AirlineGeeks' sat down with the carrier's CEO to discuss its future connecting the Faroe Islands.
The tail of Atlantic Airways (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)
Atlantic Airways, an airline based in the small island nation of the Faroe Islands, is located partway between Ireland and Iceland. It sits in an unusual spot, and with runway and terrain restrictions, the company CEO has a unique approach and outlook on how to not only make the company sustainable but one that also puts the needs and of the country in mind.
AirlineGeeks had a chance to interview Jóhanna á Bergi, the CEO of the company, at its headquarters located at the Vágar Airport in the Faroe Islands.
The curbside of Vágar Airport in the Faroe Islands (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)
AirlineGeeks (AG): What challenges have you faced being based in a small country like the Faroe Islands?
Jóhanna á Bergi (JB): I will say there are a lot of challenges and also a lot of opportunities. The challenges of course is the weather which can be challenging, but fortunately, we have good equipment. I would say that the A320neos and the A320ceos also are good aircraft for the Faroe Islands, and it’s also fitted for the runway and so on. I will also emphasize on the special navigation equipment. We have the RNP (Required Navigation Performance) AR01, which makes it easier especially when we have challenges with the visibility that we can have a lower minimum.
Landing in the Faroe Islands with reduced visibility (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)
(AG): What does the airline do to promote tourism here in the islands?
(JB): I will say we are very active both internally in Atlantic Airways, but we are also in the cooperation and co-creation with other people in the industry, I would say in the Faroe Islands. Mrs. Faroe Islands is doing a great job, and we are attending different exhibitions and fairs and doing promotions together. Of course, we have limited amounts of money or resources, but we are really trying to do our best.
(AG): How do you fit in and interact with the communities around the country?
(JB): Atlantic Airways is owned by the government and arranged in a limited company with a professional board, but we are really trying to do good efforts. Our mission is to connect the Faroe Island and to fly for the Faroe Islands, so we are always prioritizing every step we do, according to the local community and the wish for the community, but also to be a part of the tourism industry. So, I will say that we are trying to be very active, we support different kinds of activities in the Faroe Islands.
(AG): How are you integrating the culture and the values of the Faroe Islands into your brand, whether that’s on the planes or elsewhere?
(JB): There’s a lot of different things you can see. If we start with the logo of Atlantic Airways, which is a logo of the Gannet and is a bird that is living in the westernmost islands in the Faroe Islands; Mykines and Tindhólmur. Then the color of the logo is the same as our national flag; red, blue, and white. Also, the people who are working for Atlantic Airways are mainly local people or people living in the Faroe Islands. We also do have some bases in Denmark, Copenhagen, and Billund. then we are, the culture is all the way through that, of course, we are speaking Faroese, which is our native language, and then we also have, English as our second language in the company. so in different ways we are doing things and promoting the company we are, using our, culture, I would say.
(AG): So as you said, you have four Airbus aircraft and you have two helicopters. How difficult is that with your operating certificate, having helicopters and the fixed-wing airplanes?
(JB): I’m the director and CEO of the company, but I’m also the accountable manager for the airline and the competent authority is in Denmark, but It’s a challenge to be a small airline with two types. So we are doing the aircraft and we do the rotor wing with the helicopter. And two different kinds of operation, because with the helicopters we are doing this island jumping. We have 18 islands and we are doing island jumping to some of the islands four times a week, like a scheduled service, and then we also do the HEMS, (Helicopter Emergency Medical Service), and also SAR flights (Search And Rescue). So that’s a totally different operation than with the aircraft where we are connecting the Faroe Islands, at the moment we have like 30 different destinations, some are seasonal and some are full year. Copenhagen represents maybe 50 to 60 percent of our business and then we have other routes also.
(AG): With the four passenger airplanes and the two helicopters, what challenges do you face operating at a smaller scale?
(JB): The challenge is economy of scale, because we are paying the same for the aircraft. We are paying the same for all the manuals and being in compliance and safe and secure and so on. So, the biggest challenge is the economy of scale, to be competitive, because we don’t have the economy of scale we have, to manage resources and the competencies of the people because we are in a small nation or a big ocean nation, I would say. But there is a population is like 55,000 people [in the Faroe Islands], so sometimes it could be challenging to find people with competencies in all different areas which are required
(AG): I know you’re opening the simulator building soon that’s right across the road here. What impact is that going to have on the pilots, the training, and the recurrence training now that it is so close to your airport?
