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Home » News » Former United CFO Plans A “Boring” New Airline
News

Former United CFO Plans A “Boring” New Airline

Matthew Klint Posted onFebruary 13, 2020November 14, 2023 7 Comments

a group of people in an airplane

“The best way to compete in the airline industry is to not compete.” – Andrew Levy

Former United CFO Plans New Airline

Former United Chief Financial Officer Andrew Levy plans a new airline of his own, one that won’t compete with other airlines and won’t offer many frills onboard. Yes, being boring is exactly the plan.

Levy and a group of investors bought a charter airline, XTRA Airways, in 2018. The airline shed all but ones of its aircraft and now operates as Houston Air Holdings Inc. Next week, it will take delivery of its first new aircraft, a leased Boeing 737-800 from General Electric.

Over time, it will build up a fleet of those jets, configuring them with 189 seats in a single-cabin of service. By the end of the year, Levy plans to launch commercial service.

The Plan

The focus will be to offer nonstop service to “midsize and large” airports from so-called secondary airports that currently lack or offer limited commercial air service.

Levy is not new to airline startups, having co-founded Allegiant Air in 2002 and also serving on the board of Copa Airlines. In fact, Levy sees much to learn from Allegiant, telling Bloomberg:

“We’re going to build the company a little bit like Allegiant, slowly and steadily.”

Seeking to avoid the undercapitalization problem that has hurt so many airline startups, Levy promises the new airline will be have “far more capital than we think we’ll ever need.” Already, he has raised $125 million.

But in the end, the point is to serve markets that are underserved with basic, no-frills service.

“The best way to compete in the airline industry is to not compete.

“We’re not looking for world domination here. This is about offering choice and taking advantage of a market where the fare structure is relatively high.”

CONCLUSION

Levy seems extremely sober-minded in his vision of guarded growth. Only time will tell if such an airline can succeed when so many which have also tried that approach have failed.

But there is demand from secondary airports and offering a low-cost, limited service airline may indeed prove successful.

The airline plans to begin operations by the end of 2020.

> Read More: Former United Executive Is Starting (Another) New Budget Airline

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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7 Comments

  1. Stuart Reply
    February 13, 2020 at 11:08 am

    Interesting announcement on the heals of what sounds like a similar plan for Breeze. Secondary airports are “the new black it seems.”

  2. JoEllen Reply
    February 13, 2020 at 12:15 pm

    Hasn’t this been tried many times before?…….and failed.

  3. FOJ Reply
    February 14, 2020 at 11:01 am

    I wish we could get more service at Ontario Intl ONT in Calif.

  4. POP Reply
    February 15, 2020 at 3:26 am

    I wish that people would identify former United management as either former Continental or United management. There is a HUGE difference in mindset.

    • bagwell Reply
      February 15, 2020 at 7:52 pm

      You mean legacy Continental guys are much smarter? or legacy United guys are smarter? I know this answer 😉

    • SO_CAL_RETAIL_SLUT Reply
      February 16, 2020 at 1:27 am

      Levy was neither. He came to UAL post merger. More of his time was spent at Allegiant than at UAL.

      SO_CAL_RETAIL_SLUT

  5. SO_CAL_RETAIL_SLUT Reply
    February 16, 2020 at 1:25 am

    Then expect to see the same cities that Allegiant has used for years such as Rockford, Mesa, Punta Gorda, Provo, etc.

    So, for So_Cal service, the airport used will probably be PMD?

    Look for Levy to cut a cheap, low rent/no rent/very low landing fee/fueling deal to operate out of Palmdale – while the super ultra low fare hungry pax will add to the already congested and twisty 14 freeway from north of L.A. to get on one of those spacious 738’s!

    Only 17 more pax on Levy’s planes than the passenger friendly Oasis-fied 738’s from our friends at AA.

    I’ll bid to operate all the concessions within the terminal! $5.00 Kirkland bottled water for everyone!

    SO_CAL_RETAIL_SLUT

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