LTE International Airways

Lte International Airways
IATA ICAO Callsign
XO LTE FUN JET
Founded 1987
Ceased operations 15 November 2008
Operating bases Barcelona-El Prat Airport
Lanzarote Airport
Reina Sofía Airport
Son Sant Joan Airport
Fleet size 3
Destinations 50
Parent company Globalia Corp.
Headquarters Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Website www.lte.es
LTE Airbus A320-200 at Manchester Airport.
An Lte Airbus A320-211 taxiing at Glasgow Prestwick Airport, Scotland. (2008)

Lte International Airways S.A. (Lte Volar Airlines) was a charter airline based in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. It operated passenger charter services throughout Europe. Its main base was Son Sant Joan Airport, Palma de Mallorca with hubs at Reina Sofía Airport, Tenerife, Gran Canaria International Airport, Lanzarote Airport, Fuerteventura Airport and Barcelona International Airport.[1]

History

See also: Volar Airlines

The airline was established on 29 April 1987, the founding shareholders being Spanish businessmen and the privately owned airline LTU from Germany. It started operations on 1 November 1987.

From 1993 until May 2001, LTU was the sole owner having bought out the other original shareholders.[1] On 24 May 2001, LTU sold the airline to a group of Spanish and Italian businessmen, including the Volare Group. As a result, LTE was rebranded Volar Airlines.

In 2005 the airline was renamed back to LTE International Airways.[2] The airline was wholly owned by Gasarer.[1]

From July 2008, Lte operated flights between Norwich (UK) and Barcelona, Alicante and Palma de Mallorca, and from Winter 08/09 it hoped to fly from Norwich to Tenerife, Las Palmas and Málaga.

On 16 October 2008, Lte abruptly announced that it was suspending all flights -both regular and charter- due to the financial situation of the company, which made it difficult to meet the next few days' operational expenses.[3] Only the three aircraft operating for other airlines will be kept pending further decisions. It has subsequently announced a resumption of charter operations from 27 October 2008

On 27 October 2008, Lte announced on their web site they had resumed their charter activities and expected to re-open the on-line bookings, with no other details. It had continued limited ACMI operations on behalf of other carriers until 15 November 2008 when it finally suspended all operations.

Destinations

Lte served the following destinations (at Summer 2008):

Fleet

The Lte International Airways fleet consisted of the following aircraft (at 7 November 2008):[4]

Lte Fleet
Aircraft Total Notes
Airbus A320-200 3 1 operated for Nouvelair

At 7 November 2008, the average age of the Lte International Airways fleet was 14.3 years.[5]

Accidents

On 18 May 2005, a Jordanian Airbus A320, registration JY-JAR operating for LTE suffered a braking malfunction on landing at Leeds Bradford Airport following a flight from Fuerteventura Airport. The aircraft touched down on runway 14 just beyond the touchdown zone, approximately 400 m (1,300 ft) beyond the aiming point. The pilots determined that the rate of deceleration was inadequate and applied full reverse thrust and full manual braking in an effort to stop the aircraft, however the normal braking system malfunctioned and the Captain turned the aircraft onto a level grassed area to the right of the runway where it came to rest. There were no injuries to the passengers or crew, however the Air Accidents Investigation Branch made seven safety recommendations in the final accident report.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 2007-04-03. p. 107.
  2. ↑ CH Aviation 26 March 2005
  3. ↑ Lte suspends operations
  4. ↑ Lte Fleet
  5. ↑ Lte Fleet Age
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