Cobalt Airlines

[AirGuru]

There appears to be a new 'un-official' Cypriot carrier forming under the guise of Cobalt Airlines, and appears to have obtained (or about to) an AOC. Looks to be feeding connecting passengers to the LCA hub.

From what I read they are Australian/Hong Kong-investment backed, planning to operate A320's and A330's to/from a LCA hub. Current list of destinations in today's press release mentions London, Paris, Manchester, Cardiff, Glasgow and East Midlands as the UK destinations, with numerous others in the EU to be released on 1 June. PPRuNe doesn't like external links so unfortunately I can't provide a link to the articles. The article in the Cyprus Business Mail states that their first A320 arrived in Cyprus today, and look to increase their fleet by 7 additional aircraft during 2017. Further destinations are expected to be announced in October.

[rutankrd]

They better stay clear of a Hub and Spoke operation if they want to be around for any length of time !

Indeed to choice of UK regionals suggest they want to tap the O&D villa crowds money, in the main.

[Letsflycwl]

Can see they have quoted the 1st June to start operations.....that's only 40+ days or so.

Does anyone know when this will all be announced officially ?

[Logohu]

Just what the world needs, another Middle East hub (well, almost !).
I don't think Turkish or the ME3 will be panicking just yet.

[AirGuru]

First aircraft has been acquired, ex Avion Express A320, LY-VEO, nearly 21 years old ...

Aircraft reg has not yet changed, so unclear whether this will actually be owned/leased by Cobalt from its original owner, or whether Avion Express will undertake the flying ?

[LandingConfig]

Quite possible, similar to what WOW Air did to begin with before securing their own AOC.

[AirGuru]

Reports on Twitter suggest that there will be an announcement of routes, schedule and a launch of their live website in the coming days.

[davidjohnson6]

My understanding is that air traffic to/from Cyprus is heavily centred on leisurs passengers visiting the island in the warmer months of the year.
Perhaps a bit late to be putting tickets on sale for S16 or are they targetting S17 instead ? Or are they being brave and launching into the winter ?

[Buster the Bear]

Their London route will be into Stansted commencing towrd the end of June, with the regions to follow.

[AirGuru]

Their London route will be into Stansted commencing towrd the end of June, with the regions to follow.

That is also my understanding.

GLA, EMA, CWL and whatever else ex-UK will begin later than the proposed London offering. Wish them all the best with their new venture and I hope it works out for them !

[valefan16]

Their A320 was at EMA today operating for Enter Air to Dubrovnik

[chaps1954]

Manchester was on the list so sounds like a deal with MAG if they are doing there plus STN and EMA

Ian

[pamann]

Where's this news of Stansted come from? Haven't seen anything on-line, Twitter, wiki etc?

[Letsflycwl]

When do their flights launch ? Still showing not that much on their webpage.....

[FRatSTN]

pamann

One or two foreign sources are quoting Stansted... but as with every airline development, I don't like to comment too much until confirmed.

[AirGuru]

The Cobalt booking engine is now up and running, so i'm assuming they now have the license required to sell tickets. It looks quite smart !

The initial schedule looks like this:
STN - 6x weekly, although frequency does tend to change. Begins early July.
MAN - 2x weekly, Sunday and Thursday also from early July.
DUB - 2x weekly
SKG - 4x weekly
HER - 2x weekly
ATH - 2x daily. Seems to be the most served route (Quite obviously)

Considering they only have two aircraft at this moment this seems impossible so as we know a few additional aircraft are coming on-line in the coming weeks. I would have expected MAN at more than 2x weekly so perhaps with further aircraft deliveries then we will see an increased presence. Nothing loaded or even announced yet for the likes of TLV, GLA, CWL, EMA etc. but I gather they are being announced soon, and then loaded into the system.

[davidjohnson6]

Flights going on sale 3 weeks before flights start sounds awfully scary from a financial point of view. Yes, it may be peak summer season but if I were the CFO I'd be very worried about cashflow in those first few weeks

Edit - just noticed Cobalt have picked up the old Continental CO IATA code. Wonder what Houston thinks about this...
Edit2 - London to Cyprus in July for up to 9 people for 35 pounds per person ?!?! How on earth will they cover their costs ? Hope the people running the show have a very good understanding of yield management...

[AirGuru]

I thought the exact same David, but that has been the plan since Day One seemingly. Get flights into the system for early July, well it was originally early June.

I'm sure they'll be able to get some revenue, which given the overheads that they've had doing nothing for the last two months i'm sure they'll be glad to get some punters onto the flights at least. But yes i agree cashflow will be an issue. One can assume the Chinese backers have deep pockets.

