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Real World · 07-25-2007, 02:47 PM

This is great. I hope the guy succeeds, although I think he's grossly pricing himself out of that happeneing. Never the less, I hope this makes it.

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."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...402355_pf.html

Pujo · 07-25-2007, 02:53 PM

They'll never be able to fly into America, the FAA doesn't allow smoking on any flight that enters or leaves from US air space, even during the portions when the flight isn't over US airspace. Egypt Air was forced to officially ban smoking on their flights (though they tolerate it anyway) because of that.

Real World · 07-25-2007, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pujo

They'll never be able to fly into America, the FAA doesn't allow smoking on any flight that enters or leaves from US air space, even during the portions when the flight isn't over US airspace. Egypt Air was forced to officially ban smoking on their flights (though they tolerate it anyway) because of that.

All very true. However, it excites me none the less! I wouldn't even fly on a smoke filled flight, but I'm happy to see some people will be able to.

Personally, I'd prefer to see a Brothel Airways started, where....nevermind!