Sky Palace Airways: New US Airline With 777s?

240BH per airframe at $7500PBH is delusional for year-round ad-hoc work. Unless they have a long term contract already locked-in, this will fail.

What on earth happened to James and Spencer? Maybe I missed it but haven't noticed an article by them in ages.

They will be prone to operational disasters. Regional airlines run 5 crews per aircraft and the planes fly less than 240 hours per month.

The 400 seats could be used for hajj charters, as people going on it do not demand luxury as long as they get there. Though, it only happens for a few weeks in the year.

fwiw Miami Air just did a Hajj charter, and Saudi Arabia is looking to encourage more U.S. charters.
http://saudigazette.com.sa/article/573677/SAUDI-ARABIA/First-US-airline-flight-since-1997-lands-in-Jeddah-168-pilgrims-arrive

@jay
Pretty sure they jumped ship to TPG

Why don’t any charter airlines invest in newer more fuel efficient planes? They’d be able to slightly undercut their competitors who are using older less efficient planes and the savings from the lower fuel burn will be profit.

I think the reason Hi Fly’s A380 isn’t operating Hajj charters because those are heavily regulated by the Saudi government and have rigid capacity constraints. So while high-density configures widebodies are often used, I remember hearing about A380s specifically not being suitable.

I don’t think Spencer is at TPG though?
Also, for charter, lower utilizing rate must benefit from older planes.

Like the old saying goes: "How do you make a small fortune in aviation? Start with a large one"
These ventures are dicey, at best.

Spencer went to God Save the Points and is now a partial owner from what I understand. James went to TPG UK.

What did happen to HiFly's big summer customer for the A380 that they were proudly boasting of earlier this year?

Speaking of fancy names for charter airlines, there is a quite large Russian cheap charter airline called "Royal Flight". There's nothing royal about flying with them, trust me 🙂
Plus they do have some strange non-charter routes, like Moscow-Taipei.

@Vanya hah coincidentally came across them the other day. When I saw they had 777s I was hoping it featured a special cabin layout (a la Rossiya), but unfortunately it’s just old EK 777s in a Y/J comfiguration

As for the name, many thongs sound great in one language or dialect but strange in English.
"Sky Palace" probably sounds/seems better in the native language or dialect of one or more of their intended passenger groups.

*things. Rubbish type-o. Or bizarre predictive text.

Secondhand 772's, with 400 seats? Sounds more like upstairs/downstairs á la Downton Abbey rather than a Sky Palace. Can't wait to see their fantasy advertising featuring images of the Taj Mahal.

@Ben Holz yeah, most of these airlines in Russia don't really care about their own identity or product.
Another curious one is IrAero, who also has ex-Emirates 777s. They sell business class at significant price premium but the only difference is the seat. No special service, no better meals, no alcohol etc.
I wonder what Royal Flight will do in terms of service, if anything.

As a charter operator myself....that's an ambitious per hour utilization.

Ben, Not sure how this relevant ? "Yes, there are 787 engine issues, but that’s a short term problem". They will be operating 777s.

@Jake - aside from potential long wait for a new plane, you have both capital costs to buy the plane and operating costs to run it. While the operating costs may be, let’s say10% cheaper per seat, if the plane costs 10x, it isn’t worth it. Payback period would be munch longer. And, since charter is lower utilization, the fraction of costs that are capital vs operating are much greater

Same reason you likely don’t own a Tesla even though it would be cheaper energy cost. If you don’t drive enough, hard to justify the much higher price relative to a nice reliable Honda Accord.

@bassett because charter airlines are running 777s and others on behalf of airlines that have 787s that they can't use because of the engine issues