consultant Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group in Fairfax, Va., expressed skepticism about Schoppmann’s chances of getting over regulatory and financial hurdles.

“You can’t start flying between two countries just on the basis of a business plan. You have to deal with the regulatory authorities in both countries … arrange for overflight and whatever else,” he said.

Schoppmann said applying for an operating license is not as complicated as one might think. “The German Aviation Authority only wants you to prove funds sufficient for a three-months undertaking in case no money comes in,” he said. “And that’s all available.”

Aboulafia also said using jumbo jets “is very ambitious. No other premium airline that I know of has ever started with 747s. … You’re betting that you’ve got enough of a niche customer group to support you.”

He said it will be interesting to see whether enough people will opt for Smintair over a carrier like Lufthansa, which has more frequent flights, just because they like to smoke.

Schoppmann said non-smokers are welcome and would even find the cabin air much more refreshing than on any other flight because the airline will pay the added cost of a system to add outside air to the cabin air conditioning.

He insists that non-smokers would face no hazards aboard his planes. “Second-hand smoke doesn’t exist,” he said. “At the most there is something that smells, but perfumes smell, as well.”

Dr. Eva Kalbheim, spokeswoman for the non-profit organization German Cancer Aid, disagrees. “The latest numbers we have from the German Cancer Research Center show that 3,300 people in Germany die every year as a result of passive smoking,” she said.

And flight attendants would run substantial health risks, she said.

Asked how certain he is that Smintair will take off as planned in March, Schoppmann said:

“How certain is it that I will be alive by then? That’s of course a philosophical question. The way we are positioned right now, it is certain.”

Read more at Smintair Smokers Airline Page 1