Air columbus

Air Columbus ( Transporte Aereo Nao Regular ) was founded in 1989 to provide charter passenger services from Funchal and Faro airports to Northern Europe . Initially, the carrier fleet consisted of one Boeing 727 aircraft, which carried out work on the technical modernization of engines in order to increase their thrust-weight ratio and fuel efficiency. The first test flight of the company was carried out on October 5, 1989 from Faro Airport to London Gatwick Airport , on board were the crew and technical specialists of the British Avro Corporation.

In the future, the charter schedule included direct flights from Funchal to the UK , as well as transatlantic flights from Terceira and Ponta Delgada ( Azores ) to Montreal ( Canada ) and Providence ( Rhode Island , USA ). In March 1990, the carrier’s fleet was replenished with a second Boeing 727, and at the beginning of 1992 with three Boeing 737-200 airliners leased from the Norwegian airline Norway Airlines .

At the peak of its development, Air Columbus operated passenger flights from Faro, Funchal, Lisbon and Porto to the airports of Spain (including the Canary Islands ), France , Germany , Great Britain , Finland , Sweden , Austria , Switzerland , Italy , the United States of America and Canada .

In 1993, the airline began to experience stagnation in the airline’s commercial activities, and then a general decline associated with a decrease in traffic volumes and inefficient carrier management. All these problems, combined with the general economic downturn in the tourism business and the financial problems of Sterling Airways, one of the main shareholders of Air Columbus , led the airline to complete bankruptcy at the end of 1994.

At different periods of its operation, Air Columbus operated the following types of aircraft:

• Boeing 727-2J4Adv (RE)
• Boeing 737-300