Debonair (airline)

Last updated

Debonair
DebonairLogo.png
IATA ICAO Callsign
2GDEBDEBONAIR
Commenced operations19 June 1996
Ceased operations1 October 1999
Hubs London Luton Airport
Frequent-flyer program Destinations
Fleet size13 (at closure)
Traded as Easdaq component
Headquarters146 Prospect Way, London Luton Airport, Luton, Bedfordshire, LU2 9BA [1]
Key peopleFranco Mancassola (CEO)
Michael Harrington (Deputy CEO)
Silvio Petrassi (General Manager) [2]
Employees480 (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]

Contents

History

Debonair G-DEBE at Faro Airport in 1997 Debonair BAe 146-200.jpg
Debonair G-DEBE at Faro Airport in 1997
Swissair Express G-DEBK operated by Debonair at Zurich Airport in August 1999 G-DEBK 146-200 Sw Exp-Debonair ZRH 28AUG99 (6024472657).jpg
Swissair Express G-DEBK operated by Debonair at Zurich Airport in August 1999

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]

Fleet

At the time of closure, the Debonair fleet consisted of the following aircraft:

Debonair fleet [22]
AircraftIn
service		OrdersPassengersNotes
CYYTotal
Boeing 737-300 1—–139139Named "English Rose".
BAE 146-100 2—77–77
BAE 146-200 5—80–80
4—82–82
1—–9696
Total13—

Historical fleet

Debonair historical fleet
AircraftTotalIntroducedRetiredNotes
Boeing 737-300 219981999Leased from AB Airlines
BAC 1-11 119991999Leased from European Aviation
Fokker 50 119981999Leased from Denim Air
BAE 146-100 119971997Leased from Flightline

See also

Related Research Articles

Kenya Airways Ltd., more commonly known as Kenya Airways, is the flag carrier airline of Kenya. The company was founded in 1977, after the dissolution of East African Airways. Its head office is located in Embakasi, Nairobi, with its hub at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

Air Malta, stylized as airmalta, was a Maltese airline headquartered in Luqa and based at Malta International Airport. It operated services as the country's flag carrier to destinations in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

Monarch Airlines, simply known as Monarch, was a British charter and scheduled airline founded by Bill Hodgson and Don Peacock and financed by the Swiss Sergio Mantegazza family. The company later became a low-cost airline in 2004 before abandoning charter flying completely. The airline's headquarters were based at London–Luton, and it had operating bases at Birmingham, Leeds/Bradford, London–Gatwick and Manchester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berlin Tegel Airport</span> Former airport of Berlin, Germany (1948–2020)

Berlin Tegel "Otto Lilienthal" Airport was the former primary international airport of Berlin, the federal capital of Germany. The airport was named after aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal and was the fourth busiest airport in Germany, with over 24 million passengers in 2019. In 2016, Tegel handled over 60% of all airline passenger traffic in Berlin. The airport served as a base for Eurowings, Ryanair as well as easyJet. It featured flights to several European metropolitan and leisure destinations as well as some intercontinental routes. It was situated in Tegel, a section of the northern borough of Reinickendorf, eight kilometres northwest of the city centre of Berlin. Tegel Airport was notable for its hexagonal main terminal building around an open square, which made walking distances as short as 30 m (100 ft) from the aircraft to the terminal exit.

British Midland Airways Limited was an airline in the United Kingdom with its head office in Donington Hall in Castle Donington, close to East Midlands Airport, England. The airline flew to destinations in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, North America and Central Asia from its main hub at Heathrow Airport, where at its peak it held about 13% of all takeoff and landing slots and operated over 2,000 flights a week. BMI was a member of Star Alliance from 1 July 2000 until 20 April 2012.

Egyptair is the state-owned flag carrier of Egypt. The airline is headquartered at Cairo International Airport, its main hub, operating scheduled passenger and freight services to 81 destinations in Africa, Europe, Asia, and The Americas. Egyptair is a member of Star Alliance.

Luxair, legally Luxair S.A., Société Luxembourgeoise de Navigation Aérienne, is the flag carrier of Luxembourg with its headquarters and hub at Luxembourg Airport. It operates scheduled services to destinations in Europe, North Africa, the Mediterranean and Middle East with additional charter and seasonal services. It is Luxembourg's only passenger-carrying airline offering regular, non-charter service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Air Berlin</span> Defunct airline of the United States and Germany (1978–2017)

Air Berlin plc & Co. Luftverkehrs KG, branded as airberlin or airberlin.com was a major German airline. At its peak, it was Germany's second-largest airline after Lufthansa, as well as Europe's tenth-largest airline in terms of passengers carried. It was headquartered in Berlin and had hubs at Berlin Tegel Airport and Düsseldorf Airport. At the time of its insolvency, it was a member of the Oneworld airline alliance, having joined in 2012.

Jet Airways (India) Limited, trading as Jet Airways, was an Indian airline based in Delhi, with a training and developmental centre in Mumbai. Incorporated in April 1992 as a limited liability company, the airline began operations as an air taxi operator in 1993. It began full-fledged operations in 1995 with international flights added in 2004. The airline went public in 2005 and in 2007, when it acquired Air Sahara. It was the first and only privately owned Indian airline before the founding of Vistara in 2015. The airline is expected to re-commence its flight operations by the end of 2024, making it the first Indian airline to be revived after ceasing operations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helios Airways</span> Defunct Cypriot airline

Helios Airways was a low-cost Cypriot airline operating scheduled and charter flights between Cyprus and many European and African destinations. It had its corporate headquarters on the grounds of Larnaca International Airport in Larnaca. Its main base was Larnaca International Airport. Flights ceased on 7 November 2006 because the company's aircraft were detained and its bank accounts frozen by the government of Cyprus due to its reputation deteriorating after the Helios Airways Flight 522 disaster.

