Lionair (Luxembourg)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (June 2008)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

This article needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone or spelling.
You can assist by editing it now. A how-to guide is available. (June 2008)

Lionair was a Luxembourg-based passenger airline that operated from 1988 to 1990 as a joint venture of Cargolux and Luxair.

[edit] History

Lionair of Luxembourg was created by the Cargolux Airline company and the national airline of Luxembourg, Luxair, in 1988. The company obtained two former Pan American World Airways Boeing 747-100 aircraft and converted them into a high density seating layout capable of carrying 492 passengers. They were re-registered LX-GCV and LX-FCV.

Lionair won a major contract with the fast expanding British tour company Airtours, operating the travel company's long haul Caribbean and Florida flying programme. This was the start of a rather unusual arrangement and use of various operating licences which the company had to use to enable it to operate legally out of the UK.

Both of the Boeing 747s were deployed in the UK operating the Airtours flying programme. The main base of Lionair was at Manchester International Airport but the company also operated long-haul flights out of London Stansted Airport. The company employed multinational flight deck crews and predominantly British and Irish cabin crew, some of which came from the recently collapsed Highland Express Airways. Both aircraft wore identical basic liveries of red, white and blue with the "winged Lion" head logo on the tail fin.

However, when operating the Caribbean routes to Puerto Plata, Santo Domingo, Barbados and Antigua, the company adopted the titles of 'Caribbean Airways The National Airline of Barbados' to one of its B-747s for licencing reasons. Similarly when operating the Orlando, Florida route, the sister B-747 used the titles of the US airline Orionair, again for licencing reasons. This caused much confusion as some passengers thought they were flying with the (now defunct) British Charter airline Orion Airways of East Midlands.

Lionair started to experience a string of delays due to aircraft technical issues, sometimes seeing its Airtours holiday passengers stranded for days. In 1989, Airtours decided to withdraw its long-haul flying programme with the company and, by 1990, Lionair Luxembourg disappeared from the airline industry.