29/12/2002: Hooters Air has acquired Pace Airlines, a small regional carrier based in Winston-Salem, NC. Robert H. Brooks, chairman of the Hooters restaurant chain, said in a statement that he planned to establish a charter air service called Hooters Air to serve leisure travelers. He intends to work with tour operators to provide air service for the golf and sport industries. A prime destination will be Myrtle Beach, SC. Pace Airlines operated a fleet of 2 Boeing 757-200s and 15 Boeing 737s; Electra Airlines, based in Greece, has acquired 2 ex-LTU Boeing 757-200s; both aircraft (SX-BVM and SX-BVN) are in an all white c/s without titles.
16/12/2002: HMY Airways has started a weekly charter operation between Canada and Manchester (UK). Routing is Vancouver-Calgary-Keflavik-Manchester, departing as HQ-860 on Mondays, arriving on Tuesday, and returning as HQ-861 on Tuesdays arriving in Calgary/Vancouver on Wednesday. Keflavik is only used as a fuel stop.
06/12/2002: Two surface-to-air missiles were fired in the direction of Arkia flight 582 immediately after take-off from Mombassa (Kenya) to Tel Aviv on November 28. Non of the 261 passengers and 10 crew were hurt and the aircraft was undamaged. Captain Rafi Marek said that at 500 ft (150 meter) the crew thought the had suffered a bird strike until they spotted the missiles’ smoke trails. A system check revealed no damage, so the crew continued to Tel Aviv.
23/11/2002: V8-RBB arrived in Sydney today as WR500 in all white fuselage c/s with a red cheat line, red tail c/s with the Tongan national symbol, ‘The Sea Eagle’ in white. Royal Tongan is leasing the aircraft from Royal Brunei Airlines, and the aircraft was in Sydney for technical stop before continuing the delivery flight to Auckland; Royal New Zealand Air Force is a new Boeing 757-200 operator. They will be buying 2 second-hand aircraft which will be modified to carry passengers and cargo. The Air Force is looking for aircraft which are around 8 years old. The 757s will replace the 2 Boeing 727-100s.
14/11/2002: Condor/Thomas Cook Airlines has announced that they will place six Boeing 757-300s into storage from January 2003 as part of cutbacks due to problems in the German holiday market; Air Atlanta will be operating their Boeing 757-200s on behalf of Excel Airways next summer; Air 2000 will be operating G-OOOZ on behalf of Skyservice this winter. It will be based at Saskatoon (Canada) with UK flight deck crews and Canadian cabin crews; Skyservice will be operating their own 2 Boeing 757-200s by May 2003, mainly on services from Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver to London/Gatwick, Manchester, Glasgow, Belfast and Lisbon; Air 2000 will take over 2 more British Airways 757-200s, G-CPEU and G-CPEV. Both aircraft are scheduled to join the fleet before the end of 2002; Flyjet is a proposed new UK 757 operator which plans to start operations next summer with 3 Boeing 757-200s on charter flights. Two aircraft will be based at London/Gatwick, one at Manchester. The airline is being formed by the Aspro family who owned Inter European Airways before that airline was sold and merged into Airtours in 1993.
07/12/2002: National Airlines ceased operations November 6, 2002. The airline had 18 leased Boeing 757-200s in their fleet.
05/11/2002: Royal Tongan will wet-lease a Boeing 757-200 from Royal Brunei Airlines starting November 25, 2002 for a period of 5 years. It will be based in the Tongan capital of Nuku’alofa, operating 6 return flights per week to Auckland, 1 return flight to Sydney and 1 return flight to Honolulu. The aircraft will be painted in full Royal Tongan c/s.
25/10/2002: JMC Airlines is planning to operate charter flights out of Milwaukee this winter on behalf of Apple Vacations from December 26 through March 30, 2003. Destinations are Cancun, Montego Bay, Puerto Vallarta and Punta Cana.
24/10/2002: Bermuda Star is a new proposed airline van Bermuda and has applied to operate direct flights to destinations in Europe and the United States. The airline plan to start with a Boeing 757-200 and a Boeing 767-200; My Travel Airways will station a Boeing 757-200 in Helsinki this winter. The aircraft, G-MCEA, will fly to Funchal, Tenerife, Las Palmas and Fuerteventura.
22/09/2002: Cebu Pacific will receive a third Boeing 757-200. The aircraft, EI-CZB (c/n 25597), left Southend September 9th in full Cebu Pacific c/s.
15/09/2002: Air Atlanta Icelandic is a new European Boeing 757 operator which is leasing 2 ex-Air 2000 aircraft (G-OOOV and G-OOOW) and are to be registered TF-ARD (c/n 22211) and TF-ARE (c/n 22611).
