Eastern Airways

:"This article is about the UK company. For the defunct U.S. air carrier, see Eastern Air Lines."

Infobox_Airline
airline=Eastern Airways
logo=EasternAirways.jpg
logo_size=210
IATA=T3
ICAO=EZE
callsign=EASTFLIGHT
headquarters=Humberside Airport, England, United Kingdom
company_slogan = "Rise above it all"
parent=
founded=1997
key_people= Richard Lake (MD),
Brian Huxford (Chairman)
hubs=Aberdeen Airport,
Newcastle Airport
focus_cities=
frequent_flyer=
lounge=
alliance=
fleet_size=30
destinations=18
website= http://www.easternairways.com/

Eastern Airways is an airline based at Humberside Airport, United Kingdom. It operates scheduled domestic services and private charters cite news | title= Directory: World Airlines | work= Flight International | page= 75 | date= 2007-04-03] . Around 700,000 passengers a year are carried on the scheduled route network. [ [http://www.eraa.org/airlinesdt.asp?AirlineID=39 ERAA] retrieved 12 May 2007]

It has crew bases at Leeds Bradford International Airport, Newcastle Airport, Durham Tees Valley Airport, Humberside Airport, East Midlands Airport, Southampton Airport, Isle of Man Airport, Aberdeen Airport, Wick Airport, Hawarden Airport (Chester) and Norwich International Airport. [ [http://www.easternirways.com] ] Air Kilroe Limited trading as Eastern Airways holds a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Type A Operating Licence, it is permitted to carry passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with 20 or more seats. [ [http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?categoryid=183&pagetype=90&pageid=340 Operating Licence] ]

Background

The airline started operations in December 1997 with a scheduled service between Humberside and Aberdeen. In February 1999 it purchased Manchester based Air Kilroe. Routes and BAe Jetstream 41 aircraft were transferred from British Airways CitiExpress from 30 March 2003. The airline is owned by Bryan Huxford (50%) and Richard Lake (50%).

From 24 April 2006 Eastern Airways has operated Cardiff to Newcastle following Air Wales' decision to cease scheduled flying from 23 April. Eastern based a crew and one Jetstream 41 at Cardiff to operate the route, Fact|date=May 2007 plus a new route to Brussels (but this was withdrawn after a few months due to poor passenger loads). The airline's Newcastle to London City route has also been withdrawn, blamed on increasing landing fees at the Docklands airport. However, a new twice-daily link from Durham Tees Valley to Brussels has been introduced, and from 13 Aug 2007 the airline is flying a Saab 2000 twice-daily from Aberdeen to Stavanger, Norway. This route will be operated in direct competition with Wideroe airlines.

Eastern Airways won the European Regions Airline Association Airline of the Year Gold Award for 2006/07. Previously it had won the Airline of the Year Silver Award for 2003/04 and 2004/05.

Eastern Airways have purchased a Jetstream 41 training simulator from the USA, this is also used by other airlines for their own pilots' training, such as Yeti Airlines. In late July 2007 it was announced Eastern are to acquire two more used Saab 2000 aircraft, to support both the new route to Stavanger and the booming 50-seat charter market - which is a major source of business for the airline

As part of One North East's [http://www.northeastengland.co.uk/page/index.cfm "Passionate People Passionate Places"] campaign for North East England, Eastern Airways had a Jetstream 41 painted in promotional colours. It also featured in the 2007 Sunderland International Airshow. A Saab 2000 is also painted in a promotional 'Aberdeen City and Shire' colour scheme.

Destinations

Eastern Airways serves the following destinations (July 2008) [http://www.easternairways.com/en/where-we-fly/where-we-fly-destination-guide.html] :

*France
**Angers (Angers - Loire Airport)
*Norway
**Oslo (Gardermoen Airport) {Starts 12 January 2009]
**Stavanger (Stavanger Airport)
*United Kingdom
**England
***Birmingham (Birmingham International Airport)
***Bristol (Bristol International Airport)
***East Midlands (East Midlands Airport)
***Humberside (Humberside Airport) Operations and Maintenance Base
***Leeds/Bradford (Leeds Bradford International Airport)
***London (London Stansted Airport)
***Manchester (Manchester Airport)
***Newcastle upon Tyne (Newcastle Airport) Hub
***Norwich (Norwich International Airport)
***Southampton (Southampton Airport)
***Teesside (Durham Tees Valley Airport)
**Scotland
***Aberdeen (Aberdeen Airport) Hub
***Stornoway (Stornoway Airport)
***Wick (Wick Airport)
**Wales
***Cardiff (Cardiff International Airport)
**Crown dependencies
***Isle of Man (Isle of Man Airport)

Fleet

The Eastern Airways fleet includes the following aircraft (as of March 2008):

External links

* [http://www.easternairways.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.eraa.org/ European Regions Airline Association]
* [http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?airlinesearch=Eastern%20Airways&distinct_entry=true Photos]

References