Primera Air Scandinavia

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Primera Air
IATA ICAO Callsign
PF/6F[1] PRI/PRW PRIMERA/JETBIRD
Founded2003 as JetX
Secondary hubs
Fleet size9[2]
Destinations97 (36 on scheduled flights)
Parent companyPrimera Travel Group
HeadquartersRiga, Latvia
Key peopleHrafn Thorgeirsson (CEO),
Andri Már Ingólfsson (President and Owner)
Employees300
Websitehttps://primeraair.com

Primera Air is a leisure airline owned by the Primera Travel Group, an Icelandic company that consists mainly of Nordic tour operators Solresor, Bravo Tours, Lomamatkat, Heimsferðir and Solia. Its primary goal is to provide scheduled air travel services, and flights for tour operators and charter flights.

Primera has grown at a steady pace and offers flights from Northern Europe to more than 70 destinations in the Mediterranean, Middle East, Asia, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic.

In 2009 Primera Air established the subsidiary Primera Air Scandinavia under a Danish Air operator's certificate (AOC) and in 2014 added a Latvian operating license under the name "Primera Air Nordic".[3]

History

The airline was founded in 2003 as JetX in Iceland, and operated under an Icelandic AOC. In 2008 Primera Travel Group took ownership of the airline and rebranded it as Primera Air, while also appointing Jón Karl Ólafsson as the new CEO of Primera Air. In 2009 Primera Air received its Danish license under the name Primera Air Scandinavia, IATA code PF, with headquarters in Copenhagen. Hrafn Thorgeirsson was appointed Managing Director of Primera Air Scandinavia in 2009 while Jón Karl remained CEO of Primera Air.

The head offices for the holding company and airline remained in Iceland until 2014 when the main offices were moved to Riga, Latvia. The success of Primera Travel Group in Denmark, Sweden and Iceland facilitated further expansion and growth during the next years; in July 2014 Primera Air flew 155.000 passengers in 1006 flights with an average flight seat utilization of 91%.[4]

In August 2014 Primera Air announced the founding of a new airline - Primera Air Nordic, IATA code 6F - in Latvia, which would be run parallel to Primera Air Scandinavia. Simultaneously, a new Network Control Center was opened in Riga for overseeing all operational matters of the airline, focusing on continuation of the healthy development enjoyed in prior years and to expand into markets beyond Scandinavia. A supportive business environment, skilled workforce and high quality standards were the key factor for moving the control center. Hrafn Thorgeirsson was appointed as the new CEO of both Primera Air Scandinavia and Primera Air Nordic.[5][6][7]

The major restructuring and consolidation had a positive impact on the airline. In 2015 Primera Air operated eight aircraft with a turnover of 250 million USD, and earned more than 5.2 million euros in total revenue before taxes (EBITDA). During the first 8 months of 2016 the airline had earned 4 million euros with an estimate of 7.60 million by the end of year.

Today Primera Air is essentially a Danish-Latvian airline with Icelandic owners.[8][9][10]

Business Model

Initially Primera Air operated charter flights for major Scandinavian tour operators, but gradually started selling surplus seats as "flight-only" tickets on some of the fixed charter flights in 2013. The continued success allowed Primera Air to increase both the number of routes and flight frequency, resulting in a mixed charter/scheduled carrier business model. Today the majority of Primera Air flights are scheduled, although some flights combine charter and regular passengers, and separate full charter flight services are also available.[10][11]

Primera Air has also announced increased flight frequency for flights to its most popular destinations in southern Spain, and the pricing policy on these routes has allowed it to compete with the low-cost carrier Norwegian.[12]

Destinations

Main article: Primera Air Destinations
A Primera Air Boeing 737-800 taxiing at Gran Canaria Airport

Generally Primera Air operates return flights from its Scandinavian airports to popular holiday destinations along the Mediterranean coast of Europe, the Canary Islands, the Azores, Madeira, Bulgaria and Turkey, as well as custom charter flights to virtually any destination. The airline maintains seasonal summer and winter selections.[13]

The selection of scheduled flight destinations has gradually expanded since their introduction in 2013. In late 2014 Primera Air launched 10 new winter and summer direct flight destinations from Iceland, namely, Las Palmas, Tenerife, Alicante, Salzburg, Malaga, Mallorca and Barcelona, Bologna, Crete and Bodrum.[14]

On October 26, 2014 Primera Air launched weekly flights from Gothenburg and Malmö to Dubai (Al Maktoum) and Tenerife, from Helsinki to Fuerteventura and Las Palmas. On November 16 the airline commenced a new route from Keflavik to New York (JFK) after acquiring rights to serve the United States. Later that year the airline started four new weekly routes: Aalborg-Las Palmas, Copenhagen-Billund-Lanzarote, Aarhus-Tenerife and Aalborg-Fuerteventura.[15]

In 2015, Primera Air signed agreements worth 30 million euros with several leading travel agencies in France for operating a series of flights with 2 aircraft from Charles de Gaulle airport to popular holiday destinations during summer.[8][16]

In February 2016 Croatian destinations of Dubrovnik and Pula were added to the range of flight destinations. [17] In May 2016 the airline commenced regular flights from Billund to Nice and Venice.[18][19]

Shortly afterwards flights to Antalya were introduced. Later that year Primera Air announced the increase in frequency for existing destinations as well as new destinations (Milan and Rome) from Stockholm for the summer season of 2017. It was done in an effort to strengthen its operations and presence in Sweden and in line with plans for further fleet and destination range expansion.[20] Later that year Trieste, Almería and Lamezia Terme were added as destinations.

