Mama-Air, Blue Fox etc?

[Exxon-Valdez]

Does anyone know anything about what happend to these Airlines and others like them?

Exxon-Futurama

[bmibaby.com]

One of BlueFox's co-founders, Nick Grimwood, is now Chief Operating Officer for Now Airlines which is proposing start-up very shortly.
I dont know what else is going on at BlueFox, but they haven't progressed or re-launched their website for some time.

Mama Air, in the same way as Blue Fox has been proposing start-up for some time.
They proposed no-frills, low-cost flights with a pair of Boeing 737-800s. This airline has not got off the ground, and after repeatedly pushing back its launch date, its website has now vanished.
LMA is reported to be talking with existing and a new start-up low-cost-airline.

[BAe 146-100]

Hi,

Mama Air would probably not have been successful operating out of Manston. ;)

BAe 146-100

[bmibaby.com]

I thoroughly disagree with the statement that Mama Air would have been unsuccessfauly out of London Manston.

The airport has a huge catchment area with easy access throughout Kent including Margate, Dover and Folkestone.

It is 75-minutes drive from London, but Luton is not exactly London and look what has happened there.

[Taildragger]

BMI Baby.... It's been tried and failed many times, except for Yugotours, once a week to the Old Yugoslavia, and also a couple of once a week IT carriers. People do not want to fly out of a Regional airport at the end of the M2 & A2, they want to go from LGW/LHR and LTN as long as Ezy operates out of there. Even STN has a struggle, but MSE is not on. If you can think of anything that Invicta, and Kent International Airport and now Wiggins missed, share it with us.
It wasn't even mentioned when the Government was "pushing" Cliffe which is just up the road. I suspect Mama found that out fairly early on. It's perfect for an Antonov graveyard and engineering of geriatric 707's and the very odd cargo aircraft.

[bmibaby.com]

I think that we've really seen what low-fare flights can do to a certain market, I have from East Midlands Airport.
Before the arrival of bmibaby, we had a very restricted catchment area of Nottingham, Leicester and Derby, and we didnt get much traffic besides the odd charter, bmi regional or DHL flight.

Now we get passengers from as far as Newcastle, Leeds, Birmingham and Northampton travelling for low-cost flights, and its now extremely busy.

Like EMA, London Manston has a number of small cities within easy reach of the airport; Dover, Folkestone, Margate, Ramsgate and most of the Kent region.

So, I think if bmibaby can make a decent thing out of a small place like EMA, a new airline could definately do something out of LMA, like EMA 2 years ago restricted to charters and cargo.

[Taildragger]

I think one of the reasons may be that EMA's catchment area can be described as an X mile radius....360 degrees.
Manston is probably restricted to the West. No towns North, South or East. It has a lot going for it, Good Terminal relatively new, Good air traffic, but there is no real rail service, and the Motorway stops at Faversham, and passenger perception is "Where"?? Manston has always been a "nearly" airport, and I, for one, would be delighted if it made a success of it, but I certainly would never put a shilling on it.

[bmibaby.com]

I think that many passengers in the region would love to see cheap flights out of London Manston and this new generation of airlines could do it, I mean ten years ago who would have flown to Hahn, Skavsta, Bergamo etc. airports Ryanair now proftably serve and we never knew we wanted to fly there before!

The airport is apparently doing a new deal similar to my own East Midlands Airport.
With no on-site rail station the airport is looking at all of its options for a short-term solution, and is looking into partnerships with local bus companies to link up the airport and a nearby rail station probably Margate, Ramsgate or Folkestone.

With many towns and businesses in the vacinity and many people wanting to visit the Kent region, I think the airport, with the right airline and routes could be a success.

[Taildragger]

Well I would agree that SOME pax would fly to these and other airports ex Manston, but would enough passengers do it to make the airport viable.?? But I would ask you to answer honestly.....do passengers REALLY want to fly to Hahn, Bergamo and the like, as destinations in themselves.? I don't think so.
They face fairly long ground transits at the destinations to get them where they really want to go which is Frankfurt and Milan.
I have no doubt that they choose to fly to these airports from Stansted and others because of the low fares, or, dare I say because of misleading advertising (London-Frankfurt, for example) However, to serve these destinations from MSE, I think that even Michael O'Leary might baulk at that one.
Commercial reality has to be faced, and it has to be said that the airport is in the wrong place at the end of the road. Don't take my word for it....talk to Invicta, Seabourne, and dare I say it, Wiggins.?? By the way, I don't see BMI rushing to serve the good people of Kent from Kent International.

[Woodman]

If you are an airline with finite resources looking to expand there is little point in choosing an airport that has sea on three sides and therefore a market in only one direction - as someone has already said.

The only way that Manston will get an airline to try passenger routes is to pay an airline to do it with free this and that and marketing support.

And the only way that any airline will take it seriously is if the current owners get out of the way.

[Final 3 Greens]

146

I got the joke ;)

[Horatio]

do passengers REALLY want to fly to Hahn, Bergamo and the like, as destinations in themselves.? I don't think so.

Taildragger. Look at the loads; you're wrong chum.