4 Strange Airline Start Ups That Flopped
- Thread starter bc2209
- Start date
Boris Badenov
This is no laughing matter.
I very nearly wound up "working for" Pet Airways back when I was at Subair. Reports from the pilots were, uh, "less than complimentary" about the smell.
Vector4Food
This job would be easier without all the airplanes
I'll throw in some Canadian content:
ZIP AIR
Operated by Air Canada as a "discount" airline, they didn't last very long, but were well known for their choice of colors.
JETS GO
Made most famous by their "Loony Fares" ($1 fare with a full price return) I actually worked ramp and operations for these guys way back in the day, operating MD-83's and later Fokker 100's, they never qualified for RVSM Status when it was started in Canada, and thus spent months at FL280/FL270, they had instances of aircraft running out of fuel taxiing to the gate, landing off the runway. This was Canadas first real "Pay to fly" outfit, pilots payed $30,000 for a check-out, some never even got a solitary paid working hour when the company went tits up..
ZIP AIR
Operated by Air Canada as a "discount" airline, they didn't last very long, but were well known for their choice of colors.
JETS GO
Made most famous by their "Loony Fares" ($1 fare with a full price return) I actually worked ramp and operations for these guys way back in the day, operating MD-83's and later Fokker 100's, they never qualified for RVSM Status when it was started in Canada, and thus spent months at FL280/FL270, they had instances of aircraft running out of fuel taxiing to the gate, landing off the runway. This was Canadas first real "Pay to fly" outfit, pilots payed $30,000 for a check-out, some never even got a solitary paid working hour when the company went tits up..
Cptnchia
Dissatisfied Customer
Song, as in this Song?
You do know that wasn't really a real standalone airline, but Delta in disguise. It was just an iteration of this:
Autothrust Blue
"Well, on the Brasilia..."
Ah yes, the 75K...Song, as in this Song?
You do know that wasn't really a real standalone airline, but Delta in disguise. It was just an iteration of this:
The Song FA guys and gals were super cool.
This post brought to you by Beta. Beta: Chicks dig it.
What was cool about Song is that it was a Delta jet, Delta pilots but the cabin crew had to 'audition' and were a completely separate list so none of the "OMG I can't believe 15E wants a coffee, ungh, what am I a stewardess?" types were filtered out.
Boris Badenov
This is no laughing matter.
I should add, on the Pet Airways tip, that the Subair guys were A) Very smart guys with numbers and B) Super conservative about what they got involved with. Whereas Pet Airways had, from day 1, that indefinable stench of a wacky idea launched by people with big dreams, little sense, and possibly a few ethical shortcomings. If I were a betting man, I'd bet that Subair legally bound them in such a way that when the first check bounced, the entire Pet Airways bank account got locked down like the vault in Die Hard, and all that was left was the tears. No dummies, our friends from Nebraska.
It could not have been as bad as flying around in a plane full of lab rats.
ChasenSFO
hen teaser
First time I've heard someone call Song a "terrible idea". It was the test bed for the current IFE and everyone I knew who flew Song raved about it.
Pilot Fighter
Well-Known Member
Does anybody remember MGM Grand Airlines?
ChasenSFO
hen teaser
I liked Vanguard, their first two schemes were simple but looked great on the 737s. The last scheme they had with the different colors gave the mad dogs new life. Aside from the MCI hub, they tried point-point flying from MDW, DEN and a few other cities for a while. They were doing MSP-MDW for about $20 each way when the first started it in the 90s. I remember one summer in MSP seeing that ad, calling their reservations at age 7 or 8, and trying to book a ticket to go spotting in Midway with the money my grandparents gave me that summer. Didn't know about the whole UM policy thing back then, that was a short phone call. They had a decent route map for an airline their size when they shut down in July 2001. If not for 9/11, they probably would have still been around or ended up merging.
Yep. All first class service between LAX and JFK on 727s and DC-8s, leaving from the Imperial Terminal at LAX with little or no security and hassle, amazing catering onboard, telephones, flowing drinks, and limo transfers to your final destination. For a short time, they had a Twin Otter painted up doing SNA-LAX trying to attract pax who didn't want to drive(or be driven) to LAX. Brochure here and here.
Baronman
Well-Known Member
Did Skybus somehow miss it's calling? Perhaps just mismanagement but nowadays I think they could do well. Do everything on the cheap (wasn't that their thing?)...Let's face it there's a huge segment of the population that will endure anything to pay $2 less on a ticket.
Baronman
Well-Known Member
Kinda like jetBlue?
ChasenSFO
hen teaser
Minus the fact all routes started and ended in CMH with no connectivity. Besides that, they rarely flew to the cities they marketed. SWF was marketed as NYC and BLI marketed as YVR. CMH-secondary cities wasn't a great plan. Pretty much any LCC that made it big had a strong local market or a big city on one end of any given route.
Cal Goat
Prestige Worldwide™
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