Go Fly
Encyclopedia
Airline
An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...
. It was purchased by EasyJet
EasyJet
EasyJet Airline Company Limited is a British airline headquartered at London Luton Airport. It carries more passengers than any other United Kingdom-based airline, operating domestic and international scheduled services on 500 routes between 118 European, North African, and West Asian airports...
.
History
Bob Ayling, ex-chief of British AirwaysBritish Airways
British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...
, approached EasyJet's founder, Stelios Haji-Ioannou
Stelios Haji-Ioannou
Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou , born 14 February 1967) is a British entrepreneur of Greek Cypriot origin, currently a resident of Monaco. He is the scion of a wealthy, shipowning family, but is best known for setting up easyJet, a highly successful and profitable low-cost airline, with start-up funds...
, to ask whether he could visit claiming that he was fascinated by how the Greek entrepreneur had made the budget airline formula work. Haji-Ioannou not only agreed, but allegedly showed Ayling his business plan.
In November 1997, British Airways
British Airways
British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...
announced that, under the project name of Operation Blue Sky, it would launch its own low cost airline in order to meet the changing demand for air travel in Europe. According to British Airways' CEO, Bob Ayling, the new airline would, "quickly become a favourite with the budget traveller" via its pricing scheme and available flights. The new airline would be run separately from British Airways as a wholly owned subsidiary and would compete in the European low-cost market
Low-cost carrier
A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline is an airline that generally has lower fares and fewer comforts...
, dominated by Ryanair
Ryanair
Ryanair is an Irish low-cost airline. Its head office is at Dublin Airport and its primary operational bases at Dublin Airport and London Stansted Airport....
, EasyJet
EasyJet
EasyJet Airline Company Limited is a British airline headquartered at London Luton Airport. It carries more passengers than any other United Kingdom-based airline, operating domestic and international scheduled services on 500 routes between 118 European, North African, and West Asian airports...
and Debonair
Debonair (airline)
Debonair was a British airline operating mainly from London Luton Airport offering flights to and from Spain, France, Germany and Italy. It ceased operations in October 1999.-History:...
.
Barbara Cassani
Barbara Cassani
Barbara Ann Cassani, CBE, is an American businesswoman. She was the founder under British Airways of budget airline Go Fly and was the first leader of London's bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics.-Personal life:...
, who had been the British Airways General Manager in New York and had been credited with turning around the airline's flagging fortunes on the transatlantic market in the early 1990s, was chosen by Bob Ayling to set up the new venture. The airline was named Go Fly Limited in February 1998 after a lengthy debate over how to choose a name that would best suit the positioning of this new airline, which was already facing challenges from EasyJet and Virgin, among others.
The fleet consisted of Boeing 737
Boeing 737
The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...
s. The first two, 737-300s G-IGOC and G-IGOE, were initially acquired via lease from Philippine Airlines
Philippine Airlines
Philippine Airlines, Inc. operating as Philippine Airlines, is a flag carrier of the Philippines. Headquartered in the Philippine National Bank Financial Center in Pasay City, the airline was founded in 1941 and is the first and oldest commercial airline in Asia operating under its original name...
. A fourth plane, a 737-3Q8 G-IGOF was leased in May 1998.
On 22 May 1998, Go flew for the first time, from its base at Stansted Airport
London Stansted Airport
-Cargo:-Statistics:-Infrastructure:-Terminal and satellite buildings:Stansted is the newest passenger airport of all the main London airports. The terminal is an oblong glass building, and is separated in to three areas: Check-in concourse, arrivals and departures...
to Rome Ciampino. As part of their campaign against Go, the founder of EasyJet
EasyJet
EasyJet Airline Company Limited is a British airline headquartered at London Luton Airport. It carries more passengers than any other United Kingdom-based airline, operating domestic and international scheduled services on 500 routes between 118 European, North African, and West Asian airports...
Stelios Haji-Ioannou
Stelios Haji-Ioannou
Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou , born 14 February 1967) is a British entrepreneur of Greek Cypriot origin, currently a resident of Monaco. He is the scion of a wealthy, shipowning family, but is best known for setting up easyJet, a highly successful and profitable low-cost airline, with start-up funds...
and nine other EasyJet staff booked tickets for the flight, arriving in orange boiler suits. Other early routes were to Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
and Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
. In July flights to Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
were started, then to Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
in November and Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
in December 1998, followed by Málaga
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...
, Faro
Faro, Portugal
Faro is the southernmost city in Portugal. It is located in the Faro Municipality in southern Portugal. The city proper has 41,934 inhabitants and the entire municipality has 58,305. It is the seat of the Faro District and capital of the Algarve region...
, Bilbao
Bilbao
Bilbao ) is a Spanish municipality, capital of the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 353,187 , it is the largest city of its autonomous community and the tenth largest in Spain...
in April 1999 and Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
.
