A little bit of positive news for the end of the year: there is a lot of talk about airlines that are going badly or disappearing, but there are also airlines that are being born and created.
This is the perfect time to talk about the ones that have just seen the light of day or will start flying soon.
In this article:
- Starlux Airlines: the most expected but with many questions
- Goodbye Wow, hello Play!
- Welcome Air Oceania
- A national airline in Ghana?
- Jasmine Airlines is finally a reality in Tunisia
- Wizz Air makes a splash in Abu Dhabi
Starlux Airlines: the most expected but with many questions
A new airline in Luxembourg? No way ! Starlux is a Taiwanese airline based in Taipei !
Starlux will operate its first flights in January 2020 from Tapei to Da Nang, Macau and Penang. It will be the third airline in the country after Eva Air and China Airlines.
Its founder has also been in the news for a long time due to family quarrels over money. Et qui est sa famille ? The owners of Evergreen Group, the owners of Eva Air!
Another originality of Starlux is its positioning. It intends to position itself on the “boutique airlines” niche, similar to what Bangkok Airways does in Thailand.
The airline will operate a fleet of ten A321 neos. These aircraft will be able to accommodate 188 passengers – 180 passengers in the economy cabin in a 3-3 configuration and eight “full flats” in business class in a 2-2 configuration.
The promise of Starlux Airlines is to revive an era when aviation was a matter of style and glamour (remember Panam!).
The airline is also ambitious as it ordered 17 A350s earlier this year and recently announced that it is considering the purchase of A330s, which tends to prove that it also has visions for long-haul aircraft.
Will she be able to outshine Eva Air? The management team is experienced in the industry and there is no doubt that a spirit of revenge reigns in the family. And the example of Virgin Atlantic shows that in the long term a small airline can become a nuisance to the big one in whose shadow it lives.
The similarities with Virgin are obvious: an airline created by an entrepreneur, willingness to shake up the codes and overshadow the established players without seeking hyper growth…
Goodbye Wow, hello Play!
The Icelandic low cost airline Wow disappeared at the beginning of the year, but one of its vice-presidents refuses to throw in the towel and is coming back with new investors and a new airline called “Play”. Note that the code name before its launch was “WAB Air” for “We are Back”.
On the color side, red replaces pink.
Play should first serve London, Paris, Berlin, Copenhagen, Alicante and Tenerife from Reykjavik-Keflavik with a fleet of 6 aircraft that will grow. 4 cities in North America would be in the program by the end of 2020 as the fleet is to grow.
But while sales should have started in October for the first flights in spring, nothing is available for booking today and it is said that the business is still looking for money and that it has not yet received its air transport certificate.
This makes us cautious while waiting for more information.
Welcome Air Oceania
Air Oceania is a low cost airline which plans to serve Vanuatu, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia and French Polynesia from New Caledonia.
That’s about all we know so far, except that the airline doesn’t even plan to be based in Noumea but in the Loyalty Islands, a remote province of New Caledonia.
The airline is reportedly trying to finance the acquisition of Airbus A220s, but it all seems very nebulous. It seems that behind the initiative we find the Province itself which would try to exist in front of the “big island”.
In any case, to see such a small territory welcome a second airline after AirCalin, whose region is the preserve, is quite surprising.
Wait and see.
A national airline in Ghana?
Even more hypothetical than Air Oceania, the project of a national airline in Ghana.
Last month Ghana’s Aviation Minister announced a memorandum of understanding for the acquisition of three Boeing B787-9s that would be used to launch a national airline to be based in Accra.
Given its size, the African continent represents a certain potential, but history shows that for political, economic and cultural reasons, it is very difficult to sustain an airline in the context of a market that is now globalized in terms of traffic and especially standards. While Ethiopian Airlines is doing well, as is Royal Air Maroc, which has just joined OneWorld, Kenya Airways is suffering and should end up being nationalized, while South African is on its last legs.
In this context we are curious to see if this idea becomes a reality…
Jasmine Airlines is finally a reality in Tunisia
Since the time we talked about it and we did not see anything coming, Jasmine Airways obtained the authorizations to operate commercial flights.
It will start its operations with two Embraer170s of 76 seats with flights to the Maghreb and Europe from the airports of Enfidha-Hammamet and Djerba-Zarzis.
It operated its first flight on December 20.
Wizz Air makes a splash in Abu Dhabi
Not really a “real” birth even if technically speaking it is a new airline that will be created.
The Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air continues to grow and plans to create a new airline operating from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
As is logical in the region, Wizz Air will not be able to be a majority shareholder and it is therefore the Abu Dhabi Development Holding Company that will hold 51% of the airline’s shares against 49% for Wizz.
The airline plans to initially carry passengers from Europe to the Middle East, then to India, Africa and South Asia.
The new airline is expected to begin operations in 2020, but must first obtain government approval and an air operator’s certificate.
Crédit photo : Starlux, A320 Wizz Air by Dmitry Birin via Shutterstock
