A Ukrainian charter airline wants to start flying to New York soon, though at least officially details are fairly limited as of now. Windrose Airlines is a Ukrainian charter airline based in Kyiv, which operates a fleet of 15 aircraft. The airline has filed with the US Department of Transportation to request permission to start…
Continue reading: Ukraine’s Windrose Airlines Will Fly To New York
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@ RetiredATLATC -- Not clickbait. The airline has already leased this plane for 14 months, and that plane has already operated two roundtrips to New York. So perhaps I should have said "is already flying" rather than "will fly." Now, don't ask me how those flights have happened before this DOT filing, but that's the reality of the situation.
Weird setup, presumably they didn't need the DOT filing because AELF FlightService appears to be a US company, headquartered in Chicago? (their contact phone number is US). But Maleth and the plane are both Malta based, where a lot of wet lease operations are based. Not really sure how this works, but seems that might be why they have already operated flights.
Ok, I may clearify this situation a little bit. I am from Ukraine and writing about aviation to my blog.
So Windrose signed agreement with national post operator "UkrPoshta" to deliver cargo service to and in the USA. So plan is to carry cargo only.
There is no plan to fly by A321 to the USA.
Windrose has been around for almost 20 years, so I really give them some credit. Also in terms of their livery, which is a bit odd - but nice in my view - they have some tradition. So I don't think they are jumping into the field.
The livery is a remnant of when Windrose was in the same group as (or maybe had the same parent company as? I’m not sure) AeroSvit and Donbassaero. Google those too and I’m sure you’ll see the similarities. AeroSvit no longer exists, and Donbassaero ceased operations after Russian-backed separatists turned Donetsk airport into a hole in the ground back in 2014. If anything, Donbassaero’s livery was even more outlandish than this one...