UK company becomes first to operate Tu-204-100 in the European market

Published: 10/6/1999

In the middle of November, UK airline management specialists, AirRep (UK) Ltd, will launch the first Tu-204-100 freighter into the European market. The aircraft, the first of three ordered, will be operated from the AirRep's operations base at Manston, Kent in the UK and will be joined by the subsequent aircraft in March and April of next year. AirRep, which is in consortium with the aircraft manufacturer, Aviastar , maintenance provider VARZ-100 and Aviastar TU, the flight operating company, will be responsible for the commercial and aircraft management. According to Andy Lewis, AirRep's Commercial Director, the aircraft has already seen ' considerable and serious' interest ahead of its availability in November. AirRep see the aircraft as providing medium haul integrators greater flexibility in terms of size of loads and cost over other larger passenger to cargo conversion types, allowing the operator to turn 'marginal operations into viable and profitable ones'. The aircraft which will be marketed under the name 'Stealthfreighter' due to it low noise levels was adopted by AirRep's Chairman and MD, Colin Martin so enthusiastically according to the company, that the negotiations were completed in under a year and AirRep even financed the aircraft Collins Avionics Suite.

Article ID: 950