VG AIRLINES is in the process of finalizing the purchase of a substantial interest in Dutch charter carrier AIR HOLLAND. Details are supposed to be finalized overnight and should be announced at a press conference upon VG's inaugural arrival at New York JFK this coming Thursday.
SAS23 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 1, posted (11 years 1 month 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 2761 times:
First off, "substantial interest" does not mean "taking over". Next, 51% of Air Holland must remain in Dutch hands if it wants to fly outside the EU. And third, Air Holland is financially in a very precarious position at present (and don't forget it's already gone bust ... twice!) - why on earth would VG, who haven't even started their own services yet, want to get into that particular can of worms?
It's starting to sound a bit like SAir Group to me - and we all know what happened to them!
Twaneedsnohelp From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 4, posted (11 years 1 month 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 2709 times:
This is simply Freddy Van Gaever taking some control over an airline he started. I'm sure all he wants to do is more closely allign VG and Holland to feed passengers to one another and cooperate on charter.
1stspotter From Netherlands, joined Jun 1999, 507 posts, RR: 1 Reply 5, posted (11 years 1 month 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 2653 times:
Interesting news, and curious to why VG Airlines takes over an interest in Air Holland. Both airlines are active in a different market and I do not see that Air Holland will become a feeder for VG Airlines, as Air Holland main activity is flying holiday seekers to the sun.
Flying_Tuur From Belgium, joined Aug 2001, 28 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (11 years 1 month 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 2637 times:
SAS23: *** Next, 51% of Air Holland must remain in Dutch hands if it wants to fly outside the EU. ***
I don't think this is true... 51% of Air Holland has to remain in hands of a European company (member of the EU ofcourse)... As for the EU, they really don't care if it's Dutch or Belgian, as long as it is European.
I wonder if they really bring in capital for shares, or "just" the aircraft they used last weeks as a wet lease for Air Holland ?
1stspotter From Netherlands, joined Jun 1999, 507 posts, RR: 1 Reply 7, posted (11 years 1 month 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 2625 times:
Maybe it is just a way to get the VG Airlines aircraft in the air. First there was that strange deal with Armenian Airlines where VG Airlines flies Yerevan-Brussels-Los Angeles and Armenian Airlines buys seats on this flights, and now the Air Holland deal.
Hope to see an Airbus A330 in the new Air Holland livery soon
SAS23 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 12, posted (11 years 1 month 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 2440 times:
Sory, flying_tuur and TNNH ... but you're both wrong. 51% EU ownership is fine as long as you want to operate solely within the EU - but the moment you want to fly outside it then bilaterals come into effect, which invariably state that an airline must be owned and controlled by nationals of the country of registry.
Lj From Netherlands, joined Nov 1999, 4169 posts, RR: 1 Reply 15, posted (11 years 1 month 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 2412 times:
Just read that officially Tony Gram (owner of VG airlines) will buy Air Holland. If he's smart he'll use a Dutch vehicle to buy Air Holland and thus doesn't have the ownership problems.
SAS23 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 17, posted (11 years 1 month 1 day 10 hours ago) and read 2367 times:
Apuneger - I hope not as there you have one airline that hasn't really started scheduled operations yet (but keeps on announcing that it will be ordering additional aircraft ... for routes it hasn't started!) and two airlines that are commercial nightmares.
I hope Tony Gram doesn't find out the hard way how true Richard Branson was when he said "I was once asked the question "how do you become a millionaire?" - the answer is be a billionaire and start an airline!"
Established02 From Belgium, joined Jan 2002, 536 posts, RR: 2 Reply 22, posted (11 years 1 month 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 2236 times:
Today you can find an interesting interview (in Dutch!) with Freddy Van Gaever in the Belgian newspaper "De Standaard". There are however no details about the Air Holland deal.
26 Air Orange: YES I did design the VG and new Air holland livery recently and NO I was not aware and informed about this VG-move. I was astonished to read that news
27 A320-Addict: He by the way guys, tomorrow is the first flight of VG to JFK no?? He Pressclub will you be able to provide us with a nice tripreport on this flight?
