understood that Avion Express were going to be operating for Virgin? They have been recruiting for LHR based crews for several weeks now with a start date of March 2013 which ties in with the Virgin timing for their domestic services.
Wonder who Avion Express are going to be operating for if its correct that EI are going to do all of the Virgin Domestic uk services then.........
Would it not be better to base the crews in London?
So lets say AF KLM was successful, would this be an opportunity for Cityjet to operate the domestic ex LHR and not EI as previous hinted? A return to Virgin Atlantic by Cityjet!!
May give a life line to Cityjet.? I am not so confident that AF KLM is the right partner 1. I sense that it will be similar scenario as LH + bmi, 2. Don't AF KLM have enough of their own worries to deal with now financially, rather than investing in VS.
Cityjet would need to get some A319s/A320s from AF-KL if they do gain the contract
On the other matter, AF/KL/DL is making a mistake in buying into an airline (a rather decent one) that a business model that no longer makes sense in the aviation market that has changed since its formation
If DL want more LHR slots/bigger share of TATL, they can get that and more by buying AA
I think it's unlikely that SRB will sell up VS completely. I'm still of the opinion a Middle East carrier (EY my best guess) will be a surprise buyer for SQ's stake. I may be wrong but I don't see AF/KLM coming in to this.
That might be the case, but the trouble is that SRB cannot live forever, so before he retires (unless his children are interested), he would have to sell up and the only partner that makes sense is BA, whether SRB likes it or not, if not, then he should put his money where its mouth is…
EY would make a disastrous mistake in investing in VS; I hope they look at the failure that was EK’s investment in SriLankan Airlines
I doubt it would be within 5 years, but unless SRB is prepared to buy BA from IAG (not very likely…) then it would be within 20 years (when SRB retires), because by then VS would have been squeezed by its rivals and like I have said before, their business plan is on the stubbornness and passions of SRB
The only way a deal with VS would work for DL is to basically transfer everything to Delta (LHR slots, 747-400s, A330-300s etc) and maybe DL could launch some UK-India routes in the process (they have a limited presence in India compared to United and that will get worse over time