With Global Airlines convincing the co-founder of OnlyFans to invest in an all-Airbus A380 startup airline flying transatlantic, the ‘CEO’ of Avatar Airlines must think the time is ripe to dust off his business plan that hasn’t taken off in 30 years… and that’s sent people to prison along the way.
They claim in a new release,
Avatar Airlines, the industry’s next big disruptor, is set to revolutionize the airline industry by transforming the traditional long-haul Boeing 747 aircraft into an innovative, cost-efficient supersized passenger and cargo airline brand. The company aims to bring back the era of flying big, offering travelers an unparalleled experience and opening up new opportunities for commercial hauling solutions.
One of the key differentiators of Avatar Airlines is its exclusive use of the wide body 747-400 equipped with 581 seats. The airline will proudly offer all 539 economy seats at an incredible price range of $19-$99 every day, every flight, when purchased 30 days or more in advance.
They used to call it Family Airlines. The founder even went to prison for tax and securities fraud in connection with raising money for the venture.
It’s been 3 years since I’ve seen them poke their head up with the plan to fly Boeing 747s domestically. That’s fine for service between Los Angeles and Las Vegas on a Friday afternoon, I suppose. But what do you do with the plane out of Albuquerque on Wednesday? This has been their proposed route map:
Every few months they would put out a new idea like hunting for used Boeing 747s on social media offering to take British Airways Boeing 747-400s off the U.K. flag carrier’s hands in exchange for stock and suggesting they’d supplant American Airlines as BA’s U.S. domestic partner.
They also issued a ‘letter of intent’ to Boeing to buy 30 747-8s four years ago. I’m not sure what their intent means at this point, considering that the FAA elected to stop processing their application to become an airline in… 1993.
Avatar said they “plan[..] to be valued at” over $1 billion “before [their] first flight leaves the ground.” I’m not sure what it means to plan to be valued at?
I used to think Avatar Airlines was a run of the mill pump and dump securities scam, but then I figured out they must be a job scam, too, when they were trying to sell pilots their jobs. They were asking $75,000 to $150,000 for someone to become an Avatar Airlines pilot, emphasizing that they’d have a low seniority number!
During the pandemic they claimed to be a better investment than money-losing legacy airlines since they weren’t an airline yet and therefore weren’t losing billions! That didn’t stop them from applying for government airline subsidies, of course.
(HT: Enilria)
COO Diesel Dan Eikleberry has to be in his mid 70s by now. He can’t even fly for Avitar.
Albuquerque? Raleigh/Durham? With all-economy 747s? The lesson here is not to mix doing a route map with peyote.
It’s a tax / grant hustle, not an airline.
Those are 747-8’s in the pictures. Your article specifies 4’s. Previously published articles detailed the almost extinct 4.
@Thomas Finn – As I write, Avatar ‘sent a letter of intent’ to Boeing to acquire 30 747-8s
@O’Hare Is My Second Home
I read this to mean there are 42 premium/business class seats
747-400 equipped with 581 seats. The airline will proudly offer…539 economy seats!
With the OnlyFans tie in, maybe there should be an in the air meet and greet with OnlyFans stars to push seat sales. Of course, the standard dress code needs to be altered for the stars.
Thomas Finn, the 747 in the pic is definitely NOT a 747-8i. 747-8i’s including the cargo version has sculpted wings and no folded wing-tips
If I was submitting a letter of intent for aircraft no longer in production, I’d choose L-1011’s.
Wide-body 747 service to Cancun would be nice. I actually recall, long ago, when airlines advertised wide-body domestic service. For a long time, now, airlines promote point-to-point in tiny regional jets. Only Europeans get wide-body service to Cancun.
Coming from a bigger-is-better passenger perspective.