He intends the airline to be a longhaul scheduled cargo airline for the U.K. in the Cargolux vein. With a second plane on its way from Boeing and options on three more, he hopes soon to start flights to Chicago, Los Angeles and Hong Kong. Indeed, the United Kingdom seems more hospitable to startup business than other European countries. In Germany or France you have to have qualifications and experience to do anything. There is also a definite difference in business culture between the U.K. and mainland Europe.
European businesses tend to look for ways to cooperate while U.K. businesses compete.
Germany's all-cargo Hahn Airport eventually lined up with its big competitor, Frankfurt, for example, while Luton and Manchester airport compete heavily against the big three London airports. It is harder to imagine a Channel or AFX in, say, France or Germany not ending up as a subsidiary or partner of the flag carrier. All of these factors have, of course, been around for some time in the U.K., as have the four BCAA airlines, which were all founded in the 1970s. Yet there has been a definite widening of their horizons. One reason for that might be air liberalization within the European Union, which started in 1989 and culminated in 1997 in complete opening of the EU air market.