Lighting up the airline market – 21/06/07

“We know that half of the world’s population smokes and this is a market nobody caters for. A target population of half of the world – that is huge“

Alexander Schoppmann Founder and Managing Director SMINTtair

GERMANY. Its creator has dubbed SMINTair the world’s most luxurious airline. It’s certainly the most politically incorrect.

Step forward Alexander Schoppmann, the ebullient, irreverent German entrepreneur who has created the world’s first airline for smokers – Smokers International Airways (SMINTair), which will make its inaugural flight from Dusseldorf to Nagoya in Japan this October. With slots confirmed, and more expected, what cynics and critics may have dismissed as a smoker’s pipedream is fast nearing commercial reality. What’s more, Schoppmann believes it will be a big money spinner.

The Boeing 747 aircraft will carry 138 business and first class passengers – no economy seats – plus a bar and two lounges. It will have two duty free shops – there are no trolleys in the Alexander Schoppmann world – and will serve caviar and oysters. Schoppmann believes the airline can leverage its audience’s economic power to draw significant sponsorship. Everything from caviar to clothes and smoker’s utensils to jewellery will be offered for free consumption or at special duty free prices during flights, he says.

But most of all, SMINTair will celebrate the right to smoke. Cigarettes, roll-your-own, cigars or pipes – Schoppmann doesn’t care. What he does care about is smokers’ rights, the erosion of which he sees as symptomatic of a big brother society obsessed with control and with political correctness. He’s having none of it – on SMINTair’s website’s jobs section he notes: “Allergics to any kind of smoke or aviation specific conditions, militant anti-smokers, or people with other social deficiencies are kindly asked to not apply.”

It’s time to fight back, he reckons. And he’s putting his money where his mouth is with an extraordinarily ambitious business venture that he says will link travelling smokers across five continents.

SMINTair, Schoppmann insists, will be the airline with the best service available. Passengers will be treated like they are guests of an international Grand Hotel, he says. SMINTair will bring back the exclusivity associated with flying in the 1960s “and dearly missed by so many”.

“SMINTair reinstates the liberty of smoking in all seats,” says the company. And, dismissing critics’ suggestions that the inflight atmosphere will be a putrid nightmare, it adds, “Non-smokers will find the cabin air more refreshing than on any other flight with any other airline, as SMINTair adds fresh outside air to the conditioning system. This is more expensive, as it burns more fuel, but it is seen as an additional service to our guests.”

The airline will also spend more than three times the amount usually invested on passenger’s nourishment, it claims. Signature recipes created by “internationally renowned chefs” will make each meal a feast. “Charming and beautiful flight attendants in uniforms designed by famous couturiers” are there to take the very best care of you, it waxes lyrically. Every two years, a new designer will be elected to keep the uniform design á la mode SMINTair says.

As Schoppmann prepares to launch an airline that he insists will be both popular and profitable, the mercurial businessman took time out to explain the operation – and his philosophy – to Martin Moodie.

In an unusually candid and relaxed telephone interview the refreshingly straight-talking Schoppmann emphasised time and again his desire to reintroduce the classic ambience of travel from days gone by and his understanding of the luxury market. Anyone expecting a smoke-filled chamber in the sky should think again, he says – SMINTair will be all about luxury. It will feature the freshest atmosphere of any airline, the best food, the highest value duty free offer and, of course, the most freedom.

Tell me about the inflight experience. Apart from the fact that passengers can light up, I believe you’re also going to create some interesting onboard activities?

Yes there will a duty free shop situated in the first class upper deck lounge. It will sell items beyond the €5,000 level and up to €50,000.

What sort of items?

Oh, everything. Watches, diamond bracelets”¦ everything the jewellers have to offer. I’m in contact with Bvlgari, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Breitling and we hope to be able to offer Cartier, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet – you name it, we will have it.

And there’s another duty free shop in the back of the plane where there is another lounge – this time a seated lounge with sofas – where you can buy items below €5,000.

There will also be a bar arrangement. It will be some form of oval bar with 12 bar stools, perfect for sponsors like Veuve Clicquot, Moët & Chandon and Piper-Heidsieck.

I could envision that people importing caviar or oysters might team up with a big Champagne producer to share the lounge. That would be something very, very nice and we’re talking to all of these people at the moment. The feedback we are receiving is tremendous.

We have contacts with the likes of Mercedes Benz, and we have connections with Rolls Royce, Bentley, Aston Martin plus all the famous scotch brands like The Macallan and Glenmorangie. We have contacted over 40 people – we’re looking forward very much to securing more contracts than we already have.

“I am not the smokers’ messiah. I don’t want to be seen as that. I want liberty and freedom for everybody and that is what democracy is all about.“

Alexander Schoppmann

Who’s going to run your duty free?

We’re going to do it ourselves. It’s going to feature high value goods so it has to have a flawless chain of security. We have done that in coordination with a big security company in Germany, and in co-ordination with the airport in Düsseldorf because we’re going to stack all the items here.

What’s been the reaction of the brands? Have there been some who are unsure about being associated with this?

99.9% are positive. We have very good contact, say, with Montblanc, who are over the moon about the idea as they have been expanding their airports business for some time. They are also thinking about becoming a co-brander to our credit cards which will come out very soon in cooperation with Mastercard.

We’re even talking to Chanel. And my office in Paris called YSL and the woman in charge of public relations said “˜Oh yeah we heard about you and we were wondering when you would call.” So that’s the sort of reception we get. The luxury goods industry is fully aware of the opportunities opening up.

