View Full Version : Ex-HUY airline
Chillwinston
30th Oct 2003, 18:22
Would appreciate any information regarding an operation that was started a few years back but sunk without trace only months after commensing operations.
Believe the airline was CitiBus (or something like?) and flew Do228 (??) from HUY to LCY and had plans to begin LCY routes from Cardiff (??)
What was the reasons for the failure as was led to believe that the route was exceeding expectations! Whom were behind the venture? and were they based at HUY?
Many thanks for any help in this matter
san diego
30th Oct 2003, 22:39
Yes, CityAirBus started flying 4 times a day to LCY believing there was a good market for businessmen who otherwise had the choice of only one through train from Hull or Grimsby to London.
They started up in November 1995(?) and I flew them 3 times, in virtually every case I seemed to be the only person on board who had paid for his ticket, by the end of December the staff were complaining that they weren't being paid and within another 4 weeks they were gone, despite plans to start flights from Cardiff to LCY in January.
It appears to have been a case of a lack of planning, most people in Humberside drove to Doncaster where at least 3 trains an hour travel to London and chronic lack of publicity. I belive the planes were based at HUY but the backers were based in Kent, possibly another reason why it didn't succeed. HUY is simply in the wrong place, by the time you drove across the Humber Bridge and paid the tolls, there was little timesaving from taking the train
Chillwinston
31st Oct 2003, 20:52
many thanks san diego
It seems that with the forthcomming opening of Donny International that Humberside maybe in for a rough ride.
Have followed the various start ups/operators from the airport for many a year and with the exception of Eastern (marks I & II) and Air Yuk no real serious operator has survived to prosper
Time will tell if HUY remains viable in the forthcomming years
I had heard a rumor from the head of business development at Humberside Airport that the airline is in talks with a new start up carrier that wants to launch flights next year but obviously I really dont know much about it besides its all preliminary!