German plans airline for smokers

German plans airline for smokers
A German entrepreneur plans to launch the world's first smokers' airline next year, promising a return to the times before planes became smoke-free zones.
Alexander Schoppmann, a former stockbroker, is seeking the start-up cash for Smintair - Smoker's International Airways.

On its website Smintair promises to "bring back the exclusivity in flying encountered in the 1960s".

The plan is to fly two leased Boeing 747s on the Duesseldorf-Tokyo route.

Old-fashioned luxuries

The airline will not offer economy-class tickets, but will target business people who enjoy smoking - and who are willing to pay for some extra pampering.

Smoking will be allowed in all 138 seats on board - and there will be extra leg room, because jumbo jets normally accommodate more passengers.

"The upper deck will be the passengers' lounge and not be jammed with seats, as you can sadly find everywhere, nowadays," the website says.

"Allergics against tobacco smoke or militant anti-smokers are asked to not apply," Smintair says on its jobs page.

On the website Mr Schoppmann writes nostalgically about the old times when Lufthansa offered its passengers a vast selection of Montecristo cigars.

He says airline smoking bans were prompted by a desire to economise on air conditioning systems. He promises to restore the old-fashioned system of pumping fresh air through the cabin.

Before it can launch, Smintair needs to find at least 40 million euros (£27.6m) for an operating licence from the German federal aviation authority.

Mr Schoppmann is optimistic his airline will take off next summer.

I'd like to know what exactly Mr. Schoppmann is smoking?? Because its not Menthol's thats for dam sure.

More press for this idiot, a year later. He claims he's just now about to buy their first 747, despite saying a year ago that they'd be in service by this summer:

Quote:

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German Entrepreneur's Glamour Airline: Nicotine Niche or Pipe Dream?

By Craig Whitlock
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, July 25, 2007; A08

DUESSELDORF, Germany -- At the international airport in this western German city, smokers are shunned. If you want to light up, you're restricted to a handful of bars in the terminal, or else stuck puffing on the dingy street outside.

Soon, however, tobacco lovers from around the world could be beating a path to Duesseldorf. A start-up airline based here plans to offer long-haul luxury flights -- to Asia, at first -- that cater to smokers, countering a decades-long global trend that has made it impossible to enjoy a cigarette on most passenger flights.

The new airline is called, naturally, Smoker's International Airways, or Smintair for short. The founder is a local entrepreneur who promises a return to the days when air travel was considered glamorous, when stewardesses were happy to bring you a glass of scotch, and when smoking in the lavatory didn't risk criminal prosecution.

"Other airlines have lost every kind of sympathy for their passengers by leaps and bounds. They treat them like cattle," said Alexander W. Schoppmann, a former stockbroker who started Smintair. "What all of those carriers want these days is for you to stay in the seat, and you better bloody well stay there, and don't even ask for anything to eat or drink. You can't do anything." More...

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If you actually create an airline around cigarettes, then you're WAY past addiction. This saddens me.

A 747 with only 138 seats on board? How much is he planning on charging per seat? I hope his business model is centered entirely around business travelers, because most normal leisure travelers aren't going to pay thousands of euros to fly on a smoking airline, when they can give up the smoke for a few hours and pay much less....

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Originally Posted by USAF Pilot 07

A 747 with only 138 seats on board? How much is he planning on charging per seat?

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$6,700 to $14,000 round trip for Dusseldorf to Nagoya, the article says.

Dusseldorf.... is that a town somewhere in Harry Potter?

Welcome to the site, liagal. Excellent first post....I think. haha

Eh, I have mixed feelings on it, some people can't go that long without smoking, but if people are willing to pay for it, let them kill themselves.

I doubt the viability of this but German business city to Japanese business city makes sense as Germans and Japanese are among the biggest smokers left and there could be just enough business travelers on each end willing to pay for this.