13/09/2002: Boeing 757-200s N789BA (c/n 23918) and N73724 (c/n 24254) are reportedly going to a new Canadian airline named HMY Airways, based at Vancouver. This is the same airline as mentioned in my news report of 05/03/2002. N73724 arrived at Southend September 4th for repaint.
12/09/2002: US Airways has stored its first 2 Boeing 757s. N615AU and N616AU arrived at Mojave September 9th.
30/08/2002: Dutchbird will replace 2 of its Boeing 757s with Airbus A320-200s by the start of 2003. The airline still needs to finalize a decision to replace its third 757 with another 2 A320-200s.
19/08/2002: N962PG arrived at Paine Field last week in full Canada 3000 Airlines c/s. It will be repainted into full TransMeridian Airlines c/s.
17/08/2002: Air Greenland will replace their Boeing 757 (OY-GRL) in October with an Airbus A330-200.
13/08/2002: US Airways filed for bankruptcy on August 11th, saying it will continue to operate while it tries to restructure its finances and emerge from protection early next year.
07/08/2002: Canada West Airlines is new proposed Canadian operator which intends to start operations this autumn out of Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver. The airline will offer full-service flights to European and sun destinations; Air Holland received another Boeing 757-200. July 8th, G-BYAR arrived at Amsterdam. The aircraft was repainted a few months earlier at Maastricht but was not delivered because of different problems. The new registration will be PH-AHT.
10/07/2002: Icelandair is leasing an ex-Air Europa/Iberia Boeing 757 (EC-FYJ). The aircraft will be re-registered TF-FIR and is going to operate flights for Aeromar in the Dominican Republic. It will be painted in Aeromar c/s (like the TF-FIW is today). TF-FIW will be stationed at Thessaloniki for the summer.
08/07/2002: Investigation of the accident between DHL Aviation Boeing 757 A9C-DHL and the Tupolev TU-154M directs more and more to Swiss ATC. A part of the radar system which detects if aircraft are on a collision course, was switched off due to maintenance. Rules say that there must be a second Air Traffic Controller to assist his colleague. There was only one on duty; There are currently rumors that Dutchbird will lease D-ABNL of Condor which is currently stored at Lasham.
02/07/2002: Last night, at approx. 11.43 pm local time (July 1st), A9C-DHL, a Boeing 757-23APF of DHL Aviation and a Tupolev 154M, RA-85816 of Bashkirian Airlines collided at 36000 feet and went down near the city of Uberlingen on the northern shore of Lake Constance on the German/Swiss border. The Boeing 757 was on a flight from Bahrein via Bergamo to Brussels, and the aircraft had just left Bergamo for Brussels. Both pilots (British pilot Paul Philips and Canadian co-pilot Brant Campioni) were killed. First reports say that the Russian pilots did not lower altitude as requested (50 seconds before crash) by Swiss ATC. The Boeing 757 started to dive when its onboard warning system (TCAS – Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System) instructed the pilot to drop altitude to avoid a crash. Unfortunately also the Tupolev dived to avoid a collision and both aircraft collided at FL354.
01/07/2002: In addition to the news that Air Scandic is leasing two Boeing 757s from Finnair, now also the registrations are known: OH-LBO and OH-LBT. One aircraft is based at Manchester, the other at Newcastle, and the aircraft change airport every 4 weeks.
18/06/2002: The last addition to the Avianca Boeing 757 fleet arrived at Bogota at June 14th. The aircraft is leased from CIT Leasing Corporation and re-registered N263CT. When it arrived at Bogota, it had 15640 flight hours and 12505 cycles.
17/06/2002: Goodjet has leased a Boeing 757-200 for 1 week. The aircraft flew in full Goodjet c/s and has since been repainted in full Transair Sweden c/s with extra www.trafficeuropa.com titles.
12/06/2002: Aeromar is leasing a Boeing 757-200 from Icelandair. TF-FIW was seen at New York/JFK in full Aeromar c/s this month; Air Holland is leasing C-GTSV from Air Transat/ILFC. The aircraft arrived in Amsterdam June 11th in full new Air Holland c/s, but still wearing the Canadian registration.
05/06/2002: GOODjet.com placed a Boeing 757-200 into service last weekend. the aircraft is registered SE-RCE and is operated by Transair Sweden.
02/06/2002: National Airlines has leased 3 additional Boeing 757-200s. All are former Canada 3000 Airlines aircraft. Current registrations are N544LF (ex C-FXOF; c/n 24544), N25621 (ex C-FXOO; c/n 25621) and N161KB (ex C-FOON; c/n 28161).
