36 start-up airlines line up for take-off. Part 3: Africa, N America

Summary

• There are 36 global start-ups yet to launch, in addition to 42 new airlines that became active between Jan-2020 and 12-Jun-2021.
• Of those, 13 are based in Europe, eight in Latin America, eight in Asia Pacific, four in Africa and three in North America.
• "The jury's still out" on whether all these start-ups will succeed, according to Air Lease Corporation's Steven Udvar-Házy.
• This, Part 3 of a three part series, looks at the Latin American and Asia Pacific wannabes.

For Part 1 of this report, please see Part 1: Europe

For Part 2 of this report, please see Part 2: LatAm, AsiaPac

36 start-up airlines line up for take-off. Part 3: Africa, N America

Africa: four planned start-ups

FlyWestAf

FlyWestAf is a proposed Gambian low cost airline to be based at Banjul Yundum International Airport.

Westaf Gambia initially plans nine major destinations in West Africa, including Dakar, Bissau, Conakry, Freetown, Abidjan, Monrovia, Praia and Bamako, with a fleet of five DHC-8-400s.

It originally aimed to launch services by May-2021 but this has been delayed, and a revised launch date has not been advised.

The small team also has plans for FlyWestAf Algeria, noting that "A 100% Algerian charter operator on African soil will reduce the costs associated with charter operations (Ferry Flight, deposit, crew, etc.) and thus develop the market share for external demand which is experiencing strong growth in West and Central Africa." There is no launch date provided.

Green Africa

Planned since 2016, Green Africa is a Nigerian full service start-up airline to be based at Lagos Murtula Muhammed International Airport.

It has taken delivery of three ATR 72-600 aircraft, including two leased from ACIA Aero Leasing, and plans to deploy up to 15 ATR 72-600s by Dec-2022.

According to the CAPA Fleet Database, Green Africa has 50 unconfirmed orders for Airbus A220-300s and for Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.

After delaying its originally intended 2020 launch, the airline then planned to launch routes from Lagos to Abuja, Akure, Enugu, Ilorin, Owerri and Port Harcourt on 24-Jun-2021, before adding two or three more bases in Nigeria over the next 18 months.

Green Africa began ticket sales through its official website on 25-May-2021. However, on 18-Jun-2021 it postponed its launch until Jul-2021, due a delay in receiving its AOC.

Zambia Airways

The original Zambia Airways was established in 1964, but ceased operations in 1995. Zambian Airways replaced Zambia Airways as the national carrier of Zambia, but later suspended services in 2009 citing financial difficulties.

The Zambian Government planned to relaunch Zambia Airways in 2016 as part of a programme to boost tourism, and allocated USD300 million to start-up capital.

Ethiopian Airlines and Zambia's Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) signed an agreement in Aug-2018 to relaunch Zambia Airways, with IDC taking 55% of the equity and Ethiopian Airlines holding 45%.

Zambia Airways received an AOC in Sep-2020, when it said that it was aiming to operate a fleet of 12 aircraft by 2028. However, its planned launch was postponed, and a revised launch date has not been advised.

SkyBird Airlines

SkyBird Airlines is a proposed Egyptian charter airline to be based at Cairo International Airport. It was founded in 2018 by both Saudi and Egyptian partners.

It plans to offer services to Europe from Sharm el Sheikh and Hurghada, as well as services to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other regional destinations from Cairo. It had planned to begin service operations in 2019 after it received an AOC from Egypt's Ministry of Transport, but this was delayed.

On 1-Mar-2021 SkyBird Airlines announced that it had signed a contract to acquire one A320 aircraft, marking its first fleet acquisition. However, a revised launch date has not been advised.

North America: three planned start-ups

Connect Airlines

Connect Airlines is a proposed airline brand to be launched in Canada by Waltzing Matilda Aviation, which is a US licensed charter operator of Cessna Citation Bravo aircraft.

Connect Airlines will operate DHC-8-Q400 turboprop aircraft from Toronto City Billy Bishop Airport, Canada, to destinations in the Northeast and Midwest US. It will offer a premium service to business passengers between the US and Canada.

It aims to begin operations in Oct-2021, subject to regulatory approvals.

Avatar Airlines

Planned for at least a decade, Avatar Airlines is a proposed US ultra low cost start-up to be based at Las Vegas McCarran airport, operating Boeing 747 aircraft.

Avatar's roots trace back to the defunct Family Airlines, which was first proposed in the early 1990s.

