>> Hawaii's other airline major airline Aloha Airlines files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It sites rising fuel costs and fierce competition as the reason for the filing. The airline will continue to fly as it works to complete the restructuring of the company. (12/30/04)
NOVEMBER 2004
>>
OCTOBER 2004
>> Low cost carrier ATA
Airlines filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after falling
fares and soaring fuel prices drained it's cash supply. The
airline plans to continue flying working on it's reorganization plan. (10/26/04)
>> Dutch Caribbean
Airlines ceased operations on October 9th after having filed for bankruptcy
on October 1st. (10/10/04)
>>
>>
>> AzzurraAir, a small regional airline based in Italy was declared bankrupt on by a court in Busto Arsizio, Italy. (07/21/04)
>>
>> Irish airline SkyNet Airlines was forced to suspended operations after one of its two aircrafts was impounded by its lessor. (05/29/04)
>> Australia’s Qantas low fare airline, Jetstar Airways, takes off with flights to 13 Australian cities. (05/25/04)
>> New European low-cost carrier Wizz Air starts operations from Hungary with it's inaugural flight from Katowice to London Luton Airport. (05/19/04)
>> Singapore’s first low-cost airline Valueair takes to the skies with it maiden flight to Bangkok. (05/05/04)
>> Birmingham based Duo Airways suspends all operations after five months of operation. (05/01/04)
>>
>> Thomsonfly, a new European low-cost airline begins flying to 11 European cities from it's base at Coventry airport. (03/31/04)
>> Alitalia acquired bankrupt regional airline Gandalf Airlines to gain additional slots at several European airports. (03/04/04)
>> Italina regional airline Gandalf Airlines filed for bankruptcy and suspended all operations. (03/01/04)
>> German airline City-Air suspended operations and is expected to file for insolvency. (03/01/04)
>> French airline Air Littoral ceased operations on February 17th, days after the French Transport Department did not renew the airline's license. (02/18/04)
JANUARY 2004
>> Cork based regional airline, Jetmagic
suspends schedules flight operations on the recommendation of it's Board
of Directors. Expected business travel passenger demand did not materialize. (01/29/04)
>> Finnish low cost carrier Flying
Finn suspends operations after filing for bankruptcy less than a year
after starting service. (01/27/04)
>> Great
Plains Airlines suspends scheduled flight operations. (01/24/04)
>> Belgium's largest charter airline, Sobelair,
was declared bankrupt on January 19th and suspended all its operations. (01/20/04)
Sobelair was formerly Sabena's charter subsidiary and survived the National
airline by only 2 years. It was unable to find a viable plan to continue
operations.
>> Air Botnia
rebrand itself as Blue1. (01/01/04)
>> Air Polonia starts low-cost operations in Poland using it's fleet of 737's. It will offer daily flights from Warsaw to Wroclaw, London Stansted, Gdansk, and flights from Katowice and Pozan to London Stansted. (12/08/03)
>>Air Malta will launch it's own no frills, low fare airline. Fare 4U will operate no frills service between Malta and London Stansted and service from Catania to London Gatwick. (12/06/03)
>> Qantas, which earlier this year announced it would start it's own low-cost airline announced the new airline's name, Jetstar. Jetstar will begin selling tickets in February and will start flying in May, using Boeing 717’s currently operated by Impulse Airlines under the QantasLink brand. (12/1/2003)
>> Allegro Airlines was grounded after failing to pay more than $40 million in bills. (11/15/03)
>> Air 2000, the in-house airline of the First Choice travel group, is to be re-branded as First Choice Airways. In addition the UK and Ireland retail businesses – Travel Choice, Travel Choice Express, Bakers Dolphin and Holiday Hypermarkets – will all operate under the First Choice name. (11/10/03)
>> French carrier Aéris has ceased operations and filed for bankruptcy. It had operated low-cost domestic services in France. (11/07/03)
>> A new national airline for the United Arab Emirates is launched, Air Arabia. It will be the first low cost carrier in the Middle East and will be based at Sharjah International Airport. (10/28/03)
>> Bankrupt Italian airline Minerva Airlines suspends operations. (10/25/03)
>> Germany's biggest independent charter carrier, Aero Lloyd has suspended operations and filed for insolvency. (10/16/03)
>> Aéris has filed for bankruptcy protection in order to get more time to search for new investors. (10/05/03)
>> Virgin Blue announces the launch of Pacific Blue Airlines, it's new low fare carrier for New Zealand. Pacific Blue will initially operate daily services between Christchurch and Brisbane. It expects to take flight February 1st, 2004. (09/17/03)
>> Columbian airline ACES (Aerolineas Centrales de Colombia ) suspended operations and was liquidated. (08/20/03)
>> Euro-Hopper becomes Denim Airways. (07 /18/03)
>> East African Safari Air, is the new international airline for Kenya. (07/01/03)
>> Air Canada filed for the Canadian-law version of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a move that will facilitate it's financial restructuring while continuing normal operations. (04/01/03)
MARCH 2003
>> Hawaiian
Airlines filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under the Chapter
11 federal bankruptcy code to to ensure it's return to profitability.