(JB): That’s a really, really exciting project I would say, and we expect to be open beginning next year, end of this year. And there we will have two simulators, one for the Augusta Westland 139 and one for the A320. We are also planning ahead, that we will have some mock-ups for the training, for the cabin training, and so on. This is really giving us an opportunity for our own people, first to train in our environment, and we can fit it totally to our company. But, the business case is also based on that we will invite the whole world to come and train in the Faroe Islands. Especially if we look at the Augusta Westland 139, the simulator is very unique and it is a Thales product. What is unique about it is it’s a CAT D simulator. Even more unique is the integration between the SAR, and the simulator. So you can be training, the SAR part together with when the pilots are doing the simulator sessions and we expect, really people from the whole world and we have had a lot of visitors, and we expect people to come and train and is a unique opportunity I would say.
The new Atlantic Airways Simulators at Vágar Airport (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)
(AG): So the route to North America, what would you say are some of the challenges that led to the cancellation of this route?
(JB): I will first say that we were planning to start it in 2020, just when COVID hit, so first we were postponing it. When we started last year and we were very happy to do this direct route from the Faroe Islands to Stewart because it’s the first time you can connect the Faroe Islands actually with America, so that was quite amazing. There’s always a question about momentum, and we probably don’t have the momentum at the moment. So that’s why this is the last season this year, but we will most likely start again in some years, probably. But I think it’s a mix of problems, you have a lot of opportunities to go from the Faroe Islands to Iceland and then there to different destinations in the U. S. or you can also go to Denmark first, and we also have the Paris route now. Also maybe the A320 is not the totally preferred aircraft for a long-haul between the Faroe Islands and the U.S., but due to the runway in the Faroe Islands, we are not able to put in a bigger aircraft at the moment.
(AG): I know you mentioned briefly that you could start at some point again, years into the future. What would you do differently that you haven’t done the time or that you would like to try in a different fashion if you end up starting it at some point?
(JB): Yeah, there are a lot of elements that make routes a success or a failure, I would say. But for us, this is a success operational-wise. But what we could do better is definitely to have a better market representation and marketing that we could have some better sales channels and so on and that we will work on definitely.
Atlantic Airways’ final sunset on North American soil (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)
(AG): I know you mentioned Paris briefly a couple of minutes ago and that London is also a new route for you. How are those two new routes doing performance-wise?
(JB): They are doing actually very good. We started Paris some years ago and there we managed to get the codeshare with KLM and Air France and have had very good cooperation with them and they are also feeding into the system. So, we are doing three times a week [to Paris] and sometimes two times a week, that’s a very good route for us and also we are seeing people coming from all over into Paris and then back to the Faroe Islands. London we started this year and that’s a route we were doing some years ago and where we stopped, but now we have started again and we are very pleased with the route and we will continue also next year.
(AG): Countries like the United States and Canada have programs to fund service to, smaller communities. Do you have anything like that here in the Faroe Islands for your helicopter flights?
(JB): Yeah, actually the helicopter flights for island jumping and the search and rescue (SAR) operation, is subsidized by the government. And then you are paying a very small amount for the actual ride I would say, but it’s very clear that the helicopter is mainly for two purposes, to serve the people living on the different islands, and also to always be 24/7 ready for search and rescue. So, when we have some tourists take a ride on the helicopter it’s because there is enough space on the helicopter, but the people living on the different islands, they will always have first priority in booking a ticket.
An Atlantic Airways Augusta Westland 139 Helicopter (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)
(AG): So you mentioned the locals have that priority on the helicopter. It’s not really geared toward tourists, but they can go on those as well?
(JB): Yeah, they are very welcome but it’s really geared towards the local people, and that means that they [locals] can go into the system, and book I think 30 days in advance while other people [tourists] can only book it one week in advance.
(AG): So for the locals or even the tourists to some degree if there are seats, are they able to connect onwards to the passenger flights if they fly into here [Vagar Airport] with the helicopters?
(JB): It’s not totally programmed for that, but for some of the flights it’s possible, but it’s like living two different lives. But, for some routes, it’s possible.
