Debonair (airline)
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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]
History
[edit]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, Mönchengladbach 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
[edit]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 | — |
Historical fleet
[edit]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 |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "IATA Passenger Agency Programme" (PDF). ACCC. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
- ^ "Debonair Airways". aviationweek.com. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
- ^ Harper, Keith; Milner, Mark (2 November 2001). "Low-cost is flying high". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
- ^ "Debonair float to raise pounds 25m for expansion". The Independent. 26 June 1997. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
- ^ "Debonair Begins Service From Luton Airport". Aviation Week. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
- ^ "Debonair links". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
- ^ "THE 'OTHER' LOW-COST AIRLINES". Key Aero. 10 December 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
- ^ "Debonair debut". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
- ^ "New-look Debonair narrows its losses". The Independent. 12 August 1998. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
- ^ "Low-Fare Debonair Adds Frills To Build Passenger Loyalty". Aviation Week. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
- ^ "Obituary Franco Mancassola". Business Traveller News. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Debonair builds on Lufthansa relationship with aircraft deal". Travel Weekly. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
- ^ "Debonair begins services from Zurich to Venice and Bologna". Aviation Weekly. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
- ^ "Debonair extends AB Airlines link with Boeing 737 lease". Flight Global. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
- ^ "Debonair crashes in airline price war". The Irish Times. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
- ^ Hartley-Brewer, Julia (2 October 1999). "Anger as low cost flight firm is bust". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
- ^ "Debonair Airlines' Flop Is an Isolated Incident". WSJ. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
- ^ "Business The Company File Flights business still up in the air". BBC. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
- ^ "Debonair campaign pulled as troubled airline is grounded". Campaign. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
- ^ "Debonair chief blames Go for airline's failure". Travel Weekly. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
- ^ "Debonair Fleet". Planespotters. 24 September 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
External links
[edit]Media related to Debonair at Wikimedia Commons