Blue Wings

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the inflight magazine of Finnair, see Blue Wings (magazine).

Blue Wings is an airline based in Düsseldorf, Germany. It operates scheduled services to Russia and charter flights mainly to Turkey and the Middle East. Its main base is Düsseldorf International Airport, the headquarter is in Bocholt, Germany.

1 Code Data
2 History
3 Services
4 Fleet
5 External links
6 References

IATA Code: QW
ICAO Code: BWG
Callsign: Blue Wings ^[1]

The airline was established in 2002 and started operations in 2003, after securing its air operators certificate on 27 June 2003. It is owned by Jörn Hellwig (Chief Executive) and others. On 6 October 2006, Blue Wings agreed to buy 5 Airbus A320-200 from JetBlue Airways. On 17 October 2006, Blue Wings, together with its shareholder Alpstream, has signed a contract with Airbus for 20 A320 Family aircraft, confirming a commitment announced during the Farnborough air show in July this year. Blue Wings, in which Swiss investment holding Alpstream AG, based in Zurich, has a substantial holding. Alpstream AG is an affiliate of the Russian National Reserve Corporation. Blue Wings' order comprises 16 A320s and four A321s, seating 150 and 210 passengers respectively. The engine selection is still to be made, but is in line with the flexibility offered by the Airbus Single Aisle Family. The airline will increase its operations by starting new routes from Germany to destinations in Turkey and the CIS, primarily on behalf of tour operators.

"Our signature under the Airbus contract follows our decision in favour of the A320 Family that we made this summer”, said Jörn Hellwig, Member of the Alpstream AG Board and CEO of Blue Wings. "We are looking forward to introducing the aircraft on routes between Germany and growing markets, offering customers and passengers more comfort and choice", he added. "The order by Blue Wings underlines the continuing success of the A320 Family in the market place", said Louis Gallois, Airbus President and CEO, and co-CEO of EADS. "The airline's choice clearly demonstrates the superiority of the Airbus single-aisle product range as the most modern product available in that segment", he added.^{[citation needed]}

Blue Wings operates services to the following international scheduled destinations (at July 2006): Ankara, Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman, Istanbul, Kayseri and Istanbul.

The Blue Wings fleet consists of the following aircraft (at February 2007):