21/12/2005: Air Scotland/Greece Airways was sold in October 2005 to the same investment company, which owns H-Top Hotels in Spain; last flight was operated on November 15, 2005, but intends to re-start operations in December 2005;
25/11/2005: Fischer Air Polska will be leasing a third Boeing 757-230; the aircraft, c/n 24747 (N723BA), was previously operated by Dutchbird; it rolled out at Shannon in full Fischer Air Polska c/s on November 21, 2005, and will be registered SP-FVK;
18/11/2005: Air Horizons, previously known as Euralair, suspended operations on November 14, 2005 and filed for bankruptcy; the airline operated 8 aircraft : 3 Boeing 757-200s & 5 B737s;
30/08/2005: Atlasjet will be adding 2 ex-Iberia B757-200s to its fleet; the first aircraft, still registered EC-HIR (c/n 29308), has been seen at Madrid in full Atlasjet c/s;
20/08/2005: Royal New Zealand Air Force has contracted with ST Aero to convert its 2 Boeing 757-200s to combi configuration; Yucaipa Companies LLC‘s only Boeing 757-200, N770BB (c/n 25220), arrived at Goodyear on July 18,2005 for installations on winglets; the aircraft left on August 11, 2005 with fresh new winglets;
16/07/2005: Air Nepal International – the upcoming dynamic international airlines of the mystical Kingdom of Nepal – is about to take off into the skies with a Boeing 757–200 series. Started by five very self-motivated entrepreneurs, the airlines will be flying to Doha, Dubai and Kuala Lumpur to begin with. There will be 2 flights a week to each of these places. Future destinations will include Lhasa, Hong Kong, Tokyo and London. Air Nepal International will be operating the 200 seats aircraft with Business as well as Economy Class configuration with a very high passenger oriented standard of service. The Airline will be operating their services from the 24th of July (info thanks to: http://www.airnepalinternational.com & Chris); EOS Airlines is the name of a new airline which intends to start operations in the third quarter of 2005 with 3 Boeing 757s; flight are between New York/JFK and London/Stansted. The aircraft has a lay-out with 48 seats (note from the moderator: go to the website of Atlantic Express; they show a Boeing 757 in EOS c/s); SunExpress of Turkey is a new European Boeing 757-200 operator; the company is leasing an ex-Aeromexico aircraft, c/n 25624, it has been registered TC-SNA and was seen at Atlanta in full SunExpress c/s; Phuket Airlines has returned their only Boeing 757-200, HS-KAA (c/n 25131) on 22/06/2005;
09/07/2005: Santa Barbara Airlines is leasing N740PA (c/n 24497) from Primaris Airlines. The aircraft was seen at Miami on July 8 in basic Primaris c/s, Santa Barbara Airlines titles & tail logo;
21/06/2005: Vim Airlines will be leasing 4 ex-ATA Airlines Boeing 757-200s. All 4 aircraft are currently at Munich. The aircraft are N515AT (c/n 27598), N523AT (c/n 30232), N524AT (c/n 30233) & N526AT (c/n 30735);
03/06/2005: Atlantic Express is a new U.S. airlines which intends to start with 3 Boeing 757-200s; all three aircraft are ex-Mexicana (N101LF, N755MX and N764MX) for which registrations N401JS , N403JS and N926JS have been reserved. They are looking for personnel on their company website;
31/05/2005: Fischer Air Polska is a new Polish airlines which has taken delivery of its first (ex-Mexicana) Boeing 757-200; the aircraft has been seen in full Fischer Air c/s in Warsaw and is registered SP-FVP;
20/05/2005: Channel Express (Jet2) has registered two Boeing 757-200s in the UK-registered; both aircraft (c/n 24122 and c/n c/n 24136) operated for Fly Air before being stored in U.S.A.; they are registered G-LSAA and G-LSAB and will enter service in October 2005;
09/05/2005: Air Italy is a new Italian Boeing 757 operator; they will start with 2 ex-Dutchbird aircraft of which the first one (c/n 24748 with registration D-ABJW) has been seen in full Air Italy c/s in Hamburg (info thanks to: Chris & www.skyliner-aviation.de); Air Horizons is a new French Boeing 757 operator; Lufthansa Aircraft Painting has completed the repaint of the first of three ex ATA Airlines for French Air Horizons within 4 days. All three 757s were acquired by Air Atlanta for onward lease to the French charter carrier; the first aircraft, registered F-GRNG, was seen at Shannon on May 6 in full Air Horizons c/s (info thanks to: Chris & www.skyliner-aviation.de);
04/05/2005: Blue Line has leased a Boeing 757-200 from Icelandair/Loftleidir Icelandic; TF-FIW (c/n 24838) was seen at Paris/Charles de Gaulle in basic Icelandair c/s, Blue Line titles, Holidays titles under the Blue Line titles & a Blue Line tail logo (info thanks to: Chris);