A description of Atlantic Airways currently scheduled helicopter, based off of the airline’s timetables (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)
(AG): So I know you mentioned the runway space and the runway length. With its longer reach capacity do you think the A321NEO or the XLR have at some point a future in this airline?
(JB): I wish I could say a straight yes, but A321 is possible. The challenge is that we cannot have the full max payload with the takeoff. So we have to select carefully, if we introduce an A321, then you have to know exactly which routes you are going to fly, because if you’re flying a long-distance route, like a Barcelona or down to Gran Canaria and so on, you can not have a max payload, meaning you are paying a lot for an aircraft which you can not fully utilize. We are sitting and doing that calculation at the moment because we have signed, an agreement with Airbus for two new aircraft in 2027 and 2028, so we have some years still to go, but we are doing an examination of exactly this, the difference between the A321 and the A320.
An Airbus A321XLR (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)
(AG): So you said you have an agreement for two new aircraft with Airbus. Those don’t have to be the A320 necessarily, and you could opt to do the A321 if you decided to, correct?
(JB): Yes, but for us it’s very important that we can mix and match with only four aircraft or five maybe, it’s important that we can do the optimal solution for the aircraft we select. Again, thinking of the economy of scale, we are a small company, and we have to choose the right aircraft.
(AG): I know it’s a completely different aircraft family and it’s not yours, but there’s a 757 sitting out there on the Vagar ramp for cargo and their performance is a little bit better than the A321. Have you thought about going in that direction or would you prefer to stay with the Airbus family?
(JB): Yeah, I don’t know all the technical specifications, but I only know that at the moment, if you don’t have this RNP AR01 technology, which is a satellite navigation system, then we will not go for that option. And as far as I know, this [the Boeing 757] is an aircraft which is 20 plus years old and don’t have this navigation system.
(AG): Do you see expansion further into Europe or Northern Africa in the future coming up?
(JB) I will say that we have a lot of destinations in Europe which we would like to serve, and we have been trying to get slots in Amsterdam for a long time. So that [Amsterdam] will be our preferred new destination.
(AG): So I know you said the two aircraft you have from Airbus in 2027 and 2028, is that when they get delivered or is that when you have to decide what type of aircraft you want them to be?
(JB): That’s when they are getting delivered, so we will decide which type of aircraft later this year or beginning next year.
(AG): I know you mentioned COVID briefly. How did that affect your operations here given every single flight out of this airport is international?
(JB): It affected us heavily. Fortunately, we had a good [Covid] testing capacity in the Faroe Islands, and we were very much in control of the situation so that we always knew how to behave because of this testing. Everybody who came to the Faroe Islands were tested immediately, and got an answer quite quick afterwards. But like all other companies all over the industry we were affected, heavily affected. We had done a reduction, like 50 percent in our operation, but although we have a lot of people in the Faroe Islands, we have young people studying abroad, we have people that are offshore in the maritime sector working abroad, we have people who are leaving the Faroe Islands to Denmark for medical reasons and so on. So, we were serving the community and doing I would say, as good as we could do with all the limitations we had. But it was a huge effect on our company for two years.
(AG): What would you say other than the aircraft in 2027 and 2028 which we’ve talked about a couple of times, what is the future like for this airline short term as well as long term?
(JB): I will say that we are a company who is owned by the government and having a range and limited company with a professional board and our ambition is to serve our community foremost, and that means also that we are growing with the demand in the Faroe Islands organically. Our challenge, I would say is to balance the high season and the low season. Because low season is very low, and the high season is very high at the moment. We are also very much involved in this MICE segment also, which stands for meeting incentives, conferences, and events and so we try to balance. That’s also a part of being a part of the local community, so we can grow together. Because if you only have some jobs in the sector for a certain period, it’s challenging because where are those people gonna work in the low season? That’s a big challenge for us where we would like to cooperate, with the industry. But we are also doing some business outside the Faroe Islands at the moment, in the low season especially, and one third of our business is outside the Faroe Islands, where we are working for Danish tour operators. I would say that we will be ready, and we will be growing with the Faroe Islands and the demand in the Faroe Islands for the local community.
A video account of this interview can be found below, and a trip report of our journey on the airline’s last flight to North America can be found here.
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