Air Southwest
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Air Southwest is an airline based at Plymouth City Airport, Plymouth, England. It operates regional scheduled passenger services from the south-west of England.
History
Air Southwest was established in May 2003 to fill the void left by the withdrawal of British Airways from the south west of England. Operations began on 26 October 2003, the day after BA withdrew from the market, with the Plymouth-Newquay-London route. This was soon followed by the introduction of the Plymouth-Bristol-Manchester route which was later extended to Jersey.
On 11 April 2005 the company further expanded its operations, establishing a new hub at Newquay, with direct flights to Dublin and flights to Leeds-Bradford via Bristol. At the same time, the airline added a crew base at Newquay, basing five cabin crew, ten pilots, and one aircraft at Newquay.
On Saturdays during the summer, the airline operates a weekly charter flight between Jersey and Humberside. The airline also operates charter flights on behalf of Plymouth Argyle F.C., transporting players and supporters to away games.
The airline uses the popular low fares, web-based format for bookings with over 90% of all bookings being made online. In its first eighteen months of operations Air Southwest carried over 200,000 passengers, increasing the number of passengers flying between Plymouth and Newquay and London Gatwick Airport by 22%. By March 20th 2006, the airline announced that it has carried 500,000 passengers since its lauch.
In April 2006 Air Southwest announced new services from Cardiff to Newquay and Manchester, and from Bristol to Norwich, in addition to the creation of a new crew and aircraft base at Bristol.
The airline is a wholly owned subsidiary of Plymouth-based regeneration and transport group Sutton Harbour Holdings Plc, which also owns and operates Plymouth City Airport. The airline employs 72 people and is headed by Malcolm Naylor (previously chief executive of Brymon Airways, a Plymouth-based carrier integrated into British Airways in the 1990s).
Scheduled Destinations
Air Southwest operates to the following destinations (at April 2006):
- Bristol (Bristol International Airport)
- Leeds/Bradford (Leeds Bradford Airport)
- London (London Gatwick Airport)
- Manchester (Manchester Airport)
- Newquay (Newquay Airport)
- Norwich (Norwich Airport)
- Plymouth (Plymouth Airport)
- Cardiff (Cardiff International Airport)
Fleet
The Air Southwest fleet consists of the following aircraft (at March 2006):
- 5 De Havilland Canada Dash 8-300 with 50 seats
External links
| Airlines of the United Kingdom |
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