03/05/2005: Angkor Airways has wet-leased a Boeing 757 from Far Eastern Air Transport of Taiwan on ACMI basis. The airline operates domestic flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap since 22 January. The business purpose of Angkor Airways is to promote Angkor Wat to the international travel market with main focus to attract more tourists from all over the world. Therefore, the airline uses Siem Reap as its hub to provide direct flights planned to various international destinations. Effective 15 March, Angkor Airways will operate five direct services per week on the route Siem Reap-Taipei, with onward connections to Phnom Penh. For the future, Angkor Airways plans to fly most of the major cities in Asia. Its motto is “Bring the world to Angkor Wat”. Angkor Airways has a website at www.angkorairways.com (info thanks to: Chris);
22/04/2005: Continental Airlines‘ 8 Boeing 757-300s are ex-ATA Airlines; adds to news on 24/03/2005 (source: Aviation Letter);
15/04/2005: Blue Panorama will add 2 Boeing 757s to its fleet of 767 and 737s. Delivery is scheduled in June and December. The airline will use the aircraft on routes from Italy to Africa, the Canary Islands, the Cape Verde Islands, Egypt and other destinations around the Med (source: Just Planes); Livingston will lease a single Boeing 757-200 from Air Finland. The aircraft is expected to operate from Bari, Bologna and Milan/Malpensa to Egypt, Greece and Spain (source: Just Planes);
11/04/2005: Monarch Airlines‘ Boeing 757-200 G-MONK (c/n 24105) made an emergency landing on April 8 in Porto Santo due to a malfunction in its left engine; the flight was from Gatwick to Tenerife-South, and while it was under control of Casablanca, had to change it’s course to Porto Santo, running with only one engine to make a emergency landing; following the normal procedures in these situations, the oxygen masks were released (source: Madeira Spotters);
08/04/2005: Astraeus has added a third Boeing 757-200 to their fleet; the aircraft is registered G-OPJB and has c/n 24924;
24/03/2005: Continental Airlines will be leasing 8 Boeing 757-300s this summer (source: Continental Airlines); BMI (British Midland) is leasing a Boeing 757-200 from Icelandair for its Manchester to Washington route;
16/03/2005: MagicBlue Airlines is a new Dutch airlines which intended to start with Airbus A310 & A300 aircraft but have decided to go with 2 Boeing 757-200s for this summer season; MagicBlue’s website is active but still under construction at www.magic-blue.com (source: luchtvaarnieuws);
15/03/2005: Continental Airlines’ N67134 (c/n 29283) was seen at Boeing Field with blended winglets; this is the first aircraft. Continental Airlines and Icelandair have signed contracts to get winglets on their Boeing 757 fleet;
02/03/2005: Avianca Colombia unveiled their new livery on Boeing 757-2Y0 EI-CEZ (c/n 26154); This happened on February 28 at Bogota/Eldorado International Airport (source: Avianca Colombia);
09/02/2005: Sunship1 Airlines, a new low-cost vacation air carrier, announced it will begin flying non-stop routes from Los Angeles International Airport to the Hawaiian Islands on March 25. Once the program “ramps up” by June, flights will operate Saturdays, Tuesdays and Thursdays to Maui; Fridays to Kauai; Mondays to the Big Island and Sundays and Wednesdays to Oahu on a year-round basis. Sunship1 operates as a “dba” of Ryan International Airlines based in Wichita, Kansas and will fly the Boeing 757-200 (source: Just Planes);
27/01/2005: Flugleidir Icelandic Group has purchased 3 Boeing 757-200 aircraft, manufactured in 1994; two of them have been leased and used within the group, the third has been bought to lease it to Britannia (source: Just Planes); Song announced a major expansion; on May 1st the airline’s fleet will grow from 36 to 48 Boeing 757-200s (source: Just Planes);
18/01/2005: Dutchbird cancelled all flights as of 21/12/2005 and filed for bankruptcy on 31/12/2004; Avianca Colombiua has emerged out of bankruptcy protection and is under new ownership (National Confederation of Coffee Growers, Colombia, 25% and Grupo Brazil, 75%) and will change its name to Aerovias Del Continente Americana;
11/01/2005: SunShip 1 Airlines is a new American Airline; it’s a unit of Ryan International Airlines and owned by Rubloff Development Group LLC. The airline will start with four aircraft, first route will be flown out of Rockford Airford with 3 flights a week to Cancun starting February 17, 2005 (website SunShip 1 Airlines: www.sunship1.com); LAB of Bolivia intends to lease a Boeing 757-200 in the coming months.