Sky Express (Greece)
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| Founded | 2005 | |||
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| Hubs | Heraklion International Airport, "Nikos Kazantzakis" | |||
| Focus cities | Rhodes "Diagoras" Airport Santorini Thira Airport Thessaloniki Macedonia International Airport |
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| Fleet size | 5 | |||
| Destinations | 21 (+2 seasonal) | |||
| Company slogan | The airline of Crete | |||
| Headquarters | Heraklion, Greece | |||
| Key people | Miltiadis Tsagkarakis (Chairman, CEO) George Mavrantonakis (EVP) |
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| Website | http://www.skyexpress.gr/ | |||
Sky Express is a regional airline based in Heraklion, Greece, primarily focused on scheduled flights between Heraklion and several smaller Aegean islands, avoiding transiting through Athens. Its main base is Heraklion International Airport. Sky Express also had a cargo division named Sky Express Aircargo and based in Athens International Airport, which ceased operations in early 2007.
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[edit] History
The airline was established in early 2005 by Cpt. Miltiadis Tsagkarakis, a former Olympic Airlines director-general and pilot as well as George Mavrantonakis, former Chief Operating Officer and Accountable Manager of Olympic Airlines and former Advisor to the President of Olympic Airways. Operations commenced in July 2005, including scheduled, charter and cargo flights, air-taxi, emergency medical services, excursions and sightseeing. Sky Express Aircargo was later established in a joint effort with the Finaval Group, focusing on cargo transport between Europe and the Far East.
Since August 2009, two MD-83s of Meelad Air have been flying under Sky Express' AOC.[citation needed]
[edit] Logo controversy
The airline's initial logo was inspired by the flag of the Cretan State, a semi-independent state under the Ottoman Empire. The flag of the Cretan State was composed of a white cross extending to the edges of the flag, with the upper-hoist canton in red, featuring a white star symbolizing Ottoman sovereignty on the island, and the other squares in blue, symbolizing the Greeks of Crete. The flag has also been adopted as the flag of the Cretan independence movement recently. The logo was not well-received, and following complaints by the public in Greece, especially Cretans, the logo was changed. The company has said that they do not consider the flag to be offending, since it represented a milestone in the Cretan unification with the Kingdom of Greece, but changed their logo anyway in order to avoid any further confusion.[1]
[edit] Destinations
Sky Express fly to the following destinations (as of February 2012):
- Alexandroupoli - Alexandroupoli International Airport
- Athens - Athens International Airport Focus City
- Cephalonia - Cephalonia International Airport
- Chios - Chios Airport
- Corfu - Corfu International Airport Focus City
- Heraklion - Heraklion International Airport Hub
- Ikaria - Ikaria Airport
- Kalamata - Kalamata International Airport (Seasonal)
- Kastoria - Kastoria Airport
- Kos - Kos International Airport
- Kozani - Kozani Airport
- Lemnos - Lemnos International Airport
- Mykonos - Mykonos Airport (Seasonal)
- Mytilene - Mytilene International Airport
- Preveza/Lefkada - Aktio Airport
- Rhodes - Rhodes International Airport Focus City
- Samos - Samos International Airport
- Santorini - Santorini Airport (Seasonal)
- Sitia - Sitia Public Airport Focus City
- Skyros - Skyros Airport
- Thessaloniki - Thessaloniki International Airport Focus City
- Volos - Nea Anchialos Airport (Seasonal)
- Zakynthos - Zakynthos International Airport
[edit] Fleet
As of October 2011, the fleet of Sky Express consists of the following aircraft:
| Aircraft | In Fleet | Passengers | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| BAe Jetstream 41 | 5 | 30 | SX-ROD, SX-DIA, SX-SEB, SX-SEC, SX-SEH operate domestic services |
| Total | 5 | ||
Sky Express Aircargo used to operate a Boeing 747-200F which in August 2009 was stored at Chateauroux Airport, France
[edit] Incidents
- On 12 February 2009 a BAe Jetstream 31 registered SX-SKY experienced a right main gear collapse after landing inbound from Rhodes.[2] None of the 15 passengers and 3 crew were injured, but the aircraft sustained considerable damage to its right landing gear, wing and propeller that was deemed beyond economical repair, resulting in the aircraft being written-off.[citation needed] The cause of the accident was that the aircraft had previously suffered two heavy landings in the previous 27 which were not reported. One of the heavy landings caused a fracture in a landing gear cylinder, which propagated until the cylinder failed, causing the landing gear to collapse. SX-SKY was noted being scrapped at Heraklion airport in late February 2011.
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Sky Express fleet list
- Report No 2010-08 on SX-SKY by the Air Accident Investigation and Aviation Safety Board
[edit] References
- ^ "ΔΕΛΤΙΟ ΤΥΠΟΥ" (in Greek). www.skyexpress.gr. 25 May 2007. Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. http://web.archive.org/web/20110723231319/http://www.skyexpress.gr/pr-20-07-2007.asp. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
- ^ "Accident: Sky Express JS31 at Heraklion on Feb 12th 2009, right main gear collapsed on landing". www.avherald.com. 15 February 2009. http://www.avherald.com/h?article=4150a2f9&opt=4096. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
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