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Pasazer.com: How is Air Italy Polska doing at the peak season in the charter flights market, which – at the same time – is the time of economic crisis? Has Air Italy Polska been affected?

Mariusz Szpikowski: The slowdown in the economy is evidently reflected in the charter flights market. This year is a good time for the carriers who offer low prices at the expense of the quality of services they provide or those who do not have to bother about economic calculation. As a member of a larger entity – Air Italy Group, Air Italy Polska can be highly flexible because it has access to the fleet and the resources of the Group. Thus we can adjust better to the expectations of our partners, but in the first place we are obliged to keep the high safety and quality standards set by the Group. Since I took the position of the President, our main aim has been high quality of our services, both in terms of on-time performance and the passenger’s comfort, from check-in until leaving the plane on arrival. Our well-trained representatives are present at the airport, making sure that our passengers get quality services. We have set higher standards and better training for our cabin crew members. We follow the policy of full openness – our principles and passenger handling solutions are made available to passengers. Such an approach, however, has limited the choice of our potential business partners, who must also hold onto the same values.I think that after the peak season, we can expect some verification of the market, with bankruptcies of many travel agencies focused mainly on low price, neglecting the quality of services, which should entail the change in the mentality of Polish tourists, who will turn to recognized travel agents and the carriers guaranteeing high quality.

Pasazer.com: Is the number of charter routes you operate sufficient for you to survive in the charter flights segment in Poland? The other Polish company (Centralwings) didn’t stand the competition.

Mariusz Szpikowski: Our Company, with the support from the Group and the prior preparations for the changes in the market conditions due to the economic crisis, through the above described strategy, is going through this hard time without disturbances. We are not afraid of competition. The time will show whose strategy for this difficult period was the best.Despite the hard times in the airline industry, Air Italy Polska focuses on highest standards and quality. This is what, we believe, will distinguish us from our competitors. Ours is a long-term strategy and we intend to be permanently present in this market (drawing on the know-how provided by the Group) and developing our own competencies. We can hardly compare to Centralwings, be it for our different conditions and internal requirements (one has to remember that Centralwings is a state-owned company), as well as a completely different approach to the market and the development strategy.One should also keep in mind that the crisis itself, beside the obvious risks, opens many new opportunities.

Pasazer.com: We are in the middle of the peak season for charter operations. It seems that there are less Air Italy Polska’s planes departing from major airports compared other carriers. From smaller, regional airports you don’t operate at all. Is this correct?

Mariusz Szpikowski: As I mentioned earlier, our main strategic goal, starting this winter, is higher quality of services and not the number of flights operated. It was already manifested in the last winter season, where we were the first charter airline  to offer our passengers non-stop flights on wide-body aircraft to far away destinations while our competitors offered only connection flights or the flights with even a few intermediate landings for technical reasons.This season we observe that the number of flights offered have decreased. Individual routes are operated on smaller aircraft and the quality of the services offered by carriers often drops as they reduce their prices. Therefore, our company reduced the number of flights so that we can avoid such compromise, which already pays off in the reliability and confidence we are associated with.

Pasazer.com: In July 2009 you wrote a letter to the Minister of Infrastructure, Cezary Grabarczyk. Is this how you oppose competition in the Polish charter flights market?

Mariusz Szpikowski: This is not about opposing competition, but about equal opportunities. And you can hardly call it equal opportunities when the CAO allows foreign carriers into the Polish market, while the carriers from a third country are not allowed to operate charter flights outside the EU without prior non-objection from local carriers in countries such as Germany, Italy or Belgium. For many years, developed aviation markets have been protecting their local carriers, which helps them maintain their aviation infrastructure and develop the know-how – so valuable and necessary for industry development.The most significant problem in the industry is lack of clear and long-term development strategy for the Polish market. What’s more, the actions undertaken by the AOC, which is responsible for the policy in this area, lead to non-profitability of advanced aviation infrastructure in Poland and are also detrimental to third parties – the companies whose businesses are indirectly linked to airline operations in Poland. The policy adopted by the CAO leads to a situation where it won’t make sense to invest in any infrastructure and set bases in Poland if one has identical rights at no additional costs.I want to emphasize at this point that we are not opposing competition through regulations, but we call for clear, identical to everyone, principles, which we expect to continue in a long-term perspective. We have an impression that the present government’s policy is formed on an ad-hoc basis and the actions taken are often incomprehensible and vague. Only at a later stage we are informed that the previous initiatives by the regulatory body are part of some strategy. This is to the advantage of short-term players, who exploit the market and take all the cake for themselves.On the other hand, nobody wants to consider long-term investments. The bad financial condition of our national carrier, the bankruptcy  of the leading ground handling agent in Warsaw and the fact that no domestic airline (charter or low-cost) has developed so far in Poland – to name just a few effects of such state of affairs. We are surprised to hear that the government, seeking additional incomes to the budget, considers higher taxes instead of, for example, re-organization of that area and streaming the taxes and fees (i.e. at least 300 million zlotys annually) directly to the Polish budget instead of giving up profits to other countries.

Pasazer.com: What are the development plans of Air Italy Polska?

Mariusz Szpikowski: We are a leading charter airline – as indicated by the fact that we have been chosen best charter airline of 2008. And we intend to keep this position – we were the first Polish operator to obtain a full airworthiness certificate, which proves that we are one of the safest European carriers.We have our own certified handling organization (Part 145), which guarantees very good technical conditions. In the nearest future, we will continue the policy of high quality and passengers’ comfort, ensuring high level of awareness of Polish passengers and selecting only such travel agencies who aim at the same values. As part of the whole Group’s strategy, we also plan some changes in the fleet.In the first place, we want to win the respect of our passengers, who start their holiday just here at the airport. Therefore we always want that the memories of the beginning of their leisure time are good and that the passengers like to come back to us, asking travel agencies what carrier they will travel with. Now this information seems rather insignificant.

***Air Italy Polska is a member of Air Italy Group. The carrier performs on short and long haul flights. Air Italy Polska, with its head office in Warsaw, cooperates also with other regional airports. The most important Air Italy Polska's objectives are: high safety, punctuality and quality of services.