Jetrader - July/August 2010 - 18

Icelandair faces

Eyjafjallajökull
With Sigthor Einarsson, Deputy CEO, Icelandair Group Jetrader was pleased to have the opportunity to speak with Sigthor Einarsson, Deputy CEO, Icelandair Group, to discuss the effects of the threatening ash clouds from the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull on both the aviation industry as a whole and Icelandair Group in particular. Jetrader: What are some steps that Icelandair Group has taken to respond to this crisis—both logistically and financially? Sigthor Einarsson: Well, logistically, basically you have to try and play it by ear because you can’t really predict how the volcano is going to behave and which airports are going to be closed. Financially, what we are facing here is obviously the cost of the disruptions that we’ve had so far—which have been less of an impact on us than they have been on many other airlines because our airport did not shut down for a longer period. And when it did shut down, we were able to move our operations from here to Glasgow, Scotland. So, we kept on flying, but we had some extra costs because we had to move aircraft back and forth and crews back and forth. So, that’s the first implication financially. The second one is the effect on booking into the future. We came from a good point before the volcano started erupting where we had excellent bookings into the summer, which is our main season. Then during the ash crisis, bookings obviously all but disappeared. We are now spending a lot of our money and resources on advertising Iceland for the summer because although people don’t realize it, life is keeping on as normal. You have maybe 50 miles around the volcano, which is an area that is affected. But apart from that, everything is normal. So we are trying to convince tourists still to come this summer. JT: How have the day-to-day operations at Icelandair Group been affected and have things returned back to normal? SE: Right now, as we are speaking, things are perfectly normal. But we have had to move our hub, as I said, from Iceland to Glasgow twice—first for a total of five days and then again for two days. That basically means that we moved all our flights coming out of the U.S. to Glasgow instead of Iceland, and then we have all our European flights leave from there. So, the passengers that are travelling across the North Atlantic with us, they

aren’t affected that much, but then we had to bring on extra flights between Scotland and north of Iceland for the Icelandic tourists—both Icelandic travelers but also tourists coming to Iceland. Then after that, they have to go by bus to Reykjavik. So, that’s quite a dramatic effect. We’ve been able to move basically within hours to Glasgow and then back and get everything back on track within just a few hours after the airport is open again. JT: How might the measures taken by European countries to counteract this crisis shape what happens in the future? SE: I think that it put some pressure on the political side of things, and we are working toward having the authorities take a second look at the way the effect of the ash cloud was being calculated. I think people can now say and see that the big closures to begin with were maybe a bit dramatic. Now it is about keeping that pressure to continue to investigate how to best respond to a situation of this kind. The best thing to come out of this, maybe, is that we have focused on how ineffective the air traffic management over Europe is. This is something the airlines have been

18 The official publication of the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading



Jetrader - July/August 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Jetrader - July/August 2010

Jetrader - July/August 2010
A Message from the President
Contents
Calendar/News
Q&A: James Rigney
Funding Fundamentals
Appraisal Methodology 101
Icelandair faces Eyjafjallajökull
Legal Issues Clouded by Ash
Aircraft Appraisals
The Changing Landscape of Aircraft Financing
Aviation History
From the ISTAT Foundation
Advertiser.com/Advertiser Index
Jetrader - July/August 2010 - Jetrader - July/August 2010
Jetrader - July/August 2010 - Cover2
Jetrader - July/August 2010 - 3
Jetrader - July/August 2010 - 4
Jetrader - July/August 2010 - A Message from the President
Jetrader - July/August 2010 - 6
Jetrader - July/August 2010 - Contents
Jetrader - July/August 2010 - 8
Jetrader - July/August 2010 - Calendar/News
Jetrader - July/August 2010 - 10
Jetrader - July/August 2010 - Q&A: James Rigney
Jetrader - July/August 2010 - 12
Jetrader - July/August 2010 - Funding Fundamentals
Jetrader - July/August 2010 - 14
Jetrader - July/August 2010 - Appraisal Methodology 101
Jetrader - July/August 2010 - 16
Jetrader - July/August 2010 - 17
Jetrader - July/August 2010 - Icelandair faces Eyjafjallajökull
Jetrader - July/August 2010 - 19
Jetrader - July/August 2010 - Legal Issues Clouded by Ash
Jetrader - July/August 2010 - Aircraft Appraisals
Jetrader - July/August 2010 - 22
Jetrader - July/August 2010 - The Changing Landscape of Aircraft Financing
Jetrader - July/August 2010 - Aviation History
Jetrader - July/August 2010 - 25
Jetrader - July/August 2010 - Advertiser.com/Advertiser Index
Jetrader - July/August 2010 - Cover3
Jetrader - July/August 2010 - Cover4
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