As longtime OMAAT readers know, I like overlaying airline startups, no matter how practical they’re. Nicely, the latest airline startup is a UK-based firm named Himalaya Jet, and my goodness…
The fundamentals of Himalaya Jet
Himalaya Jet is a brand new premium lengthy haul service that intends to attach cities of Asia, Europe, North America, and Australia, with point-to-point flights.
Whereas the corporate is predicated within the UK, the traders are of Nepalese descent, and wish to join Nepal and India to the remainder of the world. Particularly, the airline hopes to fly from Kathmandu, Delhi, and Mumbai, to London, Paris, and Sydney. The airline additionally hopes to fly to extra lengthy haul locations, together with New York, Washington, Toronto, Zurich, Frankfurt, Madrid, Rome and Vienna.
The airline claims that it’ll launch in September 2023 (yep, in round 4 months) utilizing leased Boeing 787s.
British businessman Dipendra Gurung is behind the airline. He reportedly owns many luxurious cinemas, in addition to the Miss World pageant. Gurung describes himself as an entrepreneur, angel investor, philanthropist, former UN guide, diplomat, and socialite.
The Gurung household met with Boeing in Seattle lately, to debate plans for the airline to launch. The corporate claims that it’ll lease two Boeing 787-8s for a interval of three years, and hopes to function 18 jets by its third yr of service.
For what it’s value, the corporate has been registered within the UK with 800 million peculiar shares, valued at £2 every.
What can I even say about this idea?
There are totally different sorts of “airline startups,” starting from reputable airline startups based by skilled trade executives, to fraudsters simply seeking to steal cash from traders, with none plans to really launch an airline.
The place does Himalaya Jet fall? My preliminary learn is that the individuals behind the airline are critical, and I don’t assume it is a rip-off. Even so, this simply looks like such an unrealistic enterprise mannequin.
As a lot as I’m an enormous avgeek, I can by no means wrap my head round why traders wish to begin new airways. Might the trade use some innovation? Completely! Will an airline provide the highest ROI, in comparison with different funding choices? In case you ask me, you’d be higher off going to a on line casino and placing all of your cash on a roulette desk, as you’ve higher odds of leaving wealthy.
Level-to-point lengthy haul airline startups nearly by no means succeed, and that’s for good motive. The individuals behind them typically see that there’s a specific amount of demand between some markets, after which determine they’ll seize a giant share of that. However that strategy fails to think about simply how exhausting it’s to realize market share, particularly profitably.
Lastly, I simply can’t perceive why most airline startups appear to have such unrealistic launch timelines. The corporate expects to go from not even having signed a contract for planes, to launching operations, in simply 4 months? That’s not how that works!
Backside line
Himalaya Jet is the most recent airline startup, which hopes to function premium point-to-point lengthy haul routes. Whereas the corporate is predicated within the UK, it hopes to give attention to the Himalayas (together with India and Nepal), by working service to in every single place from Asia, to Europe, to the US, to Australia.
Himalaya Jet claims it’s going to launch operations in September 2023 utilizing Boeing 787s. If we’re taking bets, I’m simply going to go forward and say I feel that’s fairly unlikely…
What do you make of Himalaya Jet?
(Tip of the hat to Klaus)
