Starting up airlines: The grey art
of business planning — June 2019

Over the years we have been involved in numerous airline start-up projects, constructing business plans or critiquing others as part of due diligence. Here are some thoughts on the essentials of the process.

Imagination knows no bounds when it comes to start-up airline proposals. Examples of some of the more challenging ideas: converting a Mriya (a six-engine giant Soviet freighter) into a flying casino with round-the-world schedule, taking in London, Hong Kong and Las Vegas; buying up a fleet of obsolete DC-9s, attaching floats, building mid-ocean refuelling stations, and offering an exciting transatlantic service.