The airline said it will be business as usual as it completes it's restructuring. (08/12/02)
>> Another France airline is liquidated after filing bankruptcy.Air
Jet a small regional airline was forced to suspend operations after
running into money problems. It ended 2002 with liabilities of around
$14 million. (03/17/03)
>> Skytrax
Research announced the results of it's 2003 Airline of the Year passenger
survey. The top 5 result were as follows: (1) Cathay
Pacific (2) Emirates
(3) Singapore Airlines
(4) Malaysia
Airlines (5) Qantas. (03/14/03)
>> A new low cost airline in Finland will launch domestic service
on March 16, 2003. Flying
Finn will operate service from Helsinki to Kittila and Rovaniemi with
plans to inaugurate London in the near future. (03/12/03)
>>Now is the
name of the new low cost airline to enter the market in Europe. The new
airline will offer fixed fares according to destination and season, so
that all travelers will pay the same amount for their seats on that flight.
It's planning to inaugurate service from London's Luton Airport with an
fleet of 2 Boeing 737-300's later this year. (03/11/03)
>> An Air Algerie
Boeing 737 crashed on take-off from the southern Algerian city of Tamanrasset,
killing 98 passengers and six crew members. Flight AH6289 was headed to
the country's capital Algiers. (03/07/03)
>> Hooters
Air takes off with it's inaugural flight from Atlanta to Myrtle Beach.
The airline plans on adding New York via Newark International Airport
on March 20th. (03/06/03)
>> Icelandic Express inaugurates operations with flights from Keflavik to Copenhagen and London Stansted. (02/27/03)
>> BerlinJet, the new German no-frills carrier suspends operations after flying less than a couple of months and after restarting service on February 10th. The airline encountered numerous delays and problems that ultimately caused it's demise. (02/21/03)
>> A French court ruled that the country's second-largest airline, Air Lib be liquidated ending its long battle against bankruptcy. (02/19/03)
>> A new budget airline for the the UK takes off, Jet2 Airways. It plans to service Alicante, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Malaga, Milan Bergamo, Nice and Palma-Majorca. (02/28/03)
>> France's second-largest airline, Air Lib lost its operating license and was forced to ground its fleet after negotiations to save the airline fell through. (02/07/03)
>> Ryanair reaches agreement to buy rival airline Buzz from KLM. Buzz operated a network of 21 routes from London Stansted to points in Germany, Holland, France and Spain. (01/31/03)
>> Euroceltic Airways was forced to suspend operations after not being compliant with aviation regulations stating that it needed to service it's routes with at least one company owned aircraft. (01/27/03)
>> A Tame Fokker 28 with 74 people onboard blew a tire on takeoff from the Quito (Ecuador) airport and aborted its takeoff. The aircraft went off the runway and took out the ILS antenna. (01/17/03)
>> Swedish airline Goodjet files for bankruptcy, less than a year after starting service. Goodjet suspended all flights December 5th after operator Transair pulled all of its aircraft. Transair, which operated all of Goodjet's flights, was also forced into bankruptcy as a result. (01/16/03)
>> A Turkish Airlines Avro RJ100 crashed while on approach to the Diyarbakir airport in heavy fog. Five of the 80 passengers and crew onboard survived the crash. The aircraft was en route to the southeastern Turkish city from Istanbul. (01/09/03)
>> Las Vegas based carrier National Airlines ceased operations. National, which commenced service in the summer of 1999, had been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy since December 2000. (11/08/02)
