Monthly Archives: February 2009

airBaltic to start Riga-Dushanbe route on June 1

airBaltic (airBaltic.com) (Riga) will start the Riga-Dushanbe (Tajikstan) route on June 1.

Ryanair to eliminate use of check-in counters

Ryanair (Dublin) announced this week it will eliminate the use of check-in ticket counters in order to reduce costs. The airline will use on-line check-in procedures to replace the old physical counters.

AeroMexico to start Mexico City-Montreal flights

AeroMexico (Mexico City) will launch twice-weekly nonstop flights between the MEX hub and Montreal (Trudeau) on April 9. This represents the second Canadian city. Toronto comes on line on March 3 with daily service to MEX. Both routes will be served with Boeing 737s.

Turkish Boeing 737-8F2 crashes at Amsterdam

TC-JGE prepares for takeoff at Lisbon prior to today’s accident. Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth.

Turkish Airlines’ (Istanbul) flight TK 1951 from Istanbul to Amsterdam crashed today in light fog short of runway 18R in an open field several hundred meters north of the security fence at AMS near the A9 Motorway. Boeing 737-8F2 TC-JGE (msn 29789) split up into three pieces but there was no fire. 127 passengers (including a baby) and seven crew were on board. There are now nine reported deaths (mainly in the rear section) and at least 20 injured passengers and crew.

Virgin Blue institutes new cost-cutting measures

Virgin Blue Airlines (virginblue.com.au) (Brisbane) is taking new measures to cut costs including moving four Boeing 737s to international routes, assigning two other aircraft to “spare” status and imposing a hiring freeze. The company lost A$101 million in the six months ending on December 31, 2008.

Copyright Photo: Virgin Blue Airlines (virginblue.com.au) Boeing 737-7FE WL VH-VBY (msn 34323) (VB’s 50th Aircraft) SYD (John Adlard). Image: 900392.

Gulf Air finalizes lease for 4 Boeing 777-300 ERs

Gulf Air (Bahrain) has finalized a lease deal with Jet Airways for the 42-month lease of four Boeing 777-300 ERs. The first three aircraft will arrive in March 2009 and the fourth in May. The airliners will be wet leased for the first six months as the new type is phased in with Jet Airways crews. The remaining three years of the lease will be on a dry lease basis. Jet Airways is leasing out what it considers to be surplus equipment during the economic downturn.

Copyright Photo: Gulf Air Boeing 767-34P ER A40-GV (msn 26235) (Grand Prix 2006) DXB (Konstantin von Wedelstaedt). Image: 900546.

Cyprus Airways to lease two Airbus A320s

Cyprus Airways (Nicosia) will lease two newer Airbus A320s for the summer 2009 season. The company will also sell off two older A320s. The newer A320s will arrive by April in time for the summer season.

Baltia Air Lines to start New York-St. Petersburg, Russia in June

Baltia Air Lines (New York-JFK), formed by Latvia-born Igors Dmitrovsks, now plans to finally launch Boeing 747-400 service between JFK and St. Petersburg, Russia in June 2009. It is also considering service to Kiev, Minsk, Moscow and Riga although the current economic situation may contain the company’s plans.

Lion Air MD-90-30 lands without its nose gear

Lion Air’s (Jakarta) McDonnell Douglas MD-90-30 PK-LIO (msn 53490) made an emergency landing at Batam on February 23, 2009. The airliner was on a flight from Medan to Batam when it was forced to make the landing without its nose gear locked in place. No one was injured in the accident.