BLUE WINGS

:''For the inflight magazine of Finnair, see Blue Wings (magazine).''
'Blue Wings' is an airline based in Düsseldorf, Germany. It operates scheduled services to Russia and charter flights mainly to Turkey and the Middle East. Its main base is Düsseldorf International Airport^[1]; the headquarters is in Bocholt, Germany.

Contents

Code Data

History

Destinations

Fleet

External links

References

Code Data

★ IATA Code: 'QW'

★ ICAO Code: 'BWG'

★ Callsign: Blue Wings ^[2]

History

The airline was established in 2002 and started operations in July 2003. It initially operated charter services from Düsseldorf using a wet-leased Airbus A320, delivered in December 2002. The airline received its air operators certificate on 27 June 2003 and began operating the A320 in its own right the following month. In June 2006 Russia's National Reserve Corporation (NRC) acquired a 48% shareholding through its Zürich based subsidiary Alpstream. NRC plans to launch a Moscow based low-cost carrier early in 2007, possibly under the ''National Wings'' brand, and Blue Wings aircraft may be used. The airline is owned by Alpstream (48%), Jorn Hellwig (26%) and NIL Investment (26%).

Destinations

Blue Wings operates services to the following international scheduled destinations (at July 2006) : Ankara, Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman, Kayseri and Istanbul.
The airline will increase its operations by starting new routes from Germany to destinations in Turkey and the CIS, primarily on behalf of tour operators.

Fleet

The Blue Wings fleet consists of the following aircraft (at April 2007):

★ 4 Airbus A320-200 (further 16 on order)
On order:

★ 5 Tupolev Tu-204CM

★ 4 Airbus A321-200
Blue Wings average fleet age is 8.5 years (July 2006)^[3].
On 6 October 2006, Blue Wings agreed to buy 5 Airbus A320-200 from JetBlue Airways. On 17 October 2006, Blue Wings, together with its shareholder Alpstream, has signed a contract with Airbus for 20 Airbus A320 family aircraft (16 A320s and four A321s, seating 150 and 210 passengers respectively), confirming a commitment announced during the Farnborough air show in July this year.

External links

★ Blue Wings

★ Blue Wings Fleet

References

1. Directory: World Airlines
2. Airline Codes (November 2006)
3. Blue Wings Fleet Age