Tag Archives: ATR 72-212A

Can LIAT survive the latest challenge to its fragile inter-island ownership structure?

LIAT (Antigua) is once again facing an uncertain future as there are new fractures in the delicate inter-island ownership alliance.

The government of Antigua and Barbuda, according to the Antillean Media Group, is “furious over a leaked document which detailed plans for Barbados to divest its majority share in regional airline LIAT and to take several aircraft from its fleet to form a new airline”

Under the leaked report, Barbados has given the proposed new airline a code-named “Newco” handle. This new airline, if implemented, would compete against the gutted LIAT.

Antigua Prime Minister Gaston Browne has condemned the LIAT board and its proposed plan.

LIAT is currently owned by seven Caribbean governments, with three governments being the major shareholders (73.4%). Private shareholders (10%) and employees (5.3%) own the remaining shares.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: Eurospot/AirlinersGallery.com. Barbados wants to take the new ATR 72-600s (ATR 72-212As) to form the new airline. V2-LIA (msn 1077) was delivered to LIAT on June 13, 2013.

LIAT aircraft slide show:

LIAT’s current route map:

Video: A view from a DHC-8-300 cockpit:

BQB Lineas Aereas to suspend operations

BQB Lineas Aereas (Montevideo) has announced it will suspend operations on April 11. The airline commenced domestic and later regional operations in May 2010 as a subsidiary of ferry operator Buquebus. The airline is seeking additional investors and plans to resume operations.

The airline was operating two ATR 72-500s at the shutdown.

Read the full story from Argentina Airline News, Photography & Spotting: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: Alvaro Romero/AirlinersGallery.com. BQB Lineas Aereas ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) CX-LFL (msn 570) is pictured at the downtown Aeroparque Jorge Newbery Airport in Buenos Aires.

BQB aircraft slide show:

Video: The airline previously operated the Airbus A319:

Air Pegasus to start operations on April 12

Air Pegasus (India) (Bangalore) is a new airline in India. The new airline has received its AOC and is planning to commence scheduled passenger operations on April 12 with two 66-seat ATR 72-500s (ATR 72-212As) with a third copy coming.

The new airline is planning to operate in southern India from Bangalore to Hubli, Kochi and Trivandrum.

Read the full story from The Economic Times: CLICK HERE

All images by Air Pegasus.

Finnair acquires Flybe Nordic and Flybe Finland, will introduce Wi-Fi in the fall

Finnair (Helsinki) as planned, has completed its acquisition of Flybe Nordic (Helsinki) and its Flybe Finland (formerly FinnComm Airlines) (Helsinki) airline subsidiary. Finnair issued this statement:

Finnair has acquired Flybe UK Ltd’s 60% ownership of Flybe Nordic for a transaction price of 1 euro, and Flybe Nordic will transfer to Finnair’s ownership on an interim basis. The transaction has been closed on March 31, 2015. Finnair continues discussions about the continued ownership of Flybe Nordic. Finnair and StaffPoint Holding Ltd and G.W. Sohlberg Ltd. signed on January 7, 2015 a Memorandum of Understanding about an arrangement according to which Staffpoint and GWS would own together 60% of Flybe Nordic shares.

“Last November Finnair and Flybe UK decided to discontinue their Flybe Nordic co-operation and agreed, that Flybe UK will sell its 60% ownership in the company to a potential new majority shareholder or Finnair. While the discussions with Staffpoint and GWS still continue, Finnair will now acquire Flybe UK’s share of Flybe Nordic. We hope to sign a new share purchase agreement in the coming months,” says Pekka Vauramo, Finnair CEO.

Flybe Nordic owns fully the Finnish subsidiary Flybe Finland, which operates with a total of 26 ATR and Embraer aircraft a substantial part of Finnair’s domestic and European routes as purchase traffic. Flights operated by Flybe Finland will continue normally.

“Finnair aims to find together with its partners a business model that would enable the development of regional flying in a financially sustainable way. We will take an important step to this direction at the beginning of May, when all routes operated by Flybe Finland at their own commercial risk will become a part of Finnair’s contract flying arrangements, as we have communicated earlier. Flybe Finland has also implemented several internal measures to improve the company’s financial position,” says Vauramo.

The ownership change of Flybe Nordic does not have any immediate impact on Finnair’s result. Finnair continuously monitors the balance sheet valuation related to the Flybe Finland cooperation and will inform about possible financial impacts in more detail in connection with its interim review on 7 May, 2015.

In other news, Finnair has announced it will introduce its first onboard Wi-Fi service in autumn 2015.

Finnair Board of Directors has approved an investment program for bringing Wi-Fi connectivity to the majority of Finnair’s wide-body and narrow-body fleet. The total value of the investment is approximately 30 MEUR.

Finnair will introduce its first onboard Wi-Fi service in autumn 2015, with the arrival of the first Finnair A350 XWB aircraft. In 2016, the company will start Wi-Fi installations in Finnair’s Airbus A330 long-haul aircraft as well as its European short-haul Airbus fleet. Installations are expected to be completed by 2018.

Finnair aircraft slide show:

Copyright Photo: OSDU/AirlinersGallery.com. ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) OH-ATL (msn 851) of Flybe Finland lands at Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Finnair to open a new route to Gdansk, Poland

Finnair (Helsinki) on May 11 will open a new daily service to Gdansk, Poland.

The service will be sold with Finnair’s flight number, and it will be operated by Flybe Finland (Helsinki) with ATR 72 aircraft.

In addition to Gdansk, in Poland, Finnair flies daily to Warsaw year-round and to Krakow from April 2 until October 22, 2015.

Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems/AirlinersGallery.com. ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) OH-ATG (msn 757) sits on the Helsinki (HEL) ramp.

