Iron Maiden Rock Star Vows To Save Troubled UK Airline

By: EW News Desk Team   Date: 23 November 2011

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EW News Desk Team

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23 November 2011

Rock star Bruce Dickinson, lead singer for one of the world’s most popular heavy metal bands Iron Maiden, has promised to resurrect UK chartered airline company Astraeus Airlines, after the company went into administration on Monday due to financial difficulties.

The 53-year-old singer had been piloting Astraeus’s planes for close to a decade, after received his pilot licence back in the early 1990s in Florida. Since then, he has personally captained flights all across the world for Astraeus, including transporting 200 UK citizens home from Lebanon during the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in 2006, and flying over 180 holidaymakers who were stranded in Egypt by the collapse of XL Airways in 2008.

The musician was captaining a plane from Saudi Arabia to Manchester UK, when he learned in mid-flight that the airline was due to be placed into administration and had to cease operations immediately. The 250 passengers onboard the plane were apparently unaware of the demise of the airline until they landed at Manchester airport at about 2.35pm.

The UK charter airline, which leases planes to major airline carriers to cover routes when needed, has blamed "lower-than-expected levels of business" during the summer, a lack of contracts for winter 2011-2012, and "some extremely bad luck with a number of technical issues," for its failure.

Astraeus’s CEO Hugh Parry told The Mirror that while his staff had “battled hard” to save the company, financial realities left the company with “no option but to cease all operations and put Astraeus Airlines in the hands of the administrators. 

"Every effort has been made to ensure that any passengers affected already have or will be able to complete their journey," he added.

Dickinson, who also flew the Liverpool football team to Naples last year, is apparently trying to formulate a plan to restore the company to its former glory. 

"Firstly, I'm already working on a plan to try to save Astraeus, or at least create a new business with new jobs for my friends and former colleagues at Astraeus," said Dickinson, as quoted by UKPA. "This is a serious plan involving people who are very good at their jobs.”

"I see the potential for a viable operation should acquisition of the company prove achievable." 

The iconic rock star also plans to create 1,500 new jobs in the aerospace industry as part of an undisclosed project in South Wales, as well as a new flight training company.

"I'm extremely upbeat about these opportunities, particularly the potential for a revival, in some form, of Astraeus,” he said.

"The enthusiasm is also fuelled by the deluge of messages I received from the second I switched on my phone after landing the last Astraeus flight on Monday, and, of course, the interest of a number of prospective investors."


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