Debonair (airline)

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.

History
Debonair was founded in 1996 by Franco Mancassola who had previously worked for Continental Airlines, and founded Discovery Airways in Hawaii. Debonair's first flights took off on June 19, with weekday daily flights to Munich, Dusseldorf and Barcelona from London Luton Airport. From July, Debonair also added a Madrid route alongside Newcastle and Copenhagen, and later in November a direct London Luton to Rome flight.

It floated shares on the Easdaq in September 1997 and raised $41.9m. By mid-1998, the airline was on a heavy cost-cutting strategy which was beginning to slow the losses compared with the year prior. 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. Debonair appealed to business travellers, who made up 58 perecent of its passengers by 1998. 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. 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. 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.

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. 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. Following the closure of Debonair, founder Mancassola was critical of British Airways subsidiary Go as a cause for the airlines demise.

Fleet
At the time of closure, the Debonair fleet consisted of the following aircraft: