Sbe727 From United Kingdom, joined Sep 2001, 390 posts, RR: 0 Posted (11 years 2 months 1 week 17 hours ago) and read 962 times:
As we all have dreams or ambitions...i was wondering if the following idea could make money...
It would be a Tour Operating company selling seat only fares to travel agents and other tour operators.
The way that i thought it may work would be that the company would have their own atc slots allocated to them for the routes that you were going to be selling and then the company would charter in other airlines with high capacity a/c to operate the routes.
Lets say...I have 2 slots for LGW-TFS-LGW on a friday and charter in a A300 with high density seating to operate the route.
My company would be selling these seats to travel agents,tour operators and the public.
So in brief:
Im a tour operator
I have these allocated slots
What i need to ensure is that i can have an a/c to operate these flights that i sell.
Im sure that wouldnt be to much of a problem with the amount of ad-hoc charter companies there are out there.
You have European Air Charter, Air Atlanta, Prime, Cougar, Transjet and im sure there are more.
Please tell me if the idea i have could work...i know there are lots of risks involved...but could i make money out of this.
Has anyone ever tried something like this...is it possible for a tour operator to have allocated atc slots.
How much capital do you think i would need to do this.
Hope you can help...and please...this is just an idea that i had.
Lekky-Man From United Kingdom, joined Feb 2002, 371 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (11 years 2 months 1 week 14 hours ago) and read 851 times:
I'm not too sure if this would work but don't the tour operators already do something like this already?
I've been on many a Britannia B757, or Monarch A.300 and there are plenty of people travelling with different tour operators.
with respect, good idea though!!
Cheers,
LM
Airchabum From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2001, 769 posts, RR: 12 Reply 3, posted (11 years 2 months 1 week 13 hours ago) and read 808 times:
Hi SBE727
As Greenjet says, you'd need to have an AOC (ie be an aircraft operator) in order to get given runway slots by the airport operator (GAL in yr case). Not to be confused with ATC slots which are allocated when you file yr flightplan.
There is no official value on airport slots, so you couldn't actually buy them, although airlines have traded them in the past.
Also if you did manage to get some slots, you'd lose them if your ad-hoc charters kept operating 'off-slot' (ie late) and I imagine it would be difficult getting different carriers to operate at the same time every week.
Steady Eddie From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2002, 173 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (11 years 2 months 1 week 1 hour ago) and read 769 times:
Also SBE you would need an ATOL licence if you were selling seats to tour operators or the public, this would involve lodging a very large security bond with the CAA to protect your customers in the event that you ceased trading. Also just to reaffirm only AOC holders are permitted to hold runway slots.
Sbe727 From United Kingdom, joined Sep 2001, 390 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (11 years 2 months 1 week ago) and read 745 times:
thx for your advice there, i did wonder if tour operators could do this or not.
I realise that you need to have a bond etc and the correct protection (ATOL).
The company would have an arrangement with a particular airline to operate the flights for a set period.
Using say Prime with their A300 on most routes if that would be possible.
So that would be a preffered airline, however, the other carriers could be used for other work.
As i say...this was just an idea and i appreciate your thoughts and suggestions.
Steady Eddie From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2002, 173 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (11 years 2 months 6 days 23 hours ago) and read 726 times:
so all you will be doing is what every other tour operator does - selling/consolidating flights on carriers to popular destinations, its not really original and is also massively competitive with low margins. Sorry to dampen your enthusiasm m8
Sponsor Message: 
From United Kingdom, joined Sep 2001, 390 posts, 
From Ireland, joined Aug 2001, 924 posts, 
Printer friendly format 
