Brand New Airline

[Airline7322]

Over the past few days I've been creating a business plan for a brand-new regional airline. The airline, dubbed Mongoose Air, will fly out of San Jose International to major cities. The aircraft we wish to fly on ourroutes are Canadair Regional Cl-700's, which are fifty-seater turbojets. Mongoose Air plans to fly from San Jose, California to small airports in these major west coast cities: San Diego (KSAN),Orange County (KSNA),Las Vegas (KHND), Reno (KRNO), Salt Lake City (U42), Phoenix (KDVT), Tucson (KAVQ), Denver (KBJC), Portland (KHIO), Seattle (KBFI), Sun Valley (KSUN). At first sight, this airline appears to be like any other regional airline. But Mongoose Air strives to be different. Our aircraft, the Canadair Cl-700 will be specially outfitted with breakthrough sound-cancelling technology in addition to the standard technology used in the Bombardier line. In addition, every seat will have Bose Quietcomfort-sound canceling headphones, another measure taken to reduce the noise in the cabin. Mongoose Air plans to price it's tickets below legacy carriers but slightly above deep-discount airlines, betting on the fact that business travelers and families will be willing to pay slightly more for a quiet trip. Another appealing aspect of our airline is that it plans to fly into secondary, smaller airports with less traffic and no security-snarl ups. All of the airports are located just as close as to the city as the major airports and most passengers will feel more comfortable traveling to a lower key airport.

Earlier you bashed another forum poster for putting forth an idea on starting an airline. I ask that you refrain from that and give constructive praise and criticism so that I can continue to refine my business plan
Thanks,
Airline7322

Here\'s the company website: http://mongooseair.********.com/

[trainer too 2]

betting on the fact that business travelers and families will be willing to pay slightly more for a quiet trip. You will be amased what the average pax will do for price. Sound is NOT on the agenda. All bookings are made through a simple screen showing price and schedules and if you are lucky aircraft type. Pax will go for the lower price most of the times.

Sorry better to go for a noisy old 737 and thus being able to get more pax with a lower yield on board. :8

[Cyrano]

I have to agree with trainertoo2. You've asked for constructive comments, so I would start with: how did you select this aircraft type? (I'm assuming that by Cl-700 you mean the ones we commonly call CRJ-100 or CRJ-200?) My former airline operated these (incidentally, they're turbofans, not turbojets - you'd have some serious noise issues if they were turbojets!) and while they are good aircraft for specific thin routes, their lease rates are very high compared to (e.g.) old-generation 737s. You will need some premium yields to cover their costs and you will be vulnerable to lower-cost competition.

I would suggest that you should have some idea of the likely passenger flows on the routes in question, what proportion you think you can capture, and what that translates into in terms of daily departures. For a given number of daily passengers and an acceptable load factor, your choice of small aircraft can enable higher frequencies than larger aircraft - but is that important? Are the markets really so frequency-sensitive or will they go for price?

In my humble opinion, the idea that a passenger will pay extra for noise-cancelling headsets is a complete red herring - I think you need a much more sustainable (and meaningful) USP than that. (You seem to be suggesting that in addition to the headsets there will also be some sort of ANR technology built in to the aircraft - is this so?) The CRJ is not a particularly noisy aircraft. A MUCH more important issue for many passengers will be the very limited carry-on stowage space on board and the less-than-optimal window positioning.

Sorry, I am aiming to be constructive, but in all honesty I don't see the differentiator here. San Jose may be a better airport for point-to-point service than SFO, but that's not enough. The secondary airports at other points may well be helpful, especially if they are conveniently situated (as Ryanair has found, secondary airports far from the cities they ostensibly serve translate to poorer yields - not a surprise.) I would respectfully suggest that you go back and examine the markets, estimate the daily passenger flows (+/- quite a bit, of course - you can't be completely accurate) and then use this information to dimension the desired aircraft size (taking into account the serious differentials in lease and operating costs). I think you need to consider how you could compete with a major offering low fares on a parallel route - they after all will have the high-yield business passenger to top up their average yield, whereas you won't.

PM me if you want more input on CRJ operation.

C

[AVeight]

Airline 7322,

Firstly have to commend you for taking the initiative. I wish you all the best and urge you to take the comments not as criticism but as constructive advice.

Secondly I have to agree both with C & TT2. I can't see passengers being tempted particulary to your operation by the quieter options you are offering. What tempts a client is price, frequency & ease. You may want to concentrate on these points. I would also advise you to consider the B737 as the operating aircraft due to it's passenger to operating costs.

And lastly I would suggest that you set up the airline in the right order......you may think that this is an obvious piece of advice however I do know of some airlines that are offering cabin crew jobs without having secured financing, aircraft, an AOC, licences, traffic rights or a management team! This will help you to avoid aggravation in the long run.

I wish you the very best of luck.

AVeight

[flaps40]

Some thoughts...the noise level in the cabin is quite acceptable already on any CRJ, except towards the rear of the aircraft where it is quite noisy on CRJ700 (not too bad on 200)

I dont think pax would want to wear headsets anyway - its unnatural

The pilots will need noise cancelling headsets because of the very high cockpit noise levels

Seat pitch is probably more important than noise, espcecially on crj200 where the cabin ceiling is low and there is not enough baggage space in the lockers

There is evidence to suggest that passengers will pay a modest premium for quality but my experience suggests that they will not pay a lot, especially not on shorter sectors such as the crj is likely to conduct

this aircraft is ideal on sectors of 1-2 hours (2 hours max) provided you can get enough pax to fill it but not enough to warrant lo-cost competition

good luck

[10 DME ARC]

Sorry

your profile

Age: 16
Gender: male
Astrological Sign: Pisces
Born in the Year of the: Dragon
Industry: Student
Location: Virginia : United States

Is it a school project?

[Airline7322]

We plan to charge only a little bit more than discount airlines for fares. Secondly, the headphone idea has been scrapped but additional sound-cancelling equipment will be put in to lower the noise level yet further as well as to deal with the problem areas you mentioned (the rear, etc.). Studies show that one of the major factors in fatigue during and after a flight is noise. We believe that dealing with this major issue would attract a good number of passengers looking for a comfortable flight at a decent price. We're a hybrid of Independence Air and Jetblue. Our aircraft will have ultra-quiet and comfortable cabins with fares at a decent price and will be operating out of small airports, all in an effort to reduce stress.

Cyrano, what exactly do you mean by pming you? I\'d be glad to discuss the economics of the CRJ with you.

[Airline7322]

In response to trainer too...
Jetblue seems to have found the sort of niche Mongoose Air seeks to occupy. They don't have the lowest fares but attract people simply because of their new airplanes and entertainment system. We seek to be the same, only we will attract people with ultra-quiet cabins and by flying to less stressful but equally convenient airports in major cities. Jetblue has found the winning combination of price and entertainment, why can't Mongoose Air do the same?

[CargoOne]

Airline7322

Even if it's your school project, let me help you with one good idea: 4 out of 5 pax would prefer standart 737 (even old -300) over CRJ with additional noise cancelling equipment. Just because of the ceiling and overhead bins size. Further you should consider that only 1 pax out of 10 more or less taking care about aircraft type at all.

[PAXboy]

As I read the initial post, I presumed that this was a wind up. Which is an English way of saying that someone is making a joke and playing a game on those in this forum ... and I still think so.

If not: Read more widely as to what others are doing and those that have worked and won. Small regional airlines do not often grow to be big regional airlines. In other words - Stop!

Of course, if you want to start small, so that you can more or less break even and then be bought out, so that you can retire ... then keep going.