Sky Airlines (Antalya) of Turkey filed for bankruptcy and ceased all operations on June 4 following the financial collapse of its parent company Kayi Group. Previously subsidiary German Sky Airlines (Dusseldorf) had suspended all operations on December 1, 2012.
Copyright Photo: Stefan Sjogren. Each aircraft had a different color motif. Painted in the gold version,ย Boeing 737-4Q8 TC-SKG (msn 25371) lands at Stockholm (Arlanda).
Sky Airlines:ย 
Carpatair (Timisoara) has publicly accused Timisoara Airport, Romania (its home airport) of giving unfair discounts to competitor Wizz Air according to this report by Romania-Insider.com.
Read the full report: CLICK HERE
Meanwhile the airline willย reintroduce Chisinau – Milan (Bergamo) โ Chisinau flights on July 16. The new flights will be operated three times a week during the summer season, according to the following schedule:
| ChisinauโMilan(Bergamo) | 18:30 โ 20:10 (Tuesday, Thursday)
13:00 โ 14:40 (Saturday)* |
| Milan(Bergamo)-Chisinau |
20:55 โ 00:20 (Tuesday, Thursday) 15:25-18:50 (Saturday)* |
*Starting July 20
Copyright Photo: Stefan Sjogren.ย SAAB 2000 YR-SBC (msn 039) arrives at Stockholm (Arlanda).
Video:
Carpatair:ย
Route Map:
Jumbo Stay (Jumbo Hostel) (Stockholm) is now offering the opportunity to stay and now dine on the wing of a Boeing 747 based at Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport. The company is now advertising the following:
“Jumboย Stay is not just a hostel, its also an exciting place to go on an excursion for the whole family and forย aviation enthusiasts. Non house guests are very welcome to have a look inside the airplane and to learn abouts its history. In our cafรฉ you can purchase breakfast, coffee, cookies, ice cream, sandwiches and warm meals.
For the best view of the airplane and of the taxiway-runway, you will now have the possibility to walk along our left wing observation deck and experience theย feeling of standing on top of a real Jumbo Jetโs wing.
Everybody is welcome to come and enjoy the view and to have a cup of coffee!”
The preserved Boeing 747-212B was originally delivered to Singapore Airlines as 9V-SQE (msn 21162) on March 30, 1976. However the airframe has also served with Pan Am (N727PA), Nationair (Canada) (C-FNXP), Garuda Indonesia, Cathay Pacific, Tower Air (N514DC and N620FF), Air Club International (C-GCIH), Transjet Airways (SE-RBN), Northeast Airlines (3D-NEE) and Jet Midwest (N981JM).
For more information: CLICK HERE
Copyright Photos: Stefan Sjogren. The Jumbo now carries advertising. Visitors can now have breakfast, lunch or even dinner on the wing of Jumbo Hostel at Stockholm Arlanda. You can see a fence on the wing is now protecting visitors from falling off the Boeing 747-212B.
Belowย is a view of the wing walking installation. Tables and chairs are provided on the wing!
In the front of the plane there is an elevator and stair case connecting to the main and upper decks of the Jumbo with the ground level.
Video:
Rossiya Russian Airlines (St. Petersburg) in April retired its last Boeing 737-500.
Read the full account (in Russian) from ATO.RU: CLICK HERE
Copyright Photo: Stefan Sjogren.ย Boeing 737-548 EI-CDD (msn 24989) in the Pulkovo colors prepares to land at Stockholm (Arlanda).
Rossiya:ย
Routes from St. Petersburg:
Estonian Air (Tallinn) reported a net loss of $63.3 million but claimed its turnaround is “on track”.
The company issued this statement:
In 2012, the revenue of Estonian Air was 91.5 million euros. The companyโs net operational losses was 35.8 million euros. Together with one-off costs (impairment on aircraft), the net loss for 2012 was 49.2 million euros ($63.3 million).
The costs associated with the attempt to grow the airline and expand the route network amounted to approximately 26 million euros.
โLate last year, the Supervisory Council of the company decided to change Estonian Airโs business model from growth oriented carrier to a regional point-to-point airline,โ says Jan Palmรฉr, CEO of Estonian Air.
“While the airline carried a record number of passengers in 2012, low yields from the transfer traffic did not support the airlineโs bottom line. Although the airline brought four new jet aircraft into service by the start of the summer season, overall the fleet transition proved to be more costly than planned,โ commented Palmรฉr.
From the end of January 2013, Estonian Air is working according to the restructuring plan to become cost efficient regional carrier to provide flights to the destinations critically important for Estonia, where the demand is constantly high.
โOur turnaround is on track. We are changing from a traditional carrier to a small cost effective regional airline serving a core route network of ten destinations. We have already succeeded in increasing the yield, signed collective agreements with the crew, started to divest non-core assets and thus starting to be where we want to be. This gives us confidence to sustain the business,โ added Palmรฉr.
The ten core destinations of Estonian Air include Stockholm, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Brussels, Oslo, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, Vilnius and Trondheim.
Copyright Photo: Stefan Sjogren. The airline is dramatically phasing out all types and will concentrate around the Embraer ERJ 170-100.
Estonian Air:ย
Route Map: The route map is shrinking to its core destinations listed above.
