Palmair

Infobox Aviation
name=Palmair


caption=Palmair Boeing 737-200 in 2006

Palmair is a trading name for the tour operator "R.E. Bath Travel Service (Palmair) Limited" based in Bournemouth, United Kingdom. It operates inclusive tour charter flights to holiday destinations in Europe on behalf of Bath Travel. Its main base is Bournemouth International Airport (BOH).

The company holds a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Air Travel Organiser’s License (ATOL0003)

History

The charter flights started operations on 1 January 1993 as Palmair Flightline operating a BAe 146 aircraft. Upgraded aircraft were acquired in 1999 to reflect increased demand for capacity from Bournemouth and for the introduction of longer range routes. Until winter 1999 services was operated by Flightline, using a single BAe 146-300. In 2003 Palmair carried 75,000 passengers. In 2004 the company operated scheduled passenger flights to ten European airports, and day trips to 25 European cities.

On 22 December 2006, founder, Peter Bath, who had previously seen off every flight personally, died, aged 79. [ [http://www.thisisbournemouth.co.uk/display.var.1089545.0.town_mourns_travel_legend_peter_bath.php Town mourns travel legend Peter Bath - Daily Echo Online, 11:38am Saturday 23rd December 2006] ]

Awards

2003

The UK consumer magazine "Holiday Which?" published the results of a survey of 20,000 UK air passengers, showing that Palmair was the top rated airline flying from the UK.

2008

Palmair was mentioned on BBC World's "Fast Track" on 26 June 2008, as one of the top four airlines in the world in the British "Which?" magazine consumer survey. In the short haul airline category Palmair was picked as the best. Palmair tied with Air New Zealand for third in the 70,000 consumer opinion responses comparing 70 worldwide airlines.

David Skillicorn, managing director of Palmair, said he was delighted. He said, "We are just little Palmair with a little Boeing 737 yet we beat the likes of Virgin Atlantic and British Airways. Singapore Airlines has 100 planes including the A380 which is the largest plane in service, on-board massages and a choice of DVDs. All we can offer is the choice of tea or coffee - that is why I feel so flattered. Coming joint third in this poll is such an amazing achievement." [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2154555/One-plane-airline-named-third-best-in-world.html One plane airline named third best in world] ]

Destinations

Palmair serves the following destinations:
*Austria
**Salzburg (Salzburg Airport)
*Croatia
**Dubrovnik (Dubrovnik Airport)
*Czech Republic
**Prague (Ruzyně International Airport)
*Greece
**Korfu (Corfu International Airport)
*Iceland
**Keflavík (Keflavík International Airport)
*Italy
**Brescia (Brescia Airport)
**Milan (Malpensa International Airport)
**Venice (Venice Marco Polo Airport)
*Malta
**Luqa (Malta International Airport)
*Portugal
**Faro (Faro Airport)
**Funchal (Madeira Airport)
*Spain
**Alicante (Alicante International Airport)
**Arrecife/Lanzarote (Lanzarote Airport)
**Málaga (Málaga Airport)
**Menorca (Mahon Airport)
**Palma de Mallorca (Palma de Mallorca Airport)
**Tenerife (Tenerife South Airport)
*United Kingdom
**England
***Bournemouth (Bournemouth Airport) Hub

Fleet

References

External links

* [http://www.palmair.co.uk/ Palmair]
* [http://www.planespotters.net/Airline/Palmair-European?show=all Palmair Fleet Detail]
* [http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?airlinesearch=Palmair%20%28European%20Aircharter%29&distinct_entry=true Photos of Palmair aircraft]