Tag Archives: ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500)

Air Leap ceases operations, will reorganize

Air Leap (Stockholm-Arlanda) ceased all operations on January 24, 2022.

The airline issued this statement:

The board of Air Leap Aviation AB has decided to go into reconstruction and at the same time cancel all scheduled flights from and including January 24, 2022, it is stated in a press release from the company.

The main reason why we have made this decision is that it is not financially justifiable to continue with the material and the conditions we have today. The company has kept the operation going for the last two years during covid-19 with limited support from the public sector in Sweden. Air Leap has provided and maintained important infrastructure during the pandemic, which we believe should have been given more support when considering the extensive restrictions that our industry has experienced.

We apologize for the inconvenience this will cause for customers who have purchased tickets with the company after 24 January. All customers are asked to follow the company’s website for further information in the coming days.

History from Wikipedia:

Air Leap was founded by the same owners as the airline FlyViking. After FlyViking ceased operations in January 2018, the virtual airline Next Move was founded in March 2018 to continue operating the Ørland – Oslo Gardermoen route. Next Move was renamed Air Leap after the company bought parts of the bankrupt Swedish airline Nextjet.

The parts of Nextjet became the Swedish Air Leap, but lacked an Air operator’s certificate (AOC) to operate the Swedish routes, which is why all flights in the beginning were operated by Denmark’s Danish Air Transport (DAT), the Estonian NyxAir and the Dutch AIS Airlines, among others. On June 11, 2018 flights were resumed in Sweden. On October 19, 2018, the Swedish Transport Agency awarded Air Leap Air Operator Certificate (AOC) and registered the company as the official operator of three SAAB 340Bs. The first flight under new AOC took place on October 21, 2018 from Stockholm-Arlanda to Mariehamn.

On January 24, 2022, the company suspended operations and filed for reorganization, citing financial issues as a result of a lack of government aid from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Route Map:

Top Copyright Photo: Air Leap ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) SE-MDA (msn 778) ARN (Stefan Sjogren). Image: 951877.

Air Corsica to open a seasonal route from Rome to Ajaccio

Air Corsica has announced its intention to open the seasonal route that will connect Rome Fiumicino with Ajaccio.

The flights will start on July 1, 2022 and will end on August 29, 2022. The days of operations will be on Mondays and Fridays.

The flights will be operated with ATR 72-500 aircraft.

Marco Finelli reporting from Italy.

Top Copyright Photo: Air Corsica ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) F-GRPJ (msn 724) NCE (Ton Jochems). Image: 942633.

Air Corsica aircraft slide show:

Air Corsica aircraft photo gallery:

Blue Islands to fly to Dublin and Norwich next summer

Blue Islands has announced new direct services to Dublin (below) and Norwich next summer as the local airline further boosts connectivity to and from Jersey.

This announcement will see up to six flights per week to Dublin starting from March 27, 2022 until October 28, 2022, together with two flights per week to Norwich operating on Tuesdays and Saturdays from May 24, 2022 until September 24, 2022.

Route Map:

Top Copyright Photo: Blue Islands ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) G-ISLM (msn 762) SOU (Richard Vandervord). Image: 952528.

Blue Islands aircraft slide show:

Binter Canarias cancels all flights to La Palma, airport closed

Binter Canarias has cancelled all flights to the island of La Palma due to the spreading Cumbre Vieja volcano. Three more towns on the island have been evacuated. The volcano has already destroyed hundreds of homes and forced the evacuation of nearly 6,000 people.

La Palma Airport, operated by Aena, stated air traffic was suspended “due to the accumulation of ash” in the air.

La Palma airspace and La Palma Airport (GCLA) were closed for all commercial traffic until further notice. Reason: the recent eruption of #CumbreVieja volcano. AVIATION COLOUR CODE: ORANGE
ERUPTION DETAILS:ERUPTION AT 20210919/1410Z ASH EMISSION ON THE EDGE OF VOLCANO pic.twitter.com/ywrF8DalgI

— JACDEC (@JacdecNew) September 19, 2021

The ash cloud from a volcano's week of eruptions caused the La Palma Airport to cancel flights to and from the Spanish island. https://t.co/GehKG36uUo

— AP Europe (@AP_Europe) September 25, 2021

Top Copyright Photo: Binter Canarias ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) EC-KGJ (msn 753) TFN (Paul Bannwarth). Image: 955229.

Binter aircraft slide show:

Uep! Fly starts operations today in the Balearic Islands

Uep! Fly began operations today, July 16, 2021, with five daily routes in the Balearic Islands (Spain), three Palma de Mallorca (below)-Ibiza flights and two Palma-Menorca flights.

The new airline will initially operate with 68-seat 3 ATR 72s, based at the Ibiza Airport.

Uep! Fly plans to expand its operation with routes between the islands and the Iberian Peninsula and eventually European destinations from Palma de Mallorca, Ibiza (below) and Menorca.

Why the name? The new new airline answers:

“We are Balearic and we are from the beginning rooted in our islands. Our greeting is in Majorcan and we carry it in our name “uep!” is our “hello”, our “hey!”. “Uep! Com anam?” is in our language the close and friendly “hello, how are you”. And our ‘website’ is uepfly.com. You will never forget it because it sounds like webfly.com, but in the way of our warm greeting to our customers. We want their experience to always feel like home, in our land, in our islands.”

Swiftair is a reference partner of the new airline.

Javier Rodriguez reporting from Spain.

