Italy's Aeropa voluntarily suspends AOC

Fearful of a protracted drop in visitor numbers to the Canary Islands, a group of hoteliers on Tenerife have announced a plan to start their own, as yet unnamed, airline.

Flights will begin this winter season, the group of more than a dozen entrepreneurs said in a statement posted on the website of the local hotel association (Asociación Hotelera y Extrahotelera de Tenerife, La Palma, Gomera y Hierro - Ashotel) on June 27.

The group has had “the permanent aeronautical advice of One Airways, which will be the air operator of the project,” the statement said. The hoteliers have acquired their first aircraft, an A320 purchased from Atlantic Airways (RC, Vágar), association president Jorge Marichal told Canarian Weekly.

According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, Atlantic operates one A320-200, OY-RCJ (msn 7465), which is currently deployed on the airline’s 14x weekly route between Vágar and Copenhagen Kastrup. It also has one A319-100 and two A320-200neo. Atlantic Airways CEO Jóhanna á Bergi told ch-aviation last October that the Faroese...