Air Southwest

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Air Southwest

IATA -	ICAO WOW	Callsign SWALLOW
Founded		2003
Hubs		Plymouth, England
Focus cities / secondary hubs		Newquay, Bristol, Cardiff
Fleet size		5
Destinations		10
Parent company		Sutton Harbour Holdings Plc
Headquarters		Plymouth
Key people		Malcolm Naylor, CEO
Website: http://www.airsouthwest.com/

Air Southwest is an airline based at Plymouth City Airport, Plymouth, England. It operates regional scheduled passenger services from the south west of England.

Air South West Limited was incorporated in the United Kingdom on 15 January 2003 as Placedean Technology Limited, changed its name to Mid South Aviation on the 27 March 2003 and then to Air South West Limited on 3 June 2003. ^[1]

The company holds a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Type A Operating Licence, permitting it to carry passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with 20 or more seats. ^[2]

1 History
2 Scheduled destinations
3 Fleet
4 External links
5 References

[edit] 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.

In April 2006 Air Southwest launched new services from Newquay to Manchester via Cardiff, and from Bristol to Norwich (although the airline will withdraw from this route after January 14 2007); in addition a new crew and aircraft base was established at Bristol. On October 30 2006 the airline introduced a fifth daily flight from Newquay to London.

On Saturdays during the summer, the airline operates a weekly charter flight between Jersey and Leeds-Bradford. 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%. On October 25 2006, the airline announced that it had carried 750,000 passengers since its launch.

Air Southwest de Havilland Canada Dash 8 landing

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).

On November 1st 2006, Air Southwest released its Summer 2007 schedule. The changes included the axing of the Bristol to Norwich service on 14th January 2006, the airlines first dropping of a route since its start in 2003. The airline is consolidating its route network; with the axing of the direct Newquay to Leeds Bradford service which is to route via Bristol Airport from 16th January 2007 and an increase of frequency on the Plymouth to Manchester service which is to be increased back to twice daily, via Bristol, on 15th January 2007.