News: Still no launch for Alpha One
Flights > News > # 572 (15/10/2005)
Despite airports in both university cities claiming high levels of demands for shuttle flights between them, start up airline Alpha One appear no closer to getting off the ground.
A statement on the airline's website in August read:
"With new investment now in place and our aircraft ready to be delivered we will shortly be releasing details of our new flight schedule with services set to begin in September. Our new aircraft is now undergoing some routine maintenance and is having some modifications made to its flight deck before entering service. A new advanced online booking engine has been installed and new destinations finalised. We anticipate making details on the new schedule public in mid August."
Alpha One's Managing Director, 18 year old Martin Halstead, has been quoted on TV expressing an interest in offering flights from other UK regional airports such as Brighton and Bembridge, Isle of Wight.
Alpha One generated a blaze of publicity back in March, when its young director was hailed as the next Richard Branson for being the youngest airline executive. Although the economics of operating such small aircraft would make it difficult to make ends meet, there is a clear demand for direct air services between regional cities, especially where road or rail connections are long winded or unreliable, as they are in the case of the link between Oxford and Cambridge.
Mr Halstead is clearly very capable of generating publicity, although niche routes such as the ones he is proposing are far more in need of action, rather than just rhetoric.
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