AB Airlines: what went wrong?

[westside]

Came across some info on AB Airlines a while back.Anyone know the real reasons they didn't make a go of it? I seem to remember they had a Berlin svce from LGW, a Shannon svce from BHX etc. Was it poor financing, pricing, lack of brand, or 'all of the above'?

[MSF]

Simply put , no balls - no brains.
Management sacked the guys with a plan and
closed down every route once any competition
appeared on the horizon. Lisbon went to Go ,
Berlin went to Virgin , Shannon went to virgin , STN and BHX codeshare with EI went
because they negotiated a deal that made them lose money even with 50% of the seats sold to EI, who laughed at them when they tried to re-negotiate
And finally they really shafted the staff.
It turned out they had decided to close the SNN base some months in advance and had neglected to tell the staff until the last day- and continued to sell tickets through the BFS res office until 1700 that evening.

Truckloads of people want BB and TA to join
the Baseball bat and Balaclava club.

Kick ass and take no prisoners!

[JB007]

Bondy - you must be away or that new arrival in the family is keeping you off the computer if you've missed this thread...you must have LOADS to say...!!!

------------------
Regards JB007!
[email protected]
Flight Ops,Crewing and Dispatch Moderator

[BONDMAN]

Were did it go wrong??... were do I start.
Combination of various factors, routes AB had were good LGW-SNN/NCE/SXF/LIS SNN-STN/BHX but were being a nearly full service type of airline at 'value' fares which meant yeilds rock bottom/non exsistant, coupled with increasing competetion from GOE/VEI/RYR. A main factor was introduction of B733, arrived in UK and spent far longer in Maint. being bought upto uk/jar standard, eg 2-3 weeks planned turn into a couple of months for one a/c, this caused daily subbing of aircraft not only causing huge expense but affecting pax loyality. Company
never really recovered from this and went back to ACMI/wet lease work for other carriers with the B733 fleet, an area that it had been relativily successful in before trying there hand at sked pax work. But this was to little to late, recievers called in to try and sell as going concern but plug was finally pulled by AN (from which 2 733 were leased) who didn't agree to an offer from HLA for take over as they had already arranged onward leases for their a/c.So therefore staff informed at 1600 that as of 1700 company ceased to trade. The B1-11 fleet had already stopped flying as recievers decided to stop all sked flying on 06sep99, this was not decided 'months in advance' but since around end of august the receivers had been deciding on a 'daily basis' how long to keep it going.
Also most r/w slots at LGW sold to VIR for I believe intially for there long-haul network development and in order to keep slots they had to opr a EMB110 to/from MST till the end of the season to keep them valid.

JB007 .. you're right not only do I have a nightshift at work I've got one at home now too.

Cheers Bondy

[MSF]

If you check BDO Stoy Haywards report , you will see that the SNN station was pegged for closure months in advance - well before BDO took over administration.

[westside]

Bondman,thanks for reply.

If operators like AB (and Debonair come to think of it)got it wrong, what has allowed carrier like Scotairways, even BRAL to protect or build up their ops over the years? Niche markets? Suitably sized a/c for their routes?

[BONDMAN]

MSF, only flicked thru the report I was sent as didn't really want to be reminded of the nightmare (was curious to see how much our dept. spent!)but pre BDO there were many plans on the companys future knocking about but I do know from being there BDO took decision on daily basis ref the whole scheduled side of the business (inc. SNN) and if it would survive into the next day.

Cheers Bondy