Plans for summer 2017 included flights to Kalamata, Ponta Delgada and Madeira.[21]

In July 2017, Primera Air announced they would start transatlantic flights in 2018 to Newark, Boston and Toronto-Pearson from Birmingham, London Stansted and Paris Charles de Gaulle with a fleet of 8 Airbus A321neo aircraft.[22]

Charter Flights

Primera Air provides charter services for the following companies:

Fleet

Primera Air Boeing 737-700.
Primera Air Boeing 737-800.

Primera Air Scandinavia Fleet

The Primera Air Scandinavia fleet consists of the following aircraft as of August 2017:[25]

Primera Air Scandinavia Fleet
Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers Notes
C Y Total
Airbus A321neo — 8[26] 16 182 198[27] To be delivered in 2018.
Airbus A321LR — 2[26] 16 182 198 To be delivered in 2018. Launch customer.[26]
Boeing 737-800 2 — — 189 189
Boeing 737 MAX 9 — 20[28] TBA To be delivered in 2019.
Total 2 30

Primera Air Nordic Fleet

The Primera Air Nordic fleet consists of the following aircraft as of August 2017:[29]

Primera Air Nordic Fleet
Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers Notes
C Y Total
Boeing 737-700 2 — — 148 148
Boeing 737-800 5 1 — 189 189
Total 7 1

References

  1. ^ "IATA - Airline and Airport Code Search". iata.org. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
  2. ^ http://www.primeragroup.com/?PageID=741
  3. ^ a. Welcome to Primera Air | info@primeraair.com | primeraair.com
  4. ^ http://www.primeragroup.com/news/news/2014/08/08/July-2014-was-a-record-month-for-Primera-Air-/
  5. ^ "Corporate Info - PrimeraAir". PrimeraAir. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  6. ^ http://www.primeragroup.com/news/news/2014/08/22/Primera-Air-Nordic-A-new-airline-in-Latvia-founded/
  7. ^ DELFI (25 August 2014). "'Primera Air' Rīgā veido lidojumu vadības centru, bet tiešos lidojumus no Latvijas pašlaik neplāno". Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  8. ^ a b http://www.primeragroup.com/news/news/2015/02/06/Primera-Air-operates-two-aircrafts-in-Paris-summer-2015/
  9. ^ "Biznesa pārcelšana uz Latviju palīdz sasniegt rekordaugstus rādītājus". Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  10. ^ a b "Primera Air fortsætter ekspansion - CHECK-IN.dk". www.check-in.dk. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  11. ^ "Flights from Scandinavia to Vacation Destinations - PrimeraAir". PrimeraAir. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  12. ^ "Primera Air udvider fra Aalborg Lufthavn - CHECK-IN.dk". www.check-in.dk. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  13. ^ "Route Map - PrimeraAir". PrimeraAir. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  14. ^ http://www.primeragroup.com/news/news/2014/11/20/Primera-Air-launches-10-new-destinations-in-direct-flight-from-Iceland-this-winter-and-next-summer/
  15. ^ Drum, Bruce (7 December 2014). "Primera Air continues to expand from Scandinavia and Iceland". Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  16. ^ "Primera Air paplašina darbību no Parīzes". travelnews.lv. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  17. ^ "The Swedes are Coming: Primera Air to Pula and Dubrovnik". Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  18. ^ "Primera Air begins Billund trio". anna.aero. 9 May 2016. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  19. ^ "Primera Air Scandinavia to start scheduled Stockholm flights". Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  20. ^ Jarvis, Howard. "Primera Air to expand in Stockholm Arlanda - TTG Nordic". ttgnordic.com. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  21. ^ "Primera Air plans new charter route to Kalamata in summer 2017 - TornosNews.gr". Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  22. ^ "Transatlantic flights". Primera Air. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  23. ^ "Primera Air". Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  24. ^ "Welcome to Primera Air - info@primeraair.com - primeraair.com". Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  25. ^ "Global Airline Guide 2017 (Part One)". Airliner World (October 2017): 13. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  26. ^ a b c "Primera Air to lease two A321neo(LR)s from AerCap". ch-aviation.com. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  27. ^ "Primera Air to start US scheduled service in S18". routesonline.com. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  28. ^ "News Releases/Statements". MediaRoom. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  29. ^ "Global Airline Guide 2017 (Part One)". Airliner World (October 2017): 19. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)

External links

Media related to Primera Air at Wikimedia Commons

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