DALLAS – Today in Aviation, the sale of London Stansted (STN) based Buzz (UK) from owner KLM (KL) to Ryanair (FR) was completed in 2003. Back in January, FR announced that it was purchasing the low-cost carrier (LCC) for €23.9m. The final purchase price ended up being €20.1m.
FR boss Michael O’Leary commented that the acquisition went against the airline’s usual policy of avoiding takeovers, preferring to grow organically. However, the opportunity provided O’Leary with an “offer which we could not refuse.”
At the time, Buzz operated 21 routes from STN, operating a fleet of British Aerospace (BAe) 146-300s and Boeing 737-300s. FR relaunched the carrier as Buzz Stansted. The 146s were returned to KLM, while the 737s were retained.
However, the Irish LCC chose to close down the wholly-owned subsidiary in September 2004 and on October 31, Buzz was no more.
History
Buzz can trace its history back to 1980 and the formation of Air UK, an independent British regional carrier. Following a takeover by KLM, the airline was rebranded as KLM UK in 1998.
A few years later, KLM UK was feeling pressure from the emerging LCCs at its STN hub, including FR, easyJet (U2) and Go Fly (GO). It decided to establish its own “no-frills” subsidiary in September 1999.
Buzz took off for the first time on January 4, 2000. Eight 110-seat 146s had been transferred across from its parent along with several routes covering Berlin, Bordeaux (BOD), Düsseldorf (DUS), Frankfurt (FRA), Lyon (LYS) and Paris (CDG). Other routes were subsequently added.
Resurrecting The Name
In March 2019, Ryanair announced it would resurrect the ‘Buzz’ brand, using the title to rename its Polish Ryanair Sun subsidiary.
Based at Warsaw Modlin Airport (WMI), Ryanair Sun was established in 2017, initially as a charter carrier. However, when FR announced it would close its Polish bases by early 2019, it revealed it would transfer all operations to the subsidiary.
Today, Buzz has a fleet of Boeing 737-800s and 737-8200s, ‘operating charter flights to popular holiday destinations and scheduled flights within the Ryanair Group.’
Featured Image: Buzz BAe 146-300 (G-UKAG) at STN. Photo: Aero Icarus from Zürich, Switzerland, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
