IN BRIEF at ERA

New players, new faces, new practices and a revival in tried and trusted aircraft programmes from the 1980s were the highlights of last week’s European Regions Airline Association (ERA) annual gathering at the pretty alpine setting of Interlaken (Switzerland). 

In the gala award ceremony, attended by some 420 industry guests, including ERA founding father Moritz Suter, new airline names topped the bill.  Riga-based Air Baltic, which evolved from a low cost point-to-point carrier to a network carrier to see its traffic grow 28% in 2008, scooped Gold; Cimber Sterling of Denmark took Silver.  The 59-year old Danish regional carrier Cimber Air purchased Sterling last year, adding 26 new destinations, including Gatwick in the process.  It duly renamed to Cimber Sterling. 

KLM CityHopper took bronze for its successful integration with sister airline KLM UK and its introduction of the Embraer 190.  Newquay Cornwall Airport gained the accolade as winner of the Airport Achievement Award 2009/2010 for its transition from a military to civil airport and a 22% passenger growth and Tom Christides, of Blue1, a hugely popular ERA figure as the airline’s head of public relations, won the Director General’s award for services to the industry, in particular the work he has fulfilled as Chairman of the ERA Industry Affairs Work Group.  Wayne Rosenkrans, Senior Editor of AeroSafety World gained the Journalism Award.  A full report follows in next week’s issue. www.eraa.org

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