whats next for OZJET

IIRC the pullout from BHX/MAN was announced around when they reduced ops last year.

I would imagine that they either lost the contracts, or chose not to continue operating them.

Looking back to the announcement last year they didn’t appear to have enough a/c to operate these flights (Summer06) as the fleet was either going to OzJet or was going to be flying for Palmair from BOH.

With an aircraft back from Oz, and the ex Westjet aircraft there are more aircraft available now.

Any news on the ex Westjet a/c? EAC’s website suggested they would be operated , but a pic on airliners.net says they reportedly are for scrapping…?

More recently, additional 737s have been acquired, plus the return of aircraft from Australia, and this may signal an upturn in the group’s fortunes.

Anyone know why they have pulled out of both Manchester and Birmingham this summer. They had fairly good flying programmes for Cosmos and MyTravel among others, but EAF are now gone and both programmes are being operated by Spanish carrier Airclass Airways (VISIG).

Upturn?

I was going to say pretty much the same thing as diesel1, I dont think it was anything more than a bit of standard practice accounting.

European Aviation Air Charter, based at BOH seems to be the airline part of the group.

European Skybus, based at Ledbury in Herefordshire seems to be the non airline part of the business – the spare parts, aircraft seating etc bit.

That the 747s were registered to European Skybus may have been a way of protecting the assets from those that EAC were in debt to?

How does the name European Skybus fit in?

A bit of additional information, correction and clarification around the post from Manston Airport about European.

The elderly BAC1-11s acquired from the RAAF (along with the RAAF’s spares inventory) were never put into service.

European Aviation Group existed before the charter airline (EAC) was set up.

European Aviation Group is the name of the parent company of EAC.

After initial operations at BOH, the airline relocated to Bristol Filton where they had their base – a large number of 1-11s were present there, some painted in the familiar European c/s, but some were in partial Okada Air of Nigeria colours (not dis-similar to the old British Caledonian c/s), but with European titles. After a fairly short period of time, operations were relocated to BOH.

The 1-11s flew on behalf of many other airlines, including subcharters and leases as well as IT and adhoc charters.
At least one 1-11 was operated in a VIP layout, and used by Paul Stoddart, the groups owner, as transport to F1 Grand Prix where his Minardi team was racing.
EAC also operated regularly on behalf of the MoD flying between the UK and Germany.

After the 1-11s were withdrawn, EAC being the last European operator IIRC, a B737 was used as the VIP configured a/c, the other 737s continuing a similar type operation as the 1-11 had carried out.

Although European, acquired A300s and painted them in their full c/s, these aircraft were never operated commercially by EAC and were broken up after spending a couple of years at BOH.

European acquired a single 727-100, but like the A300 the aircraft never operated commercially for EAC although it was in full c/s. Never added to the UK register, the aircraft kept its Czech registration until it was sold to Balkh Air of Afghanistan.

EAC has been contracted by Dorset based tour operator Bath Travel / Palmair for a number of years, and performs the bulk of their flying on services from BOH.

In more recent years EAC’s history has been troubled – the acquistion of Boeing 747s saw many flights operated on behalf of tour operators and other airlines around the world – the unexpected cancellation of a contract by Travelcity Direct meant that many staff had to be laid off and some 747s were withdrawn from use.
Some 747s remained in service, but with the final withdrawal from service of the 747 last autumn staff were once again laid off.
This point also saw a contraction of 737 operations too with bases closed and staff laid off.

More recently, additional 737s have been acquired, plus the return of aircraft from Australia, and this may signal an upturn in the group’s fortunes.

The BAe 146s have already been mentioned, though the purchase of a number of former Chinese MD82s appears to have fallen through.

EAC has always generated strong opinions from its employees and industry experts – whatever their thoughts, it could never be suggested that the operations were anything but varied. Its history is fascinating with the variety of customers and and ups and downs it has endured.

Last I heard was that they had ceased schedulred services, but were available for ad-hoc charters

You heard right, they were experiencing load factors of one or two pax on the Melbourne – Sydney route, no airline can sustain those numbers for very long

The two a/c are already at Bournemouth. They were acquired with the intention of operating for Ozjet, but when that company ceased scheduled ops the deal for them had already been signed. They were transferred to the N register in order to get them to the UK. As yet it seems as though European will try and pass them on rather than putting them into service.

Thank you for information Jethro.
No problems luke 😎

James

Hi Luke some info for you about EAL.

European Air Charter began in 1989, as European Aviation. The equipment the airline used at first was rather old BAC-111 jets, which had been first built during the 1960s. The aircraft were flown over from Australia, as their previous owner was the Royal Australian Air Force.

European Aviation’s was initially based in the building where the British Aircraft Corporation used to make aircrft such as the Viscount and, coincidentally, the BAC-111s that the airline was operating. European Air Charter has flown from Bournemouth-Hum International Airport since its beginning, making the airport a hub for the airline. The airport has since become an alternative to London’s major airports, and Palmair also has a hub there.

