City Star (X9)

[Richard Taylor]

Thought were was a thread running about them, but did a search & can't find it.

SO:

Does anyone know what is happening re The Star & their expansion plans?

They spoke about new routes & at least one more aircraft, but it has all gone quiet.

They were recruiting for both flight, & cabin crew as well as customer service on the ground, so maybe some news soon?

Thanks.

[trolley_chick]

City Star

Hear they are doing ABZ-SVG-AES come August, and will have 5 aircraft by then

[Richard Taylor]

Aye aye.

Any of the "new" DO328s due yet - not aware of anything arriving to expand the existing fleet (believe TF-CSB still off on major check?). Is the Aug arrival of new equipment delayed now?

X9 were using an Excellent Air DO328 but that has gone back to Germany.

If they are down to 2 a/c just now, may explain why BGO, after being introduced, has hardly flown since? Any ideas when BGO comes back on line?

Also ABZAES, via SVG comes on line soon. With ABZKSU also via SVG, but only one morning ABZSVG flight, does this mean X9 will base one DO328 at SVG for the onward connections? Or do they plan something else?

I'll put down the fishing rod now!

[cavortingcheetah]

Well, today is meant to be the start of the grouse shooting season so fishing rods away and guns up, well tomorrow at any rate.
If you look on the Nordic forum you will find something on City Star.
New aircraft should be arriving any day but seemingly no great plans for expansion of routes outside of present Aberdeen/Norway ones and nothing planned for Iceland at the moment either, Next crew course is in November. Rumour has it that they are only interested in Captains and that they are now crewed up in that respect. Airline has a marked particularity for Aberdeen based crews and has rejected Do328 type rated Captains on the basis (their sort of words) that they are not within the Aberdeen area.
Judging by further rumour, flying seems to be very slow at the moment with route training taking rather a long time. One hopes that this is not indicative of airline malaise or anything else untoward for that matter.

[Richard Taylor]

X9 promoted their new ABZAES route in the paper up here, which starts Aug 20.

Also mentioned the BGO route, so it does seem it will return also.

Suggests that there are 4 depts in the morn out of ABZ soon:

0620 OSL, 0630 KSU via SVG, 0640 BGO & 0650 AES via SVG.

Different subject, X9 again flying MAN U fan charters this fitba season for the Old Trafford games, at least most of them, as they have done for past 2yrs. Must be lucrative work, anyone know who charters X9 to fly them?

[mmeteesside]

A 4th Do328 should have arrived in Aberdeen today under the guise of TF-CSD

[Richard Taylor]

mmeteesside:

Spot on, it arrived about 30mins ago from Reykjavik!

[Richard Taylor]

The mysterious 4th Dornier

Keep hearing the 4th DO328 for X9, after arrival at Sprayavia for preparation is due "any day now".

However still no sign of it.

I saw a pic of it in X9 cols, so how much more work is required on it before it returns & enters service?

[Richard Taylor]

It's HEEERRREEE!

I believe TF-CSD arrived at ABZ yesterday...finally!

[Richard Taylor]

For Stewartflyer:

Now the 4th a/c is in situ, when is the BGO route due back on line (if ever?)

See it is still being canx, so is the issue one of crewing, or do you have enough people?

Also with IAH now due, will you have to "re-time" some of your flights to connect with the 757?

Thanks as always.

[Richard Taylor]

See there's a MADrid footie charter in Nov, when the mighty AFC play Athletico in the UEFA Cup.

Presume that's the 757?

When is it due to arrive in ABZ & is it being sourced from ICE? Or elsewhere?

How are preps for the IAH route getting on? Still talking to potential clientel?

Also SF mentioned more DO328s due in the future. How many are X9 looking to add & would these also be US-sourced?

Ta very muchly.

[Richard Taylor]

Mistook or Clue for future?

BAA departures board shows for early tomorrow morning:

X9 201 to Stansted
X9 2801 to London City

Both shown as cancelled.

Does this signify X9 future intentions though (as I think it might) or is it just someone going mad on the BAA boards?

The 201 especially would fit in with a possible scheduled service (given other initial outbounds have the flights numbers 101, 301 & 501).

However need more Dorniers first!

Surely X9 wouldn't serve BOTH London terminals...would they ?

Sadly seems BGO is on the back burner. Wonder if T3 will look to compete
with WF instead.

EDIT:
Later, also more "depts" 205 STN, 2805 LCY. Would imagine these will change to "canx" later, but is it some sort of schedule for BOTH, to be announced at some point in future?

[Cyrano]

Originally Posted by Richard Taylor

BAA departures board shows for early tomorrow morning:
X9 201 to Stansted
X9 2801 to London City
Both shown as cancelled.

Sunday was the first day of the winter season. My guess is that at some point X9 filed speculatively for slots for these services, decided not to operate them, at least not from the start of the season (e.g. due to lack of slots in LCY), but forgot to cancel or defer their slot application in ABZ. Many airport FIDS systems run off the slots databases, and then when there's a mismatch you see "cancelled". Normally takes a day or two of the new scheduling season before someone notices and says "ooops!..."
Brgds
C.

[Mister Geezer]

2hrs 20mins in a D328 from ABZ-MAD? Think you better have another look at your flight planning! Add another hour at least and you may be getting close!

[Richard Taylor]

City Star have - or had - access to a J328, unless it's that?

Stewartflyer: all looks good. Are you still on track therefore for more 328s?

[unsure3]

Its A B757 chartered from First Choice.

[virginblue]

T: Told more on the way - not sure of the source but believe it might have something to do with Excellent Air. We shall see.

The German outfit that recently went belly-up? My understanding was that their 328s have been snapped up by Cirrus Airlines, but I might be wrong here.

[virginblue]

As LCY recently reached its legal cap of annual movements, my understanding is that no further routes are possible unlike an existing operator withdraws from LCY.

[Richard Taylor]

Would City Star consider another type of prop if they can't source more 328s either as replacement for, or to fly alongside?

[generallee]

what happened to the houston announcement?