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"Sharp, shrewd and knowing"
Barbara Cassani is best known for founding the low-cost airline Go in the UK and for her work in driving London's successful bid for the 2012 Olympic Games.
Described by the BBC as "sharp, shrewd and knowing", Ms Cassani has spent much of her career in the airline industry; first as a manager at British Airways and from 1997 to 2002 as founder and CEO of the low-cost airline Go. Go was established with a mere £25m investment by British Airways but was profitable in less than three years. Ms Cassani headed a £11 Om management buyout, backed by 3i, and a year later the company was sold to easyJet for £374m.
In 2002, Barbara Cassani was named Veuve Clicquot UK Businesswoman of the Year and was voted UK Entrepreneur of the Year among the readers of the Daily and Sunday Telegraph newspapers. In 2003 she released a best-selling book, Go - An Airline Adventure that recalled her experiences from the start-up of the airline through to the reluctant sale to easyJet. The book was voted the WH Smith Best Business Book by readers in 2004.
Ms Cassani is in demand around the world as a lively and engaging speaker on leadership and start-ups - drawing on her experiences in the airline sector and at the Olympic bid.
As the founder of British Airways' low-cost airline Go, you and your team were able to transform an initial investment of £25m into a £374m payback in four years. Can you explain some of the key challenges you faced in achieving this remarkable feat?
Barbara Cassani
The key challenges were three-fold:
1. We were fourth in a crowded UK market. We needed to grow quickly to make up time and gain a serious market position. We also needed to grow quickly to become profitable. We estimated that the airline needed to have a fleet of at least nine planes before we would break even.
2. Our shareholder, British Airways, was sceptical that a start-up airline could make money (most of its subsidiaries had been a drain on parent company resources). We had three years to break even and a pot of £25m. There would have been no more capital if we had...