Jet2 (Jet2.com) (Leeds/Bradford) will open two weekly winter seasonal routes from December 20, 2014 through April 11, 2015 per Airline Route; Edinburgh-Geneva and Manchester-Turin (both ski destinations).
Copyright Photo: Paul Denton/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-377 G-CELZ (msn 23658) taxies at Geneva to the runway.
Jet2:ย 
United Airlines (Chicago) yesterday (May 22) began Chicago’s first-ever flights to Edinburgh, Scotland, with summer-season service through October 5, 2014.
The flights will operate five times weekly between May 22 and June 11, daily between June 12 and September 1, and four times weekly between September 2 and October 5 (all dates eastbound).
Flight UA 118 departs Chicago O’Hare International Airport at 6 p.m. (1800), arriving at Edinburgh Airport at 7:45 a.m. (0745) the following day (all times local). On the return, flight UA 119 departs Edinburgh at 10:25 a.m. (1025), arriving in Chicago at 1 p.m. (1300) the same day. Flight times are seven hours, 45 minutes eastbound and eight hours, 35 minutes westbound.
United will operate the service with Boeing 757-200 aircraft with a total of 169 seats โ 16 flat-bed seats in United BusinessFirst and 153 seats in United Economy, including 45 Economy Plus extra-legroom seats.
United has been serving Scotland since 1998. In addition to the Edinburgh-Chicago service, the airline operates year-round nonstop service from both Edinburgh and Glasgow to its Newark Liberty International Airport hub.
United Airlines is O’Hare International Airport’s largest airline. United and the United Express carriers operate more than 580 daily flights out of O’Hare. The airline offers more than 50 daily nonstop flights to nearly 40 international destinations in Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Canada.
O’Hare International Airport, the fifth-busiest airport in the world, is United’s hometown hub, with corporate headquarters in Chicago’s Willis Tower.
Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 757-222 N502UA (msn 24623) departs from Los Angeles International Airport.
United Airlines (current):ย 
Qatar Airways (Doha) announced it will begin flights to the Scottish capital of Edinburgh effective May 28, 2014, operating five flights weekly.
The new route will be served by a Boeing 787 Dreamliner in a two-cabin configuration, offering passengers 22 Business Class and 232 Economy Class seats.ย The schedule for the new destination is as follows:
Doha to/from Edinburgh:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday
QR 027 departs Doha (DOH) at 08:00; arrives Edinburgh (EDI) at 13:15
QR 028 departs Edinburgh (EDI) at 14:45; arrives Doha (DOH) at 23:40
Qatar Airways has seen rapid growth in just 16 years of operations, currently flying a modern fleet of 128 aircraft to 133 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and The Americas.
In 2013, Qatar Airways has launched eleven destinations to date โ Gassim (Saudi Arabia), Najaf (Iraq), Phnom Penh (Cambodia), Chicago (USA), Salalah (Oman), Basra (Iraq), Sulaymaniyah (Iraq), Chengdu (China), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Taโif (Saudi Arabia) and most recently Clark Manila International Airport (Philippines).
Over the next few weeks and months, the network will grow further with Hangzhou, China (December 20, 2013), Sharjah and Dubai World Central, both in the UAE (March 1, 2014), Philadelphia, USA (April 2, 2014) and Miami, USA (June 10, 2014).
Copyright Photo: Stefan Sjogren/AirlinersGallery.com.ย Boeing 787-8 A7-BCE (msn 38323) lands in Stockholm Arlanda.
Qatar Airways:ย 
G-JIBO Varsity Express, originally uploaded by Speed-pics.
Varsity Express (Oxford) after much fanfare finally started the OxfordโEdinburgh route on March 1 with a BAe Jetstream 31 (G-JIBO, msn 711) operated by LinkAir (Humberside). However the scheduled service ended one week later on March 8 after the two companies could not agree on funding.
Varsity Express stated on its website that the reason for the suspension was due to the โoperational issues between Varsity Air Services Ltd and the airline and AOC holder [LinksAir] who have been contracted to operate the Jetstream 31 type on our behalf and that was being used on the route. All further ticket sales have been suspended until further notice. All passengers effected by the suspension of service either have been or are currently being informed of the situationโ.
The company was set up and managed by Martin Halsted who gained some notority in 2005 when, at the age of 18, he announced that he would launch his own aviation business named AlphaOne Airways. It had a number of false starts. Halstead announced services from Oxford in March 2005 and later the same year from Southampton. AlphaOne Airways never flew a single flight from either airport. In December 2005 and January 2006, limited flight operations took place between the Isle of Man and Edinburgh. The company folded after having carried only 46 passengers.
Photos of this one-week operation are welcome.
News link:
www.shephard.co.uk/news/laranews-net/varsity-express-drops-out-after-a-week/5866/
Copyright Photo: Speed-pics. Jetstream 3102 G-JIBO (msn 711) with Varsity Express titles and logo is pictured at Edinburgh on opening day (March 1).
ย
G-CEJP is pictured in action at Edinburgh in the rare hybrid. Copyright Photo: Fred Seggie.
Globespan Airways (flyglobespan.com) (Edinburgh) quickly put its Boeing 737-8BK G-CEJP (msn 29646) back into revenue service in May after the lease ended with Oman Air (Muscat). The result is this interesting hybrid livery.
You must be logged in to post a comment.