That interview in FI is just a farce – its sad to see FI’s journalistic quality has gone down-hill so much!

Our initial route is from the Isle of Man to Edinburgh, but we will add routes to Cardiff and Southampton in January, and then several others between January and May. We currently have one Jetstream 31, but three others are being delivered in January and February.

LOL! See above reference bookings in January. The fact he says he has “three others [Jetstreams] are being delivered in January and February” implies he had one in Decemeber… 😮

I am definitely planning to fly some of the routes myself. My main reason for doing this is to be an airline pilot. I am hoping to be rostered in as any other pilot would be, but realistically it will probably be on more of a part-time basis.

He’s unlikely to be “rostered in as another pilot” without a type rating, instrument rating, etc… Seems like Mr. Halstead will have to go back to pilot school if he’s to fulfil this part of his vision… :rolleyes:

It costs us about £38,000 a week to just operate the Edinburgh route, so the profit margins with something like this are very small.

Jetstream with 18 seats, so two round trips a day IOM-EDI generates 72 seats a day, or 504 seats a week. £38000 a week divided amongst 504 seats means an average fare of £75 EACH WAY plus taxes to cover costs, based on a 100% loadfactor. I wouldn’t invest in that proposition!

The worst thing is the delays – every time you delay your launch, your credibility gets dented.

Ah, one thing right then! 😉

Andy

I’m gonna do it slightly differently (typical! :rolleyes: ), but here’s my three selections:

Preferred Defunct Airline – There is only one choice in my mind in this category – Duo Airways – and it saddens me greatly that this airline nolonger exists. I used to use Duo regularly to fly from BHX to GVA (and on occasion to CPH) and whilst it could be argued that their equipment wasn’t ideal – I actually rather liked the CR7 though – the service was exemplary, the staff were fantastic, and they provided a NICE full hot mail and bar service on every flight. Great stuff – if only there were other airlines like that. If Duo still existed as it did, they would be my number one airline, full stop.

Preferred UK/European Short-haul Airline – Many candidates here – at one time it would have been British Midland (note, I mean British Midland as in “Diamond Service – I don’t mean bmi), or indeed the aforementioned Duo. BA is good if you’re sat up front, and fair down the back too – sadly, as I mainly fly from BHX I fear for BA now they’re going “Connect”. Lufthansa are fairly good up front, but for a “full-service” airline their back cabin can be pretty grim, especially on mainline although their regional operators are better – their lounges aren’t bad either. I’ve used Air France, Alitalia, TAP and Scando a few times too – same comments as LH applies. However, the European short-haul airline I’ve travelled in the last couple of years that I like best is SN Brussels Air – for an Avro operator they do pretty well (only five across, unlike BA and AF), and their service is better than the others too.

Preferred Long-haul Airline(s) – Many candidates again, and airlines like Emirates must come into consideration, and although the IFE on their 777-300ERs is amazing and service is excellent neither their economy or business class products are what you would call groundbreaking these days. Singapore is excellent, especially in Raffles, although I found the main cabin is rather restricted for pitch. Air France and Lufty both have excellent long-haul business products, AF particularly so, but I have not tried their long haul economy. I do NOT rate Virgin or BA at all, especially in the main cabin. I like Cathay Pacific, period – good food, good IFE and foot rests even in economy. I like bmi long haul – the Business IS THE BUSINESS, their economy cabin is not bad but I will not fly them in this cabin anymore they’ve gone down the “pay for bar” route, and their premium economy product is crap in comparison to VS PE or BA WT+. Finally, for trans-Atlantic economy travel I like United 😮 Main reasons – seat back IFE on all but the 744s, and they have “economy plus” seating which has an extra 4″ leg room over standard economy which is available FREE of charge to anyway in their (or another Star Alliance) frequent flyer program, and this above all else makes UA a better proposition in my opinion than any other transAtlantic carrier in economy.

Andy

Sorry, can’t be bothered to wait for them downloading when they’re at that size, even on broadband. Make them a sensible size next time please (i.e. so they fit across a screen and no more)

Andy

exmpa – agree with you on both points, particularly in respect of the A319 incident where not only did the crew elect to continue to destination but the a/c was not pulled for detailed investigation for several days until external parties intervened. None the less, the original asertion that the decision to continue to destination was symptomatic of a maintenance culture problem within BA was incorrect.

Andy

Back to BA, the 3 engine transatlantic run and A319 incident are to do with maintenance especially the 3 engine job. Losing an engine a 100ft always has a reason but both incidents as of yet don’t have reports so we’ll wait and see.

No, yet again you are wrong. I repeat your original comment…

Scary recent examples including the 3 engine 747 trans-atlantic flight and subsequent fuel emergency and the similar A319 flight where the instruments failed and then the crew continuing the flight is ridiculous.

The three-engined flight had NOTHING to do with maintenance. Maybe, MAYBE there was a maintenance related issue with the engine failure in the first place but as you rightly point out, the report hasn’t been published yet so we don’t know that.

The subsequent decision by the crew to continue the flight – you linked the “3 engine 747 trans-atlantic flight” (not the original engine failure, which as we’ve already agreed the cause of which is unpublished as yet) with maintenance problems – WAS NOT a maintenance issue but was a CREW DECISION, allowed under SOPs, and unrelated to the CAUSE of the original engine failure.

Engine failures happen, period. 99% of these failures to not make the news. In the case of the 747 out of LAX, you are implying that something that was relatively routine and un-newsworthy (an engine failure) suddenly became newsworthy because of a maintenance issue – well it didn’t, it became newsworthy because of a crew decision, and in fact despite the fact that the crew decision was valid within the airline’s SOPs.

Likewise, the A319 incident MAY (again we don’t know because we don’t have the report yet) have had a cause routed in maintenance, or it may not. But again, the decision to continue the flight – which you implied was the real problem – is not maintenance related but was a crew decision.

Now, having decided that both of the BA incidents you highlighted only became issues of notoriey because of crew decisions, and seeing as you’re so keen to defend Ryanair (not that I particularly have a problem with Ryanair in this respect), how about talking about Ryanair crew decision making…

Andy

I think its another case of – pay peanuts, get treated like a monkey 🙂

Andy

Also a certified CAT3 aircraft, with certified CAT3 crew and a certified CAT3 airflied, does not have to go making practice approaches into an airport like MAN before they are allowed to make a live approach.

Robertt is indeed correct…

It was only back in November that a Jet2.com B737-300 (G-CELG) had to do a practice CAT3 at Manchester as the LBA crew operating noticed that the frame was not certified for CAT3. This aircraft was operating on the Barcelona – Leeds LS232 service. Without doing it the aircraft would have been stook at Manchester and the crew & passengers bused back to LBA.

Not quite sure what you mean by this, but both crew have to be CATIII current – and that includes having done a CATIII approach within the last so many days (can’t remember how many!). If one of the crew were outside the limit, doing a “practice” CATIII approach into MAN in better than CATIII conditions would put them back in currency for a real CATIII approach.

A