I agree dreamon. Here's just a few facts off the top of my head I've jotted down about them.
Viking Airlines is a privately owned charter airline with a head office in Stockholm, Sweden and bases in Athens and Heraklion, Greece and London Gatwick and Manchester in the UK. Further bases are planned in Bristol, UK and Copenhagen, Denmark. Viking Airlines primarily operates charter flights for European tour operators. The airline was established in 2003.
Contents
* 1 History
o 1.1 Number of passengers by year
* 2 Viking Hellas
* 3 Fleet
* 4 References
* 5 External links
Viking Airlines past logo used from 2003-2009
A Viking Airlines Boeing 737-300 in new livery, at Landvetter Airport, Sweden. (2009)
Viking Airlines started operations on 10 May 2003, with two McDonnell Douglas MD-83 which are used for charter operations throughout Europe. In 2004 another MD-83 was added to the fleet and by 2006 was operating four MD-83s. Three aircraft were sold in 2007 leaving a single McDonnell Douglas MD-83 aircraft being operated in 2008, which was supplemented with aircraft from Sky Wings to meet seasonal demand.
In December 2008 Viking Airlines took delivery of one Boeing 737-800, which entered service from a new base at London Gatwick Airport, UK on 19 December 2008. Viking Airlines is also taking delivery of more next generation 737-800s and 737-300s in the spring of 2009 to be operating from Gatwick, Manchester and Bristol to holiday destinations in Greece, Bulgaria, Egypt, The Canary Islands, France and Italy.
Viking airlines is the leading airline operating direct, scheduled flights between Europe and Iraq (Erbil, Sulimaniyah and Baghdad).
Number of passengers by year
* 2003: 160,000
* 2004: 200,000
* 2005: 290,000
* 2006: 350,000
* 2007: 340 000
Viking Hellas
In Autumn 2009, Viking Hellas, a wholly owned subsidiary, was formed and awarded an Air Operators Certificate (AOC) by the Hellenic CAA in October 2009. It's headquarters are at Eleftherios Venizelos, Athens International Airport. Viking Airlines' single McDonnell Douglas MD-83 has been transferred to Viking Hellas. In February 2010, Viking Hellas launched operations between Athens (Greece), Erbil (Iraq) and Manchester (U.K) with future flights to Baghdad and Sulaymaniyah (Iraq) beginning in March 2010.
Fleet
A Viking Airlines Boeing 737-300 at Edinburgh Airport, Scotland. (2009)
The Viking Airlines fleet includes the following aircraft in an all-economy configuration (at 9 February 2010):[2]
Viking Airlines Fleet Aircraft In Fleet Passengers Notes
Boeing 737-300 3 148
Boeing 737-800 3 189 1 operating for Sun Country Airlines
1 stored at SNN