After leasing three further planes, including one former Air Liberté
Air Liberté
Air Liberté was an airline in France founded in July 1987. Air Liberté was headquartered in Rungis. Airlib was headquartered in Orly Airport Building 363 in Paray-Vieille-Poste....
plane and another ex-British Midland
British midland
British midland may refer to:*British Midland Airways Limited, also referred to as bmi and formerly as British Midland*The English Midlands, the central region of Great Britain...
, between November 1998 and November 1999 six additional planes were delivered direct from Boeing, leased from GE Commercial Aviation Services
GE Commercial Aviation Services
GECAS is a unit of GE Capital, itself part of the large conglomerate General Electric. The president of GECAS is Norman Liu. GECAS is responsible for the leasing of aircraft and associated equipment to airlines...
bringing the total to 13. Although this was four more than had originally been envisaged, the additional routes helped to spread the overheads
Overhead (business)
In business, overhead or overhead expense refers to an ongoing expense of operating a business...
. In a successful attempt to stem mounting losses, on June 7, 1999 a significant change in strategy was announced, cutting back on the existing schedules in favour of new routes tapping into the summer holiday
Summer vacation
Summer vacation is a vacation in the summertime between school years in which students and instructors are off school typically between 6 and 12 weeks, depending on the country and district.-Students:In some countries, students participate in programs such as organized sports, summer camps, and...
market to Alicante
Alicante
Alicante or Alacant is a city in Spain, the capital of the province of Alicante and of the comarca of Alacantí, in the south of the Valencian Community. It is also a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city of Alicante proper was 334,418, estimated , ranking as the second-largest...
, Ibiza
Ibiza
Ibiza or Eivissa is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea 79 km off the coast of the city of Valencia in Spain. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, an autonomous community of Spain. With Formentera, it is one of the two Pine Islands or Pityuses. Its largest cities are Ibiza...
and Palma. This was followed by winter schedules targeting skiers
Skiing
Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....
travelling to Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
and Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
, together with a new route to Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
.
In March 2001, Go expanded its UK operations and opened a second base in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, bringing low cost travel to England's South West for the first time.
2001 was important to Go for other reasons, in June of that year a management buyout, led by Cassani with the cooperation of 3i
3i
3i Group plc is a multinational private equity and venture capital company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It has offices in 13 countries across Asia, Europe and the Americas and had total assets under management of £12.7 billion as at 31 March 2011...
, a European venture capital company. In December 2001, Go reported that it had carried 57.3% more passengers in December 2001 then in the previous year.
Relationship with British Airways
Go was very much the brain child of Bob Ayling and when he left British Airways, Go's future was rendered shaky. In November 2000, under new chief Rod EddingtonRod Eddington
Sir Roderick Ian Eddington is an Australian businessman. He is currently chair of the government body Infrastructure Australia, a director of News Corporation, continuing his long association with that company, and has served in other senior positions including as former CEO of British...
, British Airways announced that it planned to sell Go. While no concrete reason was ever provided, rising fuel costs and a desire to focus on their core service have been cited as reasons for BA's desire to sell.
Estimated gains from the sale fluctuated, and in January 2001 British Airways admitted that its initial estimates may have been incorrect and that they now estimated Go to be worth only £200m. With the revised forecasts, there seemed to be an increase in pressure to sell Go as soon as possible, possibly within two months.
When the deal with private equity firm 3i became official in June 2001, the airline's management team remained in place due, in part, to 3i's recognition of the fact that it was this team that had launched and operated the airline so successfully in a challenging environment.
Merger with EasyJet
On 16 May 2002, EasyJetEasyJet
EasyJet Airline Company Limited is a British airline headquartered at London Luton Airport. It carries more passengers than any other United Kingdom-based airline, operating domestic and international scheduled services on 500 routes between 118 European, North African, and West Asian airports...
announced that it would buy Go for £374 million to expand its own operations. By December 2002, EasyJet and Go operated under one Air Operators Certificate (AOC) and in April 2003 the airlines operated as one, fully under the EasyJet brand. Although it was initially reported that Cassani might seek to block the deal with EasyJet, that did not happen. She did not accept a position with the new entity and in November 2003, Barbara Cassani published Go, An Airline Adventure, which chronicled the airline's existence.
Fleet
- 27 Boeing 737-300Boeing 737 ClassicThe Boeing 737 Classic is the name given to the -300/-400/-500 series of the Boeing 737 following the introduction of the -600/-700/-800/-900 series. They are short- to medium- range, narrow-body jet airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The Classic series was introduced as the 'new...
None of the 27 former Go aircraft remain in service with EasyJet, as EasyJet have now retired the Boeing 737-300.