Very simliar to the news article I posted to start this thread, only this time, the statement is taken from Air Scotlands website.

http://www.air-scotland.com/otherinfo/news.asp#6

Expansion for Air Scotland / Greece Airways
(4/26/2005)
Air Scotland / Greece Airways chairman, Mr Dhia Al-Ani, announced today further expansion for both the Air Scotland / Greece Airways fleet and also additional routes from Scotland.

Mr Al-Ani has confirmed that Air Scotland / Greece Airways has added an additional 2 aircraft to its fleet. Both aircraft are Tristar L1011-500 with long haul capabilities and have 309 seats each. Negotiations are also underway to acquire a further 2 smaller aircraft for European routes.

As well as announcing the new aircraft, Mr Al-Ani has confirmed that Air Scotland / Greece Airways has applied for permission to operate from Scotland to Miami and New York twice a week and Havana and Toronto once a week. All flights are expected to commence later on this year. Plans are also underway to increase the frequency of the Glasgow to Paris and Athens routes to five times per week from July 2005

Mr Al-Ani commented ‘We are delighted to announce this expansion to our fleet. We have been looking at various options for several months and believe that these new aircraft will allow us access to long haul markets as well as accommodating the diversity of routes which Air Scotland / Greece Airways aim to provide. We are constantly receiving requests from Scotland and overseas for us to operate ‘across the pond’. With this in mind and having researched the market, we have applied to the CAA for permission to operate to USA, Canada and Cuba from Glasgow. We hope we will receive the necessary permissions soon. We will be the first ever low cost carrier to operate long haul flights at that scale – another first for Scotland!’

Mr Al-Ani also advised that Air Scotland / Greece Airways have delayed the commencement of the Glasgow – Amsterdam service until August to allow it to offer a more comprehensive service on that route. Air Scotland initially announced two flights weekly, Saturday and Wednesday, whereas this postponement will enable it to offer five times per week flights

Mr Al-Ani said ‘ We are currently in negotiations for smaller aircraft which we will use to operate short haul routes with a minimum of daily flights. We want to operate Amsterdam more than twice per week from the beginning but due to schedule constraints this was not possible. Rather than operate an unsatisfactory service, we have therefore taken the decision to delay the commencement of the Amsterdam service until August. All passengers currently booked on the flights will be offered either flights with alternative carriers, full refunds, or change of travel date or destination. By using smaller aircraft we will also be able to expand our European network and offer our clients a wider range of routes’.

Mr Paul White, Terminal Manager at Glasgow Airport commented: ‘These are ambitious plans from Air Scotland and we wish them well with their discussions with the CAA‘.

Air Scotland / Greece Airways are already operating the only twice weekly direct flight from Glasgow to Athens, the only Glasgow direct to Paris (Charles de Gaulle) as well as operating Alicante 4 times a week, Malaga 4 times a week, and Palma and Amsterdam 2 times a week