2003 news

24/12/2003: North American Airlines will not proceed with a deal in which Universal Express was to have acquired the airline. Air 2000‘s AOC and CAA licences will be changed to First Choice Airways January 13th, 2004 as of 00.01 GMT. Codes will be DP-FCA. Air Train is a proposed airline in the UK intending to start operations on domestic routes as well as to Ireland. It is considering Liverpool and Manchester as its hubs and could operate as many as 32 Boeing 757-200s. Thomas Cook Airlines is interested in making these aircraft available to Air Train.

20/12/2003: The Boeing 757 fleet of Atlasjet can be followed on the following website: ‘http://occ.atlasjet.net’ (this link does not work anymore).

18/12/2003: Thaijet has leased 2 Boeing 757-200s from Atlasjet of Turkey. The aircraft have been re-registered HS-OGA (ex-TC-OGA) and HS-OGB (ex-TC-OGB). HS-OGB was seen at Istanbul December 5th with Thaijet titles.

05/12/2003: Air Scotland has leased a Boeing 757-200 from Thomas Cook Airlines. The aircraft, G-JMCG, has been re-registered SX-BLV and was seen at Manchester December 3rd in basic Thomas Cook Airlines c/s with “Air Scotland” titles and tail logo.

30/11/2003: One-Two-Go‘s first aircraft was seen at Mojave November 26th in full c/s. The aircraft, previously operated by American Trans Air as N521AT, is now registered HS-OTA. One-Two-Go is a part of Orient Thai.

26/11/2003: AV8Air.com has received its first Boeing 757-200. The aircraft, G-OAVB, was seen at Manchester November 25th in full c/s.

25/11/2003: One-Two-Go is the name of Orient Thai‘s new lost cost carrier. The Airline is scheduled to start operations in Thailand with a Boeing 757-200 on December 5th with a Bangkok to Chian Mai route, and plans to fly up to 6 aircraft on various domestic routes as well as from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur.

20/11/2003: Hooters Air has taken delivery of its first aircraft. N750WL will be operated by Pace Airlines in full Hooters Air c/s; ATA Airlines will lease a Boeing 757-200 (ex-PH-TKC, c/n 26635) from GECAS which was previously operated by Transavia Airlines; North American Airlines has been sold to Universal Express of New York. El Al is no longer a shareholder; Atlasjet will transfer its Boeing 757 fleet to sister company Thaijet in Bangkok, probably early next year.

05/11/2003: Aeromar is considering leasing up to 2 Boeing 757-200s this winter from Air Atlanta. Both aircraft will probably be transferred from Excel Airways; Aero Continente is about to take delivery of a Boeing 757-200. N451GX was seen in full Aero Continente c/s at Miami early November. Skyservice is leasing 3 Boeing 757-200s this winter . One is already in use (C-FTDV) and operated in Europe this summer. C-FFAN and C-GUBA will be the other 2 aircraft. C-GUBA was seen at Edmonton November 3rd in basic Air 2000 c/s with “Skyservice” titles.

03/11/2003: Air Astana will inaugurate nonstop service to Amsterdam from Atyrau and Uralsk with a Boeing 757-200. Air Astana has received its first Boeing 757-200, D-AMUG, an ex-LTU aircraft.

25/10/2003: American Airlines has started storing its ex-TWA Boeing 757-200s. Currently at least 7 aircraft are stored at Kansas City; Thaijet is a new operator which plans to begin operations this November with 3 Boeing 757-200s sub-leased from Atlasjet International.

13/10/2003: Continental Airlines will be converting orders for 6 Boeing 757-300s to the smaller Boeing 737-800s. This news was followed by Boeing‘s announcement it would shut down the Boeing 757 production line late 2004 with more than 1000 aircraft produced; Air 2000 announced it will be renamed First Choice Airways. Air 2000s fleet is already visually very similar in style to First Choice, therefor changes will be minor and will be made over the autumn and winter months.

