- Air Comet
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Air Comet 
IATA
A7ICAO
MPDCallsign
RED COMETFounded 1996 Ceased operations 21 December 2009 Hubs Madrid Barajas Airport Frequent-flyer program Club Air Comet Fleet size 12 (+74 orders) Destinations 10 Parent company Grupo Marsans Headquarters Madrid, Spain Key people Gerardo Díaz Ferrán Website http://www.aircomet.com Air Comet (formerly Air Plus Comet) was an airline based in Madrid, Spain.[1][2] It operated scheduled long-haul services from Madrid to 13 destinations in Central and South America, as well as services in Europe. Its main base was Terminal 1 at Madrid Barajas Airport. The airline worked together with well-known airlines such as AeroSur in a variety of codeshare agreements.
Contents
History
The airline was established in 23 December 1996 as Air Plus Comet and started operations in 1 March 1997, with base at Madrid Barajas Airport. On 11 December 1996 Oasis airline ceased operations and their only aircraft, an Airbus A310, and a significant part of their staff (pilots, ground and office personnel, etc.) became the foundation of Air Plus Comet. In the initial hurry just after the takeover, and not having decided any commercial name for the airline yet, the ICAO code for the company was filled in simply as MPD, which stands for the last names of their three main directives (Mata, Pascual and Díaz).
It mainly operated long-haul charter services from Madrid and Palma de Mallorca to destinations in America and the Caribbean. It relaunched as a full service carrier under the Air Comet name in January 2007. It was wholly owned by Grupo Marsans.
In January 2007, Air Comet took over some of the now defunct Air Madrid airline's Latin American routes.
Financial troubles and bankruptcy
On 11 February 2009, Air Comet has been suspended from IATA Clearing House due to non-payment of January balance.[1]
On 21 December 2009, a High Court in London emitted a verdict favouring the German bank HSH Nordbank, which had sued Air Comet for not meeting the terms of payment for their leased aircraft. Therefore, the airline became legally able to neither operate their four A330-200's nor sell any fare tickets, so Air Comet's Direction had to announce the airline was ceasing its operations.[3]
Air Comet Airbus A310-300 at Madrid-Barajas
Air Comet Airbus A320-211 (EC-KBM) lands at Almería International AirportDestinations
Air Comet flew to the following destinations [2] (as of December 2009):
- Europe
- Madrid - Madrid Barajas Airport Main Hub
- North America
- South America
- Bogotá - El Dorado International Airport
- Buenos Aires - Ministro Pistarini International Airport
- Guayaquil - José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport
- Lima - Jorge Chávez International Airport
- Quito - Mariscal Sucre International Airport
- Santa Cruz de la Sierra - Viru Viru International Airport
Fleet
By the time of ceasing operations the Air Comet fleet consisted of the following aircraft (as of 21 December 2009) [3]:
Air Comet Fleet Aircraft Total Passengers Notes F C Y Total Airbus A320-211 3 0 12 156 168 Airbus A330-200 4 24 0 259 286 One of them ended in Batavia Air Airbus A340-300 2 6
3042
28204
227252
255As of 19 February 2009, the average age of the Air Comet fleet was 12.2 years ([4]).
References
- ^ "Oficinas Centrales." Air Comet. 10 February 2007. Retrieved on 22 June 2010.
- ^ "dondeestamos.gif." Air Comet. 3 February 2007. Retrieved on 22 June 2010.
- ^ Air Comet cerrará sus operaciones due to bankruptcy
External links
Categories:- Defunct airlines of Spain
- Airlines established in 1996
- Airlines disestablished in 2009
- Airlines of Spain
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