I enjoy keeping up with all kinds of airline startups, whether they be real or fake — I don’t discriminate. Well, I have to say, this has to be one of the more bizarre airline startup concepts I’ve seen.
Continue reading: Hmmm: New A380 Airline Startup With Gamer Class?
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Right, so I did a quick domain check. It was first registered in 2002, and last updated in 2021 (which was such a good year for airlines, obviously). It was registered by/for Domain by Proxy, LLC, with an address in Tempe, AZ.
Make of that what you will
Clearly and totally fake. Besides the fact that he doesn't have the 3 planes he claims to have, the economics of this plan don't make any sense. Who will pay for those luxury seats? Has he ever run an airline before? Who is the executive team? Who is on the board? How do they plan to overcome all of the regular challenges of the airline industry plus the economics of flying A380s to so many airports where the demand might not be there to support them? Factor in the price of fuel and there is no way this ever gets off the ground.
This airline concept is fun and silly. But there must be lots of more serious people trying to figure out how to use what I imagine is a good-sized supply of cheap A380s in some way that makes sense.
James Asquith has been peddling this business plan around for probably 2 years now if not longer. He's a convincing guy by all accounts so he'll probably get some people with more money than brains to sign up for funding. Will it actually fly with the business model he has outlined. One word answer - no.
Zero if not negative interest rate policy was a helluva drug.
Too bad for Mr. Asquith that the SPAC window is likely shut.
The amount of typos and bad spelling in those presentation slides is mind blowing! Apparently they can't even afford someone to edit and proof read those, how cringe.
The guy has a YouTube Channel, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqU2YGi4Jcdlx8sHsq0VRVQ
@lucky are we sure this isn't just some kind of shtick. The idea is so outlandish it's hard to believe anyone who knows anything about aviation could come up with this
Ben,
Thanks for the laughs, needed it this am.
I submit that James could secure up to 120 a380's by January 2025 IF he has SCRAP VALUE $$'s to take them off current carrier hands (other than Emirates).
But reality is that NO ONE can book & fly a380's profitably,
“We will innovate through barriers. Our service and product offerings will be unconstrained by aviation paradigms. Our focus is on creating enjoyment at every touchpoint, turning a customer centric approach into the best possible real time experience. We will attain and sustain a reputation as the best airline, by bringing delight to the overall air travel experience from start to finish. Our vision and mission will be enabled by our innovative but careful planning and expertise in operations, investment, acquisition, growth strategies and finance.”
So... the objective is to run a business, which is profitable and competitive. What a radical idea.
"Innovate," "paradigms," "touchpoint," expertise," whew! Someone just passed their Marketing 101 class!
Gamer Class located between Business Class and Premium Economy! Just what every premium class traveler wants, noise and traffic from partying and gaming clowns. Apparently, this moron has no idea of who actually travels premium class. But this ignorance is exceeded only by his route map geography. LAX has moved to Baja California, BOS is south of New York, DFW looks to be in Northern Oklahoma and there seems to be a mystery location in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. This is laughable!
Aside from being exclusively flown from Gatwick, that route map is awfully close to Virgin Atlantic's, with a few additional cities...anyone else catch that?
While I think there is about 0% chance of this airline startup happening as outlined, I have long thought the idea of themed flights makes a lot of sense. Why not have a gamer class, or even a whole gamer plane on a popular route? I am not a gamer and thus would not be part of the target market, but even cursory research shows that a shocking percentage of Americans play video games regularly. (I've seen claims ranging from 42% - 67%.
I could similar imagine flights on popular routes specifically geared for people with young children, or foodies, or any other sizable group which might have specific needs, wants, and desires.
I think whoever wrote their vision statement watched the "no brand cuffs" skit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMmdl4VltD4 and erroneously thought it was inspirational rather than satire
We are building a fighting force of extraordinary magnitude. We forge our tradition in the spirit of our ancestors. You have our gratitude.
A bunch of dudes playing video games for eight hours straight, huh? I guess they would have to call it "Gamer" since Richard Branson already has Virgin trademarked.
To actually fact-check the thing is to take the bait.
If you don't understand the business model, you're the product.
Honestly one look at those slides for 20 seconds tells you everything.
Looks like a school project.
It may just be distorted perspective, but that rendering really looks like the A380-900 – the stretched variant that never got built.
I mean... aside from everything else that's wrong here 🙂
I'm in the middle of watching "Inventing Anna." Watch it if you want to be convinced about how large the pool of people with more money than brains is.
Ok then, here's a better question: how cheap would these a380 have to be for them to feasibly be refurbished with gamer class/ overhaul/ new crew? And also operated in this less dense way.
And would this price ever exist?
Air Fyre - they’ll be the exclusive airline of Fyre Fest and fly you to the next Fyre Festival once that twat gets out of prison.
As Sean M comments, this business plan has been getting hawked around for a couple of years.
Along with the business plan Powerpoint a Word document was circulated which goes into more detail, and names some of the key team members.
As it happens, I spoke earlier this week to one of those named, and said, "I gather you're involved in an A380 startup?" He replied in exasperation that he had had two conversations with the founder and was not involved in any other capacity.
The presentation deck is a laugh a minute for all kinds of reasons, but my absolute favourite has to be the detailed costings for the 5-class cabin refit of the A380. In the real world, the costs associated with an A380 cabin refit have been reported as typically $30m-$40m. And yet Global is going to fully refit each A380 for less than $4m (having spent only $4m to acquire each aircraft in the first place). It may be that they are acquiring the furnishings from IKEA.