31/05/2002: G-MONC (c/n 22781) of Monarch Airlines was damaged in a landing accident at Gibraltar May 22th. A brake problem caused a rapid de-rotation onto the nose gear. The aircraft, which has ripples and skin tear, is the world’s highest-cycle Boeing 757. It may, or may not, be repaired. However, if repaired, it will be out of service for several months. Boeing engineers have been flown in from Seattle to assess the aircraft’s condition; Air 2000 has returned G-OOOV and G-OOOW to GATX. Both aircraft are at Southend in all white c/s without titles.
22/05/2002: Avianca Colombia, ACES and SAM signed a merger agreement which will enable the companies to tansport around 6.3 million passengers a year as of May 20th. The president of the new group will be the chairman of ACES, Juan Emilio Posada, and each airline will retain its trade name. The new merger will be named Summa Alliance and will be comprised of 56 airplanes. A new color scheme will be introduced as well.
17/05/2002: Avianca Colombia has leased a 6th Boeing 757-200 (from CIT Leasing). The aircraft is ex-Iberia EC-FYN (c/n 26246). It is scheduled to be ferried to Bogota May 25th for a major service and passenger cabin reconfiguration to C12/Y162 seats. First scheduled revenue flight is planned for June 10th.
14/05/2002: Bad news for the Boeing 757, as Boeing is considering developing a new mid-sized jet.
13/05/2002: Yet another Boeing 757 operator. EVA Air has leased 2 757-200s from Far Eastern Air Transport. The first aircraft, B-27017, is already in service (May 1st) and the second aircraft will start service May 15th.
12/05/2002: ex-British World Airlines G-OBWS was seen at Manchester May 11th in full MyTravel Airways c/s.
08/05/2002: Anatolia added a 2nd Boeing 757-200 to its fleet. TC-ANM (c/n 22122) is flying in all white c/s with “Anatolia” titles. The aircraft was previously in service with Iberia and Air Europa.
03/05/2002: Aruba Express is proposed new airline planning to operate flights from Aruba with a Boeing 757-200. Service would initially start to Boston and Newark with additional destinations planned to include Baltimore, Hartford and Miami, and in a later stage Bonaire, Cancun, Curacao and St. Maarten.
28/04/2002: Anatolia is the latest operator to add a Boeing 757-200 to its fleet. The aircraft, TC-ANN, was seen at Amsterdam in full c/s. Although not confirmed yet, it is probably ex-Air Holland PH-AHF.
24/04/2002: After returning one of their 2 Boeing 757-200s to its owner, Air Holland is going to lease a 757 from Britannia Airways. The aircraft, G-BYAR, arrived at Maastricht Airport April 4th for repaint. It will be re-registered PH-AHS.
20/04/2002: Cameroon Airlines is a new Boeing 757 operator. The airline has leased a Boeing 757 from AWMS I as of April 4th. The aircraft is registered TJ-CAG (c/n 24293).
17/04/2002: It seems that British World II has died a silence death. Most of the business they would have been looking for, has been taken by Astraeus, European Air Charter and Channel Express; G-PIDS was the first Airtours Boeing 757 to be painted in full MyTravel Airways livery, some other aircraft are now wearing the hybrid colors; Air 2000‘s first aircraft painted in the airlines new livery is G-CPEP. The ex-British Airways aircraft has been seen repainted at Norwich with Sprayavia, and was ferried to Manchester April 15th.
07/04/2002: According to the website of Air Scandic, the company will be operating 2 B757-200s, each with 227 seats.
30/03/2002: TF-FIK (c/n 26276) of Icelandair was seen at Faro with “http://www.kroner-reiser.dk” titles on the fuselage.
25/03/2002: B-27011 (c/n 29607) of Far Eastern Air Transport is flying (as of March 11th) in special ‘Toyota Camry’ c/s. Only the tail has still “Far Eastern” tail c/s and titles.
24/03/2002: Monarch Airlines first Boeing 757 in new c/s is G-MONE (c/n 23293) and r/o at Norwich March 21st.
18/03/2002: It is reported that Air 2000 will introduce a new livery soon; Ex-Royal Aviation/Canada 3000 Airlines Boeing 757 N593RA (c/n 25593; ex C-GRYK) arrived at Manchester March 16th. It is reported that it will become G-OOOZ for Air 2000; G-CDUO (c/n 24792) of Britannia Airways is wearing “http://www.britanniadirect.com” web titles on the rear fuselage. The aircraft is still wearing the old livery; Monarch Airlines has introduced a new livery and the first 2 Boeing 757s will be repainted this spring.
17/03/2002: The Colombian Government reportedly ordered a Boeing 757-200 to be delivered October 2002.
