My friend Martin
With apologies for continuously writing about my friends, I bring you word of Martin Halstead, a former member of my tribe (read “church small group”). To quote from the article:
His feet are on the ground but his ambition is sky high. Our correspondent meets Martin Halstead, the entrepreneur who has just launched Britain’s latest passenger airline… at the of age of 18.
And a bit later on:
So this week, while Jamie proved that 29-year-old chefs know more about kids’ nutrition than the nanny state, an 18-year-old called Martin Halstead launched an airline. From April 18 there will be two flights a day between Oxford and Cambridge, which, as academics and business people know, happen to be only 65 miles (105km) apart, but are separated by 118 miles of road and an even sillier train journey that goes through London. So for £49 a journey that takes between two-and-a-half and four hours will be possible in 18 minutes’ flying time, or 70 minutes when you add in a free shuttle service that deposits passengers in the city centres.
Congratulations Martin! Finally, the secret project that everyone seems to have known about has emerged. It’s been reported by the BBC, the Telegraph and the Times, and now this blog. Good on ya, mate. Now, if I want to visit Cambridge do I get mates’ rates?
Matthew @ 18:51, March 24, 2005 to News | Comments (15)
Comments:
Mr E
It was in the Oxford Times too, on the front of the business section.
Comment added at 17:34, March 27, 2005
Matthew
Somewhat less illustrious than the others, don’t you think? I’ve discovered since (after being in touch with his PR manager) he’s been in USA Today, the Guardian, the Sun, the Mirror, the New York Times etc. etc. – and UKers, watch out for him on Richard and Judy(!)
Comment added at 20:42, March 28, 2005
kartik
That was gr8 to hear about the 18 year old entrepreneur Martin Halstead.Truly inspiring. Wishin you all the best.
Comment added at 20:37, April 14, 2005
franciscoduarte
I’ve met 17yo Martin as a APP course colleague at Oxford Aviation Training being right away impressed by his will to do something i’ve only got the courage to do when i was 25, i admired that “kid” from then on having such a respect for his decision, i’ve seen him strugle with studying, and being a teenager at the same time, suddenly he showed us all how easy he became a man, or was he one already!? Now i know how he will never fail. Wish you the best of luck, Martin, and CONGRATULATIONS!
Comment added at 13:57, April 17, 2005
Nicky Gardner
It would of course have even more splendid if the impressively youthful Mr Halstead had actually started his air service between Cambridge and Oxford. No plane ever took to the skies, and Mr Halstead seems to have evaporated.
Comment added at 14:23, October 13, 2005
Matthew
Oh, he’s still around, as is the company. Oxford-Cambridge isn’t happening for various reasons (don’t ask me). The business is still going ahead though – I met one of the pilots in Martin’s London home the other day. I can’t remember where they’re flying out of though.
Comment added at 18:43, October 13, 2005
Annie Henderson
Not so fast, Matthew. Martin still has not had a single flight. His Isle of Man to Southampton service was meant to have started Monday. No pilot, no plane, no apology. Looks pretty shabby to me. This has been a project that’s always been ‘just about to lift off’, but never quite made it down the runway.
Comment added at 14:44, November 22, 2005
Matthew
Well, as I haven’t seen Martin for weeks I can’t comment – sorry!
Comment added at 11:29, November 29, 2005
captjimmy
I’m one of the Captain’s at AlphaOne. We’ve been flying since December 14th last year between Edinburgh and the Isle of Man and I honestly couldn’t ask for a better boss!
Comment added at 20:07, January 15, 2006
Jessica
Captain Jimmy (above) This doesn’t actually ring quite true. It may be that you are possibly a Captain with Woodgate Aviation or Fly Wales, both small carriers who have operated a number of charter flights on behalf of Alpha One Airways between Isle of Man and Edinburgh. But Alpha One itself does not have a licence to fly in its own right. I detect here an attempt by someone close to Mr Halstead to talk up an enterprise that looks to the public to have been an abysmal failure. In its first 35 days of operation, up to and including today, Mr Halstead has arranged for some three dozen passengers to be flown on small aircraft belonging to properly licensed carriers (eg. Woodgate or Fly Wales) between Edinburgh and the Isle of Man. That’s about one passenger per day on average. Hardly the sort of operation that Mr Halstead promised. According to the Alpha One website, flights to Cardiff were due to start yesterday. There were in fact no flights, and with a non-functioning website and a call centre that now itself even advises passengers to book elsewhere, Alpha One Airways looks set to join the long list of European would-be airlines that never made it in the sky. Would that it were not so, but the omens surely cannot be good.
Comment added at 15:21, January 17, 2006
Claire
I think you are ambitious and truely an inspiration.I have just watched your programme on the tele and there is nothing wrong with having a dream and trying to make it happen.I wish you lots of luck. Claire
Comment added at 10:43, February 2, 2006
Daz
Martin’s thing will be a flop guaranteed. He was a thickpot at school and fluked everything in his life.
Comment added at 13:24, February 2, 2006
Hayley
I am currently writing my economics dissertation on setting up a small airline and have been trying to track Martin down for help with evaluating costs. Can anyone help? Either to find him or with info on cost evaluation.
Comment added at 14:44, February 6, 2006
Fergus
Hayley – there are around the British Isles so many small airlines which really have licenses and really fly, that you might be best to think of approaching one of them for help with your dissertation. As Alpha-1 is pretty well non-existent, it might be best to steer clear of them. Real airlines are based on more than media hype. Airlines that fly small planes (of the kind that Martin claimed his airline would) are Air Southwest, Rockhopper, Eastern Airways, Sky Commuter, Air Wales, Highland Airways, and many more. As these actually exist, any of those might be worth a try.
Comment added at 14:39, February 7, 2006
Matthew
I think I’ll bring this discussion to a halt now. There’s really no use in commenting on this issue. I know only what Wikipedia (or occasionally Martin) tells me, and I see little of Martin now he no longer lives near me. Comments closed, I’m afraid.
Comment added at 18:21, February 7, 2006