City Star (X9)
 

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. :ok:

City Star
 

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

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! :O

:hmm:

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.:)

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?

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

mmeteesside:

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

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?

It's HEEERRREEE!
 

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

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. :ok:

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. ;)

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?

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.

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!

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?

Its A B757 chartered from First Choice.

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.

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.

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

what happened to the houston announcement?

Houston
 

What's happened indeed?

Still on the website (news) following its announcement, but you can't book anything, it's not in the booking engine.

No sign of any 757.

No sign of slots at IAH.

Supposed to start in Jan08.

Hope Stewie can update, but it's looking doubtful it has to be said. At least for a Jan start.

X9 are the lead story in Hicksville paper this morning.

Claiming the IAH route is still on (but it doesn't say when it will start - I would suggest it WON'T be Jan).

Also that the AES/SVG route dropped/suspended in the meantime, putting it down to the incident with the steps hitting one of the a/c, putting it out of commission (6mths - must have been a heck of a prang).

Say they tried every which way to avoid axing AES & making redundancies, but unavoidable.

They apparently contemplated bringing in another aircraft, but decided against compromising quality.

City Star Executive Aberdeen - Houston
 

I see City Star is planning a route Aberdeen - Houston with B757.
http://www.boarding.no/art.asp?id=29632
Isn't that a lot of weight on a short runway? Any 757-drivers care to make a calculation?

Except it's been delayed from Jan to "later in 2008".

Fuel costs & credit crunch being mentioned by Arnason.

cub71

752 will be 50 seater luxury liner so weight/runway should not be an issue.

Anyone got any more info on the situation with Citystar?

Have any flight crew actually been made redundant? :eek:

Yep, estimates range between 15 and 19 flight crew received their notice and have now finished flying and actively seeking new positions!

There is no way a B752 could make it non-stop from ABZ to IAH, with or without winglets, not even empty and the seats taken out. The fuel tanks just aren't big enough, it's as simple as that.

Flying on M.80 takes about 9 and a half up to more than 10 hours to fly, so no way hose :ugh:

In current winds aloft, a B767 would have a EET of 10:05 flying on M.80. :hmm:

Runway at Aberdeen is too short as well.At M.8 there is a chance of not getting a favourable cruising level as all the faster stuff whizzes past above.
I used to watch Qantas 767/300 depart every night out of Hong Kong to Melbourne,Brisbane,Cairns which was about a 9 hour sector.They took about 2500M to start rotating,and on a bad night a whole lot more.Aberdeen has 1830M.
Mind you a few people are saying that even a refuelling stop in Gander,or wherever, is better than Heathrow.

Hmm.... I'm not so sure as the 752 is quite a hot performer.

A couple of months ago one departed SEN direct to Bangor, Maine empty and that's from a runway with a TODA of 1,591m, whereas ABZ has a TODA of 2,030m.

Don't know about the aircraft's range though as far as a possible direct ABZ-IAH is concerned.

"Yep, estimates range between 15 and 19 flight crew received their notice and have now finished flying and actively seeking new positions!"


Thats not good news, especially at this time of year. :( I know a few guys up there in ABZ. It all seems to have happened very quietly and without fuss. Are all the redundancies going to be at ABZ?

Seems X9 have found also that (presumably from their own soundings) the demand isn't as strong as they thought, or as businesses hinted at.

Another example of either the region claiming perhaps that demand exists for a flight when it does not, or businesses preferring the perks that using the big airlines gives them, & they would therefore rather route via LHR, AMS to connect to IAH.

:rolleyes:

Richard I don't know of any businesses who have supported a £2.5K flight to Houston for the privelage of flying "direct" from ABZ since it was first bounced around. I simply don't know who did City Star's market survey. Yes there will be the odd exec for whom money is no object but 200 seats a week?

If you ask someone who travels to Houston on business if they would prefer to fly direct from ABZ as opposed to via Heathrow / Ams the answer would of course be yes if you call that a market survey.

BUT .... with the caveat of two and a half grand for a business class seat well thats a different matter entirely for many businesses.

Suspect the demand was there...UNTIL they found out the price!!! :E

Possibly, but with the likes of Silverjet, Maxjet and EOS providing similar types of service from elsewhere it should not have been too difficult to work out.

I agree that 200 seats a week would be a very tall order, anyone got any thumb in the air ideas of what the break even load factor may be (of course there are a lot of variables)?

Take Maxjet out of that, they have just gone bust I'm hearing?

I'm just getting the feeling that things ain't getting any better for X9.

I know they've cut back recently due to a/c unavailability (& the IAH news is well documented) but even their remaining routes (OSL & KSU/SVG) they seem to be struggling with?

If they keep canx flights or running very late they will for sure lose clientel.

Plus on their website they allude to the high costs of operating at ABZ which, along with rising fuel costs & the "credit crunch" seem to be stalling their plans. Are the BAA helping or are they just content to collect their pound of flesh until such time as the airline goes out of business?

I hope the Star doesn't implode & that they can get back to better times soon...but I am just not sure & it's not the impression I'm getting. :uhoh:

Sadly now gone

From the website

Don't believe the reasons stated.

Ex

Ex:

The loss of one a/c results in total shut down of airline.

You're right, I DON'T believe the reason stated. :suspect:

OH, but plans for the ABZIAH link are UNAFFECTED as that's City STAR EXECUTIVE, you see.

:rolleyes: