Minoan Air

Minoan Air
IATA ICAO Call sign
-[1] MAV MINOAN
FoundedSeptember 7, 2011 (2011-09-07)
Glyfada, Attica, Greece[2]
Commenced operations2012 (2012)
Ceased operations2015
AOC #GR-045[2]
HubsHeraklion International Airport
Fleet size4
Destinations9
HeadquartersHeraklion, Greece
Key people
  • George Mavrantonakis (Chairman of the B.o.D.)
  • Marcos Caramalengos (Chief Commercial Officer)[3]
WebsiteArchived official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 2018-04-16)

Minoan Air S.A., also known as Μινωικές Αερογραμμές in Greek, was a Greek regional airline headquartered in Heraklion, Crete[4] and based at Heraklion International Airport.

History

Minoan Air was founded in September 2011. One of the key people was George Mavrantonakis, co-founder of Sky Express, former Chief Operating Officer and Accountable Manager of Olympic Airlines and former Advisor to the President of the same airline. The company was granted an air operator's certificate on 30 December 2011[2] and its first base was Heraklion International Airport.

In June 2012 Minoan Air based an airliner in Spain (in either Burgos Airport or León Airport) to operate charter flights for Spanish tour operator Good Fly.[5] In July 2012 the company started operating all-year round flights from their base in Heraklion to Kos and Rhodes and seasonal flights to Mytilene and Santorini.[6] In October/November 2012, the airline wet-leased one of their aircraft to Flyglinjen.[7][8]

In January 2013, Minoan Air announced it would open two new bases outside of Greece, London Oxford Airport on 4 March 2013 and Lugano Airport on 29 March 2013.[9] Minoan flew from London Oxford to Dublin and Edinburgh until 4 August 2013, while flights to Rome-Fiumicino and Vienna have been operated from Lugano. In September 2013 it has been announced that all flights to and from Lugano have been terminated.[10] Since then, it concentrated on Greek domestic routes.

In November 2015, Minoan Air suspended all operations until further notice due to the impact of the Greek financial crisis.[11]

Destinations

Minoan Air served the following scheduled domestic destinations as of July 2015:[citation needed]

Greece Greece
  • Athens
  • Alexandroupoli
  • Heraklion base
  • Kos
  • Mykonos
  • Mytiline
  • Rhodes
  • Santorini
  • Thessaloniki

Fleet

Minoan Air Fokker 50

The Minoan Air fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of August 2016):[12]

Minoan Air fleet
Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers
Fokker 50 4 50
Total 4

References

  1. ^ "IATA - Airline and Airport Code Search". iata.org. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  2. ^ a b c Mavroudis Voridis (30 January 2012). "Air Operator Certificate" (PDF) (in Greek). Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  3. ^ "World routes: Minoan Air outlines UK expansion". 1 October 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
  4. ^ "Contact us Archived 2012-12-13 at the Wayback Machine." Minoan Air. Retrieved on 11 December 2012. "Address: Minoan Air St. Kazantzidi Avenue and Vosporou 1, N. Alikarnassos, 71601 Heraklion, Crete, Greece" - Greek address Archived 2012-12-13 at the Wayback Machine: "Λεωφόρος Στ. Καζαντζίδη και Βοσπόρου 1. Νέα Αλικαρνασσός, 71601 Ηράκλειο, Κρήτη, Ελλάδα"
  5. ^ "GoodFly using Minoan Fokker 50 this summer". 3 June 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
  6. ^ "Routes TV". Retrieved 26 January 2013.
  7. ^ Anders Carlsson (27 September 2012). "Flyglinjen byter flygplan". Flygtorget. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
  8. ^ "About us". Archived from the original on 6 January 2013. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  9. ^ Minoan Air flies from oxford Archived 2012-10-04 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ "Minoan lässt auch Lugano fallen". 5 September 2013.
  11. ^ ch-aviation.com - Greece's Minoan Air suspends operations temporarily 5 November 2015
  12. ^ "Global Airline Guide 2016 (Part One)". Airliner World (October 2016): 15.

Media related to Minoan Air at Wikimedia Commons