12/10/2003: Cameroon Airlines has NOT gone out of business. The 2 757-200s were on lease to Afriqiyah Airlines at various times in July; Hola Airlines has leased an ex-Iberia 757-200 (EC-FXV). The aircraft will be used for VIP charter operations; Atlas International has leased 4 fourth Boeing 757-200 (TC-OGD). The aircraft is currently sub-leased to Cyprus Turkish Airlines and is flying in all white c/s with “Atlas International” titles; British Airways World Cargo intends to start (early October) a cargo flight each Saturday between London/Luton and Amsterdam. British Airways will charter a Boeing 757-200SF from DHL for this operation; Martinair will phase out its only 757-200 early 2004. Last flight is scheduled for January 4th.

01/10/2003: Air Astana will be leasing 2 Boeing 757-200s to service domestic and international routes and is already considering a third one. Air Astana recently received authorisations to operate routes from Almaty to Bangkok, Istanbul, London and Seoul as well as from Astana to Budapest, Frankfurt and Hannover.

18/09/2003: Avianca Colombia has leased 2 Boeing 757-200s, one from Icelandair (TF-FIR) and one from TransMeridian Airlines (N958PG) till November. The airline will lease 3 Boeing 757-200s in November to replace the ones which had to be returned to the leasing companies during Chapter 11 proceedings.

16/09/2003: Aero Continente has signed for the lease of a Boeing 757-200 from GATX. The aircraft, previously operated by Electra Airlines, is expected to be delivered in November.

06/09/2003: Air Finland has leased a 2nd Boeing 757-200 from ILFC for a period of 5 years; Sierra Leone Airways has leased a 757-200 from Icelandair (TF-FIS) which will operate the aircraft on the Freetown to London route; AV8Air.com is new UK start-up which aims to begin operations in October with charter flights from Manchester using a 757-200 on lease from Ansett Worldwide; Freshaer is a new Irish airline which intends to start operations with 3 Boeing 757-200s. Homebase is Dublin with destinations Manchester, Birmingham, London/Stansted, Malaga and Alicante.

01/07/2003: Air Slovakia is a new Boeing 757 operator. Its first aircraft arrived at Bratislava June 27th in full c/s. Previous operator was Air Transat and it will be registered OM-DJK (c/n 24772).

20/06/2003: British Airways handed over the 34th Boeing 757-200 to Boeing May 4th. This is the final aircraft sold to Boeing for conversion to freighter and onward lease to DHL.

07/05/2003: Fly Air is new Turkish charter operator which has started operations with at least 1 Boeing 757-200. The aircraft was seen in full c/s at Maastricht/Aachen May 3rd. It is registered TC-FLM (c/n 24122, ex Air Anatolia).

05/05/2003: Skyservice will operate an Air 2000 757 this summer out of Dublin. The aircraft, G-OOOC, is re-registered C-FTDV. The reason is for Skyservice to operate enough flights to obtain Boeing 757 ETOPS approval for this winter. This looks like strong evidence that Skyservice will be operating their own 757s this winter as well as Air 2000 Boeing 757s that operate on their behalf.

25/04/2003: United Airlines will park 10 Boeing 757-200s for storage; US Airways emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as planned March 31st; Avianca Colombia filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy re-organisation March 21st, but continues to operate; Air Anatolia is still operating at least one of its 757s. TC-ANM was seen at Amsterdam April 25th.

03/04/2003: Northwest Airlines has introduced a new livery.

26/03/2003: Primaris Airlines is a newly proposed US airline, based in Las Vegas, promising to offer heavily discounted first-class-only services on US domestic and international routes when it launches this year. The company said it will begin service with 3 leased 757-200s configured for 100 seats. It plans to grow its fleet to 15 aircraft within the first 12 months. Primaris says it will operate between New York and 8 major ports in the US, Canada, France and Germany, as well as between Boston and London.

