Planes and stuff

 Another one "bites the dust"...after the news on Play bankruptcy, also Braathens has been forced to file for bankruptcy for its Airbus operations in the company Braathens International Airways AB due to liquidity shortages, canceling all flights.. It also flew to Madeira, during the winter season... A320 SE-RGF at Madeira, back in February Acording to the news, it will continue operating its Braathens Regional ATR-72. The best of luck for all the affected by the situation.

Iceland’s PLAY Airlines has ceased operations as of today, canceling all flights. A321 TF-PLA on Madeira's runway 23 It was due to make another flight from Reykjavik to Madeira tomorrow but that won't be happening... I guess passengers from last week flights will have to find another way to return home... Play made its premiere at Madeira last year, for the winter season (check HERE ) and after a stop during summer it had just restarted its flights to our island... Despite beeing a colorful airline which I would like to have photographed more, it came on a schedulle that wasn't too friendly with my own schedulles... Good luck for all the employees...

Looks like it's another one gone (two, actually, with Xfly), with Nordica intentions of filing for bankruptcy, after the deal with a new investor failed. More info HERE The only time I photographed a Nordica plane was in Amsterdam-Schiphol, back in 2017... ES-ACB, a CRJ-900ER

 Flybe annouced today that has been placed into administration... Dash G-ECOH in Amsterdam, back in 2017 The annoucement...

 This week, we got some losses...(aviation related...): The shutting of Great Dane Airlines.... (Embraer 190LR OY-GDA at Madeira, in March 2020. Check more Great Dane pics, HERE ) The last Tui Airways flight with the B757... (B757 G-OOBD landing at Porto Santo (PXO/LPPS), with Thomson titles, back in September 2014) and the last flight of Alitalia (now being replaced by ITA Airways as the new flag carrier)... (A320 EI-IKL at Barcelona, back in 2019)

Looks like Jet Time has filled for bankruptcy (but will open right away as Jettime A/S.....) Check more info HERE Boeing 733 OY-JTD at Madeira, back in 2015

IAG Group annouced the shutting of Level Europe as it can be read on its site, HERE For now, the spanish brand (and site) looks to be running normal....  A321 OE-LCN at Barcelona, last year

Happy New Year everyone! Time for last year's highlights! It took its time but, last year, Eurowings brought us some of its special liveries... In January, I got the Borussia Dortmund livery on A320 D-AIZR. Check HERE Also in January made my last pic's on Germania's B737 special livery D-AGER...and unfortunately, ones of the lasts to Germania also, has it went bankrupt in 5.Feb.2019. Check HERE In March (17th) got, for the first time Austrian most recent retro livery. A320 OE-LBO (check HERE ): Also in March, got A320 D-ABDU, which hosted previously Air Berlin Etihad special livery, now on service with Eurowings and with special livery Hertz. Check HERE In April, got Eurowings special livery Europa Park, on A320 D-ABDQ. Check HERE Also in April, another german highlight...unfortunately for the wrong reasons...got for the first time a Luftwaffe A310 ( 10+27). It was were on a special medevac flight... Check HERE In May, made my fir...

As already expected, Thomas Cook went down...unfurtunatelly they didn't managed to get the required funding and shut down the operations... Regarding the airlines of the group, Thomas Cook UK was also shutdown and Thomas Cook Scandinavia has suspended operations...some still say there's a probability that the Scandinavian airline will resume activity...I guess we'll have to wait and see... Condor, a major airline flying to Madeira, for now as kept flying, and annouced it was seeking a government-backed bridging loan to preserve liquidity after the collapse of associated tour operator Thomas Cook...let's hope that works out... Regarding Thomas Cook Balearics..it looks like it's still flying also, for now... Thomas Cook UK A321 G-TCDM on final to runway 05, September 2018: Thomas Cook Balearics A320 EC-MTJ on final to runway 05, April 2018: Thomas Cook Scandinavia A321 OK-TVA landing on runway 23, back in November 2011 Thomas Cook with the "r...

Looks like XL France is going the same way as Aigle Azur...check HERE As far as I could find, only got a couple of their flights at Madeira back in 2013...opposite to XL Airways (UK), the German and French were quite rare around here... B738 F-HJER, final to runway 05, on a dull day....

