AIRLINE - SkyAlps in trouble

Italian carrier SkyAlps is in trouble after the Italian civil aviation authority (ENAC) grounded seven of its eight DHC-8-400s. It did so after conducting an audit. Next to that, newspaper Corriere della Sera is reporting that the Italian Ministry of Justice has decided to open a criminal investigation into the airline.

The ENAC audit found irregularities with the maintenance of the fleet. According to the audit, regular scheduled maintenance wasn't carried out and records were falsified. Although SkyAlps says it has outsourced the maintenance, the airline is still overall responsible, hence the decision for the grounding.

As a result of the grounding, SkyAlps has only one aircraft operational and has been scrambling to wet-lease capacity to cover for the other aircraft.

In total, the airline has fourteen DHC-8-400s. However, six of these have not yet entered service. Ten are on the Maltese register, the remaining four on the Austrian one.
Photo by SkyAlps.

Scramble

FLEET - SkyAlps acquires four more De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400 turboprop aircraft,

Italian airline SkyAlps has acquired four additional De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400 aircraft as part of its plan to expand its turboprop fleet.

The aircraft were previously operated by LGW (Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter) on behalf of Air Berlin. These planes were parked in Bratislava since March 2020 after being returned to their lessor Nordic Aviation Capital in the wake of the Air Berlin group’s bankruptcy.

The acquisition aligns with Sky Alps’ growth strategy, as the airline aims to bolster its fleet of DHC 8-400s.

Flights between Bolzano and Antwerp are paused during the summer and will resume thrice weekly from 23 December 2023 to 13 April 2024.

 

Italy's Sky Alps launches after delivery hiccups

Following a five-day delay caused by the postponed delivery of its chartered DHC-8-Q400, Sky Alps (Bolzano) began commercial operations on June 17, 2021.

The virtual carrier's inaugural service was from Bolzano via Parma to Ibiza. The route to Parma is scheduled as 5x weekly, with two weekly rotations continuing to Ibiza. Sky Alps' network also comprises services from the capital of the largely German-speaking Italian province of South Tyrol to:
Olbia (2x weekly, launched on June 19),
Rome Fiumicino (2x weekly, starting on June 21),
Düsseldorf Int'l (2x weekly, starting on July 2), and
Berlin Brandenburg Int'l (2x weekly, starting on June 30).

All flights are operated with a De Havilland Aircraft of Canada turboprop leased by Sky Alps from Chorus Aviation, 9H-BEL (msn 4230). As the Italian carrier is not certificated, the aircraft is operated on its behalf by Malta's Luxwing (LWG, Malta Int'l).

Sky Alps, which is backed by Bolzano airport owner ADB Holding, originally hoped to launch in May 2020 only for the pandemic to delay these plans to 2021. Its revised launch date, June 12, had to be deferred due to a bureaucratic hold-up involving the aircraft's registration in Malta as well as the issuance of documents needed for its induction into commercial service.

The virtual carrier is expecting the delivery of its second Dash 8-Q400, 9H-EVA (msn 4237), shortly. The ex-flybe. turboprop, also on lease from Chorus Aviation, remains at Malta Int'l airport ahead of its re-registration and onward delivery to Sky Alps.

ch aviation

Start-up Sky Alps signs lease-agreement for 2 DHC-8-400s

Italian start-up Sky Alps has signed a long term lease-agreement with Chorus Aviation for two DHC-8-400s. The aircraft are G-ECOK (4230), currently stored at Halifax and G-ECOO (4237), currently stored at Sandefjord-Torp. Both were previously used by flybe and are expected to be delivered in April and May.

Initially the new airline will use the aircraft on charter-flights out of its base at Bolzano to Calabria and Sicily. Later on, Sky Alps wants to launch scheduled flights between Bolzano and Milan, Munich, Rome and Vienna.

Illustration by Sky Alps.

Sky Alps to charter Luxwing's Dash 8-400

Sky Alps (Bolzano) will operate as a virtual carrier chartering Dash 8-400 capacity from Luxwing (LWG, Malta Int'l), a Malta-based business charter specialist, Maltese aviation news website MAViO has reported.

The Italian start-up is due to commence services from Bolzano to Rome on May 1, 2020. While the airline has previously announced that it will use a Dash 8-400 turboprop, it did not provide any details regarding the operator.

According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, the first Dash 8-400 Luxwings will operate for Sky Alps will be msn 4175, a 12.6-year-old ex-South African Express (XZ, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) aircraft. It is owned by Nordic Aviation Capital and has been in storage in Bydgoszcz since June 2019, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows.

Luxwings does not currently operate any large passenger aircraft. The business charter specialist's fleet includes five E500s, two E505s, one Cessna Citation CJ1, two Citation XLS, one CJ2, four Cessna 650s, one Cessna 750, and one Embraer Praetor.

ch aviation