Flyglobespan

Infobox_Airline
airline=Flyglobespan
logo=FlyGSM.jpg
logo_size=150
fleet_size=15
destinations=24
IATA=Y2
ICAO=GSM
callsign=GLOBESPAN
parent=Globespan Group plc
company_slogan="Award Winning Airline"
founded=2002
headquarters=Edinburgh, Scotland
key_people=Tom Dalrymple (Chairman)
hubs=Glasgow International Airport
Edinburgh Airport
focus_cities=Aberdeen Airport
Manchester Airport
Durham Tees Valley Airport
frequent_flyer=
lounge=
alliance=
website= http://www.flyglobespan.com

Flyglobespan is a Scottish low-cost airline based in Edinburgh. It operates scheduled services from 9 airports across the UK and Ireland to 24 destinations in Europe, North America and North Africa. Its main bases are Glasgow International Airport and Edinburgh Airport, with secondary bases at Aberdeen Airport and Durham Tees Valley Airport. The airline's tag line is "Award winning airline".

Globespan Airways Limited trading as Flyglobespan holds a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Type A Operating Licence, it is permitted to carry passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with 20 or more seats. [ [http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?categoryid=183&pagetype=90&pageid=340 Operating licence] ]

History

Flyglobespan (a trading name for Globespan Airways Limited) was established in November 2002 as an offshoot of the Globespan Group. Operations started in April 2003 using two Boeing 737-300 aircraft provided by Channel Express on services from Glasgow Prestwick Airport and Edinburgh Airport to five destinations in Spain, France and Italy.

Globespan, an Edinburgh-based tour operator with over 30 years experience, already offered scheduled and charter flights, cruise travel, rail and coach travel, motor home and car rental, and hotel accommodation tailored for holidaymakers visiting destinations in Canada, the USA and Spain. The scheduled flights, mainly to Canada, were operated by Air Transat from airports throughout the UK, with Globespan acting as the booking agent and selling the flights under its own brand. In summer 2002, a similar arrangement was trialled between Edinburgh and Nice, in the south of France. This was to prove successful for Globespan, and led to the creation of its own no-frills brand, "Flyglobespan".

Services began in 2003 with aircraft and crews provided by Channel Express, though under the Flyglobespan brand with red and white livery, offering irregular flights to European holiday destinations. The offshoot provde successful and flight frequencies were increased. At this point, the operator relocated from Prestwick to the larger Glasgow International Airport, which is much closer to the population centres of Central Scotland, within months of commencing operation. In 2004 so it could operate its own aircraft, the Globespan Group bought the defunct airline operator Cougar Leasing along with its CAA Aircraft Operating Certificate. Now with its own Operating Licence, expansion was swift for the new airline. New destinations were added to the network, including Prague, where the airline faced competition from Czech Airlines, and further points in Spain, including the Canary Islands. CSA withdrew their Glasgow to Prague service on 1 August 2005.

By March 2005 the airline had grown to offer 15 destinations across Europe, with a fleet of 9 aircraft, of which 3 were bought new, and had tripled its passenger numbers to 1.5 million annually. Profits for the year ending October 2004 had risen from £2m in its first year to £3.7m, on a turnover of £98m.

May 2005

In May 2005, the first domestic services were launched, with twice-daily flights from Glasgow and Edinburgh to London Stansted - routes that were already operated by the much larger low fares carrier easyJet, with much higher frequencies. However, these services were withdrawn in February 2006, together with plans to serve Bournemouth from Edinburgh.

Fuel Costs

Despite high fuel costs and intense competition in the no-frills market, the airline continued to expand. Flights from London Stansted commenced in October 2005, though a new daily service between Glasgow and Amsterdam, replacing the twice daily easyJet service between the two cities, was withdrawn in June 2006 due to low passenger numbers.

On the 1 November 2005 Flyglobespan announced its first long haul service from Glasgow to Orlando Sanford International Airport in Florida, US. The service commenced in June 2006 and is operated by a Boeing 767 aircraft in a 3 class configuration. The three classes are Economy, Premium Economy and Business Class which includes 50 inch sleeper seats, gourmet food and wines. Alicante and Málaga services have been upgraded to twice-daily throughout the summer for 2006, while Murcia is now served daily. Fuerteventura has also been added to the winter 2006 schedule, meaning all four main Canary Islands destinations will be served from Scotland. Weekly services linking Glasgow with Athens and Heraklion were launched in May 2006 for the summer season. In January 2006 Flyglobespan announced a 70% rise in pre-tax profits from the previous year.

In June 2006 the airline announced plans to operate out of Aberdeen Airport now that 24 hour airport operation there had been confirmed. The first route to operate from Aberdeen was Tenerife, which commenced in winter 2006. It also announced routes to Alicante, Barcelona, Faro, Murcia, Palma and Paphos, which commenced in summer 2007.

