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karatecatman · Guest

THE NATIONAL
RAK Airways faces new woes
Ivan Gale

February 03. 2010

RAK Airways’s future is again in turmoil after the airline said it was postponing plans to relaunch, dismissed its sixth chief executive in three years and revealed it was renegotiating an aircraft order with Boeing.

The news calls attention to a Dh1.65 billion (US$449 million) order with Boeing for the purchase of four single-aisle, 737-800NG (Next Generation) aircraft announced in February 2008 – a deal that company officials said was still going forward. “What we are doing is renegotiating the contract; it’s going to take a little bit of time,” said Sheikh Omar bin Saqr Al Qasimi, the chairman of RAK Airways.

He said Boeing had been co-operative and understanding in the matter. A Boeing spokesman said yesterday: “We don’t comment publicly on negotiations with our customers.” The airline was launched in 2007 as the northern emirate sought to diversify its economy, stimulate its nascent tourism and property sectors, and cash in on the aviation boom that Dubai and Sharjah have tapped into with their carriers, Emirates Airline and Air Arabia, respectively.

RAK Airways initially operated flights from the northern emirate to Dhaka, Chittagong, Calicut and Colombo. It ended those scheduled passenger services in late 2008 when the economic downturn was having its greatest impact on airlines worldwide. The carrier laid off 60 employees and reduced its fleet from three aircraft to one.

Since then, the airline has been operating on a charter-only basis, and last month it picked up a charter contract to operate flights from Kabul to Dubai and Frankfurt, on behalf of Ariana Afghan Airlines.

Under the leadership of the outgoing chief executive Kristian Kirchheiner, who joined the airline about May last year, a relaunch of scheduled passenger services was being planned for later this year, using Ras al Khaimah airport as a base.

But yesterday, the airline acknowledged it had dismissed the executive and was “slowing down”.

“With the economic situation and difficulties, we are slowing down a little bit,” Sheikh Omar said. “We were going to relaunch the airline, but we have postponed that.”

He added: “We would love to launch it as soon as there is a positive economic situation.”

Sheikh Omar said he had identified a replacement for Mr Kirchheiner, the latest casualty in a string of chief executives whose stints at RAK Airways have been short-lived.

The carrier has flown charters on behalf of other airlines such as Hewa Bora Airways in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The airline’s single plane was used for flights from Kinshasa to Paris, Brussels and Johannesburg. Since late October, however, the plane has reportedly been parked at RAK airport.

747-237 · Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 6:52 pm Post subject:

RAK Airways has leased out it's 757 to Ariana, in hybrid livery.

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sri_bom · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 2365 Location: Singapore

RAK Airways announced (01-Jan-2014) it suspended all operations until further notice, effective 01-Jan-2014. The carrier decided to suspend operations due to increased pressure on its performance from market conditions, increased operating costs and the impact of regional political instability on the aviation industry. The airline stated, "We believe this decision is in the best interest of the airline and its shareholders. We will take this time to re-evaluate the best options available for RAK Airways future as well as those that fit the industry requirements of the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah." An unidentified spokesperson from Ras Al Khaimah's Government reportedly said the airline intends to resume operations following a restructuring process (Gulf News, 31-Dec-2013). UAE's General Civil Aviation Authority director general Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi said, "[RAK Airways] are restructuring their business model. Hopefully we will see them in the air very soon." [more - original PR]

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2014 5:58 pm Post subject:

They have very few competitors to be fair - how many carriers fly to Ras al Khaimah anyway?

Pretty sure they could have survived as a niche operation with terminators to the rest of the Gulf, Mecca during the Hajj, and a couple of points in Kerala.
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Yeah.

iah87 · Member Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 2567

RAK airways failed once already and now it has failed twice. How did they get permission to fly to India the second time ?

However MoCA allows any foreign airline even if they have only one aircraft, while they continue to hamstring Indian carriers with 20 aircraft minimum and the stupid 5 year rule.

Yes recently they did announce to remove this requirement, but to date no action has been taken, may be AI and Jet (and perhaps Indigo and Spice too) do not want this.