LAVDUMPER - not sure what's happening with Novair; heard that they were having a few problems but nothing concrete.
VG Airlines and its viability has taken a huge battering in my eyes today:
Freddy Van Gaever announced today, during a press conference, that VG AIRLINES will start services beginning February 2002 with flights from Brussels to destinations in Europe to get his airline known among the consumer market. VG Airlines hope to start the first transatlantic services to the USA on the 1st March, with Boston as the first destination which will also be the airline's official inaugural flight [I assume therefore that the 'flights to destinations in Europe' will simply be training/
PR flights].
As Van Gaever still doesn't have an AOC he expects that this wouldn't be such a gigant problem. The government demands that when you want to start an airline you need to have a businessplan before you can receive an AOC. Van Gaever still did not succeed to buy off the ex-Sabena AOC. Van Gaever has his doubts about the necessaty to have a businessplan as nobody who starts an airline can predict how many passengers an airline will carry the next year. Van Gaever told the press that: "businessplans are for people who not know their market and who are not sure about, believe and conviced in their own goals and targets. Setting up a businessplan costs millions of francs; wasted money."
No businessman with an ounce of intelligence should ever say that a business plan is pointless - that establishes your goals, your financial targets and requirements in the form of a budget, personnel requirements, marketing strategies etc. An airline business plan (and I've written a few!) can run to several hundred pages including detailed financial projections.
Under JAR, an airline requires two bits of paper to operate: the Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) which is clearance from your aviation authorities that you're technically and operationally competent to fly the aircraft (ie that you have the correct manuals written, operational infrastructure, quality controls etc). The other is the Operating Licence (OL), which gives financial fitness clearance. To obtain this, you must submit to the airworthiness authority's economic regulation department a detailed business plan and proof of sufficient cash to (in the UK at any rate) cover three months operating expenses assuming nil income.
Here in the UK, this is a 6 to 9 month process.
Once he has those two documents - and only once he has them - he can apply for a DOT402 which allows him to operate to the States. This is another fairly lengthy process, taking several months.
In addition, if he thinks he's going to get SN's AOC and OL, he's smoking something! Those documents are strictly non transferable; the only way he could get them would be to buy SN and make an arrangement with its creditors.
I'd say his chances of being operational by March - based on what I've read here - are nil. Zip. Zero. Nada. Nichevo.
Incidentally, American Trans Air are also intending to keep flying their L15s for at least another 5 - 7 years; as are Air Luxor in Portugal. It's a lovely aircraft - probably the best designed and built one ever.