Malev to declare Bankruptcy

[James Gota 0]

Heres the Link http://www.budapesttimes.hu/content/view/9989/219/

 

Slow internet can't post details

 

Malév pilots organise demo, airline in doubt

Monday, 17 November 2008

As a part of the “OneWorld Cockpit Crew Coalition Conference”, an international demonstration was held by the National Association of Pilots (Hunalpa) at the headquarters of Malév last Friday. Vice president of the association Kálmán Kiss told the daily Magyar Hírlap that, in general, pilots were worried about the Hungarian national airline and their jobs, and believed that management of Malév still has no plan on how to handle the crisis. The protest, however, was directly triggered by the airline’s continued firing of its employees, despite the fact that Hunalpa (of which 95% of members are Malév pilots) objected to the layoffs in court, which by law has a delay effect of 15 days. The Allied Pilots Association, which is a union of 12,000 American Airlines (AA) pilots, announced its support of Hunalpa’s action on Thursday. Meanwhile the daily Magyar Nemzet reported last Friday that the Hungarian airline was on the brink of bankruptcy as it relies heavily on the benevolence of its creditors and suppliers. The biggest debt Malév has is on the managing company of Ferihegy Budapest Airport (BA). According to sources of the daily, it is not in the interests of BA to declare the airline bankrupt, with Malév having outstanding obligations of HUF 5-10 billion (EUR 18.45-36.87 million).

 

Just loaded from http://www.budapesttimes.hu/content/view/9989/219/

 

 

[Pieter C. 5]

James,

 

Where does it say in the article MA has filed for bankruptcy ?

 

[Tamizi Hj Tamby 1]

Malev to declare bankruptcy? That was a suprise;haven't heard any news about it

[Pieter C. 5]

One Hungarian A.netter put it this way:

 

I have to admit it is no surprise, and unfortunately no news to me... this transition of MALEV into the pockets of Russian "investors" was a cheat from day one, and anyone having a little insight into MALEV's operations, Hungarian politics or ties between our government new it from the start

 

...However I love the way people possibly never ever even visiting the region make "expert" assessment of the situation. The reality is much more complex and sad. The truth is that all this is the outcome of a very shady and corrupt privatization process.

 

point 1: Malev was intended to be played into the hands of Russians, (better called "Putin's pals" as most Russians I find honest and really good people) from day one. It was clear from the days when "unexpected state visits" by Mr.Putin took place, and every time this Abramovich kid was in the back, making numerous "closed-door" talks with our prime minister, with the assistance of Mr.Putin. Unfortunately every one of us, with even a little insight into who he was, knew it from day one, that what he is here for. His attempts where blocked 2 times and do not be mistaken... MALEV was not a bad buy, nor was it lack of interest... It was the privatization process that was twisted and bent the way, that in the end only Airbridge Zrt. could come out as a winner. Chopping down financial data, by playing out "money making" branches into separate identities, a little playing with lease fees and aircraft values and things like that made MALEV look like being in an even worse shape than in reality, so it will be more acceptable to the public, that old friends of our corrupt PM will come and look like saving the airline.

 

point 2: Everyone seem to forget the "low profile" part of the deal: ACE Aeroplex of Central Europe. The money making and highly respected maintenance company owned by MALEV, but being separated by books. The real target of Mr.Abramovich and the company that was never mentioned nor advertised, that it is a "part of the deal". Abramovich made a good deal with it and no one mentions the spool of EI- registered, but Russian airlines operated planes visiting the base for maintenance, and the plan of moving ACE to Russia first by opening a maintenance base there, then by shutting or downgrading the BUD base as it is.

 

point 3: now, almost a year of operating under the new owners, we can see that NON of the promises are kept, some are even more disturbing as they where contractually laid down in the privatization process... not a single penny of investment came (other than the minimum), the promised expansion of LH operations never materialized, in fact they even shut down those that existed. (Interesting, how quickly the 763 found new home with S7 )

The fact is, that it is like they do not care, it is like a time freeze at MALEV. A very obvious thing is their website that I refer to many times. Just take a look at it! No one has touched or maintained it for ages, and since the privatization, it is not even maintained. Just like as if they do not care at all...why? Because MA was not the primary target of this privatization people, but the Maintenance company, the assets that came with it and the licenses...

point 4: Answering some of the remarks above:

About the viability of MA:

-Have you guys even taken the time to look at the map? BUD is the last modern airport offering good connections from Vienna down until the Black Sea (east-west direction), and from WAW down to ATH (north-south direction). In a region that is the focus of EU development for the next decades and EU expansion (Croatia comes to mind). Not to mention the vast number of Hungarian ethnics living in neighboring countries.

