FLYING START A dozen new airlines are set to join the competitive aviation scene
Despite recent failures, the aviation industry looks set for several new launches this year
Sir Richard Branson relishes telling the story of the birth of Virgin Atlantic. On virgin.com he recalls what happened in the early 1980s when his flight from Puerto Rico to the British Virgin Islands was cancelled: “I had a beautiful lady waiting for me in BVI and I hired a plane and borrowed a blackboard and as a joke I wrote ‘Virgin Airlines’ on the top of the blackboard, ‘US$39 one way to BVI’. I went around all the passengers who had been bumped and I filled up my first plane.” After that he bought a secondhand B747 and “made it that much more special than all the other airlines we were competing with”.
Unfortunately, many new airlines end in failure within months – be they wholesale start-ups, rebrands or offshoots of existing carriers – proving that it isn’t as easy as Branson made it look. There are all sorts of factors involved, but if an airline isn’t making money fast, it won’t be able to keep flying. The cost of fuel is a huge overhead, so if tickets aren’t being sold, funds soon run dry.
Sometimes airlines are trying something different, such as operating with all-business class layouts, but as we have seen from the historical failures of Maxjet, Eos and Silverjet when they tried this, as well as La Compagnie’s all-business New York JFK route out of London Luton (the French airline is hanging on to Paris Orly), taking chances isn’t often rewarded. →
Early last year, for example, budget airline Primera Air took a gamble in expanding its business out of Scandinavia to include long-haul routes from London Stansted and Birmingham to the US. However, by October it had collapsed entirely, leaving passengers stranded because it hadn’t secured longterm financing. Fierce competition in the transatlantic market proved too tough for the airline, despite the success it had observed its low-cost competitor Norwegian having in this arena.
Other airlines that met their end recently include Russia’s Saratov Airlines, Cypriot lowcost start-up Cobalt, regional airline Jet Go Australia, US regional carrier California Pacific Airlines and Nigerian flag carrier Nigeria Air, the last of these after only a few months.
Then, in January, it was announced that, at just over a year old, Air France’s “millennialoriented” subsidiary, Joon, would be shut down. “The brand was difficult to understand from the outset for customers, for employees, for markets and for investors,” Air France stated.
Still, not everyone is being put off. Japan Airlines ( JAL) is setting up an as-yet-unnamed low-cost airline for 2020 that will be based out of Tokyo Narita and will ply medium- and long-haul routes to Asia, the Americas and Europe. Two B787-8s are being assigned to the carrier, which will receive 10-20 billion yen (£71 million-£141 million) in funding from JAL. Japan Airlines has also invested US$10 million in a new supersonic airline called Overture, which is being developed by Boom Supersonic in the US. (Branson is backing it, too.) If that gets off the ground, it really will be something special.
Here are a dozen new and forthcoming airlines (including one all-business class endeavour) that are attempting to capture their own corner of the skies…
1. BAMBOO AIRWAYS
This Vietnamese airline, which started operations in January, wants to be a “fivestar airline operating both domestic and international routes”. This year it will have 20 A320s – next year these will be joined by 20 A321 Neos and 20 B787-9s. Three fare classes – Eco, Plus and Business – offer varying degrees of generosity in regard to luggage allowance, seat selection and booking changes. Initially it is flying domestic routes, connecting Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang with other leisure destinations in the country, but from 2021 Bamboo hopes to add flights to the US and Europe. bambooairways.com
2. AIR ITALY
Founded in February last year, this private Italian airline is owned by AQA Holding, in which Qatar Airways recently bought a 49 per cent stake. Formerly known as Meridiana, of which the original Air Italy was a subsidiary (the two merged in 2013), it was rebranded as Air Italy last year, debuting new domestic routes from Milan to Rome and Naples, as well as long-haul services to New York and Miami. From next month it will serve Los Angeles and San Francisco, and from May Toronto. Its fleet features three B737 MAXs, seven B737 NGs and five A330-200s. Travellers will find 24 angled lie-flat business class seats on board. airitaly.com
3. FRENCH BEE
Based at Paris Orly, this low-cost long-haul carrier takes passengers to Réunion island, Tahiti, San Francisco and the Dominican Republic. It offers economy and Premium classes, the latter of which is essentially an economy seat with lumbar support, two extra inches of width and four extra inches of legroom. One for holidaymakers rather than business travellers. frenchbee.com →