In Nov-2019 Avatar said that it was expecting to handle more than five million passengers in its first year of operations, with 14 aircraft operating to/from Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Orlando, Dallas, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Tampa, San Francisco and Phoenix.

It also said that it aimed to market itself to budget travellers in markets where it could achieve close to 100% load factors. It planned a Fly Free Club for members who pay a one-time entry fee, annual membership and taxes for each flight. It also planned to make nearly all areas of its aircraft available for advertising.

Its website says that it is projecting regular fares up to 50% less than the competition, with economy fares starting at USD19, and not exceeding US99, when purchased 30 days or more in advance.

Avatar is planning a high density seat configuration and to lease the 747's cargo space wholesale to freight operators. It aims to transition to the 747-8 after three years.

In Jul-2020 it set out plans to raise USD300 million through a private placement by Oct-2020, later extended to Apr-2021. Media reports posted on Avatar's Facebook account suggest that it only received its first investment towards this total in May-2021, but they do not indicate a revised deadline.

In Oct-2020 it issued a letter of intent to British Airways to purchase 26 Boeing 747-400 aircraft, offering BA a 22% stake in the company. In Nov-2020 it offered to buy Thai Airways' 10 747s and also offered a partnership, including codeshare.

In Oct-2020, Avatar Airlines expected to launch from 2H2021, but its Facebook account currently says that the airline now plans to start flight operations in Apr-2022.

Breeze Airways

Breeze Airways, formerly known as Moxy Airways, is a low cost start-up based in Salt Lake City, Utah, operating point-to-point services between secondary airports.

It is backed by private investors, including David Neeleman, the founder of JetBlue, Azul and WestJet. Mr Neeleman is also CEO of Breeze.

It has a firm order for 60 A220-300s, scheduled for delivery from Oct-2021 to 2026. Meanwhile, it has a fleet of 10 leased Embraer E190/195 aircraft and plans to increase this to 13 this summer.

Breeze launched operations on 27-May-2021 with flights between Charleston (South Carolina), Tampa (Florida) and Hartford Bradley (Connecticut).

According to OAG, Breeze is also serving Akron-Canton (Ohio), Fayetteville Northwest Arkansas, Louisville Muhammed Ali (Kentucky), Norfolk International (Virginia), and Tulsa International (Oklahoma), as of the week commencing 21-Jun-2021.

Breeze's website indicates an increase from eight to 16 destinations, focusing on the south and east of the US and routes with no current nonstop service.

"The jury's still out" on whether all these start-ups will succeed

At the CAPA Live event in May-2021, Air Lease Corporation's Mr Udvar-Házy questioned how many of the new airlines would remain. He recalled that US aviation deregulation in 1978 led to 120 new start-up airlines - of which perhaps two or three are left.

"Now, maybe things won't be that bad", he said, "but there's a great temptation now to start a new airline, with a young workforce that's not unionised, at a much lower labour cost, and relatively young used aircraft like A320s, 737-800s, in some cases Embraers or A220s".

Mr Udvar-Házy noted the factors that Air Lease Corporation (ALC) looks at before supporting a start-up with leased aircraft.

These factors include the competitive landscape, and whether competitors can simply allocate a certain percentage of their seat capacity to match their fares and other perks, such as frequent flyer miles.

ALC also looks at the new airline's management team, the economics of the route structure, the suitability of the selected aircraft types, the growth potential and capital structure.

Will all of the current batch of airline start-ups succeed?

"The jury's still out," according to Mr Udvar-Házy.

Appendix: Airlines that launched operations in 2020 and 2021 (for the full list of planned startups, please see Part 1. 36 start-up airlines line up for take-off. Part 1: Europe)

Airlines that launched operations in 2020 and 2021 (up to 12-Jun-2021)

