MARKET REPORT - Saab Aircraft Leasing

MARKET REPORT
Air Åland AB was created in 2005
Gustafsson tells Saab Market Report discussions on starting an Ålandbased
airline company have been ongoing for a long time. “A regular
air traffic service both west- and eastwards is vital for the competitiveness
and development of Åland economy. Thus, the company Flyg &
Far Åland AB, later Air Åland AB, was founded in January 2005. The
shareholders include 24 companies and four private investors. The
overall goal of the owners is to maintain and secure air traffic based
on local requirements, reasonable prices and to contribute to the development
of the local trade and the core businesses.
“The first flights were to Helsinki, and on March 13, 2006 the traffic
was started between Mariehamn and Stockholm-Arlanda,” he notes.
Last year the airline carried about 60,000 passengers on its scheduled
flights. Charter flights from the islands to the mainland and further
afield were also carried out.
Until August the airline’s operations were carried out by UAB Avion
Express, previously Nordic Solution Air Services. The new name was
adopted in January when Icelandic company Avion Aircraft Trading
purchased the company.
Avitrans Nordic has also taken over flying operations for Wingo
Express. The company was founded in 2007 and is owned by the
Swedish Tamares Holding Sweden AB and Scanproducts Ltd, in
addition to the Finnish Oy Touch N´ Go AB and Eriksson Capital AB.
Wingo Express began operating a twice-weekday service between
Turku and Tampere in southern Finland to Oulu in the north in
January 2008 with a Saab 340 operated by UAB Avion Express. It has
carried about 20,000 passengers on the service which links three important
business centers – Tampere is the nearest airport to the town
of Nokia, the mobile phone manufacturing company.
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Market Report | October 2008