Air Astana is an airline group and the flag carrier of Kazakhstan. Based in Almaty, Kazakhstan, the airline, previously jointly owned by the Government of Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk Kazyna (51%) and BAE Systems PLC (49%), has since February 2024 been publicly listed on the London, Astana, and Almaty Stock Exchanges. It is the largest airline in Central Asia and the Caucasus region with 69% and 40% of market share on domestic and intra-regional routes from Kazakhstan.

Smartwings, a.s. is a Czech airline with its head office on the property of Václav Havel Airport Prague in Ruzyně, 6th district, Prague. It is the biggest airline in the Czech Republic, and it operates scheduled and chartered flights, mainly to leisure destinations. The airline also wet and dry leases its aircraft to other airlines. It also owns 30% of Czech Airlines and has subsidiaries in Poland, Hungary and Slovakia.

Germania Fluggesellschaft mbH, trading as Germania, was a privately owned German airline with its headquarters in Berlin. It began by focusing on charter operations, then moved towards becoming a scheduled carrier, although some charter flights were still flown under the brand. The change in strategy led to growth over its last few years, and Germania operated to destinations in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East from several German bases. It carried 2.5 million passengers in 2009 and had around 850 employees as of summer 2014. It declared bankruptcy on 4 February 2019 and it ceased operations on 5 February 2019.

ModiLuft was a private airline based in Delhi, India. It operated on domestic routes until it shut down in 1996. It maintained high standards in flight safety, ground maintenance, and on-time performance owing to support from Lufthansa. ModiLuft's aircraft were configured in First, Business and Economy Class, making it the only private airline in India during its time to fly a three class configuration on domestic routes. It used Boeing 737-200 aircraft leased from Lufthansa and had an incident-free track record of flying.

Austrian Airlines AG, often shortened to Austrian or AUA, is the flag carrier of Austria and a subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. The airline is headquartered on the grounds of Vienna International Airport in Schwechat where it also maintains its hub. As of July 2016, the airline flew to six domestic and more than 120 international year-round and seasonal destinations in 55 countries and is a member of the Star Alliance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TUI fly Deutschland</span> Charter airline of Germany

TUI fly Deutschland, formerly TUIfly, is a German leisure airline owned by the travel and tourism company TUI Group. It is headquartered at Hannover Airport with bases at several other German airports. TUI fly Deutschland is part of TUI Group's airline unit.

A business class airline is an airline concept which emerged during the mid-first decade of the 21st century a number of airlines that operated all-business class service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TUI Airways</span> Charter airline of the United Kingdom

TUI Airways Limited is the British arm of the TUI Airline group, which is owned and operated by the TUI Group. They offer scheduled and charter flights from the United Kingdom and Ireland to destinations in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America.

This is a list of aviation-related events in 2018.

Many aviation-related events took place in 2020. The aviation industry was impacted by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

  1. ↑ "IATA Passenger Agency Programme" (PDF). ACCC. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  2. ↑ "Debonair Airways". aviationweek.com. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  3. ↑ Harper, Keith; Milner, Mark (2 November 2001). "Low-cost is flying high". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  4. ↑ "Debonair float to raise pounds 25m for expansion". The Independent. 26 June 1997. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  5. ↑ "Debonair Begins Service From Luton Airport". Aviation Week. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  6. ↑ "Debonair links". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  7. ↑ "THE 'OTHER' LOW-COST AIRLINES". Key Aero. 10 December 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  8. ↑ "Debonair debut". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  9. ↑ "New-look Debonair narrows its losses". The Independent. 12 August 1998. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  10. ↑ "Low-Fare Debonair Adds Frills To Build Passenger Loyalty". Aviation Week. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  11. ↑ "Obituary Franco Mancassola". Business Traveller News. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  12. ↑ Lawton, Thomas C (2002). "Learning from the demise of Debonair". Cleared for Take-Off: Structure and Strategy in the Low Fare Airline Business. Routledge. ISBN   978-0754612698.
  13. ↑ "Debonair builds on Lufthansa relationship with aircraft deal". Travel Weekly. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  14. ↑ "Debonair begins services from Zurich to Venice and Bologna". Aviation Weekly. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  15. ↑ "Debonair extends AB Airlines link with Boeing 737 lease". Flight Global. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  16. ↑ "Debonair crashes in airline price war". The Irish Times. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  17. ↑ Hartley-Brewer, Julia (2 October 1999). "Anger as low cost flight firm is bust". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  18. ↑ "Debonair Airlines' Flop Is an Isolated Incident". WSJ. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  19. ↑ "Business The Company File Flights business still up in the air". BBC. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  20. ↑ "Debonair campaign pulled as troubled airline is grounded". Campaign. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  21. ↑ "Debonair chief blames Go for airline's failure". Travel Weekly. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  22. ↑ "Debonair Fleet". Planespotters. 24 September 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2024.

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Debonair at Wikimedia Commons

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.