I do agree with the comment that fact-checking the business plan is missing the point: for this to get funded, the target audience would have to be cosmically ignorant (not impossible, of course, but the project itself would never survive first contact with reality).
Maybe Elon Musk has moved on from his Hyperloop and sending people to live on Mars by 2025?
Wouldn't it be smarter to pack a A380 with $99 seats EWR-LON and EWR-PAR like People Express used to do?
I Can 100%confirm the 3 A380s have already been purchased with more on the way. James doesn’t f*ck around.
Nice A380-900 they've got there. Looks like they plan to get Airbus to sink a few billion into a new production line :-p
Congratulations- this is true entrepreneurship
This is and will be the market leader
Good luck - although it will not need luck
This concept is designed for everyone not just the 1%
I found the hidden Easter egg!!! (aka. stupid amateur mistake)
In the picture of Story between 2017 and 2025, you have a faint outline of an aircraft. Which is the An-225.
I just hope Recaro and Microsoft sue every single pence out of this clown.
The 'gamer' is a disgrace to gamers. Very out of touch.
I have gotten to know James personally over the last few years and can say nothing but great things about the guy, his vision and also experience in this industry.
He knows the travel and aviation industry better than anyone I have met - likely due to his experience in investment banking working on related deals and projects.
I'm a huge fan and supporter of what he is working on in this industry and his genuine intent to raise the bar for the entire airline and aviation industry.
Will he achieve this? Will it be on this timeline? Who knows, I'm not an aviation expert and I can imagine the levels of complexity to execute this kind of venture...
but I would love to see it happen..wouldn't you?
I don't see much merit in journalism to bash someone for being bold enough to embark on this kind of endeavor and publicly put your name and brand behind such an audacious claim.
Instead, why don't you interview him and ask the man himself?
Shouldn't this be something we all rally behind instead of trying to make fun of?
So many others have tried this before and failed. It will just be another to add to the list
Newsflash... the A380 cannot fly nonstop from London to Austrailia - that is why Qantas & BA have intermediate stops. Guess he'll need to add a 2nd ac type. Oops, there goes the very solid business model!!
One other curious thing.... where is he going to get all these A380s, since airlines are now putting them back into service?
The branding sucks looks like a child used Photoshop to paint the plane. The interior not very practical but fun. The first class concept is near to Singapore. I do wish them the best but the cost to get such an airline in the air is more than what.its capable of producing.
James himself is as outlandish as his airline aspirations. if anyone can pull it off it would be Sir James!
"So many words to say so little! I feel like they could have squeezed the word “synergies” into that, just for good measure?"
I laughed.
All are Bullshit making Faulse Statements when All Airlines in the World are facing turbalance times in All aspects and cannot see any Future in Long Terms especiasly with the Crises and the Wars
It is welcome news. This model can work. There are lot of passengers who will prefer fly on these A380s. Only issue will be price compatibility with other Airlines, however no one will mind paying another $100 on nice and comfortable flight.
Did anyone working for this “airline” bother to look at a map? Because it doesn’t look like they did.
Last time I checked, they have been working on forming an alliance, and their partners will be as follows: Baltia/USGlobal (higher-end US East Coast + Western Europe), MOM Air (lower-end US East Coast + Western Europe), PRAGUSA.ONE (Eastern Europe), Avatar Airlines (North America), Global Ghana Airlines (Africa), Goldstar Air (Africa), Lone Star Air (Africa), Webclift Airways (Southern Africa and Indian Subcontinent), Northern Pacific Airlines (Asia), and Oceanic Airlines (Oceania, obviously). They initially wanted to call it the Global Alliance because each of their founding members had the word “Global” in it. However, they now plan on calling it the Alliance of TWA, which is short for the Alliance of Trust Worthy Airlines, for it strongly represents the core values shown by every one of its members to the employees and the customers, every step of the way. Star Alliance, Skyteam, and Oneworld are trembling in fear for their survival as they watch this now eleven-member-strong alliance expand throughout the globe.
It seems likes James has been lying to investors and the audience all this time. They have no planes registeted under his name. Everyone is ditching the A 380, spare parts are not available. It is just his ego making him a con artist eventually.
I guess it just comes down to credibility. There is one thing saying there is intent. There is another lying about basic facts.
When some like Chang Kuo-wei comes along and says they are going to start an airline. It holds some weight especially with evidence of orders, experience etc.
When the site and the seats are plagiarised from Factorydesign with concepts from 2019 (en suite first class)
The “gamer class” which is not Recaro but a concept from 2011 ‘Not for Wimps’ seat by Contour Aerospace (now Zodiac Seats) and Factorydesign.
Then there’s the Business class with signature claw foot lamp China Airlines
If it was we taking off in 2023 from Gatwick why didn’t it debut at FIA22?
If there are major orders for the seat concepts by haven FactoryDesign announced contracts for production at AIX22?
Where is the CAA licence?
Where is the FAA licence?
Who is the Chief pilot?
Who is the Chief engineer?
If there are some magical a380s being de mothballed surely they are up for C check /d checks who can C/D check an a380?
Are there any going through that at the moment?
Is there any registered change of ownership of any of the a380?
The “gamer class” which is not Recaro but a concept from 2011 ‘Not for Wimps’ seat by Contour Aerospace (now Zodiac Seats) and Factorydesign. It’s a stolen concept design from 11yrs ago
This dude seems to be backed by very very powerful individuals. I think this guy will surprise us in the years to come.
You can't say "everyone is ditching the A380" and "spare parts are not available" in the same sentence lol. Less planes flying means an abundance of airframes to be parted out. And A380s aren't super old, so those parts should be in fully useable condition.