Sky Airline
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| Founded | 2001 | ||||||
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| Hubs | Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport | ||||||
| Secondary hubs | Cerro Moreno International Airport | ||||||
| Focus cities | Calama, Lima, Buenos Aires, Puerto Montt. | ||||||
| Frequent-flyer program | Sky Plus | ||||||
| Fleet size | 16 | ||||||
| Destinations | 20 | ||||||
| Headquarters | Santiago, Chile | ||||||
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| Website | skyairline.cl | ||||||
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 LAN 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
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.[1]
In 2011 it signed a codeshare agreement with TACA Airlines for domestic flights in Chile, Perú and between both countries.[2] In 2012 it signed a codeshare agreement with TACA's parent company, Colombia's Avianca for operations between Chile and Colombia.[2]
Sky Airline operates flights to São Paulo–Guarulhos International Airport from March 2014.[3]
The airline is to transition to a low-cost carrier model during 2015 and 2016 to reduce costs.[4]
Awards
Sky Airline was named the Best Regional Airline in South America in the 2014 and 2015 Skytrax World Airline Awards.[5][6]
Maintenance
Maintenance services are supplied by AIRMAN, a sister maintenance company based in Santiago Airport.
Destinations
Fleet
As of April 2014, the Sky Airline fleet consists of the following aircraft with an average age of 11.6 years:[7]
| Aircraft | In Service | Passengers | Notes |
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| Airbus A319-100 |
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| Airbus A320-200 |
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The company expects to expand its current fleet to 25 planes by 2018.[8]
Historic Fleet
Since its beginnings, Sky Airline operated a 100% Boeing 737 fleet. First additions of Airbus A320 family planes started in 2010 to fully replace Boeings 737s in 2013.[9]
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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.[10]
- 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.[11]
References
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External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sky Airline. |
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Airlines of Chile
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