Fleet size to increase to 7 by January 2017, with additional A320's and A319's.

[AerRyan]

Website down for me. Anyone else?

[Buster the Bear]

Bargain fares when the website works!

[AirGuru]

Website is now fully functional and in the permanent theme as opposed to the hybrid theme that appeared yesterday. Great fares indeed !

[LGWAlan]

Whilst it maybe bookable - someone needs to learn GMT vs local
MAN-LCA 1005-1650 - flight time 6h45
LCA-MAN 0600-0920 - flight time 3h20
:ugh:

[AerRyan]

Their website is down again? Wow :D

[PPRuNeUser0176]

Working for me!

[Letsflycwl]

Had an email from Cobalt advising that Cardiff (and the other destinations initially announced but not released to date) are all in Phase 2 which will be for the Winter 2016-2017 season.

Schedules to be announced shortly

[FRatSTN]

Winter 2016/17 flights now on sale:

ATH - 3x daily
CHQ - 3x weekly
HER - 2x weekly
SKG - 5x weekly
STN - 7x weekly (daily)
MAN - 4x weekly
DUB - No flights

CDG and BEY as previously reported as the next destinations are also now shown in the drop-down list but no flights showing as yet.

[davidjohnson6]

Cobalt seem to be making significan use of charters from Astra, SmartLynx and Titan. I don't have lease rates to hand, but with the credit crunch of 2008 a distant memory and the healthy demand for short haul flights in Europe I suspect peak summer lease rates will not be cheap.

Is this all affordable in the long term for what is essentially a start-up airline with perhaps limited cash reserves without causing lots of red ink ?

[LandingConfig]

Still nothing on the UK regional destinations?

[Letsflycwl]

I had an email from Cobalt saying that the UK regions are on Phase 2 for this winter......I only questioned Cardiff and this is what they confirmed to me

[valefan16]

Seem to be flying to EMA today as FC549

[davidjohnson6]

Have Cobalt come any closer to having a fleet that is able to support the schedule they are publishing on their website ? When I spoke to them, they said they could not tell me which airline would operate a flight more than a week in advance as it depended on a number of factors... suggests to me an airline that either lacks a clear operational plan or an airline that is possibly finding cashflow is a bit tight

[chaps1954]

I think an A319 has just be painted and should be with then soon

[FRatSTN]

Birmingham and Paris-CDG now showing in the drop down menu on their website, although can't find any flights at the moment.

[AirGuru]

S17 appears to be going on-sale slowly. Previous destinations remain but looks like Clermont, BRU, CWL, NCL and GLA are being added for S17.

Also to note, it appears as though they're about to take an A321.

[Letsflycwl]

Yeah I've heard from Cobalt direct and also from family living in Cyprus that CWL is one of their next destinations which is likely to be for Summer 2017.

Be great for CWL as long gone are the scheduled Air 2000 flights to both LCA & PFO with now just TOM & MT only flying there.

Fingers crossed it materialises for them and gets announced with plenty of "selling" time.

[HH6702]

Nothing new on sale yet

[davidjohnson6]

but looks like Clermont, BRU, CWL, NCL and GLA are being added for S17

AirGuru - when you talk about Clermont, do you mean Clermont-Ferrand (which sounds a bit bizarre as a destination for Cobalt) or do you mean somewhere else ?

[VickersVicount]

Clermont is no more bizarre in European terms than ie NCL.
All this expansion is a bit 'see it to believe it' in my opinion.

[AirGuru]

Clermont-Ferrand indeed, something which i also find hard to believe, but it's in the system.

I'd like to see it to believe it too, but the destinations are in the system just nothing loaded for S17 yet. They better get a move on though since Summer is rapidly approaching, they need sales.

[Letsflycwl]

Clermont-Ferrand indeed, something which i also find hard to believe, but it's in the system.

I'd like to see it to believe it too, but the destinations are in the system just nothing loaded for S17 yet. They better get a move on though since Summer is rapidly approaching, they need sales.

Apologies for the dumb question but what "system" are you referring too ? It this the Cobalt schedule system ?

[EI-A330-300]

New routes on sale.

[davidjohnson6]

Brussels, Cardiff, Newcastle and Glasgow all appear on the Cobalt website. Oddly enough, Clermont-Ferrand doesn't ! :-)

[Letsflycwl]

Brussels, Cardiff, Newcastle and Glasgow all appear on the Cobalt website. Oddly enough, Clermont-Ferrand doesn't ! :-)

I can see CWL, GLA & NCL listed now on the Cobalt site but flights not yet available to book or reserve.

