As I was just about to say!! Strangely enough.
There are many pre-requisites to starting up an airline. The first is having sufficient cash IN THE BANK, a proven track record, the necessary approvals and an aircraft that fits the purpose EXACTLY - not a noisy unsustainable machine that, after the novelty has worn off, no-one wants to fly in again. I would not like to have an operation from Oxford anyway, even if I did live there - which I do not!
Then, of course there is the ground ops and an AOC. Using someone else's AOC is fraught with problems and in this case it allowed for the unscrupulous to mis-use it and put the operation in question. Type ratings can be bonded but will be a lump to come out that big sum from IN THE BANK. Organisation, organisation, organisation is the key. The main key, however, is honesty with integrity.
ALL, and I do mean ALL, this was missing in this operation and should never have been allowed off the ground. If I had been owner of the aircraft I would have verified the veracity of Halstead's proposal and his 'investors.' It was blatantly clear it was a terrible example of misrepresentation that I have ever seen in all my years in the industry. There are many questions to be asked and many to be answered. Those TR's are a very big issue and the main question is into whose pockets did £60k(?) go?
The biggest warning of all is that someone with a track record like Halstead's should have been laughed at all the way to the asylum.
Last edited by RTR; 16th Mar 2010 at 12:24.