NATIONAL
DECEMBER 2013 | 7
Maastricht Airlines might still fly
Self-driving car hits roads
THE HJAGUE | With the first test drive of autonomous cars on a public road, an important step has been taken towards the large-scale deployment of new car technologies that can contribute to improving the flow of traffic and traffic safety on the road. The cars that drove on the A10 motorway were developed by DAVI, the Dutch Automated Vehicle Initiative. This is a joint venture involving TNO, Delft University of Technology and the Netherlands Department of Road Transport, among others. The aim is to develop a system that can be built into both new and existing cars.
Minister backs free papers
THE HAGUE | Junior education minister Sander Dekker (VVD) has called for all papers written by Dutch researchers to be available free of charge to those who wish access to them from 2016, reports de Volkskrant. This follows calls throughout the world in recent years that scientific research should be made more accessible; breaking the hold hat certain high profile journals have on the market. The minister says that if a move to open access publication does not happen soon, the government should consider implementing it through legislation.
Private copy levies remain
Photo: Michel Brouwers
The story of Maastricht Airlines has not been a successful one so far: despite its heroic crisis communication efforts, a glorious launch was followed too soon by a bankruptcy. ANIKO JORI-MOLNAR looks back on the attempts to save the airline that might still fly in the near future. Just a year ago, on 20 December 2012, the launch of a new aviation venture was announced. Maastricht Airlines, lead by seasoned businessman of the industry, Hamid Kerboua, and with its first flight scheduled for 25 March this year, got all parties excited. Kerboua and his co-investors pieced out 2.5 million euro for the start, expecting a sales of nine million euro in the first four quarters, as reported at the time by the Financieel Dagblaad. International businesses and the public welcomed the idea of cheap flights to destinations such as Amsterdam, Berlin and Munich. The City of Maastricht and the Province of Limburg, seeing the business potentials, backed the plan by 100,000 euro and 235,150 euro respectively, for branding and staff training purposes. “We have considered this a good opportunity for the city, in terms of attracting businesses, and also tourists,” said Marc Croijmans, director of business development at the City of Maastricht, explaining the decision for the financial incentives. He added that creating a large number of jobs in a short timeframe
was also an important factor. Consideration of the same factors led the Province of Limburg to give a subsidy as well. While ticket sales started in midJanuary, problems surrounding the airline started to emerge soon after. According to statements made then, a delay in the delivery of the fleet, two Fokker 50s, caused a major investor to quit, and there was not enough funding anymore to cover the evergrowing expenses. Launch was delayed first to 1 May 2013, then re-set to September, and then again for an unknown date. At the end of May, the company filed for bankruptcy. Despite its failure to launch, Maastricht Airlines proved it surely had one thing exceptional: its staff. Instead of going out on the streets with signs to protest for their lost jobs, they started, with the approval of the court-appointed curator, John Huppertz of Paulussen Advocates, a crowdfunding campaign in late June, trying to save their company. During the three-week campaign entitled “We believe we can fly,” 350 people showed their trust in the airline by buying one or more tickets
to future flights, and contributed to 25,000 euro of funding. Fairly enough, the call also included a money-back guarantee, in case the airline was not able to restart by 1 November 2013. With this being the case, “all this money is now being paid back,” the curator told The Holland Times. The other investors, of a major scale, are still to see if their money can be repaid at all. Maastricht Airlines currently has 1.5 million euro debt, including the subsidies given by the municipality and the province. There is also an on-going compensation case against Fokker, as well as continuous talks about a takeover with potential investors in the aviation industry. According to Mr. Huppertz, there are approximately six investors interested in the company, as well as on-going support from international companies to fly overseas destinations from Maastricht. The business plan is not revised in terms of the original routes either, considering the regional demand, but they did revise the type of aircraft. Instead of the Fokkers, the company is planning to use jets of the same size,
told to be faster and therefore more cost-effective. Whether they will ever get airborne depends on a future investment that, this time, doesn’t have a deadline. Apparently, it still enjoys the support of the local civil organisations in terms of promotion. Croijmans says that the city finds the business plan feasible, and the region is in need of such a service, with the right amount of co-financing from other local organisations. Despite the competing airlines backing out of these routes due to their different business models, Huppertz says that they would also count on regional airlines such as MA to supply them with passengers for their direct international flights. However, time does play a role when considering re-contracting experienced staff for safety and maintanence tasks, as well as getting official licences and permits again. “The best-case scenario is to fly in the first half of 2014,” the curator told The Holland Times. “But this will only happen if we manage to agree with an investor by the end of this year.”
THE HAGUE | Private copying levies will not increase, according to a recent government statement. The current, temporary regulation will be extended by two years on 1 January 2014. This means a levy of no more than 5 euros on smartphones, telephones with mp3 players, tablets, HDD recorders and settop boxes. Audio/video players will keep a maximum levy of 2 euros. A fixed amount of 5 euros continues to apply to PCs and laptops, and 1 euro to external HDD drives. When CD-ROMs or DVDs are purchased, the lowest rate of 3 euro cents will apply.
Photo: Mark Lee
Depression causes aging
AMSTERDAM | A new study carried out at the VU University Medical Center Amsterdam indicates that people suffering from depression may become prematurely aged. The study’s results were published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry and suggest that depression can alter a person’s molecular composition. Parts of a chromosome called telomeres become noticeably shorter as people age. The study identified that people suffering from depression exhibited shortened telomeres as compared to people of the same age who do not suffer from depression.