When we least heard from Sir Stelios there was news about a potential new low-cost carrier that would focus on more long-haul routes. We guess the potential for cheap flights between London and New York is still there, but now it sounds like his low-cost model is shifting to a different continent altogether.

The founder of easyJet is thinking that the next great success in the airline industry will take place in Africa. He’s already working to get funding in place, and there are some deals being done between his group and Rubicon Diversified Investments in hopes of creating a new low-frills, low-cost airline. The placeholder name—FastJet—is now apparently the working name of the new air venture. ]]> kjb 2011-12-15T08:32:51-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/11/14/13440/989

Demonstrating impressive complete disregard for the liklihood of a global financial meltdown, AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes is launching a premium Malaysian airline to run shuttles between Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Jakarta and Singapore.

Dubbed Caterham Jet, the regional airline will cater to business executives rich enough to pay for ultra-premium flights but not so rich that they have access to private jets. We're presuming people like that exist, but it seems like kind of a specialized demographic. Even worse, it's the exact demographic that Qantas is already targeting with their new RedQ airline.

Global economic retraction plus niche customer base plus direct competition from Qantas equals...no way this works, right? We're quite sure they had focus groups and market studies and everything, but this just doesn't sound like the kind of thing that would work.]]> Omri 2011-11-14T14:03:00-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/11/13/234234/42

In case you were wondering where all the airline action is these days (you probably aren't, but we're going to tell you anyway)...it's in Asia. New airlines are popping up like pimples on prom night. AirAsia's got AirAsia Japan and Caterham Jet, Qantas is toying with RedQ and Singapore wants to Scoot. Oh, ANA (aka home of the first 787s) wants in one the game too, and they're launched a cute little airline called "Peach."

Peach is really happening, as they've just taken delivery of their first actual plane, a leased Airbus A320 painted in some hot pink and fuchsia livery. March 2012 is the projected go-time for Peach, which is based at Osaka's Kansai International Airport and planning to fly from KIX to domestic spots like Fukuoka and Sapporo, with international routes to follow.]]> JetSetCD 2011-11-14T09:50:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/9/23/7523/23025

It’s been a little bit of time since we last checked in on the comings and goings of REDjet, and it looks like there’s some good news. The Caribbean’s first low-cost carrier isn’t flying to and from the lower 48 just yet—bummer—but they are working on expanding their route network between several different slices of island paradise.

REDjet is already flying between Barbados, Trinidad and Guyana, but they’re looking to add up to three new routes this November, and the new spots include Antigua and Barbuda as well as Jamaica. New nonstop flights include Barbados to Jamaica, Trinidad nonstop to Jamaica, and Guyana right over to Antigua. Again, all the fun begins towards the end of November—like the 21st and 22nd—but you can go ahead and book your tickets now. ]]> kjb 2011-09-23T09:15:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/6/8/72923/60696

Back in the fall we were happy to learn about REDjet and their plans to bring cheap fares to one and all across the Caribbean. After all, they promised initial rates to start at just like $10 or so each way, but it looks like their business plan is already starting to hit a little bit of turbulence.

The airline is having a little trouble getting government approval to fly here and there, so as of right now, things are pretty limited. The biggest pain—at least for us—is that there are no flights to and from the United States yet, so you might need to look elsewhere if you were banking on REDjet to be your savior for a cheap weekend beach getaway. ]]> kjb 2011-06-08T09:30:02-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/5/23/82835/2377

We’ve known for a while that Vision Airlines has been attempting to take over the entire country—watch out Southwest—and it looks like this week brings even more flight options. They started out with a few flights here and there across the south—kind of like Delta—but now it seems like they’re starting to slowly expand across the country.

The big news is that they’re now all about connecting flights as well, as they’re kind of starting their very first hub in Florida. They’re concentrating on sending as many flights in and out of Destin/Ft. Walton Beach as possible, and they’ve actually already got like 100 different flight flavors. Yes—triple digits. It was kind of hard for us to believe that the first time we read it too, especially since they’ve really only been doing things like since the beginning of March. We only first heard of them during that whole Russian spy transport thing. ]]> kjb 2011-05-26T09:58:32-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/4/11/04848/4760

Las Vegas may soon welcome flights that begin treating passengers like high rollers even before reaching Sin City. Maybe. Possibly. Hopefully, if the goals of start-up airline LV Air come true. We've been following their baby steps to becoming a real airline, and another chapter begins in the LV Air book this week as they announce their desire to do more than just fly direct between New York and Vegas; they want to add over 15 more destinations to their route map before they even have airplanes.

The whole LV Air concept is a crazy idea, but it's a crazy idea that just might work. And as with anything over-the-top in LV, the airline will either be spectacularly awesome, or a spectacular failure. Let's look at exactly what they want to bring to you on their flight: ]]> JetSetCD 2011-04-13T09:47:03-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/