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Sky Airline

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H2
  
SKU

Frequent-flyer program
  
Sky Plus

Headquarters
  
Santiago, Chile

Fleet size
  
15

SKU
  
AEROSKY

Destinations
  
18

Founded
  
2001


Hubs
  
Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport

Key people
  
Jürgen Paulmann (founder) Holger Paulmann (CEO)

CEO
  
Holger Paulmann (15 Sep 2014–)

Hub
  
Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport

Profiles

Leaving uruguay sky airlines


Sky Airline is an airline based at Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport in Santiago, Chile. It is the second largest airline in the country behind rival LATAM Airlines. It serves international routes to Argentina, Brazil, Perú and Bolivia. It operates under a semi-low cost model. Compared to other European or US low cost carriers, it has a smaller business model, lower wages for its employees, and lucrative regulatory requirements . It also operates charter flights in Chile and South America.

Contents

Despegue airbus a319 cc aiy de sky airline desde la serena


History

Sky Airline was controlled by its founder, Jürgen Paulmann (1930–2014), a German-Chilean businessman, brother of retail billionaire Horst Paulmann. It started operations in December 2001 and made the first flights from Santiago to Northern Chile in June 2002. Since 2005 is a full member of IATA.

In April 2009, the company signed an agreement with Aerolineas Argentinas, allowing the Argentinean flag carrier to offer in all its commercial offices and through its electronic ticket system most of the destinations covered by Sky Airline in Chile.

In 2011 it signed a codeshare agreement with TACA Airlines for domestic flights in Chile, Perú and between both countries. In 2012 it signed a codeshare agreement with TACA's parent company, Colombia's Avianca for operations between Chile and Colombia.

The airline is to transition to a low-cost carrier model during 2015 and 2016 to reduce costs.

Awards

Sky Airline was named the Best Regional Airline in South America in the 2014 and 2015 Skytrax World Airline Awards.

Maintenance

Maintenance services are supplied by AIRMAN, a sister maintenance company based in Santiago Airport.

Fleet

The Sky Airline fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of August 2016):

The company expects to expand its current fleet to 25 planes by 2018.

Historic Fleet

Since its beginnings, Sky Airline operated a 100% Boeing 737 fleet, these began to be replaced by Airbus A320 family planes in 2010 and were fully withdrawn in 2013.

Incidents and accidents

  • On July 18, 2012, at 5:08 PM local time, a Sky Airline Flight SKU 101, operated by a Boeing 737-200 Advanced, registration CC-CRQ, with 115 passengers and 6 crew members on board, en route from Antofagasta Cerro Moreno Airport to La Serena-La Florida Airport, aborted landing at La Serena touching the runway with its right hand wing, suffering substantial damage to the wing tip and flap fairing. The plane safely landed at Copiapó-Chamonate Airport at 5:47 PM with no injuries. Visibility conditions at La Serena were rapidly deteriorating at the time of the approach, but still good enough for a safe landing (6000 m. visibility). The plane was subsequently repaired.
  • On October 14, 2015, a passenger on board SKU 112, an Airbus 319, filmed part of the plane's left engine cowling coming off as it took off from Santiago Airport en route to Chamonate Airport. The plane immediately returned to Santiago Airport and landed safely. No passengers were injured. A similar incident with the A319 had happened previously on a British Airways flight departing Heathrow Airport.
  • References

    Sky Airline Wikipedia