A319 F-HBMI departing from Madeira's runway 05 Looks like it finally happened...after some unresting news for some time, Aigle Azur ended up filling for bankruptcy... Check more on that, at Aviation24.be, HERE It was a regular at Madeira. Still got them flying the B737, back in 2004. After a stop, they returned to Madeira with the Airbus... Check more Aigle Azur pics at Madeira, HERE

Yesterday FlyBMI (BMI Regional) filed for bankruptcy..another one gone... Check HERE Not an airline we saw around here but really loved their livery. Whish all the best for all the workers... Around here, only got BMI family members back in October 2004, getting a couple of BMI A321  A321 G.MIDM departing from runway 05 According from Airfleets, this branch was closed in 2012 The plane is currently flying to Windrose as UR-WRV

Tonight, Germania Airlines has seen its AOC canceled by LBA (German Civil Aviation Authorities), with all operations shut... (This does not affect the Swiss branch) Unfortunatelly it was not unexpected, due to all the financial struggle of the last weeks...with seven weekly flights to Madeira, it's quite a knock into Madeira's german tourism market... Also, this was the airline performing the Jersey flights (where there's a big Madeirean community ...) So, Photo of the Week is dedicated to Germania, with some previously unpublished pics of the last time I had the oportunity to spot their planes...6th January 2019 Wish all the best to all Germania personnel on their next step. A319's D-ASTJ, with D-ASTZ departing, in the back, from ruway 23 The arrival of D-ASTJ, on runway 23 The departure of D-ASTZ, from runway 23 Special livery D-AGER was also present...(check the pics HERE ) The airline did not survive the plane indeed... You can check more Ger...

After quite some time struggling to maintain itself and its three subsidiaries, looks like lithuanian airline Small Planet has really gone down... Check this LINK for the news... For all the people working there, the best of luck for a new start... A320 LY-SPG at Madeira, 27.May.2016

Looks like Primera Air will also shut down as from tonight... Not the biggest visitor around but still, a regular one at Madeira skies...whish all the best for the employees and their families... Check the Cease Operations info HERE B737 YL-PSB taxiing through "Bravo", at Madeira, to runway 23, back in 2015 Check a few more Primera/JetX pic's, HERE

Alguns orgãos de comunicação social noticiaram hoje o anúncio de fecho efetivo das operações, a partir de Junho, da SBA, tal como da também Venezuelana Aserca. Seria apenas mais uma companhia de um país sul-americano, não fosse o facto de estar ligada à Madeira pelo facto de ter, durante uns tempos, feito ligações entre Caracas e a Madeira. Fica um dos registos feitos por cá, para recordar.... Após o rebranding ficou com umas cores fantásticas... A notícia, AQUI

A320 OE-LEU landing at Madeira's runway 23 last back in May 2016 Unfortunately (but, still as expected....) Niki Airlines annouced the ceasing  of its operations as from tomorrow, as stated in its webpage: " Dear guests, the flight operations of NIKI Luftfahrt GmbH under IATA-Airline-Code HG will cease as of December 14th. Passengers who have booked their flight with a tour operator are kindly asked to contact their tour operator directly. The tour operator is responsible to accommodate his passengers. Several Airlines are currently looking into solutions for bringing back passengers on standby-basis for a small fee from abroad destinations back to Germany, Austria and Switzerland. To our regret, TUIfly will not participate in this solution. We would like to thank you for your long-standing loyalty. Your NIKI-Team" The best of lucks for all the employees....

One year after beeing in a dificult situation, looks like Monarch has really hit the end... Monarch has confirmed that the following companies have ceased trading and now entered administration: Monarch Airlines Ltd Monarch Holidays Ltd (ATOL Number 2275) First Aviation Ltd (ATOL Number 4888) previously trading as Monarch Airlines Avro Ltd (ATOL Number 1939) Somewhere2stay Ltd Other airline planes are beeing positioned to retrieve the passengers abroad. A320 G-ZBAP landing at Madeira's runway 05 This was taken one year ago, when it seemed like it would be its lasts flights.... Managed to keep flying for one more year, but now it looks like it's really the end of the line for Monarch....

Looks like French airline Air Méditerranée is down, or as stated in their website, in Judicial Liquidation.... To the memory...a set of pics taken at Madeira... B735 F-HCOA A321 F-GYAQ A321 F-GYAJ