Any ideas when they go live ?

[CabinCrewe]

There had been a suggestion that ATH was to be included in some new route launches from the UK but couldn't see that added. They are Cyprus based are they not and not Greek ?

[canberra97]

They are Cyprus based but being an EU airline doesn't stop them from operating routes from Athens to the UK if that is there intention.

[sinbad73]

Pre-Brexit of course, canberra97

[Buster the Bear]

Pre-Brexit? What an odd statement unless you can see into the future?

[EK77WNCL]

Although I think it's an utter shambles that there's now going to be 4 Cypriot airlines when 1 barely survived, I think doing routes from Athens, and possibly Thessaloniki could help them cut a niche out for themselves and survive.

For example, Newcastle has had past services to Athens and to Thessaloniki, there is a proven market, but I doubt Aegean are ever going to go for either of those routes. Cobalt on the other hand, could be the right guys for the job. Or Ryanair of course... But Cobalt too

[Callum Paterson]

A proven market? lol.

[EK77WNCL]

Yes... Sustained summer seasonal flights to both of them by various different operators

Cobalt + Olympic holidays, x1/2 weekly summer seasonal flights, low fares booked direct. Done.

And that's not just for Newcastle, there'll be a lot of airports that could benefit. With Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt out of bounds for a while, I reckon out of the thousands, there's 180 people a week who'd consider going to Halkidiki instead

[AirGuru]

Word on the street is that Cobalt are waiting to confirm delivery an additional A320/A321 prior to the start of the Summer season to put NCL, GLA, CWL, TLV and the rest of the remaining new routes on-sale.

I'm told it shouldn't be too much longer now. Leaving it a tad late for Summer 2017, especially at those UK airports.

[Letsflycwl]

Yeah they need to get their skates on.....especially as we are now more or less entering February !!!

Fingers crossed we will hear something imminently

[NorthEasterner]

How are these flights being booked? Via Cobalt website or somewhere else? Cannot seem to find these flights online.

[Letsflycwl]

They are all loaded on the Cobalt webpage but just waiting for the flights to be launched.

CWL, GLA, NCL & TLV all new destinations and added onto their webpage but not "live" yet

[VickersVicount]

would be interested to know who'll be booking these less than 5 months before start of season from a carrier noone will have heard of in the UK regional outstations...
#alarmbells

[EK77WNCL]

I do hope they hurry!

It'll be grand, as long as they expect 20-30% load factors :ugh::D

If I were them I'd do it for S18... Or at least wait until the end of October... But, we shall see how things go. Hopefully there'll be lots of punters hungry for a last minute holiday

[Callum Paterson]

Not everyone plans their life a year ahead and books holidays lightyears in advance.

There is still plenty of time to get these flights on sale and make a success of them for Summer 2017.

[EK77WNCL]

Yeah, not everyone... But I think it's safe to say that from NCL, 75% of passengers will book at least 6 months in advance

They can get away with it from the South East, but up here it's a different story. Anecdotally, everyone I know is booked up for 2017 already, and a good lot of them are booked up for 2018

They will find it difficult to fill up 180 seats 2 months in advance (assuming late March start). July and August should be *ok* but outside of that I think loads will be weak. Glasgow and Tel Aviv should fare better, but NCL will struggle and if the Cardiff market is anything similar, unless they can appeal to some of the more affluent Bristol area passengers. 2017 will be hard.

[Letsflycwl]

Not sure about NCL but CWL always had strong passenger loads when Air 2000 operated weekly schedules between CWL and both LCA & PFO, as well as their own schedules ex BRS.

Cyprus has always been a strong market from CWL with a big gap in it at present, hopefully we will learn of Cobalts plans over the next few weeks

[AirGuru]

New routes BRU and TLV are now on-sale, with flights starting on the 26th March - Not a long lead in time at all on those two.

New routes ex-UK are to go on-sale 'shortly'.

[Letsflycwl]

The sooner the better these flights are released. The publicity the better for Cobalt as the name is "new" in the airline industry in the new destinations they are due to start.....CWL, GLA & NCL.

[VickersVicount]

PotNoodle.... enough said.

[VickersVicount]

'Paphos hub' to be developed. Mmm. Still not sure on this one.

[FRatSTN]

Perhaps the yet to be released CWL, GLA and NCL flights may end up being served from Paphos?

[Letsflycwl]

Madrid has been announced today as of May 2017 & still no sign of CWL, GLA or NCL despite them still being listed as a destination.

Is another announcement by them pending ??