Name	Active Since	Business Model	Main Hub	Country/Territory	Region
1. M Jets International (Kargo Xpress)	10-Jun-21	Cargo	Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	South East Asia
2. Air Montenegro	10-Jun-21	Full service carrier	Podgorica Golubovci	Montenegro	Eastern/Central Europe
3. ETF Airways	04-Jun-21	Charter	Zagreb	Croatia	Eastern/Central Europe
4. Avelo Airlines	28-Apr-21	Low cost carrier	Hollywood Burbank	US	North America
5. Andorra Airlines	20-Apr-21	Full service carrier	La Seu d'Urgell	Spain	Western Europe
6. Aero K	15-Apr-21	Low cost carrier	Cheongju	South Korea	North East Asia
7. Sky Cana	07-Apr-21	Virtual airline	Santo Domingo Las Am's	Dominican Republic	Caribbean
8. ASL Airlines UK	07-Apr-21	Cargo	East Midlands	United Kingdom	Western Europe
9. EGO Airways	30-Mar-21	Regional/Commuter	Catania Fontanarossa	Italy	Western Europe
10. Bees Airline	18-Mar-21	Charter	Kyiv Igor Sikorsky	Ukraine	Eastern/Central Europe
11. CMA CGM AIR CARGO	08-Mar-21	Cargo	Liege	Belgium	Western Europe
12. HiSky	05-Mar-21	Low cost carrier	Iasi	Moldova	Eastern/Central Europe
13. Berniq Airways	04-Mar-21	Full service carrier	Benghazi Benina	Libya	North Africa
14. United Nigeria	12-Feb-21	Regional/Commuter	Enugu Akanu Ibiam	Nigeria	Central/Western Africa
15. Vietravel Airlines	25-Jan-21	Charter	Hue Phu Bai	Vietnam	South East Asia
16. Jiangxi Int'l Cargo Airlines	23-Jan-21	Cargo	Nanchang Changbei	China	North East Asia
17. Wizz Air Abu Dhabi	15-Jan-21	Low cost carrier	Abu Dhabi	UAE	Middle East
18. Air Taxi India	14-Jan-21	Regional/Commuter	Chandigarh	India	South Asia
19. China Northwestern Cargo Int'l	08-Jan-21	Cargo	Xian Xianyang	China	North East Asia
20. OTT Airlines	28-Dec-20	Regional/Commuter	Shanghai Hongqiao	China	North East Asia
21. Air Sial	25-Dec-20	Full service carrier	Sialkot	Pakistan	South Asia
22. flybig	21-Dec-20	Regional/Commuter	Indore	India	South Asia
23. OWG	18-Dec-20		Montreal Trudeau	Canada	North America
24. Royal Zambian Airlines	17-Dec-20	Regional/Commuter	Lusaka Kenneth Kaunda	Zambia	Southern Africa
25. LIFT Airline	10-Dec-20	Regional/Commuter	Johannesburg Tambo	South Africa	Southern Africa
26. Lone Star Air	30-Oct-20	Full service carrier	Monrovia Roberts	Liberia	Central/Western Africa
27. Humo Air	20-Oct-20	Full service carrier	Tashkent Islam Karimov	Uzbekistan	Central Asia
28. GullivAir	09-Oct-20	Charter	Sofia	Bulgaria	Eastern/Central Europe
29. Sky Mali	29-Sep-20	Regional/Commuter	Bamako Senou	Mali	Central/Western Africa
30. Lulutai Airlines	24-Sep-20	Regional/Commuter	Nuku'alofa Fua'Amotu	Tonga	Southwest Pacific
31. Lauda Europe	14-Sep-20	Low cost carrier	Malta	Malta	Western Europe
32. Luebeck Air	17-Aug-20	Regional/Commuter	Hamburg Luebeck Blankensee	Germany	Western Europe
33. AirGotland	13-Aug-20	Virtual airline	Visby	Sweden	Western Europe
34. flyBAIR	18-Jul-20	Virtual airline	Bern Belp	Switzerland	Western Europe
35. Animawings	18-Jul-20	Charter	Bucharest Baneasa	Romania	Eastern/Central Europe
36. Air Arabia Abu Dhabi	14-Jul-20	Low cost carrier	Abu Dhabi	UAE	Middle East
37. Air Falcon	07-Jul-20	Cargo	Lahore Allama Iqbal	Pakistan	South Asia
38. Zipair	03-Jun-20	Low cost carrier	Tokyo Narita	Japan	North East Asia
39. China Central Airlines	10-May-20	Cargo	Zhengzhou Xinzheng	China	North East Asia
40. Hi Air	10-Feb-20	Full service carrier	Seoul Gimpo	South Korea	North East Asia
41. STARLUX Airlines	23-Jan-20	Full service carrier	Taiwan Taoyuan	Taiwan	North East Asia
42. GS Airlines	13-Jan-20	Charter	Antananarivo Ivato	Madagascar	Southern Africa

Source: CAPA - Centre for Aviation.