Summary
- Three shareholders established beregional, a regional UK airline, with a social media post explaining that they were assessing the regional market in the UK.
- However, the company emphasized that it has no immediate launch plans.
- The potential relaunch of a UK regional airline could face hurdles with slot constraints at major airports in a highly competitive market.
While beregional, a United Kingdom-based company, has unveiled a potential livery for its De Havilland Canada DHC Dash 8 Q400 aircraft, the planned airline has said that it was still currently assessing the demand for a future UK regional carrier, with no immediate plans to launch an operation.
Established a few days ago
According to the UK Companies House, the country’s official company registry, BEREGIONAL LIMITED was established on April 14, 2024, with three people owning 20,000 shares, each share valued at £1 ($1.25). As such, beregional’s starting capital is £20,000 ($24,940).
The 20,000 shares are split between 10,000 preferred (fixed-rate dividend) and ordinary shares, with the latter also granting voting rights during the company’s shareholders meetings. Three individuals have shares in the company.
Firstly, John Chilman Clark holds 8,000 and 9,000 preferred and ordinary stock, respectively. The company and Clark share the same address, and the UK’s Companies House shows that the individual is an “aircraft engineer.” Clark is also the company’s director.
Meanwhile, two Spain-living individuals, Cianan and Kadema Kelly, joined the newly established company. The former holds 1,000 preferred and 500 ordinary stock, while the latter has the same amount of preferred and ordinary shares.
Related
The Collapse Of Flybe: What Went Wrong
Flybe’s first collapse came at the onset of the COVID pandemic following years of problems.
Another Flybe attempt?
The only individual out of the three with an active LinkedIn profile was Cianan Kelly, who has listed himself as having worked with the regional airline between March 2021 and November 2022 and has further experience in aviation. This includes being a ‘Strategy Advisor’ to a UK regional startup between December 2023 and March 2024.
Photo: Benthemouse | Shutterstock
However, Kelly stated that the “company did not ultimately progress to AOC and commercial launch despite having had a team of experienced leaders in place.” He has also worked for two months with Joly Airlines, a planned South African startup carrier, as well as an independent regional aviation advisor for more than a year. Lastly, Kelly listed himself as the Managing Director of beregional, where he leads the “assessment of industry demand for a future UK regional airline alongside industry experts and stakeholders.”
Related
Flybe 3.0? Twice Failed Regional Airline Brand Is Up For Sale Again
Surely it’s not possible to resurrect the airline again?
Limited possibilities
While beregional’s only official public statement unveiled a hypothetical livery for a De Havilland Canada DHC Dash 8 Q400 turboprop, the company has said that in 2024, it will “begin making assessments of the demand for a nationwide operator offering sustainable and long-term connectivity.” However, the company emphasized that,
“[…] at its current stage, beregional Ltd is an assessment of the demand for a future UK regional airline and does not have any immediate plans to launch such an operation. Any aircraft pictured are featured for illustrative purposes only.”
Considering the rather uncanny resemblance between the two regional carriers’ branding, this could be another attempt at relaunching a regional airline that would serve flights within and from/to the UK following the bankruptcy of Flybe twice. The airline initially went bust in March 2020, with the subsequent attempt failing in January 2023.
Photo: Bradley Caslin | Shutterstock
Acquiring regional aircraft should not be an issue, considering the already low demand for such frames as the DHC Dash 8 Q400. In fact, according to ch-aviation data, some 112 De Havilland Canada DHC Dash 8 Q400 aircraft are without an assigned operator. The data excludes aircraft that have already been scrapped or retired.
De Havilland Canada, which purchased the license to build and maintain the Dash 8 Q400s from Bombardier in June 2019, is also planning to restart the production of the type, slowly acquiring assets, including manufacturing sites, to do so.
Related
De Havilland Working Towards Restarting Dash 8 Production At New Alberta Site
The manufacturer will be moving its production facilities to Wheatland County in Alberta.
Slot-constrained world
However, when the UK Government, led by the Department for Transport (DfT), announced its intentions to change the current slot regulations in the country, it also pointed out one of the key problems that newcomer airlines currently face: the lack of slots. The consultation report, published in December 2023, said that,
“For example, in 2022, 12 slots at Heathrow Airport were allocated to new entrants from the pool out of a total of 152,613 summer slots available at the airport.”
The DfT added that due to the small number of slots that remain in the slot pool once historic right slots have been allocated, it is not always practical or useful to pursue slots at slot-constrained airports. According to the DfT, there are eight Level 3 slot-controlled airports in the country: London Heathrow Airport (LHR), London Gatwick Airport (LGW), London Stansted Airport (STN), London Luton Airport (LTN), London City Airport (LCY), Birmingham Airport (BHX), Bristol Airport (BRS), and Manchester Airport (MAN).
According to data from the aviation analytics company Cirium, 4,382 weekly domestic departures are scheduled in the UK in April 2024. The company’s data showed that the eight airports are responsible for 1,411 of the 4,328 weekly domestic departures, or 32.6%, meaning that a large part of the potential domestic network would be from/to these slot-constrained airports.
Photo: jremes84 | Shutterstock
However, Flybe’s network included international destinations as well. In April 2019, the original iteration of the regional airline had 2,783 departures from the UK, with 832 of those being from the eight Level 3 airports (29.8%). While the Flybe brand was certainly attractive enough to attempt to revive the airline for the second time, the question is whether the UK really needs another regional carrier within its borders.
Acquiring aircraft to launch such an airline would be relatively straightforward. But, how would the UK consumers, who can already choose between easyJet, British Airways, Loganair, Ryanair, and other airlines to fly domestically, ultimately benefit from another regional carrier, considering the congestion at the nation’s largest airports?
Related
UK Slot Reform: A Closer Look At Key US Transatlantic Routes To Heathrow Airport
With a sweeping slot reform on the cards, London Heathrow Airport has expressed concerns about the proposals.