 

-Hungary is one of the strongest economies in the region, with one of the highest educated workforce in the EU (yes, not just the region) with average salaries being one of the lowest in the EU. I can go on for days, how in this recession period Multinational companies downgrade their operations and how companies like EDS (HP now) are closing their operations in "costly" places like Germany, Switzerland or even Poland while maintaining, or in this case expanding operations here.

I love when people take numbers, and yap about the low figures it produced in the last year, YES we are in a deep trouble as a country, and politics and politicians are a shame on us, but as an economy and private sector Hungary is in pretty good shape. You could come with figures on economic growth... my favorite was one, when a member here brought up numbers from Romania and Bulgaria and compared to Hungary's... I do not want to hurt their feelings, as I love both countries, and find the people there really good and wonderful people...but...let me make an example... if you toss a penny in Somalia, you almost double their economic growth, does that make Somalia a stronger economy than for example Germany? I hope you get the idea...and, yes this is an exaggeration, but I hope you get the picture.

 

- As for BUD airport, I did mention there is nothing compared to it infrastructuraly. Life almost stops at WAW, PRG, VIE, ATH. If you look at the map and form a letter C with these airports you will see the black whole BUD is filling in.

And do not forget, that BUD has got rid of BAA's vampire style operation. The new owner is Hochtief, and currently BUD is undergoing a total reconstruction process that includes a completely new terminal building, cargo center, update of runways, new commercial center, etc... visit the website of BUD Future fantasy named project.

And one important thing is that they are not only talking about it! The constructions are under way, and the new terminal will be ready by next year (according to plans)

 

-As for MA as a brand, It is still a very strong brand, well known in the region and highly respected. Is it viable, or any addition to a mayor player? Well If it goes down OW will have a total black hole in the region that is seeing / going to see the biggest growth and development in the EU. It would now be almost the only answer that BA can make to keep its position or to keep up with LH's or AF-KL's expansion. However I almost have no hope with BA, as they seem to care about nothing but Heathrow. I can even envisage a future, where MA will be left to fail and something new will arise out of the ruins, but I certainly cannot see BUD disappear as a regional connections center...

 

-On the other hand, please do not over exaggerate. Feel safe booking on MA flights, as the situation is not as bad... Your flights for Christmas or even Easter are safe for sure.

You also have to understand how Hungarian media works. Perhaps stronger than anywhere else, you always have to know if you are reading leftist or rightist media. Here rightist media always looks at things as if it was the end of the world (opposition) and leftist media praises everything that has to do anything with the government So the truth is somewhere in the center.

In reality passenger figures, load factors are excellent. The MA crew is far out of their way to bring excellent service, they are professionals and proud about their brand. All these warnings, small strikes or anything is only because they are fed up with irrational cutbacks, dropping of service levels that they have to present to their passengers, and with all the unkept promises Mr. Abramovich's team made when they took over MA.

 

One can only pray that when the Abramovich gang finishes the raping of MA, they can find a true investor with a clear and maintainable plan and they can get rid of these gangsters forever. However in the mean time their best and most obvious choice will be BA, but I have little hope for them…they just don’t seem to get the picture and they seem to be playing safe rather than being innovative… of course I cannot blame them for that either in this economical climate

 

I know it is a far cry, but how about a middle-eastern carrier seeking ways to put their feet in the EU market? Or maybe CX to not be so dependent on a LHR gateway?

 

-----------------------------------------------------

 

The Russian 'interference' sounds 'fishy' to me

[Keith T 2]

James,

 

Where does it say in the article MA has filed for bankruptcy ?

 

I'm wondering the same....

 

They better not cause I'm already ticketed on 2 of their flights in February.

[Pieter C. 5]

They better not cause I'm already ticketed on 2 of their flights in February.

 

You'll be surprised how good they are... Was pleasantly surprised myself 2 years ago, when I made a day-trip to BUD flying both stretches on Malev !

 

If they collapse, it would mean no more AMS-BUD v.v. flights, as KLM stopped flying there 3 years ago and started a code-share with MA; don't know, how fast KLC can pick-up the void (we do have some spare F100's now )

 

[Keith T 2]

You'll be surprised how good they are... Was pleasantly surprised myself 2 years ago, when I made a day-trip to BUD flying both stretches on Malev !

 

The was in relation to them collapsing when I'm already holding ticketed flights with them. But these are ticketed on AA 001 stock (oneworld Visit Europe) and I s'pose I could always get AA to reaccomodate me on other carriers as INVOL if it comes to that.

 

Indeed I've heard good things about their intra Europe product. I'll be flying MXP-BUD and BUD-PRG on them.

Edited November 20, 2008 by Keith T