Air Scotland

Infobox_Airline
airline=Air Scotland
logo=AirScotland.gif
logo_size=user
IATA=-
ICAO=GRE
callsign=GREECE AIRWAYS
parent=
founded=November 2002
headquarters=Glasgow, Scotland
hubs = Glasgow International Airport
focus_cities = Manchester International Airport
fleet_size=1 (at closure)
destinations=15
key_people=Dhia Al-Ani (founder)
website=

Air Scotland was a low-cost airline based in Glasgow, Scotland. It operated scheduled services from Glasgow International Airport, and other UK airports, to the Mediterranean and Athens using the air operator's certificate of Greece Airways, a Greek registered company and licensed by the Greek Civil Aviation Authority.

Air Scotland is no longer operating, as the Greek Civil Aviation Authority suspended their Operating Licence and AOC in December 2006.

History

Air Scotland was established in November 2002 by Iraqi-born businessman Dhia Al-Ani and started operations on 29 March 2003, using 2 Boeing 757-200 aircraft operated by Electra Airlines, to Spanish holiday resorts. The company was a ticket provider for Electra Airlines until 25 April 2003, when the Electra aircraft were grounded by British Airports Authority over debts owed to the airport operator. Air Scotland ceased the agreement with Electra and began operating with Air Holland, who agreed to resume operation of the former Electra routes. With the demise of Air Holland, it then began operating under the air operator's certificate of Greece Airways, which was formed out of Electra and owned by Mr Al-Ani, albeit with only one 757 aircraft. All aircraft - before 2006 - that have operated for Air Scotland have carried the operator's livery of white fuselage with the Flag of Scotland design on the aircraft tailfin.Fact|date=April 2007

Under Mr Al-Ani's ownership, there were reports of Air Scotland looking to lease two Lockheed L-1011 Tristar to utilise on services from Glasgow to Miami, New York City and Cuba [ [http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/hi/news/5038007.html 1 Evening Times] ] , and to fly between Glasgow and London Stansted Airport to Baghdad, but these failed to materialise.

At the start of October 2005 Mr Al-Ani sold his stake in the airline to H Top Hotels Group of Barcelona, Spain. However, administrative difficulties in transferring ownership of the airline resulted in the operator's solitary aircraft being grounded at Palma over unpaid fuel bills. Passengers were left stranded for up to 17 hours and in one instance armed police were called to calm angry passengers delayed in Palma [ [http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=2104012005 The Scotsman] ] . The knock-on effect to the airline's network as a result of the delay was considerable. An aircraft was chartered from Fischer Air Polska to help clear the backlog, but returned to Poland empty after the pilot refused service to Air Scotland as he believed that they had not paid. Air Scotland had in fact transferred money to Fischer Air Polska's account that morning. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4356204.stm BBC News Scotland] ]

Destinations

Taken from air-scotland.com in 2006

*Greece
**Athens (Athens International Airport)
*Spain
**Alicante (Alicante Airport)
**Barcelona (Barcelona Airport)
**Girona (Girona Airport)
**Malaga (Malaga International Airport)
**Palma de Mallorca (Palma de Mallorca Airport)
*United Kingdom
**England
***Birmingham (Birmingham International Airport)
***Bristol (Bristol Airport)
***Doncaster (Doncaster Airport)
***Manchester (Manchester International Airport) Focus City
***Newcastle (Newcastle Airport)
***Norwich (Norwich Airport)
**Northern Ireland
***Belfast (Belfast International Airport)
**Scotland
***Glasgow (Glasgow International Airport) Hub
**Wales
***Cardiff (Cardiff Airport)

Fleet

Air Scotland currently have only one A320-211 in the fleet. This is based in Glasgow and registered as SX-BLX and there are currently no titles on this aircraft. Prior services were flown by a single Boeing 757-236 SX-BLW which wore a combination of Air Scotland & Greece Airways decals. This aircraft is now in service with Jet2.com under the registration G-LSAD.

External links

* [http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?airlinesearch=Air-Scotland%20%28Greece%20Airways%29&distinct_entry=true Photos of Air Scotland aircraft]
* [http://www.klickthis.com/gallery-aircraft-scotland-airline-649-Air+Scotland.html Scotland Photo Database - Air Scotland.]

References