Varsity Express
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| Founded | 2009 | ||||||
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| Commenced operations | 1 March 2010 | ||||||
| Ceased operations | 8 March 2010 | ||||||
| Operating bases | London Oxford Airport | ||||||
| Fleet size | 1 | ||||||
| Destinations | 2 | ||||||
| Headquarters | Canary Wharf, London | ||||||
| Key people | Martin Halstead (Founder & MD | ||||||
| Website | http://flyvarsity.com | ||||||
Varsity Express (Varsity Air Services Ltd) was a regional airline based at London Oxford Airport in England. It was never a licensed airline but sold tickets on flights operated by Linksair, but pilots were employed by Varsity Express which operated only 11 scheduled flights on behalf of Varsity Express over a space of one week in March 2010.
The airline first became public on 20 January 2010. Press releases arranged by a British aviation PR company called Emerald Media announced that Varsity Express would launch an air service between Edinburgh and Oxford in March 2010. From the outset, Varsity Express embraced social networking and microblogging media, using Twitter and Facebook to reach out to its potential clientele in the university cities where it planned to operate. Even before its maiden flight, Varsity Express announced new routes linking Newcastle-upon-Tyne with both Edinburgh and Oxford.
The company was set up and managed by Martin Halstead. Halstead secured some publicity in 2005 when, at the age of 18, he announced that he would launch his own aviation business. Halstead's 2005 business was called AlphaOne Airways. It had a number of false starts. Halstead announced services from Oxford in March 2005 and later the same year from Southampton Airport. AlphaOne Airways never flew a single flight from either airport. In December 2005 and January 2006, a limited flight programme took place between Isle of Man and Edinburgh. The business folded after having carried only 46 passengers.
Halstead's personality-based PR had underpinned AlphaOne Airways, but the venture was underfunded. Because AlphaOne did not have the necessary certification to operate flights itself, Halstead arranged for a licensed carrier to fly on his behalf. He followed the same strategy with Varsity Express, but claimed he had a sounder funding base. With the 2010 venture, Martin Halstead stated that Varsity Express had sufficient funds to operate for 18 months without carrying a single passenger. Ten days prior to Varsity's first flight, Halstead also claimed to the media that his nascent airline already employed about 20 people.
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