First Choice Airways

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<tr><td colspan="3" style="text-align: center; background-color: #FFFFFF;">Image:First choice logo.jpg</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2">Hubs</th><td>Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Dublin, Exeter, Glasgow, London Gatwick, London Luton, London Stansted, Manchester, Nottingham East Midlands</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2">Focus cities / secondary hubs</th><td>Cork, Edinburgh, Humberside, Leeds-Bradford, Norwich, Shannon</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2">Parent company</th><td>First Choice Holidays PLC</td></tr>

First Choice Airways
IATA DP	ICAO FCA	Callsign JETSET
Founded		1987
Fleet size		32
Destinations		45-70 (dependent on season)
Headquarters		Manchester, United Kingdom
Key people		Chris(tine) Browne - Managing Director
Website: http://www.firstchoice.co.uk/

Image:A320-G-OOAR.jpg

Image:Airbus A321-200 Air2000 BRS.jpg

First Choice Boeing 757-200, wearing the now-replaced air2000 titles.

Image:Dp-767-39h-er.jpg

First Choice Airways is the charter airline of British tour operator First Choice plc, based in Manchester, England. It flies to more than 60 destinations worldwide from 14 UK and Irish airports. 70% of the airline's services are operated for its parent company, rising to 85% in the summer season, with the remainder on behalf of some 120 other tour operators. It also operates scheduled year-round leisure routes to Cyprus and the popular resorts of Spain and Portugal. Its main bases are Manchester International Airport and London Gatwick Airport. Its long haul services are sold only by internal companies such as First Choice Holidays, Eclipse Direct, Hayes and Jarvis and Unijet. The company also operates several luxury 'round the world' flights each winter on behalf of TCS.

The company holds a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Type A Operating Licence, permitting it to carry passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with 20 or more seats.[1]

1 History
2 Present Day
3 Future
4 Destinations
5 Fleet
- 5.1 Aircraft orders
6 External links
7 References

[edit] History

The airline started operations on 11 April 1987 under the name air2000 with 2 Boeing 757 aircraft and a flight from Manchester to Málaga. The fleet doubled a year later, with one aircraft being based at Glasgow International Airport. In the same year, the airline attempted to set up a subsidiary in Canada, to be called Air 2000 Airline Ltd. This subsidiary lasted only a few days before the Canadian government suspended its licence. The second attempt would prove more successful and became Canada 3000.

Long haul services to Mombasa in Kenya were introduced during the 1988/89 season. The 757s were re-equipped for extended range and flights to the United States began in 1989.

The airline was granted a licence for scheduled operations by the CAA in 1992, which commenced in 1993, initially between London Gatwick and Paphos, in Cyprus.

Expansion saw new bases in the UK established, with Dublin becoming the airline's first international hub in 1996. Leisure International Airways was fully integrated after the acquisition by First Choice of Unijet in June 1998. This included the entire fleet of aircraft, and an order for 4 A330 -200 aircraft, which First Choice immediately cancelled in favour of the company's B767 -300 aircraft. air 2000 received a new colour scheme which is still in use, however in March 2004 the air 2000 branding was removed and First Choice Airways branding added.

Ten of the reproduced Boeing 757 aircraft will be entering First Choice Airways customer service in 2007 or 2008

[edit] Present Day

Since the rebrand to First Choice Airways the airline has become larger and in-line with its tour operators. The first change for First Choice airways came in 2004 when it announced plans to refurbish another 6 B767-300 aircraft to expand its long haul operations.

The airline was the first to use the Boeing B777 style interior in the UK. The first aircraft in service was G-OOBK followed by a further three refurbishments. By January 2006 all 4 of the Phase 1 aircraft were in service. In Late 2006 a further B767-300 was added and a further will be added in January 2007, bringing the total from 2 in 2004 to 6 in 2007. This leave the way for the first 6 B787-8 aircraft which are to be delivered from 2009.

As well as its fleet First Choice airways has expanded in a number of other ways, this includes operating long haul flights from Nottingham East Midlands airport and Bristol International Airport.

[edit] Future

First Choice Airways will be a launch customer for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The airline placed a firm order for 6 aircraft in February 2005, with an option for a further 6. The airline will be the first UK company to receive the B787, in front of other customers by up to 3 years.

In 2009 First Choice Airways will receive its first B787-8 aircraft. Each B787-8 will replace a B767-300 on long haul routes as they are delivered. The deliveries are expected to take around 2 years.

[edit] Destinations

Short Haul

Austria - Innsbruck, Salzburg
Bulgaria - Burgas, Varna
Cyprus - Larnaca, Paphos
Egypt - Luxor, Sharm-El-Sheikh, Taba
Finland - Kittila, Rovaniemi
France - Grenoble, Toulouse
Gambia - Banjul
Greece - Chania, Corfu, Heraklion, Kalamata, Kefallonia, Kos, Mytilini, Preveza, Rhodes, Santorini, Skiathos, Thessalonika, Zakynthos
Italy - Bergamo, Naples, Turin, Verona
Malta - Malta
Morocco - Agadir
Portugal - Faro, Funchal
Spain - Alicante, Almería, Arrecife, Fuerteventura, Ibiza, Las Palmas, Mahón, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca, - Reus, Tenerife South
Switzerland - Geneva
Tunisia - Monastir
Turkey - Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman, Izmir