>> A new Scottish no frills airline is launched. Globespan Group announces the launch of the company's no frills airline, Flyglobespan.com. The airline plans to start flying in April 2003. (11/07/02)
>> Belgium carrier Delsey Airlines filed for bankruptcy. The carrier, which started operations as VG Airlines in May employed some 200, mainly ex-Sabena employees. (11/07/02)
>> Australian Airlines inaugurates service with daily flights to Nagoya and Osaka from Cairns. (10/29/02)
>> The new Bali airline Air Paradise International, which was due to start service on October 27, suspended its launch by at least six months. The carrier announced the suspension yesterday in the wake of Saturday's terrorist attacks in Bali that killed at least 188 and injured 300. (10/15/02)
>> Northwest Airlines announced that it would reduce its flight attendant workforce by 1,600 sitting the significant reduction in air travel. It said the cuts would be accomplished through voluntary leaves plus furloughs if necessary. (10/03/02)
>> Eurowings new no-frills airline Germanwings is ready for take-off and will inaugurate service on 10/27/02. The airline's hub will be in Cologne and the initial fleet will consist of 5 Airbus A319's. (10/01/02)
>> A new airline for Bail, Indonesia, Air Paradise International, is set for it's inaugural flight on 10/27/02. It will fly between Bali and Australia with 2 Airbus A310's. (10/01/02)
SEPTEMBER 2002
>> American Trans
Air received unanimous conditional approval from the US Air Transportation
Stabilization Board for a $148.5 million federal loan guarantee. (09/30/02)
>> Mesaba Holdings, the parent of Mesaba
Airlines, announced an agreement to acquire Billings, Montana based
Big Sky Transportation, parent of Big
Sky Airlines. (09/30/02)
>> Air Canada's
low-fare airline, Zip Air, received all the required approvals necessary
to begin operations. It's set to launch service on September 22, 2003
with 15 flights a day to Edmonton, Vancouver, Calgary and Winnipeg. (09/20/02)
AUGUST 2002
>> The former deputy chief of finance at Air
China, Yang Ning, was executed on embezzlement charges. Yang, who
was convicted of stealing more than $3.1 million, was put to death in
China after his appeal was rejected. The report said Yang used tricks,
including the use of phony tickets, to defraud the airline and had it
pay personal expenses worth $200,000. (08/29/02)
>> Spirit Airlines
and National
Airlines were both denied federal loan guarantees by the US Air Transportation
Stabilization Board. The board claimed the two carriers did not provide
reasonable assurances that their loans would be paid back. (08/16/02)
>> US Airways
filed petitions for reorganization under the Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy
code to to ensure it's return to profitability. The airline will continue
flying. (08/12/02)
>> Eurowings
is set to enter the no-frills market with Germanwings,
Germany’s first low-price airline. The new airline will use Airbus
A319's to service it's routes and will be based at the Cologne/Bonn Airport. The
new airline is set to take off October 27, 2002 with flights to Barcelona,
Berlin, London, Madrid, Milan, Nice, Paris, Rome, Vienna and Zurich. (08/12/02)
>> Spirit Airlines
announced that the airline will not be charging airfare for any seat on
any flight on September 11, 2002. The reason stated was "We are saying
'thank you' to the American public and our valued customers for flying
with us throughout this past year.". (08/08/02)
>> MyTravel
Group, formerly Airtours, announces the creation a of new no-frills
carrier which will be called MyTravelLite
and will operate out of Birmingham Airport beginning October 1, 2002.