Tenerife

Liverpool was added to the Flyglobespan network from November 2006, with flights to Tenerife. Also added is Liverpool's first connection with Hamilton Airport from May 2007. The airline also began Liverpool's first long haul flight, to New York (JFK), using Boeing 757-200 aircraft, daily in May 2007. However, after a long series of problems with the service, due largely to reliability problems with the route's sole aircraft, which resulted in repeated massive delays on the service [ [http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/flygspan.htm Read over 200 FlyGlobespan Reviews and compare FlyGlobespan Passenger Reports about FlyGlobespan product and service standards ] ] Flyglobespan announced in early July that they would abandon the route in October of the same year, only 6 months after the service's inception. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/6266518.stm BBC NEWS | England | Merseyside | Airline to stop New York flights ] ]

Flights to Hamilton, Canada, from Manchester started in November, with two of the three weekly flights. It also proposed to commence a three times a week service from Manchester to Cape Town, South Africa, on November 4, 2006 but this service was cancelled.

Flyglobespan started new services in May 2007 from Hamilton Airport, Canada to destinations in the UK and Ireland, including Doncaster-Sheffield Airport; this was the first scheduled transatlantic flight to operate from the airport. Hamilton Airport is located between Toronto and nearby Niagara Falls [ [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&saddr=YYZ&daddr=YHM&layer=&sll=47.97335,-67.741005&sspn=12.423842,29.882813&ie=UTF8&z=9&om=1 Google Maps ] ] , about 75 kilometres southwest, or an hour's drive from, Toronto's main Pearson International Airport. It should be noted that Hamilton Airport is slightly more than one hour away from Toronto's city centre.

Flyglobespan commenced services in May 2007 from Ireland West Airport Knock to John F. Kennedy International Airport with three services a week, and Boston Logan International Airport twice a week. Some flights from Knock to New York (GSM 201/202) made unscheduled refuelling stops at a number of remote locations including Keflavik, Iceland; Bangor, Maine; Stephenville and St Johns Newfoundland. These refueling stops were scheduled when a 737-800 was used instead of the usual 757-200.

Destanatns

Flights will be operated from Durham Tees Valley Airport to Alicante, Jersey, Malaga, Pula, Faro, Lanzarote, Nice, Tenerife, Ibiza, Mahon and Palma de Mallorca, commencing summer 2007. Two aircraft are based at Durham Tees Valley over the summer period.

It was announced in July 2007 that the current Liverpool to New York and the Ireland West Airport Knock service would be suspended for the winter season from October 30. The company gave the reason as poor passenger figures on the Liverpool flights, particularly inbound passengers from the United States. The passenger figures for Ireland West Airport Knock were higher than expected. The company also admitted to providing a poor operating service since the route was launched on 25 May 2007, which affected the passenger figures. The route will recommence for the Summer 2008 season [ [http://www.industrywatch.com/pages/iw2/Story.nsp?story_id=108062632&ID=iw&scategory=Aviation%3ACommercial&P=&F=&R=&VNC=hnall Industry Watch] ] . The poor operating service was compounded by some PR own goals and sub-standard customer servive. [ [http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0702/globespan.html TV coverage in Ireland] ] [ [http://www.myguidetravel.com/blog/a-lesson-learned-choose-your-partners-carefully/ Travel Partner's experience] ]

It was announced on the 18th October 2007 that the CAA had suspended Flyglobespan's ETOPS certificate, the first time in 15 years a UK operator has lost ETOPS approval. This effectively meant Flyglobespan transatlantic flights were forced to adopt a flight path which never took the aircraft more than an hour away from the nearest airport, in case of engine problems. However, this only applied to Flyglobespan's own aircraft and leased-in aircraft could continue to follow ETOPS rules as these are operated by other airlines with their own ETOPS approval. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7051079.stm BBC NEWS | Business | Airline has a licence suspended ] ] Flyglobespans ETOPS rating was reinstated at a CAA hearing on 26th October 2007.

Destinations

Fleet

The Flyglobespan fleet includes the following aircraft: [ [http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?categoryid=60&pagetype=65&applicationid=1&mode=summary&owner=Globespan%20Airways UK CAA Aircraft Register] ]

Aircraft orders

Flyglobespan announced in August 2006 that it would also lease two Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners from the International Lease Finance Corporation for ten years, to be delivered in March and November 2011. [ [http://209.51.142.90/~ilfc01/viewArticle.php?id=76 Boeing 787 leasing] ]

Watchdog

BBC's Watchdog programme featured the airline for a second time on 28 November 2007, where the airline was primarily featured for complaints due to a flight stopping 600 miles before its destination because the cabin crew were up to their safety limit in working hours. The CAA suspension of the airline's ETOPS licence was also featured.

References

External links

* [http://www.flyglobespan.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=60&pagetype=65&appid=1&mode=summary&owner=flyglobespan UK CAA Aircraft register]