25/03/2003: Transavia Airlines will lease 2 757-300s from Condor for this summer season. Their 3 Boeing 757-200s will be sold to GECAS with 1 being leased back. The other 2 will go to Royal New Zealand Air Force; Freshaer Airlines in a new Irish operator which intends to acquire 4 Boeing 757-200s on lease for start-up of operations in July from Dublin and Cork.

23/03/2003: Titan Airways will lease EI-MON (c/n 26151) from GECAS. The aircraft is currently stored at Lasham.

17/03/2003: Icelandair‘s latest addition was ferried from Marana via Tulsa to Keflavik as ICE6002 (still as N542NA) where it arrived March 15th. The aircraft will undergo a C-check before entering service. It will be operating charters for Loftleidir Icelandic.

27/02/2003: Icelandair is leasing ex-National Airlines N542NA. It is currently stored at Mojave and will be ferried to Iceland. The aircraft will be registered TF-FIS and won’t receive Icelandair c/s at present but just white c/s with blue tail colors.

21/02/2003: Blue Panorama is planning to lease 2 Boeing 757-200s which will join the fleet later this year. Both aircraft will be used for charter flights out of Milan and Rome to the Canary Islands and several African destinations.

20/02/2003: Air Anatolia has returned their 757s January 2003.

13/02/2003: Arkia and Israir are to be signing an agreement (for a period of 5 years), in which both companies will start a new airline with 5 aircraft (3 from Arkia and 2 from Israir) to shared destinations.

07/02/2003: Titan Airways is to become a new Boeing 757-200 operator as of April 2003; Excel Airways will be adding 2 757-200s (TF-ARD and TF-ARE). Both aircraft will be operated by Air Atlanta and are to be based at Manchester; proposed new airline Canada West Airlines may have chosen the Boeing 767 instead of the 757. All slot applications received in the UK have been for 767 services; Air Scotland had to shutdown its website after problems with the UK CAA. The CAA said that Air Scotland is not an airline, but a tour operator, and as such needs an air Tour Organisers Licence. To get around this, Electra Airlines is forming a subsidiary called Electra Airlines Scotland Ltd., which will issue tickets under the name Air-Scotland.com. (note from the moderator: as Air Scotland is not an airline, it will not be mentioned in the operators list).

06/02/2003: Kyrgyzstan Airlines is another possible 757 operator. According to sources they might lease 2 Boeing 757-200s from ILFC this month.

04/02/2003: Air Finland‘s first aircraft seems to be an ex-Transavia Airlines airplane. PH-TKD (c/n 26330) is already parked in all white c/s at Amsterdam. Today it was seen in hangar 14 in full Air Finland c/s and will be registered OH-AFI.

29/01/2003: Skyservice is leasing a Boeing 757-200 from Air 2000. The aircraft will be flying in full Air 2000 c/s, but with Skyservice titles and Canadian registration.

25/01/2003: Orient Thai is yet another airline which will add the Boeing 757 to its fleet. The airline wants to add 2 757s by this April.

20/01/2003: Air Scotland.com is the name of the first Scottish low-cost carrier which will start operations this March with 2 757-200s. The airline is set up in partnership with Electra Airlines which will provide the aircraft. It is also considering adding a Boeing 737 and a Boeing 767 in order to expand routes. Starting routes are from Edinburgh to Alicante, Barcelona, Fuerteventura, Malaga and Palma, and from Glasgow to Barcelona, Palma and Tenerife.

18/01/2003: Air Finland is a new Finnish operator who is leasing a Boeing 757 from ILFC for a period of 5 years. The aircraft was previously operated by Transavia Airlines. The airline will operate from Helsinki and other airports in Finland to Antalya, Burgas, Las Palmas, Malaga, Nice, Tenerife, Trieste and Varna.

16/01/2003: Omni Air International will be leasing 2 Boeing 757-200s from ILFC.