The full story
Hello
I've been silent for far to long regarding Destination Air. Mostly, I've waited to see what happened to them watching from the wings hoping despite all their problems they would succeed but knowing unltimately the company was destined to fail. The deck was stacked against them a long time ago when the owners decided to become a scheduled seaplane airline in a region that could not support one.
So who am I? I am the one who started it all. Back in 2004 we were close to starting a seaplane operation in Malaysia but the whole thing fell apart when I had a car accident and ended up medivacted back the U.S. A year later I looked at buying Bluewater Air as a launch vehicle for regional seaplane services but in the end decided the company had far to many ghosts in the closet to deal with. So, my team and I decided to go it alone but we needed investment. This is where Destination Properties (Jake and Gary) come in. We negotiated a deal with DP whereas my project would be funded and launched and we would retain minor equity stake and profit sharing. Little did I know where this would lead.
So, we embarked on starting what would become Destination Air in Phuket. My team wrote the business plan, did all the government paperwork involved, set in motion the marketing plan, organized for aircraft, defined the operating area, and basically everything else to get the operation started. Then we were shut out.
In 2006 DP refused to honor my original contract and insisted on renegotiating. This took nearly 3 months. Once we had a contract in place and signed, DP tried to change the terms. This is when I basically told them off and walked. Shortly after the GM I brought in quit as well, and sued. Only one member of our team stayed on but that was only because if he did not the company would have been shut down immediately due to conditions set in the license award from the Thai DCA. He is still there, but hasn't worked for the company in over a year due to non-payment of salary.
To replace us they brought in Pat James. This was the first step to Destination Air's failure. Pat was originally hired for marketing but was promoted to MD/GM after we left. He was successful in finally getting the licenses and started operations, but it was a full year later than planned. I won't go into the reasons here but just understand DA has always had a rather tenous relation with the Thai DCA.
Since startup it's been pretty much as said before. They threw out our businss plan and went ad-hoc. They tried to be a scheduled carrier by doing an IATA registration, publishing a schedule, and marketing as as scheduled seaplane operation. This was ILLEGAL. They did not have a scheduled AOC and could not publish or fly a regular scheduled. In fact, they could not even sell by the seat. They had to sell the whole aircraft. And they got caught.
DA completely failed in marketing. Seaplane services are weather permitting, always. Apparantly their sales staff didn't understand this and clarify with customers. There were many incidents of flight cancelations at the last moment (less than 1 hour before flight) which left VVIP guests stranded and cause missed flight connections. As such, most of the Krabi based resorts stopped using them.
In addition, the management, mainly Pat, succeeded in allianating all the foriegn staff (pilots and engineering) resulting in all but one pilot resigning at the beginning of the 2007/2008 peak season. Their cheif engineer resigned in mid-2007 and they haven't had a viable maintenance department since then.
As you may know, seaplane operations live and die on the success of their maintenance programs, particularly salt-water operations. Preventive maintenance is VERY important. DA did none. They were operating on a fix or replace model which lead to major maintenance issues on both aircraft in mid-2008. This resulted in a review of their maintenance procedures and ultimately resulted in the revocation of the operations AOC.
Since then the company has been for sale. But who would buy a shutdown airline with a **** reputation and grounded aircraft. No one. So, they have been trying to get everything back in order and very nearly have succeeded. They now have a minimal maintenance program. They have fixed the aircraft (to a point). And they have rebranded as a charter operation. They are doing the right things but with the management still in charge, there is no hope they will be successful. I doubt they will ever fly a paid flight again.
So where does that leave things? There is a definitive market for seaplane services in Phuket. Bluewater air was almost successful. Destination Air had the wrong model but could have been successful as well. Both died because they had the wrong people, the wrong plan, and wrong attitude. It's really that simple.
I wish DA had been successful. I put 3 years of my life into creating it so I guess I have a bit of a vested interest in seeing the dream succeed. With the right team, the right plan, the right aircraft and the right attitude, it can succeed. Anyone want to partner with us to make it happen the right way, finally....