Alpha1 Airways
 

New airline offering twice daily Cambridge to Oxford flights Monday to Friday. Aircraft supplies by Air Med

wow, it's been set up by an 18 year old- press release

would it work better as a shuttle/taxi than a scheduled?

I was involved in helping to get the project off the ground, although I'm no longer working at the airline. I have to say that despite the fact he' only 18, Martin Halstead knows how to run a very tight ship and is way ahead of his years. We can certainly expect great things from both the airline and the individual.

Watch out for these guys because they really have got it together. Heard rumours of possible route expansion as soon as May!

Martin Halstead
 

Martin Halstead was the previous owner of the virtual airline Elation Airways, the best virtual airline previously in operation!!

He operated that incredibly well, and has always had the dream of starting the airline. I wish the best of luck to him!

More facts here,from the horses mouth,so to speak!----------------

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=40094

Just a thought....
 

... but this isn't really an airline, is it?

Quote from the website - "Alpha1 Airways is a ticket provider for AirMed"

If this is an airline, so is Lunn Poly....

TA

I must say for an 18 year old thats impressive based on what Ive read in the previous posts but lets be honest here. The person has either been spoon fed(not actually the persons own money or expertise) or cash windfall from somewhere. Must put the lottery on tomorrow night.

Good luck to this person but I'm sure many of us could set an operation up like this if money was not an issue. For the vast majority its earn the money yourself and live in the real world.

Difference being, he's had the courage to start it! Plus, so what if it's not his own money, obviously shows he is a capable young man by getting people to back his idea regardless of age or experience.

As far as it not being a real airline, I'm sure if it works out they will go down the AOC route soon enough! Most people/companies start at the bottom and work their way up in life!

How about we show a bit of support, instead of criticizing before it’s even got into the air?

Courage? If you knew me you would know I have that but unfortunately I live in the real world where things are not so simple.

I'm sure its very easy for someone with loads and loads of money to say you can accomplish anything if you put your mind to it but lets see if half these people would have got where they were without rich mummies or daddies.

Nobody will have backed his idea, someone would have fronted it for him, thats all he has, an idea, not security to finance his little empire.

Don't get me wrong, I hope he does well I'm just trying to get across the point that if we were all spoon fed and all we had to do was think of an idea then we wouldnt be doing what were doing.

As I said earlier, I worked with Mr Halstead during the start up. Every single penny has come from him, not his mother, not his father. The majority of the money was raised when he sold his former business, Ematch Simulations in August last year.

Martin's background does him a lot of credit, he is a young chap who has totally built all he has up from the ground by himself. His family are nowhere near rich, in fact, I'm sure he won't mind me saying that they struggled to get by when he was younger.

Make no mistake, Martin is no Daddy's boy, he has built this up single handedly and deserves all our respect for that.

EDIT: I'd also like to add, Martin hasn't been spoon fed, he really knows what he's doing and all the ideas were his own. All of us that have worked with him have been amazed and taken aback by the level of maturity he has shown. Don't let his age kid you!

Fair enough. Anyway more important things to worry about without giving this company free advertising.

According to the website they fly "Relax in the knowledge that you are being flown by some of the best pilots in the industry in one of the most popular and safest aircraft ever built."

I wonder what source was used to determine that the CHieftain is one of the most popular aircraft ever built?!

Safest? That's not my impression of the Chieftain! Anyone know its single engine MAUW climb rate?

During its first 23 months of operations, all easyJet flights were actually operated by GB Airways and Air Foyle.

Richard Brandston started working in his own record shop and wokrd his way up, you cant start at the top and stay there. Best of luck to Martin and his airline.

From the BBC News web-site

BH

PA31-310 (so not the Cheiftain) is circa 350fpm, flown well.

Guess this relates to about 200 feet per NM, can't remember Vyse, the last time I flew one was in 1996.

18 year old starts his own airline
 

Good luck to him. I wish him every success.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...re/4371945.stm

After reading the article I have to say that I don't think I'm ready for another Richard Branson right now.

I've got a funny feeling he's probably onto something good there...

who commutes from oxford to cambridge?

what about oxford to gatwick (redhill/biggin/london city)?

any more?

BB :cool:

Hey Kakpipe, I thought You were too busy avoiding polar bears in Labrador to know what was going on in Blighty :E

PS
Elvis the Moosehunter sends his regards:ok:

FORKINELL,
Ah! the wonders of the information super-highway!
So many mooses, only one kakpipe, Damn they're good-looking!
Give my regards to the King of Rock 'n' Roll and Light Aviation and get him to pm me
Cheers
Kakpipe

It will be interesting to see what his loads are like. It's true the other transportation links between the cities are not very good. Unfortunately Oxford airport is not very convenient unless you live close by.

I have often wished for a Heathrow - Oxford commuter service but realized it wasn't practical. The bus is not bad but very boring.

http://www.flyalpha1.com/

Check "About us" to see the connection with Air Med.

--Machdiamond

I have always wondered what the viability is of using Northolt as a commuter feeder for LHR. Maybe an ambitious, young entrepreneur like this guy could make it work!

