UK's Titan Airways pauses GEODIS cargo charters

UK's Titan Airways resumes A330 freighter operations

UK's Synergy Aviation rebrands as Ascend Airways

Synergy Aviation (Fairoaks) has rebranded as Ascend Airways as it moves ahead towards its relaunch as a new UK-based ACMI/charter passenger specialist.

The British company changed its legal name to Ascend Airways Ltd. on October 18, 2023, according to the UK Companies House record. Two days later, the firm moved its headquarters from Fairoaks airport in Surrey to Bishop's Stortford, a town in Hertfordshire adjacent to London Stansted airport.

The new Avia Solutions Group subsidiary is headed by Alastair Wilson, formerly of Titan Airways (ZT, London Stansted), and Jonas Janukenas, the CEO of the parent holding. Synergy Aviation operated as an air taxi before its acquisition by ASG, and has a valid AOC for Beech (twin turboprop) King Air 200 and Cessna 510, 525, and 550 aircraft types. It is in the process of updating its certificate to include narrowbody aircraft.

UK's 2Excel Aviation adds B757 for military testing

2Excel Aviation (Northampton Sywell) will convert its recently added first serviceable B757-200 into an Excalibur testbed aircraft in partnership with Leonardo Aircraft under a EUR134 million euro (USD145.9 million) contract with the multinational Global Combat Air Programme.

G-FTAI (msn 29308) was ferried from storage at Lasham to Norwich International for further modification work on August 18, 2023.

The modified aircraft is expected to enter into service as a testbed unit in 2026. Leonardo expects that it will continue to support the testing and certification of a new sixth-generation fighter aircraft through its planned launch in 2035.

The ex-Titan Airways (ZT, London Stansted) jet is actually the second B757-200 to be acquired by 2Excel Aviation, following ex-TUI Airways G-BYAW (msn 27234) bought in 2020 for static testing and part-out. That B757 was never flown by the operator.

2Excel Aviation provides a range of special mission capabilities, including search-and-rescue, and VIP charters among others. Its fleet comprises one B737-300, eight Piper (twin piston)...

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