Q & A with Olaf Schmidt, COO and CEO of AIR COSMOS (headquartered in Berlin)

The opening of a new airline is always welcome news to break, especially in times of economic and financial hardships that have forced so many competitors to ground aircraft, cut down on the number of flights and even shut down destinations. So, when Caribbean News Digital learned a new low-cost startup from one of the world’s leading outbound markets was planning to kick off operations between Europe and Latin America, a Q & A session with the new company’s CEO and COO brooked no further delay. In this exclusive interview, Olaf Schmidt talks about Air Cosmos’ approach, business intentions, marketing strategies and operational plans in the near future.

Q.- How did the idea of founding Air Cosmos come up in the first place?
A.- We’re convinced there’s major air traffic between Europe and Latin America, coupled with the fact that the offer of flights to certain countries is pretty slim. We believe an air company offering competitive fares can actually get a piece of market share.

Q.- Isn’t Madrid viewed as Europe’s gateway toward Latin America?
A.- That’s true. Madrid is the European gateway to Latin America and that’s why our company will fly to and from Madrid to all major destinations in the Americas.

Q.- What about from Barcelona?
A.- We’re considering that possibility, so we don’t rule it out at all.

Q.-Could we get a premiere list of would-be destinations?
A.- We’ve initially set out to fly to Buenos Aires, to northeast Brazil and to Central Americal, mainly to Costa Rica and Panama during that first stage.

Q.- Won’t you be flying to charter destinations like Punta Cana, Cancun and Varadero?
A.- We’ve received quite a number of requests from tour operators for a number of destinations, like the ones you’ve just mentioned. However, we’re determined to make regular flights, though we don’t discard the possibility of cutting deals with tour operators.

Q.- What kind of support are you getting from the countries or destinations you’ll be flying to?
A.- Our marketing division will soon get in touch with the destinations to make the formal introduction of the company. We don’t want the destinations to bid on us, though it’s important to count on some advertising support in the routes we’ll like to cover. In this sense I’d like to add that many destinations spend lots and lots of money on institutional advertising and yet they don’t have direct flights to hinge on. The flights that get to their countries make several stopovers along the way and that makes airfares much pricier and destinations less attractive, economically speaking.

Q.- What aircraft will make Air Cosmos’ fleet?
A.- We’ll start off operations with a couple of A330-200 airliners in 2009, adding four more planes in 2010 and 2011. That means that by 2011 we’ll have half a dozen aircraft. Nonetheless, we don’t rule out our adding far more planes if the demand accrued, but for the time being we just want to be cautious.

Q.- Will your company also carry out maintenance of its own aircraft?
A.- No, that’s going to be conducted by a Germany-based company. Sorry for my not telling you the name of that company right now. That’ll be completely unethical based on the fact that we haven’t signed a contract with it yet.

Q.- Do you see yourself as a low-cost airline?
A.- Absolutely. I don’t see our company fitting in the long-haul model?

Q.- What will the booking channel be?
A.- Our website will bear the brunt of all bookings, though we’ll also make use of both key accounts and tour operators.

Q.- Won’t you rely on travel agencies?
A.- They’ll have an access key and will receive luring commissions based on sales, apart from the fees they’ll get.