Metis TransPacific Airlines
Metis TransPacific Charter Airlines is an airline that claims to be based in Macau, People's Republic of China; the actual existence of the airline has been disputed. Its website is no longer online.
As advertised by the company
Claimed to be founded by Christopher Colbourne, this entity started to solicit passengers on April 8, 2007 [1]; its official launch date was originally December 14th, 2007. The airline stated on the website that "\"THE GRINCH\" stole Christmas" and the supposed launch date has been postponed until January 24th, 2007. [2] According to its website, the first flight is from Vancouver to Macau, makes the airline the first North American carrier to fly to Macau, at the cost of 1,500 Hong Kong dollars.[citation needed] The airline stated that it had a flight from Vancouver on November 30, 2007 to Macau, but it is stated that it was a website error.[citation needed]
Primaris Airlines had offered to operate on behalf of "Métis TransPacific Airlines." [3]
On November 5, 2007 the airline posted a request for aircraft at SpeedNews [1]
As of February 21, 2008, the website was blank except for a notice that the page is "under construction."
Suspected Scam
Due to the unusually low claim price of the tickets, and the fact that the websites of Macau International Airport and Vancouver International Airport carried no mentioned of such an airline, even as a charter airline, it has raised many doubts. Skytrax has issued an article with its CEO Eduard Plaisted claiming it as a spoof operation [4]. Furthermore, as it stated by Metis TransPacific itself, the only method to receive a full confirmation for a booked ticket is a direct wire transfer of the ticket price to the "Metis TransPacific" bank account, located in Macau.
Members on Airliners.net stated that the photo on Metis TransPacific's website was photoshopped from a photo posted to the website, with a recoloured version of the logo of Bali Air[5][6][7] Furthermore, all the aircraft statistics shown in the fleet section of the airline's website are incorrect, such as stating that the 757 equipment has almost the same fuel capacity and range as the 747-300 equipment. [8] Also, reservations originating in YVR cannot be made. When attempting to make a reservation, the customer is asked to give his or her e-mail address, instead of being able to make a reservation online. To pay for the reservation, the customer is asked to make a wire transaction to an account in Macau.
References
- ^ "Home," Metis TransPacific Airlines
- ^ "Home," Metis TransPacific Airlines
- ^ "Decision No. 392-A-2007," Canadian Transportation Agency
- ^ Macau based Metis TransPacific Charter Airlines seems like a true bargain airline - until you realise they do not fly., accessed on 28 November 2007.
- ^ Warning: Metis TansPacific - A Fake Airline! , accessed 28 November 2007
- ^ "Boeing 747-400," Metis TransPacific Airlines
- ^ Original photo by John Yu, Airliners.net Accessed 28 November 2007]
- ^ "Our fleet," Metis TransPacific Airlines