New Airline Says Thank You For Smoking
By KATE CONNOLLY, The Daily Telegraph | June 27, 2006
BERLIN - A German businessman has founded an airline dedicated to smokers.
Smintair, or "Smokers' International Airways," aims to cater for smoking passengers, particularly from Asia, who feel they have been squeezed out of the market.
Its first aircraft are due to take off in October on a route between Dusseldorf and Tokyo and are expected to serve mainly Japanese businessmen.
Smintair's founder, Alexander Schoppmann, himself a 30-a-day man, said he was trying to offer an alternative in an age when smoking is banned on all major airlines.
"It disturbs me that I pay a lot of money for a ticket only to be told what I can and cannot do," he said.
