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| Founded | 1998 | |||
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| Ceased operations | 2003 (Merged with EasyJet) | |||
| Hubs | London Stansted | |||
| Fleet size | 28 | |||
| Destinations | Mainland Europe | |||
| Parent company | British Airways | |||
| Headquarters | London Stansted | |||
| Key people | Barbara Cassani Bob Ayling Rod Eddington |
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Go Fly (styled and trading as Go) was the name of an award-winning British airline. It was purchased by EasyJet.[1]
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Bob Ayling, ex-chief of British Airways, approached EasyJet's founder, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, to ask whether he could visit claiming that he was fascinated by how the Greek entrepreneur had made the budget airline formula work. Haji-Ioannou not only agreed, but allegedly showed Ayling his business plan.[2]
In November 1997, British Airways announced that, under the project name of Operation Blue Sky, it would launch its own low cost airline[3] in order to meet the changing demand for air travel in Europe. According to British Airways' CEO, Bob Ayling, the new airline would, "quickly become a favourite with the budget traveller" via its pricing scheme and available flights.[4] The new airline would be run separately from British Airways as a wholly owned subsidiary and would compete in the European low-cost market, dominated by Ryanair, EasyJet and Debonair.
Barbara Cassani, who had been the British Airways General Manager in New York and had been credited with turning around the airline's flagging fortunes on the transatlantic market in the early 1990s, was chosen by Bob Ayling to set up the new venture. The airline was named Go Fly Limited in February 1998 after a lengthy debate over how to choose a name that would best suit the positioning of this new airline, which was already facing challenges from EasyJet[5] and Virgin,[6] among others.
The fleet consisted of Boeing 737s. The first two, 737-300s G-IGOC and G-IGOE,[7] were initially acquired via lease from Philippine Airlines.[8] A fourth plane, a 737-3Q8 G-IGOF was leased in May 1998.[7]
On 22 May 1998, Go flew for the first time, from its base at Stansted Airport to Rome Ciampino. As part of their campaign against Go, the founder of EasyJet Stelios Haji-Ioannou and nine other EasyJet staff booked tickets for the flight, arriving in orange boiler suits.[7][9] Other early routes were to Copenhagen, Milan, Bologna and Lisbon.[7] In July flights to Glasgow were started, then to Munich in November and Venice in December 1998, followed by Málaga, Faro, Bilbao in April 1999 and Madrid.[7]
After leasing three further planes, including one former Air Liberté plane and another ex-British Midland, between November 1998 and November 1999 six additional planes were delivered direct from Boeing, leased from GE Commercial Aviation Services bringing the total to 13. Although this was four more than had originally been envisaged, the additional routes helped to spread the overheads.[7] In a successful attempt to stem mounting losses, on June 7, 1999 a significant change in strategy was announced, cutting back on the existing schedules in favour of new routes tapping into the summer holiday market to Alicante, Ibiza and Palma. This was followed by winter schedules targeting skiers travelling to Lyon and Zurich, together with a new route to Prague.[7]
In March 2001, Go expanded its UK operations and opened a second base in Bristol, bringing low cost travel to England's South West for the first time.[10]
2001 was important to Go for other reasons, in June of that year a management buyout, led by Cassani with the cooperation of 3i, a European venture capital company.[11] In December 2001, Go reported that it had carried 57.3% more passengers in December 2001 then in the previous year.[12]
Go was very much the brain child of Bob Ayling and when he left British Airways, Go's future was rendered shaky.[13] In November 2000, under new chief Rod Eddington, British Airways announced that it planned to sell Go.[14] While no concrete reason was ever provided, rising fuel costs and a desire to focus on their core service have been cited as reasons for BA's desire to sell.
Estimated gains from the sale fluctuated, and in January 2001 British Airways admitted that its initial estimates may have been incorrect and that they now estimated Go to be worth only £200m.[15] With the revised forecasts, there seemed to be an increase in pressure to sell Go as soon as possible, possibly within two months.
When the deal with private equity firm 3i became official in June 2001, the airline's management team remained in place[16] due, in part, to 3i's recognition of the fact that it was this team that had launched and operated the airline so successfully in a challenging environment.
On 16 May 2002, EasyJet announced that it would buy Go for £374 million to expand its own operations.[17] By December 2002, EasyJet and Go operated under one Air Operators Certificate (AOC) and in April 2003 the airlines operated as one, fully under the EasyJet brand. Although it was initially reported that Cassani might seek to block the deal with EasyJet, that did not happen.[18] She did not accept a position with the new entity and in November 2003, Barbara Cassani published Go, An Airline Adventure, which chronicled the airline's existence.
None of the 27 former Go aircraft remain in service with easyJet, as easyJet have now retired the Boeing 737-300.