Top Copyright Photo: EC-KKQ is pictured departing Palma on its first flight to Minorca. Uep! Fly ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) EC-KKQ (msn 763) PMI (Javier Rodriguez). Image: 954423.

Video (in Spanish):

Finnair ATR fleet to be fitted with HEPA filters for improved air quality

Finnair is installing High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters on the recirculation system of its entire ATR turboprop fleet as one of the first airlines in the world.

The HEPA air filtration system is the most effective technology for cleansing and purifying aircraft compartments air. The particulate filtration removes dust, allergens, bacteria, viruses and other irritating particles from the cabin air with an efficiency of 99.97%.

Finnair’s Airbus and Embraer aircraft are already fitted with HEPA filters, and now HEPA filters are available also for ATR aircraft.

Finnair’s ATR fleet currently consists of twelve aircraft, operated by Finnair’s partner company Norra on short haul routes in domestic and regional traffic.

The installations of the HEPA filters in the ATR fleet will begin in June and be completed by early 2022.

Top Copyright Photo: Finnair (Norra-Nordic Regional Airlines) ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) OH-ATL (msn 851) ARN (Stefan Sjogren). Image: 950980.

Lübeck Air starts operations in a pandemic

Lübeck Air started operations on August 17 between the city of Lübeck in the north of Germany (near Hamburg) to Munich twice a day using the pictured ATR 72 SE-MDB of Alsie Express.

The new airline also flies to Stuttgart.

The new airline describes its operations:

Lübeck Air’s home base is the beautiful Hanseatic city of Lübeck. We are a private aviation company from the region, operated in collaboration with Air Alsie of Denmark and closely affiliated with Lübeck Airport. We are looking forward to linking the Baltic Sea coast, home to beautiful resorts and Lübeck, a Unesco World Heritage Site, with the south of Germany from spring 2020.

Top Copyright Photo: Lübeck Air (Alsie Express) ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) SE-MDB (msn 822) MUC (Arnd Wolf). Image: 951017.

Tunisair Express acquires three new ATR 72-600s

Tunisair Express and ATR have confirmed a firm order for three ATR 72-600s. The aircraft will renew Tunisair Express’s regional fleet and supply essential connectivity, both domestically and internationally.

The new ATRs will replace the older ATRs (below).

Above Copyright Photo: Tunisair Express ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) TS-LBE (msn 794) (Jacques Guillem Collection). Image: 946567.

NAC has reached an agreement to lease nine new ATR 72-600 aircraft to TAROM

Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC) is pleased to confirm its agreement to lease nine new ATR 72-600 aircraft to TAROM, the Romanian National Air Carrier. The first of the nine aircraft is anticipated to deliver in October 2019, with all deliveries excepted to be completed by 2020.

The introduction of the new ATR 72-600 will allow TAROM to improve short-haul connectivity in Romania and support the development of local and more isolated communities, providing them with the possibility to further expand and consolidate their position in the market.

Compania Naţională de Transporturi Aeriene Române TAROM (Romanian National Air Transport Company) was founded in 1954 and developed along with the Romanian aviation. TAROM carries out its activity under the authority of the Ministry of Transports. Since June 2010, it is a member of SkyTeam Alliance and since 1993, a member of International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Note: The new ATR 72-600s will replace the ATR 42-500s (above) and ATR 72-500s (below).

Above Copyright Photo: TAROM-Transporturile Aeriene Romane (Romanian Air Transport) ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) F-WWER (YR-ATI) (msn 867) TLS (Eurospot). Image: 902852.

TAROM aircraft slide show:

Aurigny to acquire three new ATR 72-600s

ATR and Aurigny have confirmed the acquisition of three ATR 72-600 aircraft, following approval from the States of Guernsey and after the initial signature of a Letter of Intention (LOI) at the Farnborough Airshow, in July 2018.

The first aircraft will be delivered in August 2019 and all three will be equipped with the new ClearVision™ Enhanced Vision System (EVS), with Aurigny the launch customer for this cutting-edge technology.

ClearVision™ uses an external camera to display an augmented outside-view in real-time to a head-mounted visor, worn by the pilot with the EVS improving significantly the pilot’s vision. This is a major change for Aurigny’s crew as Guernsey’s location in the English Channel, see its flight operations regularly affected by fog, leading to disruptions for passengers. A study showed that an ATR equipped with the ClearVision™ EVS could have saved 50% of the disrupted landings in Guernsey, over the period of a year. ClearVision™ will also enhance operations into other destinations served by Aurigny.

ClearVision™ is an option on ATR’s latest avionics suite, Standard 3, which delivers important operational improvements and a first in commercial aviation. In addition to the EVS selected by Aurigny, ClearVision™ also offers a Synthetic Vision System (SVS) that provides the pilot’s Head-Up Display with digital images of terrain and obstacles, from an extensive database. Operators can also opt for a Combined Vision System (CVS), combining the EVS and SVS, and offering pilots the best possible vision and situational awareness.

As Guernsey’s airline, Aurigny is proud to offer a wide range of services and lifeline links to the Bailiwick and its visitors. Established 50 years ago, Aurigny have had the privilege of serving more than 16 million customers over this time, and currently operate more than 15,000 flights a year, to 14 destinations. Aurigny is owned by the States of Guernsey and their network includes services to Guernsey, Alderney, and destinations across the UK and in Europe.

The new type is also likely to trigger a new livery. The airline has offered three options on social media: