Martin Richard Alexander Halstead (born
) is a pilot and former entrepreneur who founded two short-lived aviation businesses.
Biography
His secondary education was at
Abingdon School
Abingdon School is a day and boarding independent school for boys in Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. The twentieth oldest independent British school, it celebrated its 750th anniversary in 2006. The school was described as "highly ...
and
D'Overbroeck's College
d’Overbroeck's is an independent, co-educational day and boarding school for students aged 11–18. The school is owned by Nord Anglia Education and is located in Oxford, England. It is made up of three school sites; Years 7-11, The Interna ...
. After a spell at
Oxford Aviation Training, since early 2008 rebranded as
Oxford Aviation Academy
CAE Oxford, part of CAE Inc., is an ab initio flight training network. It provides integrated aviation training and resourcing services. Professional airline pilots have been trained at the Oxford Aviation Academy flight school since 1961.
OA ...
, Halstead decided to set up his own airline and focus on managing an aviation business.
Alpha One Airways
Halstead first attracted media attention in the UK in March 2005 when, at the age of 18, he announced the launch of
Alpha One Airways
Martin Richard Alexander Halstead (born ) is a pilot and former entrepreneur who founded two short-lived aviation businesses.
Biography
His secondary education was at Abingdon School and D'Overbroeck's College. After a spell at Oxford Aviation ...
.
Alpha One Airways never applied for an
Air Operator's Certificate
An air operator's certificate (AOC) is the approval granted by a civil aviation authority (CAA) to an aircraft operator to allow it to use aircraft for commercial purposes. This requires the operator to have personnel, assets, and system in pla ...
. Instead, Halstead planned to subcontract the operation of flights to another carrier.
Alpha One Airways was due to launch its commercial services on the route linking Oxford and Cambridge with flights starting on 18 April 2005. Alpha One never operated any services on the route, although from 1 February 2006 another small airline, Sky Commuter, for a few weeks had scheduled flights linking the two university cities.
After several changes of focus and false starts, the company eventually operated a route between the Isle of Man and Edinburgh using Piper Chieftain aircraft. In January 2006 it suspended operations having carried fewer than a hundred passengers. Alpha One Airways was supposedly going to refocus its operations, but nothing further came of the venture.
After Alpha One Airways
In an interview with
The Oxford Times
''The Oxford Times'' is a weekly newspaper, published each Thursday in Oxford, England. Originally a broadsheet, it switched to the compact format in 2008. The paper is published from a large production facility at Osney Mead, west Oxford, and ...
in October 2006, Halstead reflected on the Alpha One experience. The newspaper reported that Halstead was working again, this time at a music shop in
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
city centre.
Halstead became a director of the company which owned the shop.
Varsity Express
In January 2010 Halstead set up a new aviation venture called
Varsity Express
Varsity Express (Varsity Air Services Ltd) was a regional airline based at London Oxford Airport in England. It was never a licensed airline, instead it sold tickets on flights operated by Linksair. Varsity Express operated only 11 scheduled fl ...
.
The new company started services between Oxford and Edinburgh on 1 March 2010 and suspended operations one week later, after a take over by the aircraft leaser, LinksAir, fell through. Mr Halstead stated that he lost £3,500 of his own money in the venture.
See also
*
Varsity Express
Varsity Express (Varsity Air Services Ltd) was a regional airline based at London Oxford Airport in England. It was never a licensed airline, instead it sold tickets on flights operated by Linksair. Varsity Express operated only 11 scheduled fl ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halstead, Martin
1986 births
Living people
People from Oxford
British businesspeople
Businesspeople in aviation