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Commenced operations | 19 June 1996 | ||||||
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Ceased operations | 1 October 1999 | ||||||
Hubs | London Luton Airport | ||||||
Frequent-flyer program | Destinations | ||||||
Fleet size | 13 (at closure) | ||||||
Traded as | Easdaq component | ||||||
Headquarters | 146 Prospect Way, London Luton Airport, Luton, Bedfordshire, LU2 9BA [1] | ||||||
Key people | Franco Mancassola (CEO) Michael Harrington (Deputy CEO) Silvio Petrassi (General Manager) [2] | ||||||
Employees | 480 (at closure) | ||||||
Website | http://www.debonair.co.uk/ |
Debonair was a British airline headquartered at London Luton Airport offering flights to and from Spain, France, Germany and Italy. It ceased operations in October 1999 due to financial difficulties. [3]
Debonair was founded in 1996 by Franco Mancassola who had previously worked for Continental Airlines, and founded Discovery Airways in Hawaii. [4] Debonair's first flights took off on June 19, with weekday daily flights to Munich, Dusseldorf and Barcelona from London Luton Airport. [5] From July, Debonair also added a Madrid route alongside Newcastle and Copenhagen, and later in November a direct London Luton to Rome flight. [6] [7]
It floated shares on the Easdaq in September 1997 and raised $41.9m. [8] By mid-1998, the airline was on a heavy cost-cutting strategy which was beginning to slow the losses compared with the year prior. [9] Although at the same time, Debonair sought to introduce special services for its frequent flyer programme including fast track boarding and inclusive meals onboard and on some routes its 'ABC - Affordable Business Class' product. [10] [11] Debonair appealed to business travellers, who made up 58 perecent of its passengers by 1998. [12] In late 1998, Debonair entered a working relationship with Lufthansa, leasing five aircraft for their CityLine operations from Munich. Whilst the aircraft were in Lufthansa colours, the flights were operated by Debonair staff. [13] Debonair also entered a similar agreement with Swissair who were launching their Express brand to operate a BAE 146 on their behalf from Zurich to Venice and Bologna. [14] Debonair also maintained a codeshare agreement with AB Airlines, which resulted in the lease of a Boeing 737-300 from January 1999 remaining in service until Debonair's operations ended. [15]
On 1 October 1999 the airline's shares were suspended, and the following day the operations of Debonair were grounded following a court ruling to appoint Deloitte as administrators. [16] [17] [18] [19] At the time of closure, the airline had just embarked on a new national advertising campaign, which was pulled from the media at the last minute. However, some advertising made it onto London Underground trains. [20] Following the closure of Debonair, founder Mancassola was critical of British Airways subsidiary Go as a cause for the airlines demise. [21]
At the time of closure, the Debonair fleet consisted of the following aircraft:
Aircraft | In service | Orders | Passengers | Notes | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CY | Y | Total | ||||
Boeing 737-300 | 1 | — | – | 139 | 139 | Named "English Rose". |
BAE 146-100 | 2 | — | 77 | – | 77 | |
BAE 146-200 | 5 | — | 80 | – | 80 | |
4 | — | 82 | – | 82 | ||
1 | — | – | 96 | 96 | ||
Total | 13 | — |
Aircraft | Total | Introduced | Retired | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Boeing 737-300 | 2 | 1998 | 1999 | Leased from AB Airlines |
BAC 1-11 | 1 | 1999 | 1999 | Leased from European Aviation |
Fokker 50 | 1 | 1998 | 1999 | Leased from Denim Air |
BAE 146-100 | 1 | 1997 | 1997 | Leased from Flightline |
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Media related to Debonair at Wikimedia Commons