newstodate.aero
Aug 24, 2007 (newstodate): Hit by the Swedish CAA's ban on flights to Iraq, Swedish carrier Viking Airlines is struggling to maintain its services through other venues.
-We are fighting hard to keep our traffic up, routing our Iraq-bound flights to various airports in Central and Southern Europe from where we charter other operators to perform the flights into and our of Erbil, says Michael Carlsson, Viking Airlines managing director.
-It is, however a very difficult task as there is little free capacity in the market during the peak season - and it is certainly not a profitable business.
Viking Airlines has appealed to the Swedish government to lift the ban on traffic to Erbil, basing its appeal on a range of arguments including the fact that the carrier, serving Erbil since 2005, has not had a single incident on the route, also pointing out that other European carriers still operate at Erbil without limitations or problems.
The Swedish CAA has imposed a ban on all flights from Sweden to Iray after an alleged missile attack on an aircraft from Nordic Airways departing from Suleimaniyah, also in Kurdish Iraq.
-We are fighting hard to keep our traffic up, routing our Iraq-bound flights to various airports in Central and Southern Europe from where we charter other operators to perform the flights into and our of Erbil, says Michael Carlsson, Viking Airlines managing director.
-It is, however a very difficult task as there is little free capacity in the market during the peak season - and it is certainly not a profitable business.
Viking Airlines has appealed to the Swedish government to lift the ban on traffic to Erbil, basing its appeal on a range of arguments including the fact that the carrier, serving Erbil since 2005, has not had a single incident on the route, also pointing out that other European carriers still operate at Erbil without limitations or problems.
The Swedish CAA has imposed a ban on all flights from Sweden to Iray after an alleged missile attack on an aircraft from Nordic Airways departing from Suleimaniyah, also in Kurdish Iraq.