AB Airlines will introduce the first of up to 13 Boeing 737s in April 1998, as it expands its operations from its London Stansted and Gatwick bases.
The UK airline, which introduced services from Gatwick to Berlin Schönefeld in early December, will add three seven-year-old 737-300s in April 1998, on five-year leases from Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services. These will supplement, and eventually replace, the three leased BAC One-Eleven Series 500s.
For the longer term, the carrier has placed deposits with Boeing for six Next Generation 737-700s with deliveries of two aircraft a year between 2000 and 2002. AB has taken options on a further four, which could be firmed up as -700s, -800s or -900s. "We would like to have introduced the -700 from 1998, but the aircraft were not available," says Brian Beal, AB Airlines' chairman, adding that the airline also evaluated the Airbus A319, but that this aircraft is also hampered by availability. "We could get the 737-300s in 1998, and did not want to have to switch to the Airbus in 2000," says Beal.
Beal says that the airline plans to retain the leased 737-300s when the new aircraft arrive and, if expansion goes as planned, the three-year lease-extension options will be exercised. "We must decide whether to take up the [Next Generation 737] options by mid-1998 for deliveries after 2003," he says.
AB is planning to raise £12.5 million ($21 million) in capital through a listing on the London Alternative Investment Market in March. "We eventually plan a full listing," says Beal, who adds that the airline is evaluating five new routes from London, for launch when the new equipment arrives. "We will boost frequencies to Berlin, and may also take advantage of our Fifth Freedom rights for services beyond the city," he says.
Source: Flight International
