I understand that the entire flight department has been shut down.

This sort of thing has happened in the US quite a bit, a new CEO wanting to make a good impression with the stockholders and board of directors, shuts down the company flight department, throws everybody out of work and sells the aircraft.

Then the next day, so to say, a fractional ownership aircraft, such as Net Jets, shows up and picks up the schedule that was to be flown by the company flight department. In most, if not all cases, the cost of using the fractional aircraft will exceed the cost of their old flight department.

But that doesn't matter, as the new CEO can still point out to the stockholders and board of directors that the company does not own any aircraft.

Then a couple of years or so down the line, the company buys an aircraft, starts up a new flight department because that will be cheaper than using the fractional aircraft.



One year at an NBAA Convention I attended a seminar whose topic was 'Reasons for businesses to purchase and operate aircraft'. Over all the presentation was good and covered all the aspects of the subject. At the end they asked if anyone had any questions or comments. I did have a comment.

I said that there are three reasons why a company will or will not buy an aircraft, they are:

One, the CEO and the COO want an aircraft; they will get an aircraft.

Two, the CEO wants an aircraft, but the COO does not; the company will most likely get an aircraft.

Three, the CEO and the COO do not want an aircraft; they will not get an aircraft.

Basically it is that simple. However, anytime a new CEO takes over, all bets are off whether the company will keep the aircraft if they have any, or if they do not have any aircraft, they will get an aircraft.

Your not wrong Tray Surfer very nice bit of kit... 2008 Gulfstream G550 for sale by Gulfstream Pre-Owned Aircraft Sales

Not seen that before, the divan at the front too… Interesting LOPA on this one.

Either way, I don't want to demonstrate bad taste by glancing over the pickings of an unfortunate situation for those who have lost/are losing their jobs.

Tesco today wound up its aviation division. No details on layoffs.

High-flying Tesco executives come down to earth as jets division wound up | Business | The Guardian


And they will spend double that with Netjets going forward. This is not saving any money, this is just a PR exercise.

Slightly off topic, if you store a brand new Gulf 550 how often do you have to perform engine runs?

Consult the RR engine Maintenance Manual.
Tony

It is amazing the grief that tesco get! Anyone would think they are a goverment departement! A lot of retailers have aircraft, river island, arcadia, even stimpsons the key cutters. More the merrier I say!

And they are not just used by the top bods! I have friends that use them to visit stores in UK, not saying that is right or correct, but for us pilots it is a great thing that we should encourage!

Key difference is with the companies you have mentioned (River Island, Arcadia, Timpsons) is the jets are not owned by the company - but (through "shell" companies) by an individual - normally owner/CEO depending on the company.

Now, a company using a jet owned by a third party and not on an AOC or similar would probably constitute grey charter (depending on the circumstances, etc) but why let the facts get in the way of a good story :E

No, the real difference is that they're in trouble with their accounting practices, and are under extreme scrutiny by their shareholders and the government.
This is a PR move, but it has nothing to do with looking to save costs. If the new plane hadn't arrived the day after it was announced that they were being investigated for their accounting, then its likely the flying department would not have been touched.

Tesco Flight Department
 

Can anyone actually confirm that Tesco has closed their flight department?

From what I can see the only evidence for that conclusion is The Guardian's report that Kansas Transportation has been dissolved. G-CGUL is for sale with Gulfstream but this most probably because it was traded in part exchange for G-LSCW. None of the other a/c (G-CGUZ, G-CDLT or G-LSCW) are listed for sale on the net.

The Tesco fleet has been registered to Tesco Stores Ltd, Corporate Flight Department October 2013. Presumably Tesco moved the aircraft when their operation became public knowledge and the subterfuge of using a seemingly unrelated company was revealed; once this was done the company was of no further use and was closed down.

Hopefully the department is still flying. This is certainly my view.

Incidentally does anyone know the true significance of the regn G-LSCW?

G-LSCW
'Let's Stop Conning the World' ?

AdH
Sadly it is true, I have been contacted by one of their pilots looking for a job in the last few days.

Has it been sold? It left its hidey hole at DTVA this morning for Luton.

Also had contact from some of the victims of Tesco's knee jerk reaction, so sadly yes, it seems to be true.

Seems that muppets were left running the shop for a while.

Tesco aircraft use
 

In reply to the guy who told me to do my research and that tesços use their own aircraft around Europe and not netjets
FYI records I've seen show netjets have been used 6 times in past 2 weeks from various locations around Europe ,they may use their own fleet ex uk to European destinations but inter European flights are done with other suppliers


Citation lover

Tesco's new G550 Registration
 

What records are these citation lover??