You guys know I have an unhealthy obsession with featuring startup airlines that have little chance of actually starting up, right? Well, this one was too good to ignore. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you XAIR.
XAIR has decided that it wants to jump in to the public charter 
world with a most unusual effort. The plan is to fly from its Anchorage base to Seattle. Oh, by the way, they’ll be flying in an all-business class configuration. Oh boy. This’ll be good.
Let’s take a look at this 3 1/2 hour route. Alaska owns the market with 13 flights per day IN THE WINTER. From the first flight out of Seattle at 6a until the last flight at 1145p, there is never a gap of more than 2 hours between flights. In the summer, they have about 20 flights a day with rarely more than an hour in between. If you’re a frequent business traveler flying up front, that schedule is very appealing.
So,what’s the chance there’s really demand for a new operator in here? Spokesperson Johnie Martinez says “there is a segment of the traveling public unhappy with the barrage of additional fees for services and amenities that used to be included in ticket prices.” Yeah, but that’s not the segment that’s flying First Class. Those people don’t pay extra fees.
The airline had a quote on its website that says, “There is no failure except in no longer trying.” Now the quote is “Never, never, never give up.” That may be true if you have a good plan, but in this case, the outcome is certain to be better if you don’t try at all. Please, save your money.
My guess is this airline is dead in the water already. They have a Twitter account, but they’ve only tweeted twice since early October. One touted a new survey, so I took it. They asked me a bunch of questions about where I was from and then they just asked how important frequent flier programs were. That was it.
The other tweet? Just a link sharing that Virgin America was now a citizen. I think they sent that out just to prove that someone was still manning that account. After all, they have a whopping 30 people following them. Gimme a break.
18 comments on “Who the F*&@ is XAIR?”
I don’t know Brett, their website looks pretty legit! And it being Jan 13th and their website has “Information regarding whole charter packages for Alaska clients will be available begining January 1, 2010” or having great grammar “Be sure to check back soon for details this new product!” gives me confidence :)
Do we know if they have filed any paperwork or are real in anyway? Couldn’t anyone just create a website for a “new” airline?
Seems odd since all business type service in the lower 48 has been tried and failed in markets that get a high amount of business and leisure travel, how would they expect a market that gets mostly locals and cruise passengers in the summer to be in demand.
The only people making big money in Alaska are the oil and fishing industry workers and all their money goes to bars, shady ladies, or sent home to their wives. They are not about to fly a business only carrier. Since Alaska covers the state and the western part of the lower 48 pretty well and has many partners, how does Xair think they can ‘steal’ that business.
Will this be 747 service by chance?…….lol
Heh, reading about them and one of the partners said, “but there are other hurdles, such as finding an airplane to fly the route,” haha, you think? Of course they could do what JetAmerica did and just photoshop one with their livery on it!
Quoted here: http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2009/08/24/daily19.html
Clearly I don’t know much about Alaska, but 20 flights a day?! Really? And that doesn’t even include whatever service other airlines offer. That’s amazing to me, for such a population-sparse state.
David Parker Brown wrote:
Yep, I could go create a website for my new airline serving Oklahoma City 10 times daily with 747s from Tulsa.
David SFeastbay wrote:
But of course – if they have funding, something tells me Dan will be all over it.
Brett —
Did you call them? Seems they should have been given the opportunity to comment on your post, or perhaps they would have answers to all the rhetorical questions you pose. I don’t disagree with anything you’ve said, but why not give them a ring to see what they say?
Hey, challenging Alaska Airlines is just Phase 1!
Phase 1: Collect passengers from the established routeholder with an aircraft config that doesn’t make sense for either the route or the current economic environment
Phase 2: ?
Phase 3: Profit
Get it?
I predict failure.
I’ll be starting a new airline next week. I’ll let you know when the website, twitter account, and facebook fan page are ready.
Oh, and I need planes? Screw that
@ ASFalcon13:
And I suppose the flight attendants would be dressed as elves. It would be a cashless cabin that only accepts payment in …..
More than any other group, the people up there are fiercely loyal to Alaska Airlines.
This thing is dead in the water, or ice, if you prefer.
(cough) Family Air (cough)
This post reminded me of my perennial favorite in the category: SmintAir (Smokers’ International Airline). Sadly, their website (with it’s own grammar flaws) is no longer operational. I guess we’ll never see the all premium service from Dusseldorf to Tokyo on those old SAA 744s, complete with FAs in go-go boots and hot pants hawking cheap Chinese baubles.
Hrm…. we should at least give these guys time to get their act together. It looks like they are just a “business plan” airline and hunting for interest/investors.
Regarding Alaska, just take a look at everyone that USED to fly up there. Mark Air, Wein Air Alaska, and I believe I am forgetting one.
I believe its a crowded market, and if they enter it, they will need a lot of support. Just look at American Eagle in the BOS-NYC-DC shuttle markets.
Let’s see how long they can afford to keep the web site up-
This may help keep this airline grounded:
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/item.aspx?type=blog&ak=15014.blog
How bout we save use of the term “airline” for entities that actually qualify for use of the term.
Its kind of like fox “news” without the news. Let us not forget that the likes of Sarah Palin come from up there! …need I say more!
I think they should fly from Palmdale to Anchorage.
LOL
Where do people get money for stupid ideas?