How’s this for a slogan on an airline’s home page? “Carrying your customers with care.” It may strike you as odd, because the passenger would expect something like “carrying you with care”. But in the case of the UK’s newest airline, Ascend Airways, the customer isn’t the passenger – it is another carrier.
Ascend Airways is both the latest British airline and the newest component of the Avia Solutions Group family. This Dublin-based company is the leading short-term supplier of planes with pilots and cabin crew. This practice is known as “wet-leasing”, or by the acronym Acmi – which stands for aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance. And it has been a common part of the airline business for decades.
The organisation also includes SmartLynx of Latvia (which calls itself “the Uber of aviation”) and Avion Express, with roots in both Lithuania and Malta. But you will look in vain for any branding on the planes. And you can’t directly book tickets on any of them.
Alastair Wilson, chief executive of Ascend Airways, says: “We obtained our AOC [air operator certificate] in April this year and immediately commenced operations on behalf of two airlines – flying their passengers to various destinations in and around the Mediterranean.
“We’ve created more than 200 new UK jobs, which we’re very proud of, and have ambitious plans to grow the fleet.
“We’re excited about the prospects of the business and helping UK carriers grow and overcome operational difficulties.”
Fully crewed aircraft of the kind Alastair supplies – also known as “white-tails” due to their absence of brand identity – are in demand for four reasons:
- “Operational difficulties”: this catch-all phrase often applies to short-notice gaps in the fleet due to technical issues. I have flown on a different wet-lease provider, Titan Airways, from Amsterdam to Luton when easyJet was short of an aircraft
- One-off events: many “wet-leased” aircraft spent weeks in June and July flying to, from and within Germany for the Euro 2024 football tournament
- Niche operations: holiday companies might want a regular but infrequent route covered, such as ski flights to non-mainstream destinations or a summer programme to a small Mediterranean airport close to a beach club
- Seasonality: an airline buys in capacity for…
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