Lufthansa to lease in Fokker 100 capacity for Summer 2018 ch-aviation PRO exclusive

MNG Airlines (MB, Istanbul Atatürk) has started flights to the United States following the launch of a 2x weekly Cologne/Bonn, Germany to New York JFK return service last week. Operations are onboard the Turkish carrier's only A330-200(F).

Until this development, MNG's route network had focussed primarily on connecting its Istanbul Sabiha Gökcen and Istanbul Atatürk hubs with cities across Western Europe and the Middle East using a fleet that also includes five A300-600R(F)s.

According to the ch-aviation capacity module, the most prolific operator of scheduled non-express cargo flights between Europe and the US is Lufthansa with 28 departures per week followed by Cargolux with 16, Qatar Airways with 12, CAL Cargo Air Lines with 9, and AirBridge Cargo with 5. MNG's Turkish compatriot, Turkish Airlines, operates two flights per week.

Adria Airways (JP, Ljubljana) and Sukhoi Civil Aircraft (Zhukovsky) have signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) covering the delivery of fifteen SSJ 100/95 aircraft from early 2019 and the establishment of a maintenance, repair, and overhaul facility at Ljubljana airport.

Adria's chief executive Holger Kowarsch said that Adria had analyzed the SSJ100 for two years and had considered it to be the most suitable type for the carrier's strategic goals.

The delivery of the new SSJs delivered on long-term dry-lease agreements will allow Adria to deploy more of its Bombardier CRJ and Airbus aircraft on ACMI services on behalf of third parties. Adria's ACMI customers currently include Austrian Airlines (OS, Vienna), Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt Int'l), Luxair (LG, Luxembourg), and Swiss (LX, Zurich), according to the ch-aviation fleets module.

The Slovenian carrier currently operates three A319-100s, three CRJ-700s, nine CRJ-900s, and six Saab 2000s.

SCAC president Alexander Rubtsov added that Sukhoi had realised that the SSJ100...