Smoker’s International Airways: From Germany to Japan in a Carcinogenic Haze
Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 07.26.07 | 11:47 AM ET
Sounds like hell to me. Or an Onion story. However, German entrepreneur Alexander W. Schoppmann (pictured) says he’s bringing glamour back to air travel with Smoker’s International Airways, aka Smintair, a start-up airline that plans to cater to smokers.
Craig Whitlock writes in the Washington Post:
On Smintair, according to Schoppmann, there will be plenty of room for passengers to indulge their vices, whether it’s smoking, drinking or even small-stakes gambling. Fliers will be able to mingle at bars on the upper or lower deck of a Boeing 747, which will be reconfigured to be so roomy that there will be space for just 138 passengers, instead of the 400 or so typically seated by most carriers.
Schoppmann announced his plans for Smintair last year, and the airline recently took a major step toward flying: “The airline has won approval for a coveted landing slot at Duesseldorf International Airport and has permission to fly to its first destination, Nagoya airport in central Japan,” writes Whitlock.
Next up for Schoppmann: Buying an actual plane to carry travelers between the two smoking-loving countries.
According to an International Herald Tribune story about Smintair, “25 percent of Germans and 49 percent of Japanese men (14 percent of women) are smokers.”
Related on World Hum:
* Smokers, How Far Will You Go to Smoke That Cigarette?
* Why Did David Sedaris Just Spend Three Months in Tokyo?
Photo of Alexander W. Schoppmann via Smintair.com.