Where in the world have you flown?
How long have you been in the air?
Create your own FlightMemory and see!

Spanair (Spain)

Spanair
IATA
JK		 ICAO
JKK		 Callsign
SPANAIR
Founded 1988
Hubs
Focus cities
Frequent flyer program Spanair Plus
Member lounge Sala VIP
Alliance Star Alliance
Fleet size 50
Destinations 37
Parent company Consortium of Investors (led by Consorci de Turisme de Barcelona and Catalana d'Inciatives) (80.1%), SAS Group (19.9%)
Company slogan la Spanair de todos
(Spanair for everyone)
Headquarters Barcelona, Spain
Key people Mike Szücs (CEO) [1]
Website: http://www.spanair.com/

Spanair is the second largest airline in Spain, based in Barcelona[2]. It was, until 2009, a subsidiary of Scandinavian Airlines Systems, which now holds slightly under 20% of the company.[3] Spanair provides a scheduled passenger network within Spain and Europe, with an extension to West Africa. Worldwide charters are also flown for tour companies. Its main hub is El Prat Airport in Barcelona, with hubs at Barajas Airport in Madrid and Son Sant Joan Airport in Palma de Majorca. The airline has 3,161 employees.[4]

Contents

History

The airline was established in December 1986 and began operations in March 1988. It was set up as a joint venture between Scandinavian Airlines Systems and Viajes Marsans, and began operations with European charters. Long-haul flights to the United States, Mexico and the Dominican Republic were launched in 1991, followed by domestic scheduled flights in March 1994. The airline flew long-haul flights with Boeing 767-300 aircraft to Washington and Buenos Aires in the late 1990s. Spanair joined Star Alliance in 2003.

The company was owned 94% by the SAS Group Scandinavian Airlines Systems. SAS Group announced in a press release June 13, 2007 that it would sell its shares in Spanair.[5] The divestment was canceled on June 19, 2008 due to SAS not being able to sell for a price that it considered to "reflect the underlying value in Spanair". On 30 January 2009, however, a one euro bid from group of investors from Catalonia, led by the Consorci de Turisme de Barcelona and Catalana d'Inciatives, was later accepted, whereupon SAS became a minority shareholder[6].

A report in The Times on the day of the Madrid crash suggests that staff were threatening strike action due to concerns about the company's viability.[7]

In 2009 the airline asked for public input on a new logo[8], with a winner being officially confirmed on May 13, 2009.

As of June 2009, Spanair has begun applying the new corporate identity to their aircraft[9].

Destinations

Main article: Spanair destinations

Codeshare agreements

Spanair has codeshare agreements with the following airlines as of April 2008:[10]

Note: This list includes Star Alliance (SA) partners.

On-board service

For economy-class passengers traveling within Western Europe the airline offers a buy on board service offering food and drinks for purchase.[11]

Fleet

The Spanair fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of June 2009) [1]:

Spanair Fleet
Aircraft Total Passengers
Airbus A320 19 156
Airbus A321 5 212
Boeing 717-200 4 120
McDonnell Douglas MD-82 2 153
McDonnell Douglas MD-83 6 170
McDonnell Douglas MD-87 14 (3 of those stored) 109

Accidents and incidents

Main article: Spanair Flight 5022

On 20 August 2008 at 14:45 CEST, a Spanair McDonnell Douglas MD-82 aircraft, flight number JK 5022, crashed with 165 passengers and nine crew members on board moments after takeoff from Terminal 4 at Madrid's Barajas Airport on a scheduled flight to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. 18 of the 172 on board survived. Initially 19 people survived, but one person died in hospital three days after the crash.[12] The Crash initial reports seem to be blamed on mechanics who failed to notice that the flap system was not operating properly and the warning device in the cockpit had not been repaired.

References

  1. ^ Barcelona, 21st May 2009. Spanair announces the appointment of Mike Szücs as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
  2. ^ The new visual identity is intended to express with greater accuracy Spanairs current role as a global company, the first full service airline operating from Barcelona and the second in the rest of Spain.
  3. ^ "Definitive agreement regarding the sale of Spanair signed". January 30, 2009. http://se.yhp.waymaker.net/sasgroup/release.asp?id=179309. 
  4. ^ The company has 3,161 employees and a fleet of 48 aircrafts.
  5. ^ "New direction will ensure SASs future". June 13, 2007. http://se.yhp.waymaker.net/sasgroup/release.asp?id=149514. 
  6. ^ "Definitive agreement regarding the sale of Spanair signed". January 30, 2009. http://se.yhp.waymaker.net/sasgroup/release.asp?id=179309. 
  7. ^ Steve Keenan (August 20, 2008). "'Organised chaos' at crash airline Spanair - A report suggests pilots were planning strikes as Spanair planned job cuts and fewer flights after sell-off plan failed". Times Online. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/news/article4574531.ece. 
  8. ^ "Juntos elegimos la nueva identidad visual de Spanair." Spanair. Retrieved on 6 May 2009.
  9. ^ "Spanair's new livery on a first A320." Skyliner. Retrieved on 6 June 2009.
  10. ^ Spanair Codeshare Agreements
  11. ^ "Menu and Minibar." Spanair. Accessed October 11, 2008.
  12. ^ "Spanish plane that crashed had overheated valve". Associated Press. August 21, 2008. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iZGjqoRsHwCookXNzTtwupigxBRAD92MM2O00. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Spanair
This article based on this article: Spanairexternal Link from the free encyclopedia Wikipediaexternal Link and work with the GNU Free Documentation License. In Wikipedia is this list of the authorsexternal Link.