ACMI narrowbody operator Avion Express said it has ramped up operations to support current and new clients after the grounding of Boeing 737 Max brought unexpected challenges to multiple airlines worldwide.
The Lithuanian-based company with over 11 per cent of fleet grounded, Norwegian, Europe’s third largest airline, turned to Avion Express for assistance. According to the signed contracts, the ACMI operator will provide up to four Airbus A320 aircraft to operate for Norwegian in the span of April-June 2019.
Additionally, in March-April 2019 Avion Express provided services for Royal Air Maroc to assist the airline in overcoming the absence of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. The Moroccan carrier is a recurrent partner of Avion Express that has been reaching out for additional capacity and crew in times of need.
While supporting the abovementioned operations, during the first part of the year Avion Express kept continuously working with its other long- and short-term customers such as Thomas Cook Airlines, Condor, Sky Angkor Airlines, SunExpress, Onur Air, Tunisair, Transavia and others.
“So far 2019 has been very dynamic for us,” said Avion Express chief executive officer Darius Kajokas. “Our team is constantly working hard to provide high-quality and flexible ACMI services to our clients. Day in, day out we dedicate our efforts to help our customers, i.e. regular and charter airlines, to cope with challenges they are encountering, such as seasonality, shortage of crews, grounding of aircraft or late aircraft deliveries and other issues.”
Avion Express is the largest narrow-body ACMI operator in the world and worls with clients in Europe, Africa, South America, and Asia-Pacific. In 2019 the airline will operate 22 Airbus A320 family aircraft.