28 Sabena 690: Here is the first VG Airlines flight of tomorrow to New York: IV 001 NEW YORK (JFK) 11:30 OOS Will it be the Delsey Jet? Rgds Frederic
29 SN-A330: Hi, The news about the takeover of Air Holland by Tony Gram should be on Belgian Business Television 'Kanaal Z' tonight. I'll have a look and see wha
30 Pressclub: Sorry, Airbus 320 Addict and co I can't make a tripreport for airliners.net or for my newspaper. Mr Van Gaever did not invite me or my newspaper for h
31 SN-A330: Keep us informed Pressclub ! Regards, SN-A330
32 Vfw614: Pressclub, could you shed some light into why FVG blacklists people asking about his years at VLM ? What were the circumstances under which he left th
33 Slz396: Did you hear the rumours about the reason why Tony Gram took over Air Holland? Well, VG Airlines and its 2 A330s did some charter flights for the almo
34 Jwenting: If that's the reason, it is as I expected. At the very least he'll be getting some routes, landing rights at several European airport (including the g
35 SAS23: Slz396 - something similar happened with me many years ago, when a carrier I leased a DC8 to was unable to pay its bills because its CEO had run off w
36 Flying Belgian: What Pressclub states doesn't astonish me AT ALL !!! This VG Airlines is itself very UNCLEAR !! My opinion is that the money is black money or money c
37 SAS23: The reason the Belgian CAA took so long to give him his AOC and OL was because he did not comply with their requirements in terms of business plans an
38 Air Orange: Perhaps I'm blacklisted too because I was not invited for the inaugural flight despite the promise of mr. Freddy Van Gaever himself. Air Orange The de
39 SAS23: Air Orange, I'm really surprised to hear that as there were apparently only 5 paying pax on board the flight - the remainder were guests of the airlin
40 Air Orange: Because now they have the livery design I suppose I'm not interesting anymore for VG Airlines, I do not know. Anyway I was very surprised too and I fe
41 Luchtzak: Hi everybody, Pressclub and Air_Orange are disappointed, I hope in a few months time they don 't disappoint the colleagues who are working with VG and
42 Pressclub: Hi luchtzak, I will not change my approach due to this. Thanks to the newswires i could gather some info about the flight. I just share it with you wi
43 Manni: On a positive note... I spotted the aircraft today at the tarmac in BRU, Sabena handling was loading the aircraft. All cargo positions were taken. Thi
44 SAS23: Luchtzak - I suspect that VG will not see the end of the year, unfortunately. Manni - cargo rates on the North Atlantic are extremely depressed at the
45 Slz396: indeed, cargo can be an interesting extra, but it should not be your primary source of income on a passenger airplane... certainly not on transatlanti
46 Pressclub: VG's flights to Boston delayed until june 20
47 Sabena 690: They still don't have their slots for BOS??? They said they would get them this week! Rgds Frederic
48 Slz396: They have said so much... they are nothing more than amateurs, not professionals, haven't you understood it by now?
49 Lj: Slz396, i don't think you can classify VG as a bunch of amateurs. If they were Tony Gram wouldn't buy them up. Someway I think that Tony Gram will suc
50 Slz396: I think they are preparing to pull out of the scheduled market and move into the wet lease charter market. Besides, you better check the rumours about
51 AirDD: Sometimes, I get the feeling that Belgians like to critique any business initiative taken by their fellow country men; but then Belgium has the small
52 Lj: Slz396, I know how Tony got Air Holland. However, he owns the airline now and every day it flies the loss will grow. You don't invest to loose more mo
53 Sab12: Slz396, any news for the codesharepartners?? Do you have a clue when it will be announced? I do agree with your opinion concerning VG, even with ceili
54 Manni: SAS23, The average rate for one KG of cargo on the VG flight to JFK is about 0.88€. Indeed not very much. However the containers and pallets on
55 SAS23: Manni - is the €0.88 gross or nett? Of course with no pax there's plenty of cargo space that would normally be occupied by baggage but remember you
56 Lj: Maybe slightly off topic but why on earth did VG give Air Holland any credit? One quick look on the Dutch spotterlist would reveal in which financial
57 Sabena 690: BTW what's the status of the start up airline which would fly cargo with two MD-11s? Are they still planning to launch this airline or have they aband
58 Pressclub: Some answers: x The Cargo project is called 'united pilots project': they are still studying. Som epeople of the BEAP project are also involved in thi
59 Skippy777: Thanks Air Orange breaking news for me as well.
60 A320-Addict: Hello guys! Seems like VG-airlines is a very hot topic again these days..... The so-called take-over of Air-Holland by VG came as a real surprise to m
61 A320-Addict: Does anybody have any news as well about their LAX plans?? Thx AA
62 Skippy777: There is no information on the LAX flights yet. I was invited for the inaugural flight to Boston but received late Friday the news that the start to B
63 Sabenaboy: Pressclub, for once I have to disagree with you on one topic: EAT Having flown for them I can assure you that they are very much a cargo airline. Of c
64 SAS23: A320-addict: there's one similarity between both Air Holland and VG (well, tow if you take into consideration that Air Orange designed both companies'
65 Established02: > the inaugural flight to Boston On the inaugural flight to JFK, Freddy Van Gaever was introduced (in front of a TV camera) to a representative of an
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