The airline was profitable, so the company expanded its operation into other areas such as flight crew training, maintenance for other operators and leasing and selling aircraft.

In 1993, the company directors took the decision of changing European Aviation’s name to European Aviation Air Charter, or EAC for short. That same year, twenty other BAC-111s were bought from British airline industry giant British Airways.

This move was made so that the airline could include tour groups among its charter clients. By then the airline also operated the far newer Airbus A300 jets as well as examples of the American Boeing 737 type. Many of European’s Boeing 737s used to fly for the former national airline of Belgium, Sabena, an airline that disappeared after the September 11, 2001 attacks. By 1997 European had acquired some Boeing 727 airliners as well.

European Air Charter asked for permission to land at JFK International Airport in New York, Chicago and other US and Canadian destinations in 2001. Due to the volume of passengers the airline projected to transport on each flight to North America, Boeing 747s were bought, once again from British Airways. A total of six former British Airways aircraft of that type entered service with the airline after the permits were granted.

Although black and silver became prevalent colors in the airline’s livery after operating with a standard (for European Aviation) red and white livery, the airline reminded some of Braniff because, after the 747s arrived, the airline’s livery also featured lines that crossed both their airplanes’ fuselages and engines. The colors used for that line included pink, blue, yellow, red and others.

European Air Charter has formed an association with Palmair, which sometimes flies over passengers to Bournemouth so they can board the European Air Charter jets to North America. In 2003, the airline released a DVD with world air routes, a film company that dedicates to profile airlines, their routes and services. In addition, the airline has commissioned the C&C toy company of China to release aircraft models bearing their livery.

I also hear they are getting some BAe 146 is this true Jethro?

James

cheers for that mate i know have an idea of what there doing now.

I also hear they are getting some BAe 146 is this true Jethro?

The two a/c are already at Bournemouth. They were acquired with the intention of operating for Ozjet, but when that company ceased scheduled ops the deal for them had already been signed. They were transferred to the N register in order to get them to the UK. As yet it seems as though European will try and pass them on rather than putting them into service.

yeah i saw that bit mate but i wasn’t sure who european were

Hi Luke some info for you about EAL.

European Air Charter began in 1989, as European Aviation. The equipment the airline used at first was rather old BAC-111 jets, which had been first built during the 1960s. The aircraft were flown over from Australia, as their previous owner was the Royal Australian Air Force.

European Aviation’s was initially based in the building where the British Aircraft Corporation used to make aircrft such as the Viscount and, coincidentally, the BAC-111s that the airline was operating. European Air Charter has flown from Bournemouth-Hum International Airport since its beginning, making the airport a hub for the airline. The airport has since become an alternative to London’s major airports, and Palmair also has a hub there.

The airline was profitable, so the company expanded its operation into other areas such as flight crew training, maintenance for other operators and leasing and selling aircraft.

In 1993, the company directors took the decision of changing European Aviation’s name to European Aviation Air Charter, or EAC for short. That same year, twenty other BAC-111s were bought from British airline industry giant British Airways.

This move was made so that the airline could include tour groups among its charter clients. By then the airline also operated the far newer Airbus A300 jets as well as examples of the American Boeing 737 type. Many of European’s Boeing 737s used to fly for the former national airline of Belgium, Sabena, an airline that disappeared after the September 11, 2001 attacks. By 1997 European had acquired some Boeing 727 airliners as well.

European Air Charter asked for permission to land at JFK International Airport in New York, Chicago and other US and Canadian destinations in 2001. Due to the volume of passengers the airline projected to transport on each flight to North America, Boeing 747s were bought, once again from British Airways. A total of six former British Airways aircraft of that type entered service with the airline after the permits were granted.

Although black and silver became prevalent colors in the airline’s livery after operating with a standard (for European Aviation) red and white livery, the airline reminded some of Braniff because, after the 747s arrived, the airline’s livery also featured lines that crossed both their airplanes’ fuselages and engines. The colors used for that line included pink, blue, yellow, red and others.

European Air Charter has formed an association with Palmair, which sometimes flies over passengers to Bournemouth so they can board the European Air Charter jets to North America. In 2003, the airline released a DVD with world air routes, a film company that dedicates to profile airlines, their routes and services. In addition, the airline has commissioned the C&C toy company of China to release aircraft models bearing their livery.

I also hear they are getting some BAe 146 is this true Jethro?

James

As far as G CEAJ goes, in the photo remarks…

“Now back in the UK operating with European.”

Looks like it came back late March / early April

Hadn’t realised that this one had never got an Australian reg when with OzJet though..

yeah i saw that bit mate but i wasn’t sure who european were

As far as G CEAJ goes, in the photo remarks…

“Now back in the UK operating with European.”

Looks like it came back late March / early April

Hadn’t realised that this one had never got an Australian reg when with OzJet though..

Last I heard was that they had ceased schedulred services, but were available for ad-hoc charters