Finnair aircraft slide show:

Virgin Australia to operate a new route from Sydney to Tamworth

Virgin Australia Airlines (Brisbane) has announced it will introduce flights between Tamworth, New South Wales and Sydney from May 2015.

The airline will introduce this new service on May 25, 2015, using its ATR 72 turboprop 68-seat aircraft to operate six return services between Tamworth and Sydney each week.

Virgin Australia will operate a return flight every day (excluding Saturday) departing Sydney at 1.55 pm (1355) arriving into Tamworth at 3.00 pm (1500). The flight will depart Tamworth at 3.30 pm (1530) arriving into Sydney at 4.35 pm (1635).

Copyright Photo: Peter Gates/AirlinersGallery.com. Skywest Airlines ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) VH-FVI (msn 955) prepares to depart from Brisbane.

Virgin Australia aircraft slide show:

Virgin Australia domestic route map:

Flybe Finland to fly under the Finnair code starting on May 1

Finnair (Helsinki) as we previously reported, is now a part owner of Flybe Finland. The Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority approved the transaction in which Flybe UK Ltd’s 60% ownership of Flybe Nordic venture was transferred to StaffPoint Holding Ltd and G.W. Sohlberg Ltd (GWS) . The letter of intent on this transaction was announced on January 7, 2015. StaffPoint’s ownership in the joint venture is now 45%, GWS’s 15% and Finnair’s 40%.

Flybe Nordic owns fully the Finnish subsidiary Flybe Finland, which is in charge of Finnair’s regional airline operations. Flybe Finland currently operates to a number of domestic and European destinations from Helsinki on behalf of Finnair on a contract-flying basis. In addition, Flybe Finland operates to five domestic destinations as well as Tartu, Estonia and Norrköping, Sweden at its own commercial risk.

As a result, Finnair now has issued this statement:

Starting May 1 all routes operated by Flybe Finland (Helsinki) at their own commercial risk will become a part of Finnair’s contract flying arrangements, and the flights will carry a Finnair (AY) flight designator instead of Flybe’s (BE) code. The routes are between Helsinki and the following destinations:

Jyväskylä
Kajaani
Kemi-Tornio
Kokkola-Pietarsaari
Mariehamn
Norrköping
Tartu
Visby

Finnair sells tickets to these routes starting on March 10, 2015. Tickets can also be purchased from Flybe Finland until April 30, 2015.

The change to Finnair’s flight numbers may cause some changes to the schedules of Flybe Finland flights that have already been booked and which depart on 1 May 1, 2015 and onward.

Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems/AirlinersGallery.com. Flybe Finland’s ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) OH-ATG (msn 757) sits on the ramp at the Helsinki (HEL) base.

APEX Airlines takes delivery of its first ATR 72-600

Air Lease Corporation (Los Angeles) announced today the delivery of one new ATR 72-600 aircraft to APEX Airlines (Myanmar), a new customer for ALC. This aircraft is from ALC’s order book with ATR.

The new airline describes its activities:

APEX Airlines is the brand name of the airline which was incorporated in November 27, 2012 – as APEX Airline Public Company Limited which is representing the Tanintharyi Division. The company will soon start operations.

Copyright Photo: Eurospot/AirlinersGallery.com. APEX Airlines ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-600) F-WWED (msn 1229) became XY-AJV on delivery.

Hot New Photos aircraft slide show:

TransAsia Airways death toll rises to 40, crew may have shut off the working engine

TransAsia Airways (Taipei) doomed flight number GE 235 death toll has risen to 40 today including the two pilots. Three people remain unaccounted for and 15 people survived the accident according to CNN.

Read the full report from CNN: CLICK HERE

Investigators have been reviewing the data from the flight data recorder (FDR) and the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) for clues of why the ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-600) crashed on takeoff from Taipei (Sungshan) on February 6 with 53 passengers and five crew members on board.

The Aviation Safety Council of Taiwan is collecting data and has suggested the pilots may have turned off the working engine prior to the crash. They were able to restart one engine but it was already too late. The ATR 72 hit a taxi and clipped the bridge and subsequently crashed upside in the river as previously reported.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: Manuel Negrerie/AirlinersGallery.com. Rescuers are pictured looking for and removing survivors from inverted ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-600) B-22816 (msn 1141).

TransAsia aircraft slide show:

http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-Asia-3/Airlines-Asia3-QZ/TransAsia-Airways

Another crash for TransAsia Airways, flight GE 235 clips a Taipei bridge and ends up in the river, 16 people dead

TransAsia Airways (Taipei) today (February 4) has suffered another crash. Brand new ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-600) B-22216 (msn 1141) with 53 passengers and five crew members operating as flight GE 235 reportedly lost power this morning on takeoff on runway 10 at 1052 am (local time). The airliner was unable to maintain its climb and hit a vehicle and clipped a bridge with its left wing and crashed into the Keelung River, killing at least 16 people. The crew report a Mayday on the takeoff and an engine flame out. The ATR 72 had just departed from the old Songshan Airport (TSA) (Taipei International Airport) in downtown Taipei. The airport was built in 1936.

According to the airline, 22 people have safely reached the shore. 16 are confirmed dead. All others were rushed to area hospitals.

Google Map below: A: Location of bridge that was clipped and B: Final location of the aircraft in the river.

Read the full story from the BBC: CLICK HERE

Top and Below Copyright Photos: Manuel Negrerie/AirlinersGallery.com. ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-600) B-22816 (msn 1141) was delivered new on April 15, 2014. It is pictured preparing to takeoff at Songshan Airport previously. Below, rescuers attempt to find everyone on board in the river.

Below Copyright Photo: Manuel Negrerie/AirlinersGallery.com. The ATR 72 unfortunately hit this yellow taxi on the bridge before careening into the river. The driver was able to get out of the vehicle with only minor injuries.