To pick the plums out of the pudding;
Originally Posted by
dc9-32
The Debonair management were clueless
management simply did not care.
An utter chaotic airline if ever there was one.....
What about the Calabria regional services contract (local government sponsored/brokered)for four - five aircraft (?) that got as far as the route proving flights before someone in Alitalia noticed that the contract had not gone out to tender as EU law required. It had all been quietly done on "private handshakes". Is there any connection between Italian American iffy businessmen and the deep South of Italy I wonder? How naiive is that - imagining they could get away with it?
Or the insane plan to equip the fleet with "Boeing" 717s (aka a DC9 with tits) which was a ludicrously unsuitable aircraft for a lo-co carrier - not that the 146 was exactly the best choice either. Decisions like that seemed to be made on a whim or because someone made up some nice looking artwork on their sales pitch. There wasn't much sign of any commercial thinking going on.
Many thought that the chaotic, disastrously inefficient style and general lack of any sort of management was a result of the company never being intended to make a profit - ie a way of "cleaning up" investors' money - most of which was from those Italian Americans.
Mancassola's previous attempt to start an airline (Discovery was it?), of which Debonair was a carbon copy down to that bloody bear and the embarrassing grey prep-school "uniforms" failed ignominiously right before launch in a style reminiscent of the Calabrian job. He didn't have much of a track record.
The Chief pilot/Flt Ops Dir. was straight out of the RAF and knew absolutely zip about civil ops and his sidekick the Teflon-coated Chief training "Captain" could be frightening to fly with. They did eventually get a decent F.O.D but although he tried mightily by then it was too late.
It was immense fun but many crew knew in their hearts that it could not carry on. Five day rotations staying in luxurious apartment-suites in BRU and flying perhaps six sectors in that time. 5 day trips that went something like Posn MUC, Operate MUC BCN. SBY. BCN MUC BCN early finish. SBY. Posn LTN on the early. Home for lunchtime! Eat lots of tapas. Drink lots of beer. Get to know Barcelona better than your own home! What a jolly! SBY for a day in CPH with only one flight passing trough was always a joy. LTN MGL LTN was sometimes a day's work! Home before lunchtime! Captains got suites in some hotels, great for crew parties but at what cost? I doubt anyone flew more than 300hrs in a year. Days spent cycling around Bavaria and eating Schnitzel. There was even a crew hire car there so on the early rotations it was possible to ski Kitzbuel in the afternooon! - it was the best holiday ever while it lasted. Best crews and party scene ever too, just a shame about the appallingly inept management.
Even so, the aircraft were well maintained and great fun to fly and commands came quickly. Good days.