| Airline: | Debonair |
| Traded As: | Easdaq component |
| Iata: | 2G |
| Icao: | DEB |
| Callsign: | DEBONAIR |
| Commenced: | 19 June 1996 |
| Ceased: | 1 October 1999 |
| Hubs: | London Luton Airport |
| Frequent Flyer: | Destinations |
| Fleet Size: | 13 (at closure) |
| Headquarters: | 146 Prospect Way, London Luton Airport, Luton, Bedfordshire, LU2 9BA [1] |
| Key People: | Franco Mancassola (CEO) Michael Harrington (Deputy CEO) Silvio Petrassi (General Manager) [2] |
| Num Employees: | 480 (at closure) |
| Website: | http://www.debonair.co.uk/ |
Debonair was a British airline headquartered at London Luton Airport offering flights to and from Spain, France, Germany and Italy. It ceased operations in October 1999 due to financial difficulties.[3]
Debonair was founded in 1996 by Franco Mancassola who had previously worked for Continental Airlines, and founded Discovery Airways in Hawaii.[4] Debonair's first flights took off on June 19, with weekday daily flights to Munich, Mönchengladbach and Barcelona from London Luton Airport.[5] From July, Debonair also added a Madrid route alongside Newcastle and Copenhagen, and later in November a direct London Luton to Rome flight.[6] [7]
It floated shares on the Easdaq in September 1997 and raised $41.9m.[8] By mid-1998, the airline was on a heavy cost-cutting strategy which was beginning to slow the losses compared with the year prior.[9] Although at the same time, Debonair sought to introduce special services for its frequent flyer programme including fast track boarding and inclusive meals onboard and on some routes its 'ABC - Affordable Business Class' product.[10] [11] Debonair appealed to business travellers, who made up 58 perecent of its passengers by 1998.[12] In late 1998, Debonair entered a working relationship with Lufthansa, leasing five aircraft for their CityLine operations from Munich. Whilst the aircraft were in Lufthansa colours, the flights were operated by Debonair staff.[13] Debonair also entered a similar agreement with Swissair who were launching their Express brand to operate a BAE 146 on their behalf from Zurich to Venice and Bologna.[14] Debonair also maintained a codeshare agreement with AB Airlines, which resulted in the lease of a Boeing 737-300 from January 1999 remaining in service until Debonair's operations ended.[15]
On 1 October 1999 the airline's shares were suspended, and the following day the operations of Debonair were grounded following a court ruling to appoint Deloitte as administrators.[16] [17] [18] [19] At the time of closure, the airline had just embarked on a new national advertising campaign, which was pulled from the media at the last minute. However, some advertising made it onto London Underground trains.[20] Following the closure of Debonair, founder Mancassola was critical of British Airways subsidiary Go as a cause for the airlines demise.[21]
At the time of closure, the Debonair fleet consisted of the following aircraft:
| Aircraft | In service | Orders | Passengers | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CY | Y | Total | |||||
| Boeing 737-300 | 1 | - | - | 139 | 139 | Named "English Rose". | |
| BAE 146-100 | 2 | - | 77 | - | 77 | ||
| BAE 146-200 | 5 | - | 80 | - | 80 | ||
| 4 | - | 82 | - | 82 | |||
| 1 | - | - | 96 | 96 | |||
| Total | 13 | - | |||||
| Boeing 737-300 | 2 | 1998 | 1999 | Leased from AB Airlines |
| BAC 1-11 | 1 | 1999 | 1999 | Leased from European Aviation |
| Fokker 50 | 1 | 1998 | 1999 | Leased from Denim Air |
| BAE 146-100 | 1 | 1997 | 1997 | Leased from Flightline |