Like Air Alderney and Clear Harbour Airways, Odyssey Airways, a British airline based at London City Airport, has been taking a long time to commence operations. It seems that there are many start-ups in the UK that have had difficulty taking off. Why is that the case? 1: it can take between 6 and 12 months to get an AOC (Air Operator’s Certificate). 2: purchasing and leasing aircraft that comply with the AOC that your airline has received. 3: funding (loads of airlines have failed to start due to insufficient funding). 4: recruiting staff and pilots. I think that N°1 and 3 are the most important. In the UK alone there are 4 types of AOCs (one of them is for hot air ballons[not joking!]). Funding and AOCs are interlinked. Some AOCs are very cheap, but others are expensive. So, if you want to start a commercial airline, you’re going to need a lot of money to get an AOC and sufficient funding to continue operations for a certain amount of time. Many airlines fail to launch due to insufficient funding. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t cheap solutions if you wish to create an airline. In the UK, there are A to A AOCs, that allow you to take-off and land at the same aerodrome. Of course, there are still certain rules, for example: aircraft that have a MTOW that is bigger than 5000 kg aren’t allowed to get an A to A AOC. Let’s just hope that Odyssey Airlines will be able to zoom away soon. 20th of May 2020.
Aeronews24 