16/03/2002: G-BYAR of Britannia Airways is reportedly now flying without titles and logos. Britannia Airways is adding more 757s to the fleet by transferring them from Britannia AB. SE-DUO was re-registered G-CDUO February 20th, and SE-DUP will become G-CDUP in the next few weeks. SE-DUK was already on lease till March 31st, after it will be returned straight to the lessor afterwards.
14/03/2002: The first Boeing 757-300 for Icelandair is scheduled to arrive at Kelflavik March 18th. The aircraft, TF-FIX, will arrive direct from Everett as ICE757. At first it will serve the Stockholm/Boston routes and later this spring mainly serving Copenhagen morning and afternoon flights, London/Heathrow and New York/JFK. Transair Sweden is planning to operate a fleet of 3 Boeing 757-200s this summer season. The aircraft are ex-Air 2000 and the airline will operate for MyTravel Airways.
05/03/2002: HMY Airways is name of a new Canadian operator which will start operations in Vancouver with a pair of Boeing 757-200s; initial destinations will be Florida, Hawaii and Mexico.
28/02/2002: February 20th, the first Boeing 757-300 powered by 2 Pratt & Whitney PW2043 engines took off for its first flight.
20/02/2002: This week, Boeing is to start tests of a Boeing 757-300 powered by Pratt & Whitney PW2043 engines, which the manufacturer hopes will boost the sales fortunes of the stretched narrow body. European and US certification is due by June 2002 with deliveries to Northwest Airlines, the launch customer for the PW2043, beginning the following month.
19/02/2002: Boeing has delivered the 1000th built Boeing 757 February 14th to American Airlines. It is the 148th aircraft in American Airlines’ fleet.
14/02/2002: Iberia is continuing to withdraw older Boeing 757s from their fleet. EC-FYJ is offered for sale/lease as of April 2002, EC-FYK as of July 2002; It appears that American Airlines is starting to remove the P&W powered ex-TWA aircraft from its fleet as N719TW and N720TW are offered for sale/lease. According to reports, Britannia Airways will phase out G-BYAR and G-BYAS before this summer season.
11/02/2002: TransMeridian Airlines could be a new Boeing 757 operator. N958PG and N962PG are scheduled to be leased from Pegasus Capital Corporation. The news regarding the lease of a Icelandair Boeing 757 to Aerocontinente is not true. Icelandair expects the first Boeing 757-300 to be delivered March 18th, and go into service March 20th.
09/02/2002: British World Airlines 2002 is a new proposed airline and is to emerge from the ashes of the former British World Airlines. It will be based at London/Stansted and plans to operate 3 Boeing 737-300s and a single Boeing 757-200, all one lease.
30/01/2002: G-OOBB was NOT leased to Apple Vacations but is operating out of Chicago for Air 2000 itself. To operate these flights, Air 2000 had to obtain US DoT approval, and the flights are operated as Fifth Freedom services; G-BYAN, G-BYAO and G-BYAP of Britannia Airways have been repainted in the new ‘World of TUI’ c/s. G-BYAR will leave the fleet March 2002 due to a general capacity reduction at the airline.
26/01/2002: G-BIKC was ferried from Tel Aviv to Southend January 24th after conversion to freighter. It will be repainted in full DHL c/s.
25/01/2002: Atlantic Jet is a new proposed US carrier to be based at Bradley Intl. Airport. It wants to lease a single Boeing 757-200 for services to London/Stansted starting this summer; Aerocontinente is leasing a Boeing 757-300 from Icelandair for their daily Lima-Santa Domingo-New York/JFK service; American Trans Air has assigned 6 Boeing 757-300s to ‘Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays’ for the 2002 season.
23/01/2002: G-OOOG and G-OOOU of Air 2000 are flying in a all First Class layout for the winter on air cruise programmes and ad hoc charters for organisations and sport teams. The leases of G-OOOV and G-OOOW will expire in May. It is expected that the leases will not be extended. The lease of G-OOOD will end in February and will leave the fleet. G-OOBA and G-OOBB left winter storage. G-OOBA is flying on routes from the UK and left Bournemouth/Filton December 20th, G-OOBB has been sub-leased to Apple Vacations for the rest of the winter, based at Chicago/O’Hare in full Air 2000 livery, operating charter flights with tropical destinations like Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, St. Lucia and Punta Cana.
01/01/2002: Thomas Cook will start a new airline in Belgium called Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium. It will start operations with 5 Airbus A320s from JMC Airlines and 2 aircraft, 1 Boeing 757-200 and 1 Boeing 767-300, from Condor. Condor and JMC Airlines are both owned by Thomas Cook; Dinar cancelled the lease of 2 Boeing 757-200s due to the poor Argentinian economic situation.
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