Northolt is only allowed so many landings & departures (of civil flights, no restriction on the number of Military flights) per year, due to this, its very expensive to operate into, hence only people with nice expensive bizjets use it.

Biggin is a possibilty but isn't there some clause with the local council that no scheduled passenger operations are allowed there?

London City is expensive to operate into (although Air Med does have the paperwork to allow them to operate flights into there) & the problem with Gatwick/Heathrow is obtaining slots

Fried Chicken

What about Farnborough?
I'm living up in Scotland so my knowledge of these thing is alittle vague.

Crikey. Impressive stuff - got to admire him.

Good luck is what I say :ok:

V1R

So does he have an AOC in place then? Interesting story, with a planned start date that would imply he has most of the red tape sorted..........

PP

What a load of Arse. Shouldn't say it - as a Mod but, hells teeth, someone should take that teenager and subject him to a damn good episode of pro-active shaking...

Or is it just me?

:)

WWW

No, not just you WWW, but I'm pleased you said it first. Whilst I wish anyone in this world good luck in a business venture if thay have the b@lls to try it, this really does smack of the silver spoon

Flameproof suit on and extinguisher at the ready.

Bigwings :yuk:

On a VG equipped Chieftain...

VYSE 107kts
VMCA 72kts...

MTOW: 7368Ibs

SE Climb rate, ISA conditions at MTOW approx 230FPM, assumes gear and flaps up, cowls closed and 5 deg bank into live engine.

May as well get it out of his system now, while he's young. Lord knows, enough people have lost enough money trying to start an airline. This should cure 'em.

GF

BLP321,


Wind your neck in mate. This lad has started this by himself and not daddy’s money. Why can't we give someone some encouragement rather than trying put people down all the time?


Are you struggling to find employment?????

Guys,

Quit your bitching.

This guy used his own money from a business he sold and some inheritance cash.
I wish him luck and it's a shame you have to always take a negative stance on any new venture.


WWW, as a moderator, trying sitting on the fence a little longer pal.

Long serving P-PRUNERs may see similarities in this venture to those Walter-Mittyish start-ups planned by The Guvnor.
A fully-detailed website, pictures of aircraft in company livery, invitations to pilots to join, proposals for future growth etc. etc.
But this lad does seem to have the backing of Oxford airport and is starting in a very modest way.
Look at the website: all he is offering initially is an eight seater twin for return trips between Oxford to Cambridge in the morning and similar return trips in the late afternoon. Unlike the Guv with his plans for a fleet of 24 L1011s and bases around the world.
Seems that young Alpha1 has been planning his airline for some time. Read what he has to say at this site

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=40094

Hmmm...check the numbers..
 

The level of support and goodwill in the forum is warming but looking at the likely overheads, DOCs, sectors, fares and even allowing high load factors make worrying reading. Hopefully the intention to add other destinations will improve the fiscal potential. Good luck neverthess. bm

Ok here's my view as a person who also started in business at school and now have 15 years of ups and downs, resulting in a strong and profitable business build up over the past 4 years.

The plus points:
The whole 18 year old thing is good for PR and will get an edge to start with. Just like RB (who I admit is a clever, at times man, but I don't like for the way he treated some people) free publicity is always the best publicity.
Also the route could be a niche and there are no competitors flying it.
Being a 'ticket agent' rather than a true airline, will lower starting costs / risks and should ensure the black bottom line sooner rather than later.
The negative points:
With my 15 years of experience, my gut feeling from reading his posts and press releases is '18 years old dreamer heading for a rude awakening' (notice I didn't go as far as say big fall). Why ? well there is only one real reason to be in business on this planet and that is to make a profit. That mentalilty must always be at the fore, and reasoning must always come back to this. To do this yes you need to grow a business, but not expand wildly. I now regard growth and expantion as two different animals.
To see what I mean just look at his words. The plane hasn't left the ground and not a single penny made in profit, yet he already states that larger aircraft are being considered, B1900, J31 etc.
That tells me he's dreaming of future and not fixed on profit.
Well I may not have explained well enough but thats the gut feeling with 15 years behind me and I admit I made a mistake in the past dreaming of the big picture and not looking at the profit.
Other neg. I don't know the market well enough but what stares in the face is. Why did airmed, who own the aircraft, crews, AOC etc look at this over the past year or so only to decide they couldn't give it a go without the right 'marketing partner' Surely if the business case was that clear they would be doing it now.
That just doesn't stack up for me.

But I would like to wish him luck and hope it is a success. I also hope he steps back and looks at the profit before his dreams and various finance agreements on aircraft etc put a blot on his young business life.

Good luck to him/them
 

Why not? Just because he's 18. He can do almost anything else in this world, so why not an airline? And who cares where he got funding from, as long as its legal? You think that every airline start up is funded by the bloke heading it up? Almost every funding method requires the input from someone elses pot. Seems this kid might even be more genuine in that this is his money... and surely you pilots should only applaud creation of more jobs, especially at the entry level this outfit will support?

BTW - Stan, even the Guv had public support of Prestwick management, even if he did dupe them like everyone else!! Is he still locked up? Hope so..... (off thread, sorry...)

Farnborough is too far out west. Need a highspeed non stop rail link to London to make this work. M3 too unreliable.