Take off, light up, chill out on smokers' airline
by Eva Kuehnen
Berlin, Nov 8 (Reuters) - "We would like to remind passengers that smoking is
permitted on this flight." It has been a long time since most European air
travellers 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 centre-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 sceptical.
"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 realised 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.
Reuters
1848 081106