Scandinavian Airlines-SAS (Stockholm) on July 1 will launch a new route from Stockholm (Arlanda) to Madrid on a twice-weekly basis.ย This new route will complement the current service that SAS already offersย from Copenhagen to Madrid. SAS will now provide up to ten departures a weekย between Scandinavia and Madrid.
Flights will leave from Arlanda on Mondays at 9.15 a.m. (0915) returning fromย Madrid at 2.05 p.m. (1405). Flights on Fridays will leave at 07.10 a.m. (0710) in the morningย from Arlanda, returning from Madrid at 3.50 p.m. (1550). SAS is planning to use a Boeingย 737 on this route, with a flight time of approximately 3 hours and 50 minutes.
SAS has so far launched 47 new routes in 2013. The new routes from Stockholmย Arlanda fly to Vilnius, Innsbruck, Pula, Palermo, Cagliari, Thessaloniki, Tel Aviv,ย Pristina and Alanya. The new routes from Gothenburg are to Nice and Pristina.
Copyright Photo: Stefan Sjogren.ย Boeing 737-783 WL LN-RNU (msn 34548) arrives at the Stockholm (Arlanda) hub.
Scandinavian Airlines-SAS:ย
Scandinavian Airlines-SAS (Stockholm) and its Star Alliance partner Thai Airways International (Bangkok) on April 8 will expandย ย their present code-share agreement to also cover Stockholm – Bangkok,ย Oslo – Bangkok and Copenhagen – Bangkok. This will be in addition toย the present code-share destinations on Thai’s regional destinations in Asia andย SAS’ Scandinavian and European destinations.
Top Copyright Photo: Stefan Sjogren. SAS’ย Airbus A330-343X LN-RKH (msn 497) departs from the Stockholm (Arlanda) hub.
Scandinavian Airlines:ย 
Thai:ย
Bottom Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing. Thai’sย Boeing 777-3D7 ER HS-TKA (msn 29150) climbs away from the Bangkok hub.
Dniproaviaย National Aircompany (Dnipropetrovsk), which is a part of the Ukrainian Aviation Group, which it shares with AeroSvit (Kiev) and Donbassaero (Donetsk), ceased all operations and sales on January 8, 2013. The struggling airline posted a notice on its website of its closure.
Read more from the Kyiv Post: CLICK HERE
Copyright Photo: Stefan Sjogren. Embraer ERJ 145LR (EMB-145LR) UR-DPB (msn 145250) approaches Stockholm (Arlanda) for landing.
Dniproavia:ย 
Estonian Air (Tallinn) is moving ahead with its restructuring plan. The airline and its pilots have agreed to a new Collective Agreement. The pilots were threatening to strike the company yesterday and the negotiations and now a new contract adverted the strike. However the flag carrier faces major challenges for survival.
The struggling carrier has not made any money since 2006. The airline is downsizing and will rally around a fleet of just Bombardier CRJ900s for the next summer season operating on its most profitable routes.
The airline issued the following statement:
Estonian Air and Estonian Pilots Trade Association (ELA) signed a Collective Agreement which has been confirmed by the Supervisory Board of Estonian Air which had its regular meeting today. The Collective Agreement is valid up till January 31, 2014.
โThe company has signed the Collective Agreement with ELA and from now on the management can carry on the implementation of Estonian Air restructuring,โ commented Erkki Raasuke, the Chairman of Estonian Air Supervisory Council.
โAfter signing the Agreement, Estonian Air is able to focus on its daily operations on passenger servicing,โ said Jan Palmรฉr, the CEO of Estonian Air. โToday we can assure to our customers that all Estonian Air flights are operated according to the schedule.โ
According to Rauno Menning, the Chairman of the Pilots Trade Association, an agreement has been achieved regarding rest and duty times. โThe Collective Agreement will ensure the industrial peace inside the company,โ added Menning.
The Collective Agreement is regulating duty and rest time, working conditions and relations between the airline and the Trade Union.
The provisions of the new Collective Agreement signed by the Pilots Trade Association are extended to all pilots of Estonian Air. The Pilots Trade Association is uniting approximately 80 pilots, out of which 70 are working at Estonian Air.
On 13 December 2012, Estonian Air signed a Collective Agreement with Estonian Air Cabin Crew Union which is valid up till the end of 2013. The Estonian Air Cabin Crew Union is uniting approximately 80 crew members.
Read the analysis by Bloomberg: CLICK HERE
Copyright Photo: Stefan Sjogren. The aircraft of the future Estonian Air fleet will now only be the pictured CRJ900 according to Airline Route. The new Embraer E-Jets will apparently be phased out, following the same exit as the Boeings. CRJ900 (CL-600-2D24) ES-ACB (msn 15261) touches down at Stockholm (Arlanda).
Estonian Air:ย 
Qatar Airways (Doha) is interested in the privatization of Czech Airlines-CSA (Prague) according to this report by Reuters. However the Gulf carrier has not yet made a decision on whether it will bid for the flag carrier.
Read the full report: CLICK HERE
Top Copyright Photo: Dave Glendinning. Brand-new Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner A7-BCL (msn 38330) made its first visit to London (Heathrow) on December 13 where it is pictured landing on the historic first flight.
Qatar Airways:ย 
Czech Airlines-CSA:ย
Bottom Copyright Photo: Ole Simon. Airbus A319-112 OK-NEO (msn 3452) prepares to land at Stockholm (Arlanda).
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