Flypop is an unusual UK airline startup that has been in the works for many years. The people behind the airline have reached an agreement to acquire aircraft, so the airline now appears to be closer to launching operations than ever before. A lot of questions about the airline remain, so let’s recap what we…
Continue reading: UK Airline Startup Flypop Acquiring A330s
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I think with family direct always is an advantage. Not like economy on the gulf carriers is great...
Speaking of UK carriers I just saw a Virgin Atlantic plane landat Ohare. Don’t see that too often.
Will fail. London is over served and much better options. Emirates is pretty ingrained in the South Asian community here and crucially flies from regions, as is Qatar. Turkish is also winning customers on price if not on service (crew can be pretty racist to South Asian pax in my experience).
The cities like Amritsar and Ahmedabad have a native population with strong ties to family back in London/UK. A direct connection with lower fares than Air India, which is the only direct option right now, could make a compelling business case if executed properly.
Speaking by experience, luggage I clusive fares will be critical to even make the route a success, a model like Norwegian or Level will not go well with this initiative, nor will fares being too closely pegged with the Gulf carriers. I can see operations shuttering within a year of commencement.
There’s definitely a niche here for them. India to the UK and vice versa is a massive and sadly underserved market (especially to secondary cities, which they plan to focus on). Personally I probably wouldn’t fly with flypop just cause it’ll be a 400-seat A330, but I wish them luck!
"Personally I think most consumers would choose to select the superior experience offered by the Gulf carriers over the convenience of a nonstop flight on a 400+ seat A330, but I could be wrong"
I don't think the UK-India diaspora really care about "superior experience" (and definitely don't spent time reaserching onboard experiences!), and given that a lot of elderly/infirm and families with young children make up the passenger profile, a direct flight is a serious selling point.
Throughout Covid, these flights have been consistently busy; certainly "essential travel" is interpreted differently.
STN is an interesting choice thoough, rather than somewhere further north.
People do care about experience on the whole. It is why most people I know would rather stop in Dubai or Doha or anyone else to avoid the awful experiences they previously had in the past with the likes of Air India. I just can't see this being attractive at all unless there is a lot of work put into the experience and it is genuinely better. Every few years theres this idea for 'diaspora airline' and they're always terrible and never take off if they even get that far. Will be an utter FLOP rather than flyPOP lmao.
I have to admit I thought this was a joke, given the airline "JetPop" created by candidates on the UK version of The Apprentice a couple of years ago - where the expert judges from BA made clear they thought that the word "Pop" in an airline name would be a bit of a turn off, given the association with things blowing up!
Worth a watch... https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08v5vjx
(And for our friends outside the UK, the British version of the Apprentice is nothing like the one that the strange orange man used to present in America) - same format, but a much better and less ridiculous programme.
how long before the airline is referred to as JetPoop by the tabloid newspapers !
I've been travelling to India as a foreigner for 18 years (and lived there for 2) for work. I notice that most Indians prefer point to point, new aircraft and are very price sensitive.
Flypop may have something here if the demand suits, and it may do as no one likes transferring in DEL or BOM where it could take 2 to 5 hours, depending on how busy it is.
I usually fly the Gulf carriers as I like the service and comfort. But FlyPop isnt marketed to guys like me...and quite a few others above.
Just now watched an interview with the CEO of FlyPop- A few things said in the interview and my thoughts- (I am an Airline employee, in a senior role, working in the low cost sector for a number of years)-
1) The CEO said that the ticket price each way to India will be £99 GBP- that, if delivered could be a real game changer.
2) Having said that, I am based in the UK and am thinking, if I am on a vacation to India (normally the reason to go there + meet relatives) -would I prefer to go for a 99 pounds ticket with my family (including children) in a typical 'cattle class' situation- I probably would not unless that is the only choice available.
3) The CEO appeared to suggest that the present cash burn is negligible- even if ignoring the lease costs- now right from crew costs + training + Engineering costs for a CAMO organisation setup + maintenance costs + other staffing and systems costs- not sure how that is deliverable with nil (ish) cash burn at the moment- this is with an estimate of starting the airline by Oct 2021.
4) A few things said in the interview today appear to be fundamentally different to what is in this article- one of them being the pricing.
5) In the past I have worked in some Indian private airlines and generally have found that the top management had only a part understanding about the thru life costs associated with the aircraft operations and a number of the private airlines collapsed financially there because of divergencies in the strategies. I only hope this is not the case with this FlyPop.
6) Lastly, not sure if it is just me- The name FlyPop could be a branding issue for the airline.
I hope that Flypop has done the due diligence in the business model and the structure and wish them all the best for the venture.