I always think the ‘bmi swoop’ makes aircraft look grumpy.
Photo from airliners.net
Regarding the remaining airlines, Mango belongs to SAA and Kulula belongs to Comair.
I realised that I just wasn’t sure if there were any others I didn’t know of. Given that SAA, Airlink and Express work so closely together they and the Comair companies effectively make for a duopoly, never good for competition.
Flitestar
Avia
Phoenix Airways
Sun Air
Nationwide
Velvet Sky
1Time
I don’t remember Phoenix but I flew with all of the others. Sun Air on the 727 were a fantastic experience so much so that when they went I wondered if they had simply spent too much on product relative to the fares. Avia on a 747SP were interesting but not great.
Always a shame when another one goes. Good luck to those affected.
So that leaves SAA, Mango, SA Airlink, SA Express, Comair BA and Kulula. Anyone else?
I know a lot of South Africans object to SAA being propped up by the government. What would aviation in SA look like if SAA had to support itself?
Can that be claimed as being Jet2 Holidays’ livery given that it’s a copy of Allegiant’s?
Oh okay, I was sent it by a friend who works for an airline and it was implied (although in fairness not actually stated) that he had taken the photo.
In that case, my apologies and of course full credit to whoever did take it.
Mods: Please remove if that’s appropriate, I don’t want to offend anyone by using their photo without permission. Thanks.
Those airliners hold no fear for me.
Nor I, it’s the attitude of those operating them that I fear.
I’ll accept to a point that these aircraft are built to withstand operating in some punishing environments but the physical laws of flying still apply.
With apologies to those of you who love all things formerly Soviet, seeing videos like this is exactly why I will never set foot on an aircraft (Western or otherwise) operated on the Russian register.
I would imagine that their HQ will be re-located to ABZ…seeing as that is where the “new” bmi regional is now based?
Their ops centre has been in ABZ fror years but the article says the new HQ will be at East Mids which seems odd to me unless it’s in order to keep on some of the former bmi mainline HQ people.
Is it back to the lessors for these or were they owned?
Keith’s picture reminds me of the west park at LGW when Air Europe went under. It’s always sad to see an airline go, especially for it’s own people and others reliant on it for employment.
Whilst it seemed to be a very well run outfit it has to be said that the Baby business model wasn’t great, effectively being a loco with legacy overheads inherited from when it was formed out of British Midland’s regional bases.
Whilst it’s true that IAG never wanted to buy Baby and it didn’t fit with their business model in the UK I think they and BA have made a good effort to find a new owner. One of my neighbours is a project manager with BA and even he admits to being surprised at the efforts they went to. Apparently they even offered to pay the costs of integration to one UK airline that would have seemed a good fit (he wouldn’t say but I’m guessing Jet2) if they took it on. But the fact remains that their are plenty of used 737s on the market and Baby flew to/from airports that aren’t slot restrained, so if that’s the market you want want to be in you wouldn’t do it by buying an airline with debts and overheads from a legacy history, especially as TUPE laws mean a lot of those costs would have to remain. It’s unsurprising really that neither LH or BA could find a buyer, but very sad nonetheless.
I for one send everyone that was involved with Baby all the very best during a difficult time and good luck for the future.
I don’t see where the story is in this.
Look in any tour operator’s brochure and you will see flights on many airlines, not just their in-house ones, and often including scheduled flights. The only interesting point in this is that I believe this to be the first time EZY have sold wholesale to a tour operator.
I’ve only flown with EZY once and hated free seating so much I vowed never to do so again despite thinking everything else was great.
Glad to hear they are going for allocated seating.
That’s the odd thing though, while on lease she was in Eastern’s colours.
What are the colours on MAJK?
I know she’s been in Greece on lease but that was in the old Eastern colours.
There are several possible opportunities for this passenger to have been noticed, post flight cabin crew security checks, cleaners, caterers and pre flight cabin crew security checks to name a few. (I’m not convinced this person was simply asleep in a seat though).
However the ‘”extra” passenger on the return flight’ isn’t necessarily one of them. Most airlines don’t do head counts any more (witness the recent Jet2.com MAN FCO incident). As long as the number of people through the gate matches the number of people checked in this extra passenger wouldn’t be picked up on, unless of course the flight had been full and they would have been a seat short after boarding.