The new airline will initially will fly two Airbus A320's from Birmingham
to Alicante, Malaga, Geneva, Paris-Beauvais and Belfast. (08/08/02)
>> Regional
Express is Australia's newest regional airline. It brings together
Kendell Airlines and Hazelton Airlines under one new ownership. It will
serve over 35 cities across Australia with a fleet of SAAB 340's and Metro
23 turboprop aircraft. (08/06/02)
>> Two of Europe's low-cost airlines plan to merge easyJet
and Go. The announcement
by easyJet states that by merging two very similar operations, the airlines
will keep costs low, thus keeping fares low. The newly merged
airline will fly under the easyJet brand.. (08/01/02)
>> Vanguard Airlines halts all scheduled flights and files for Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy protection. Vanguard operated 70 daily flights serving 18 cities. (07/30/02)
>> Midway Airlines temporarily suspend flight operations while it reconfigures its fleet to take advantage of a new business opportunity with US Airways. The plan calls for Midway to resume flights in October of 2002 as a US Airways Express affiliate, flying an all-regional jet fleet. (07/18/02)
>>Peruvian airline company Aero Continente files for bankruptcy after the Chilean government revokes it's operating license earlier this month. (06/25/02)
>> Midwest Express Airlines will change it's name by dropping the "Express" from it's name to become Midwest Airlines starting in January 2003. The company will also change the name of it's regional subsidiary from Skyway Airlines to Midwest Connection. (06/12/02)
>> CanJet Airlines, the Canadian low cost carrier, is ready for take off again. It plans to restart service this month with flights to Toronto, Ottawa, Halifax, Moncton and St. John's. (06/05/02)
>> Aer Lingus, which has been grounded because of a strike by it's pilots union will resume service after striking a deal with the pilot's union. (06/04/02)
>> Singapore Airlines was named the world's best airline by OAG at the OAG Airline of the Year 2002 awards ceremony. The airline won three other titles besides the main title. (05/28/02)
>> CanJet Airlines said it will resume flights this summer to cities in central and Atlantic Canada. (04/18/02)
>> A new airline for Uganda is set to launch service at the end of April. Africa One will be the new name of the airline, will be based in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, and use Entebbe International Airport as its hub. (04/17/02)
>> An Air China Boeing 767 with 166 people on board crashes in Pusan, South Korea. (04/15/02)
>> Swisswings, a Swiss regional airline, has filed for bankruptcy protection and suspends service after failing to find a new investor. It becomes the second Swiss airline to collapse in six months,Swissair was the first airline to collapse. (04/09/02)
>> A new Swedish discount airline, called Goodjet will start operations at the end of April. It will initially fly to Paris and Nice from Gothenburg. (04/02/02)
>> A new airline for Estonia to launch service March 31st, 2002. Aero Airlines, a startup airline founded by Finnair will have six daily flights between Tallinn and Helsinki using ATR turboprops previously operated by Finnair. (03/13/02)
>> Air Lib to launch Air Lib Express, a low-cost domestic carrier servicing six cities (Nice, Toulouse, Marseilles, Perpignan, Toulon, Lourdes-Tarbes). (03/08/02)
>> A new airline for Aruba gets ready to take-off. Royal Aruban Airlines will start with short haul operations connecting Aruba with the islands of Curacao and Bonaire and the coastal cities of Venezuela, Las Piedras and Maracaibo. (03/06/02)
>> Australia's second best known airline, Ansett, has been grounded again and this time for good. The management could not get the needed financial support to keep the airline afloat. The Ansett-owned regional airlines, Hazelton Airlines and Kendell Airlines, look as if they will continue flying. (03/05/02)
>> The Swissair and Crossair brands will disappear on March 31, 2002. They will be replaced on APRIL 1, 2002 by SWISS, the new brand for the Swiss national airline, also known as Swiss Air Lines. (03/01/02)
>> SN Brussels Airlines will be the new name for Delta Air Transport, the Belgian regional airline which arose as a result of the demise of Sabena. The new company will maintain a symbolic link to the past by keeping the ex-Sabena logo, the “S” on the tail of it's planes. (02/15/02)
>> A passenger on a United Airlines flight from Miami to Buenos Aires tried to force his way into the cockpit but was subdued by the flight crew. Flight 855 had 157 people aboard and was halfway through its trip when the man made the attempt. The passenger was able to partially breach the reinforced door, then the copilot hit him over the head with a crash ax. He was restrained for the remainder of the flight turned over to local authorities in Argentina. (02/08/02)
>> Japan Airlines was named Airline of the Year by Air Transport World Magazine while SkyWest was named Regional Airline of the Year. (01/31/02)
>> A TAME Boeing 727 en route from the Ecuadorian capital of Quito to Tulcan crashed in the Andes region in the bordering country of Colombia. The jet was carrying 92 people, 83 passengers and 9 crew members (01/29/02)
>> bmi british midland announces the arrival of bmibaby, it's new no-frills airline. The new airline will be based at the East Midlands Airport and will consist of a fleet of Boeing 737-300's. The new airline is scheduled to take flight on March 23rd, 2000. (01/17/02)
>> Crossair takes over most of the European routes formerly operated by Swissair. (01/15/02)