I'm sitting in Terminal 5 and, with an hour to kill, bought a copy of Airliner World - as has been mentioned before it contains the most vomit inducing article about MH.
If you've not read it, you should (oddly, it's quite amusing) and so should the Police, but for different reasons. Anyway, let me give you the highlights (insert your own sarcasm/irony smiley as appropriate) :
Alpha1 only went bust because a Middle Eastern Investor pulled an investment of £250,000 but, happily for MH, he (investor) made an out of court settlement before Alpha1's lawyers could drag him through the courts.
Even more happily, MH ensured that all creditors were paid off out of his own money.
Fortune favours the good, obviously, and MH secured a job as a Flying Ambassador for Virgin, flying alongside cabin crew (not as one of them, clearly), giving advice on how service and operational procedures could be improved.
Then, out of the blue, he was offered a job with Blue Islands only to fall foul of the economic downturn six months later, being made redundant(not sacked - heaven forbid)...
Luckily, though, at just the right time, a group of Tenerife/UK based investors approached MH for the fifth time (no, honestly) and, although, MH told them that managing another airline wasn't on his agenda, he was persuaded. After all, as he so eloquently put it - "it was time to put baby branson to bed and sing him a lullaby. I want to be the first Martin Halstead from here on in."
Happily for all concerned the fundamental business plan was strong and a lot of funding was in place. Hence the reason that MH now owns 50% of the business, having invested some of his own money.
You might need to wipe a tear of admiration from your eye as you consider MH's final point :"I guess I had a point to prove to myself that I could do it."
I always thought the Michael Foot Labour party manifesto was the most damaging piece of self-puffery in the world but i've changed my mind....
At least Michael Foot didn't bring his mother along to the launch day to be photographed with a bottle of champagne.
On the Oxford News Website tonight:
"A YOUNG pilot claims to have been left high and dry by the demise of Oxford airline Varsity Express after he invested £15,000 to be trained by the collapsed carrier.
Twenty-three-year-old Peter Chilvers borrowed cash from his parents, grandmother and other family members so he could fulfil his childhood dream of becoming an airline pilot.
Mr Chilvers is one of four recently-qualified pilots who handed over a total of £52,500 to be ‘type-trained’ – to learn to fly the company’s 18-seat Jetstream 31 plane.
Varsity Express, which offered daily flights between Oxford and Edinburgh, was grounded after just a week, leaving passengers – and Mr Chilvers – stranded in the Scottish capital last week.
Thames Valley Police has launched an investigation into allegations of “fraudulent activity” at the airline.
However, the entrepreneur behind Varsity Express, Martin Halstead, has denied any wrongdoing and has pledged that all the pilots will be repaid in full.
Mr Chilvers was offered a £24,000-a-year job after being interviewed in London and had been due to start his first pilot’s job with Varsity in May.
However, he needed to hand over the
money, including £4,000 from his 89-year-old grandmother Barbara, so he could be type-trained.
Mr Chilvers, from Newcastle-under-Lyme, in Staffordshire, underwent training at Oxford Aviation Academy.
He said: “I always wanted to be a pilot. I was incredibly excited to begin work. It would have been real flying and a great route to start off on, with short sectors all in the UK.
“Being based out of Oxford would have been the ideal location.
“Varsity held the interviews in the ‘Gherkin’ in London and that sort of thing doesn’t come cheaply, so I thought these guys were well backed.
“I’m desperate to get that money back.”
Mr Halstead, 23, from Summertown, said he had written off £3,500 of his own money that he put into Varsity.
However, he added: “The pilots will be reimbursed. We are in discussion with them at the moment about a payment schedule to get their refunds returned.
“That money was put into the company and used as part of the working capital, but we are working on getting it back.
“It’s a priority that no-one should be out of pocket on this.”
Mr Chilvers fears that losing the money would harm his chances of future employment in the industry, as it is now commonplace for pilots to pay for their training.
He said: “Currently in the airline industry companies that are taking on the most pilots want some financial contribution.
“Having no money rules me out of quite a lot of jobs in the industry that are open to someone of my experience level.
“My family have stood by me and helped me as much as possible but their finances have been completely ex-hausted.
“My main concern is being reimbursed for this money and being able to pay my debts off to my family. I’m devastated.”
Mr Halstead has already insisted that between 350 and 400 passengers who had booked trips with Varsity would be refunded within 14 days.
He said the pilots would have their money returned within three months."
Note that MH admits to using the £52,500 as working capital.