What's the process of starting an airline?

I would never do it, but I'm curious how one would go about founding an airline. Is it easy? How long does it take to buy a plane and get approval from the FAA and so on?

The barriers to entry are really high because you not only have to get the airline registered, you need to negotiate with the airports take-off and landing slots as well as gate space. If the airport has no available gate space, you may have to rent one from an existing airline. Also you would need people to train pilots, flight attendants and mechanics. You also need to figure out where you want to be based out of and what destinations you want to fly to. You have to figure out if it is worth competing against the existing airlines serving that market. You also need to figure out what type of aircraft you want to fly and if you want to fly new aircraft, buy/lease older aircraft. You need to line up suppliers for fuel, snacks, supplies such as blankets, pillows, toilet paper, etc.

If it was really easy, there would be a lot more airlines flying now. I think Robert Crandall, former CEO of American Airlines said that if you want to be a millionaire, start with a billion dollars and operate an airline.

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