How in the world does someone start an airline? Besides money....who do you contact? Where does it all begin......? I have a great idea and I think it would be very profitable........I need to win the super jackpot like yesterday.....
Melissa

~"I need to win the super jackpot like yesterday....."~

That's how you start...  

Well- I would follow Delta! Remember when they first started out they just said "we want to be a small airline", and they never had any plans to expand.

And now look, they're like one of the biggest major U.S. airlines!

You can search google or go to Delta's website, http://www.delta.com , and they will probobly have a "history" part of their site, which explains how their whole airline got started.

The best way to start an airline is to buy a bunch of CRJ's and run them in high traffic low yield routes with direct competition from more financially stable carriers that fly more cost effective equipment. Kind of like Indy air...........or Comair?

since when are United & USAirways, both in bankruptcy, more stable than an airline NOT in Chapter 11??

::: user scratches head :::

intelligence reigns on airliners.net!! stay tuned for more armchair CEO statements of the year!

1. Have a lot of cash.
2. Have a different product than your neighbor.
3. Do some market research (You'd be amazed how many airlines refer to putting a plane in a market to see how it does as "Market Research")

I asked this same question almost one year ago to date. Eerie coincidence...

You might want to do a search.

-WGW2707

Air Nostrum in Spain was founded because such an airline was non-existent in Spain, ten years ago. They provide connecting services to the Madrid and Barcelona hubs and fly point to point routes between regional airports, and added to that provide an excellent service. They started with some Fokker 50´s and now have a fleet of 55 aircraft. They recently ordered an additional 20 CRJ´s. But yes, they started with strong financial backup of a big investor... basically you need a strong basis, others have the money.

Win the lottery and pray like hell that nothing happens. By nothing I mean terror attacks or SARS etc...

Here's the link for information on how to obtain US DOT Economic Authority:
http://ostpxweb.dot.gov/aviation/X-50%20Role_files/aircarriereconauth.htm

I recently read a book about a year ago about how Horizon Air started up with a few Fokkers flying out of shared gates with Eastern Airlines out of Seattle...and how by serving certain markets and providing good service, they swept up the competition and bought out Cascade (I think that was the name) and other carriers and are now the leading Pacific Northwest carrier. Of course the investor owned a travel club (ATA still has one of those), and had a few bucks to spare. Or at least that's how I remember the story.

It all comes down to having enough bucks to start it off with, bascially. Then you need to apply for a few licenses, and I hear that is a lot of sarcastic fun with the FAA...

Comair started off with just a few props and now (even before bought by DL) we had grown quite a bit, and that was all operating with codeshares... we never had, and still don't have, our own res. system.

DL is also a good example tho, and if you read some of Branson's books he talks about how he started VS.

A hope, a prayer, a dream, a large wallet, and a great set of lawyers.