Ankair

Ankair
IATA
-
ICAO
VVF
Callsign
WORLDFOCUS
Founded 2005
Ceased operations 2008
Hubs Atatürk International Airport
Fleet size 3
Parent company Dünyaya Bakış Hava Taşımacılığı A.Ş.
Headquarters Istanbul, Turkey
Key people Yavuz Cizmeci
Website http://www.ankair.com/

Anka Air, stylised as Ankair, was a charter airline headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey and based at Atatürk International Airport. Founded in 2005 as World Focus Airlines, the company changed its corporate image to its current form in February 2008 as a result of publicity surrounding the crash of Atlasjet Flight 4203 on 30 November 2007.

The airline operated charter flights to Europe and the Middle East.

History

World Focus Airlines logo

The airline was established as World Focus Airlines on 27 September 2005, beginning operations with 2 Airbus A310 aircraft. Due to negative publicity after the crash of Atlasjet Flight 4203 on 30 November 2007, which was operated by World Focus Airlines, the company changed its name to Anka Air and branding to Ankair in February 2008. Anka is in reference to the Turkish word for phoenix, anka kuşu.

Incidents and accidents

An MD-83 which the company leased to and operated for AtlasJet crashed on 30 November 2007 shortly before landing at Süleyman Demirel Airport in Isparta. The crash of Atlasjet Flight 4203 killed all 57 people on board. The cause of the accident is still undetermined.

End of Operations

In July 2008, the airline was forced to suspend operations after it lost its operating certificate. Turkish aviation regulations require a minimum of three aircraft per carrier to retain an air operator certificate and Ankair only operated two MD-83s.

Fleet

Ankair McDonnell Douglas MD-83 taking off at Atatürk International Airport (February 2008)

Ankair's fleet consisted of:

x1 747-200 (Leased from Iran Air Cargo)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to World Focus Airlines.