A couple of the many stories today -
Source: Sunday Times
Short hop airline launches
BRITAIN's first American-style commuter airline is to be set up by a
group of former Buzz executives and Kit Malthouse, deputy leader of Westminster City Council.
Hop Airways will fly short routes between regional centres. About
one-third of fares will be under £10 one-way, and no one-way trip
will cost more than £80.
Malthouse, chairman, and Tony Camacho, chief executive, have
recruited Cavendish Corporate Finance to raise money. The company was looking to obtain about £5m from a mix of wealthy individuals and institutions, but will consider raising more if sufficient interest is generated.
Malthouse, who runs a construction-plant financing business, said
Britain's poor road, rail and air travel had been one of the
inspirations behind the move. "I do about 45,000 miles a year and I have for a long time thought there was a great opportunity for a low-cost domestic airline," he said.
Hop plans to start flights this summer using a fleet of ATR-72
turboprops. A base airport has not yet been chosen, but Camacho, a former commercial director of KLM UK and Buzz, said Hop would avoid the large London airports.
"I would not rule out flying to one of the smaller London airports,
but we do not want to go head-to-head with either the big network airlines or Ryanair or Easyjet," he said.
The average flight time would be just one hour and 15 minutes, he said, and each aircraft would do 10 flights a day.
Source: Scotland on Sunday
DOUGLAS FRIEDLI
A NEW no-frills airline is to target Scottish passengers flying to
regional centres in England and Wales after claiming that existing
services are "rubbish".
Hop, led by former Buzz chief executive Tony Camacho and backed by entrepreneur Kit Malthouse, plans to run flights to 20 destinations across the UK by July.
Malthouse, the company's chairman, said: "Scotland is key for us
because the transport links there are rubbish. We are looking at
Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen initially."
Dundee, the least-used of Scotland's city airports, could also
feature in the company's plans. Malthouse said: "Dundee is an
interesting one. It is good for a number of places such as the area
to the south of Aberdeen and part of Silicon Glen. At the moment, if you want to fly from Dundee to, say, Cambridge, you have to go via London."
Malthouse, the deputy leader of Westminster City Council, said the airline would deliberately avoid London's crowded airports. He said: "London is well served already."
The airline is close to raising more than £5m from private
investors, institutions and transport groups to get its plans in
motion. It will buy three Airbus aircraft, and plans to build up a
fleet of 20 within three years. Each aircraft will fly 10 times per
day, high by industry standards.
Malthouse compared the airline to the low-cost Greyhound bus network which connects the US. The company will entice customers with 20-minute check-in times, £10 advance fares and an £80 one-way maximum tariff.
Malthouse and Camacho have recruited former CityFlyer airline
director Keith Luxton as chief operating officer. The company plans
an advertising campaign in central and north-east Scotland once its final route plan is announced later this year.
Hop, which currently has a registered office in Lutterworth,
Leicestershire, is looking for a permanent base for its operations.
Malthouse said the company was sizing up five locations across the UK for its headquarters.
In reply to Malthouse's comments on Scotland's transport links, a
spokeswoman for the Scottish Executive said: "We are encouraging more direct air links through the Executive's £6.8m Route Development Fund, which has offered assistance to a total of 17 new direct routes since March last year."