There’s an interesting precedent here. If you look at probably the most unlikely media success of the last 20 years – Marvin Shanken’s Cigar Aficionado in the US – he attracted a lot of the same flak that you’re getting. Everyone said it couldn’t work. But look at it today, it’s a phenomenon. And it’s not so much the cigars that are making him rich, it’s the lifestyle advertising.

Sure. We are getting into all kinds of roles with the SMINT group. SMINTair is only one part though obviously it will make the most money. We are introducing a lifestyle. Because in Asia and Europe, except in your country of England where the government constantly goes over the top with what they can and can’t do with their subjects – consumers are not as tightly in anti-smoking hands as they might seem.

People buy cigars at €500 a pop. They buy sticks worth €50-100 like other people buy chewing gum. That’s the reality – whatever these anti-smoking lobbies say. We know that half of the world’s population smokes and this is a market nobody caters for. And we are entering that market”¦ a target population of half of the world. That is huge.

And you have it all to yourself”¦

Absolutely. Nobody has dared but we do. We have made the SMINTcard that enables the smoker to order legally, especially here in Germany, cigarettes of our own brand for €25 a carton. The same equivalent would be €55 in the shops. All these things are in the pipeline and will happen this year. So we’re going to swamp the world with smokers’ articles, infrastructure, and places [for smokers] to go and places to stay.

Why? Because when the smoker leaves his house these days he is worried. He says, “˜I can’t go on a train, I can’t go on a plane’. What does he do? He goes by car.

A smoker will make a very tough decision and say “˜I will take my car.’ Smokers are social people, they love to socialise. The impact that is going to be felt on the UK hospitality business [by the banning of smoking in public places from 1 July]. I tell you will be the same as in Ireland and Scotland. Forget the faked figures”¦ the reality is that there have been cuts of -40% or more in turnover on average. It has caused redundancies, and caused smokers to stay at home rather than socialise any more.

This has had an impact on the social behaviour of entire nations and it’s all based on nonsense! It’s all based on junk science and on assumptions. There’s not one death where it can be proven that it was caused by second hand smoke. Not one.

“We will give people the possibility to smoke their cigar, pipe or cigarette onboard an aircraft and to be treated like a normal human being“

Alexander Schoppmann

So when you had this eureka moment and you thought of creating the airline, were you thinking with your commercial hat on or were you a man with a mission?

Both. It is a mixture. I am not the smokers’ messiah. I don’t want to be seen as that. But I always support the weaker team when two football teams play. I always keep in with the underdogs. I want liberty and freedom for everybody and that is what democracy is all about. If that can’t be achieved we don’t have a democracy as such.

Democracy should be able to protect minorities. If minorities are made outcasts by social engineering then we’ve had it with democracy. England is a very, very good example. 4.3 million surveillance cameras and they tell us it’s about terrorists. Look, if it’s in train stations or airports for security, I go along with it. But in the street? 4.3 million cameras. Oh C’mon. This is [George] Orwell. I am very, very surprised that you Brits eat that.

Well actually I’m a Kiwi so I can claim exemption”¦

(Laughs) Yeah well they’re not far away from your country too!

What’s the reaction of the tobacco houses themselves? Are they supportive?

No. Not at all.

Why?

You must ask them. I have no idea.

They are probably concerned by potential litigation – understandably”¦

But I have never taken them into my equation – never. Because I knew they were shit scared. I don’t want to do any business with them right from the start. I’ve spoken to some of them but I’ve made it clear they would not be sponsoring us.

Why not?

Because I don’t want the cigarettes on my aircraft to be the sponsors of my airline. And I’ll tell you why. Being sponsored in any way by “˜Big Tobacco’ could prompt the press to say the following – it was all Big Tobacco’s idea and Schoppmann is just the face. I did not and do not want those kind of lies to make the rounds – which would be the end of my idea.

But you’ll sell their products onboard?

We’re going to sell cigarettes onboard, yes.

Yours or established international brands?

Established international brands. But we’re not in bed with any of the big ones. We are buying cigarettes off them like every other airline did and that’s all.

What do you smoke?

I am not a “˜brand man’, I’m a “˜mood smoker’. Let me give you an example. I go and buy cigarettes every day. I look at the shelves and say: “Give me a pack of Rothman’s and one Benson & Hedges”. The next day it could be “˜Lucky Strike and a menthol smoke’ – after all, you don’t eat the same every day, either.

The same goes for cigars. I prefer Davidoff, Graycliff and Habanos brands and a lot more. I am in the lucky position, that I get them for free”¦

Tell me about the reaction in Asia. Have you been received with favour?

Oh yeah. Even in the States we have very good press. People are majorly surprised and wishing us all the best. I’ve been on TV and on talk shows and people have been ringing in and saying things like “˜I’m a non smoker but I think it’s a good idea’. We actually have wide support among non-smokers, especially the more intelligent ones who say it’s a matter of choice.

What’s your level of ambition? You’re launching with full planes and apparently good demand. How big do you want to take this concept?

We don’t want to be a competitor to the big established airlines, the flag carriers. We will never be. We will service all five continents, we will give smoking infrastructure – in style – to the long haul smokers and the non-smoker alike. We’re not separating people who chew gum, who want to drink a beer or have a vodka and we don’t say “˜Look, that’s not healthy’. You know, living is not healthy and we are born to die! That’s a fact!

HAVE YOUR SAY: What do you think about Alexander Schoppmann’s vision? Comment

What for us is important is that we get long-haul flights. We’ll next go to Sao Paulo or Johannesburg, Vancouver or Toronto or Montreal. Then Beijing or Shanghai. We’ll give people the possibility to smoke their cigar, pipe or cigarette onboard an aircraft and be treated like a normal human being – because that’s what they are.