HAMBURG – AviationSource was given the opportunity to fly on SkyAlps’ Q400 between Hamburg and Bolzano.
With this SkyAlps is located in T1 in Hamburg. On the flight today there were 18 passengers on the 70-seat aircraft.
There was a big group of Danes going Skiing, some Germans going to Merano and Lake Garda for vacation and some locals from Bolzano visiting Hamburg for tourism and family.
One of the passengers (a German) said this service was very useful as otherwise, it’s very hard to get to the Alto-Adige (Sudtirol) region of Italy.
At the same time, she said she used this service before and found it very delightful.
In addition to this, she was with her dog making Skyalps one of the few carriers permitting passengers to transport dogs in the cabin which is another reason she chose this service.
After take-off, the service began.
The airline offers an incredibly abundant service with only local products. They ranged from Schuettelbrot Cookies, Loacker, Grappa, Greutzwinzer wine, Riesling wine, Stipenzo Yogurt, 100% Alps coffee, Alps Coffee, Roner (Sud-Tirol liquor), Pompadour (Specialized menu) to local orange juice (Skipper).
An incredible offering considering how every airline has practically introduced Buy-On-Board service in Europe.
Not only this but the airline had a full menu of different teas included. For being such a niche carrier it was very fascinating to see such an incredible onboard offering.
At the same time, the crew made sure to look over passengers multiple times throughout the flight and offered even more food and drinks.
Surprisingly many passengers were hesitant to take anything.
Speaking with the crew after the service, they explained to me a bit about how the airline was doing.
They said that Copenhagen had 50-60 passengers, and German flights had 10-30 passengers. London was canceled and Rotterdam and their other flight were completely full including Copenhagen.
Mary, the purser was also speaking about the importance of creating a relationship with the customer so they would return.
A fight actually broke out on the flight between a passenger and the crew and she spent much time throughout the flight making sure that the situation was resolved so the customer would return to fly with Skyalps.
In total, the airline has 25 crew from various places – Trentino, Lazio, Sardinia, Lombardia, and Cuba.
As I was deboarding the crew were very nice and spent a lot of time talking to me. I was the last passenger to exit as it took a matter of seconds to pick up my luggage at the baggage claim and a matter of 4 minutes from the plane to my taxi.
Conclusion
The following flight was a success. The departure was on time, the crew was professional, the service was impeccable and the process was all stress-free.
I would definitely recommend to my friends to take Sky Alps as I go skiing often in the region of Bolzano and it’s very hard. The airline is solving a big problem in the region since the airport lost its direct connection to Rome in 2017 (which was an Alitalia codeshare).
With flights to both Northern and Southern Europe and the airline also serving 3 destinations from Maribor in Slovenia this summer, the airline is not only prime for its product and customer service but also for connecting regions that are unserved but have a lot of demand.
The Alto-Adige(Sudtirol) is very busy in the winter for skiing and in the summer for hiking so it is only obvious that its services will be a success (except for London which has been officially canceled since).
The author wishes to thank Sky Alps for the opportunity to fly with them.
