Flyforbeans part III

[Aviador]

Discussions based on the shortly up and coming airline Flyforbeans.

 

[Em0866]

Well I think it will be interesting to see what happens now, given the annoucement of the expansion from BRS with FR. I know that the rumour was FFB were possibly going to fly to Malta, but that it one of the new routes announced by FR today. FFB need to concentrate on the "bucket and spade brigade" as a dead cert rather than more unusual destinations

 

[Em0866]

Well it has been 3 months now since the last update on their blog. I think it is now time for them to update as to where they are now. At least give us an idea of roughly when they intend to start operations or what the latest situation is, even if there is nothing much to report. Remember the days when we used to get regular updates. What happened?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Steady everyone, nothing to get excited about - not yet, anyway.

I've re-read all the FFB blogs and I can't help wondering what level of staffing they currently have and whether the backers are still content to continue shelling out in the present economic graveyard with no money coming in.

They certainly talk a good airline and their blogs are full of what some might take to be bullsh*t. They have, or had, heads of this and heads of that busy beavering away at all sorts of things necessary to create the birth of an airline, with staff in various departments burning the midnight oil too.

We were told of fantastic deals with airports, innovative catering and websites, praiseworthy efforts from their schedulers to squeeze out more routes than was originally planned, negotiations for aircraft, interviews with applicants for operational positions to name but some.

Will these deals have to be re-negotiated if, or when, the airline finally decides it's time to fly? Will the routes still be viable following arguably the world's biggest economic disaster for seventy years? Will someone else have stepped in on some of the incredible routes they had earmarked? I could go on.

I know I sound cynical but the longer I hear nothing the more doubtful I become.

Some say that no news is good news and the last blog (five months ago) said it might be months before the next one appeared if they had nothing further to report.

No-one will be more pleased than me if my cynicism proves unfounded.

Anyone heard any recent whispers?

 

[Em0866]

Well Local, I guess no one has heard any whispers, apart from the noise of the occasional tumbleweed being blown across the desert. It does seem a long time for them to say absolutely nothing. Interest seems to have gone down the drain, which is a shame. No news on their blog, to me says that people will forget about them. Almost as if the website is being unused. I really do hope that they make some kind of announcement soon, at least say anything. I hope if anyone from FFB is reading this, they'll take note and do something about it please

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Em, I rather guessed that no-one would have heard anything new.

I know I expressed grave doubts about a positive outcome for this would-be airline but I've not written them off completely.

Tim Lee is a fighter from what I read so he may yet surprise us.

I know he and his backers' aim is to be an airline for Wales primarily but I cannot help thinking the best chance would be if easyJet or Ryanair went cool on Bristol (assuming they didn't transfer their allegiance to Cardiff). FFB could then offer routes from both BRS and CWL as Welsh airlines such as IEA, Airways International Cymru and Cambrian did in the past.

I always thought that Air Wales missed a trick by not operating some domestic routes from BRS before other airlines stepped in.

 

[Em0866]

Thanks Local. Yes they would stand a much better chance of surviving if and when they get off the ground to fly from elsewhere as well. You are right about Air Wales. They did try from Swansea Airport with Dublin and as far as I know, it went down very well too. As for FFB there are a lot of ifs and buts as regards EZY and FR at Bristol BUT if they chose destinations that are not currently flown from BRS with the other locos then they could make it good. With FR cutting routes from BOH they could fly from there also or instead of BRS

 

[Aviador]

I wouldn't right them off completely just yet. As the report says, they are given failed status because "they failed to receive an AOC in 2008". This doesn't mean that they will fail in 2009 although how long will FlyForBeans give the project before calling it a day?

Personally, I would say that if it isn't operational by summer 2010 then forget it.

 

[Em0866]

So how many times a year can they apply for an AOC? Is there a limit as to how many times they can apply? It seems a bit silly now after all this time, and even though I would really want them to get off the ground, given the length of time they started their blog til now, it looks more and more unlikely. I hope I am wrong though

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I don't think in itself this means the initiative is less or more likely to evolve into an actual airline.

I don't know how FFB is ticking over in the sense of the number of staff it is still employing. Its blogs have talked about all sorts of people beavering behind the scenes building a sound base to await the day when market conditions are right for the launch.

Unless its backers have inordinately deep pockets even in these strained financial times, there must come a time when all this is put on hold, if it hasn't been already, which means staff will either remain unemployed until the early shafts of light of the great day appear or find work elsewhere (if they can).

There must therefore be a finite timescale after which FFB becomes increasingly unlikely.

If they can hold on until 2010 we might yet see FFB take to the air but if I was a betting man (fortunately I'm not) I would not be wagering a great deal of money on them. I hope I would be wrong.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I note the Dried Plum forum is still touchy about FFB and continues to ban all mention of it. Over the past couple of days someone asked an innocuous question about services from CWL and mentioned FFB. There were one or two equally innocuous responses which were helpful to those not following the 'story' at close quarters but all those posts have now been deleted, presumably by the mods.

Clearly in the past there was behind the scenes contact between FFB and the DP, perhaps unsurprisingly because at the time FFB first appeared on the radar one or two people on the DP forum made remarks about named people they believed connected with FFB that might have been deemed a libel.

Perhaps this latest removal of such inoffensive material means that the DP proprietors believe FFB is still a going concern.

 

[Aviador]

Interesting, but bizarre that you still can't talk about something that is essentially still a rumour on a "Rumour Network" I really don't see a problem in discussing "the ifs, whats or whens" they might or might not become a reality.

 

[Aviador]

Someone under the name of Welshguy40 has just posted this link on the Dried Plum forum (I don't know if that's the same person as the newly registered Welshguy39 on here - Good find if it is you!!)

http://www.avianation.com/aviation_jobs ... 9133805472

Excellent news that thing seem to be finally moving!

Lets hope we see an announcement soon, fingers crossed!!! :good:

 

[welshguy39]

yes it was me lets hope its do come true

 

[Aviador]

...yes lets hope so. It's been a long time in coming, but it will be well worth the wait. Hopefully they can do for Cardiif what Jet2 has done for Leeds.

 

[welshguy39]

well lets hope its soon and i did see on the news last week to lease a 737 300 its now only 1m a year instead of 2m due to the credit crunch cwl needs some good news

 

[Em0866]

well fingers crossed that something is now happening, and about time. just out of curiosity, does anyone know from the time an ad like this one is placed, how long is it likely for someone new to be trained and ready to get their wings?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Because of the deafening silence from FFB for so many months we don't know how far along the line they've actually got.

It's highly unlikely that they would be realistically looking to begin at the fag end of this summer which means a winter start (a brave thing to do for a start-up airline in the current economic conditions) or, more likely I would have thought, a commencement for summer 10, perhaps at the end of March.

It seems FFB has on file previous applicants who don't need to apply again. It may be this advert has been placed now because the company seriously believes it may be able to start, say, next year and wants to get the ball rolling again so that when the time comes they will have all the corners covered.

I like the expression, 'our rapidly expanding fleet'; what does that mean? They've not announced any fleet yet, let alone an expanding one.

Incidentally, welshguy has done extremely well. He's posted something on the Dried Plum about FFB and it is still there after eight hours. Usually, the mods have removed posts by now that carry any mention of FFB.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I spoke too soon. welshguy's post has now gone from the Dried Plum website.

It really is odd how the DP still bans any mention of FFB.

 

[Em0866]

So did mine in my response to it, and I didn't even mention the airline by name!