Category Archives: OnurAir

Onurair files for bankruptcy

Onurair (Onur Air) has filed for bankruptcy protection.

Previously the Turkish airline was forced to shut down In December 2021 after the Turkish aviation authorities did not renew the airline’s AOC, suspending all of Onurair’s operations.

In February 2022, Onurair’s last remaining airworthy aircraft was seized by its lessor.

The history of the company according to the company:

Onur Havayolları Taşımacılık A.Ş. was established on April 14, 1992 and launched its first flight to the Ercan Airport in Northern Republic of Cyprus on May 14, 1992 with an Airbus A320 aircraft. Subsequently, Onur Air expanded its fleet with a second aircraft in July 1992, third aircraft in December 1992 and the fourth plane in April 1993.

Onur Air increased its passenger volume as a result of cooperation with Ten Tour, one of the leading companies in tourism sector, in 1994. In order to meet the demand increase in its business volume, Onur Air acquired the fifth and sixth aircrafts, both of which were type A320, in April 1995. The fleet was further grown with addition of the seventh aircraft in July 1995. Increasing the number of aircrafts in its fleet with 2 more A320 aircrafts as sub-charters in the same year, Onur Air had 9 aircrafts, 1.556 seat capacity and 512 personnel by 1995, which was 150 when the company was first established.

After being fully acquired by Ten Tour in 1996, Onur Air added three A320 aircrafts with a larger passenger capacity. As two A300 aircrafts were added to the fleet in the same year, the seat capacity and number of personnel of Onur Air increased to 2.192 and 725 respectively.

Onur Air also continued its growth in 1997, and sub-chartered five McDonnell Douglas MD-88 aircraft and one A300 aircraft. Onur Air had 16 aircrafts in its fleet and reached to 3.503 seat capacity by the beginning of the 1997 season, and as a company with 912 employees became a significant component of the Turkish economy and the business world.

Despite being a relatively young company, by 1997, Onur Air had acquired the expertise to provide service and technical consulting about type A320 aircrafts to other airlines. Onur Air had to decrease its size as the other companies due to the economic and social problems experienced in Turkey and worldwide in early 1988. Due to recession, Onur Air had to reduce the number of the planes in its fleet to 13 in 1998 and then to 9 in 1999.

Onur Air’s objective was to get out of the crisis as a leader of its field; and thus, lent its flight teams to foreign companies, and as the Hajj period began, got through the period with minimum loss and started to grow again in 2000. Thanks to the timely measures taken, Onur Air continued its operations as the largest private airline company of Turkey again, and by adding 2 A-300 aircrafts to its fleet in 2000, increased the number of planes to 11 and seat capacity to 2.560. With addition of another A300 in November 2001, the company had 12 planes and 2.883 seats serving its passengers.

Onur Air continued its stable growth and increased the number of aircrafts in its fleet to 14 in 2002 and then to 20, 24, and 28 in the subsequent years. The company had 31 aircrafts and 4.012 seat capacity by 2006, then 29 and 25 aircrafts by 2007 and 2008 respectively.

Route Map at the end: