Grounded: XTRA Airways
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ค. 2024
- This episode of Grounded takes a look at XTRA Airways, following on from our previous episode which looked at Casino Express we now look at what happened following the airlines rebrand to Xtra in 2005. Xtra carved itself out a nice little niche as a specialist charter operator with clientele ranging from college sports teams to rock bands and even Presidential candidates. Xtra was also an ACMI specialist, operating for the likes of Bahamas Air, ONE Airlines and a very short lived Western Airlines revival as well as a long term contract with Direct Air. After a couple of setbacks the airline seemed to be on the up & up, however their owners opted for a change in direction which would lead to the airline rebranding as Avelo Airlines in 2020.
** Contents of this Video **
00:00 Intro
00:22 Casino Express
00:52 Rebranding to Xtra Airways
03:38 Western Airlines
04:15 Direct Air
05:15 XL Leisure Group Ownership
05:45 Livery Refresh
06:07 Direct Air Debacle
07:50 PEOPLExpress
08:29 Air Florida Redux
09:18 ACMI Operations
10:01 Bankruptcy & New Owners
10:56 XTRAirways Rebrand
12:40 Campaign Charters
13:18 Xtra on the up & up!
14:01 Piecemeal Sale
15:21 New Owners
16:10 Avelo Airlines
17:19 Outro
Airlines mentioned in this episode include;
Casino Express
Founded specially to operate gaming charters taking gamblers to casinos, Casino Express would go on to operate ad-hoc executive charters as well as provide aircraft operations for Tahoe Air before moving fully into executive charters and rebranding as Xtra Airways.
• Grounded: Casino Express
Excel Airways / XL Airways
Following their successful re-branding from Sabre Airways, Excel Airways would grow to become one of Europe's largest travel companies. Following a management buy-out separating it from Air Atlanta Icelandic (Avion Group) a newly rebranded XL would become one of the first casualties of the 2008 global recession. The Excel story is split into two episodes, the rise of Excel and the fall of XL.
Rise of Excel - • Grounded: Excel Airways
Fall of XL - • Grounded: XL Airways
Islandsflug
This small Icelandic airline formed through the merger of a flight school and a tiny regional airline to become one of Europe's largest ACMI carriers, operating aircraft on behalf of numerous airlines across Europe including Excel Airways, Jet2, Aviajet, Blueline, Ryanair and Air Miles. They would eventually be absorbed into Air Atlanta Icelandic during 2005.
• Grounded: Islandsflug ...
Air Florida
Originally billed as "The" deregulation success story Air Florida grew from a tiny intrastate carrier to an international & long-haul airline. Sadly remembered for their bright colour scheme being plainly visible in the wreckage of a tragic accident...
• Grounded: Air Florida
Futura International Airways
Founded in 1989 and headquartered on the Balearic Island of Mallorca as a joint venture between the Irish flag carrier Aer Lingus, Banco Santander and several other parties. Futura would operate a large fleet of Boeing 737s including the 737-400 and 737-800 as well as become the first European operator of the Boeing 737-900ER beating the UK's XL Airways to the title by mere days with both airlines collapsing within days of each other...
• Grounded: Futura Inter...
I am trying to get these episodes out at a faster rate, hopefully my flying schedule is quietening down for winter so it should give me more time to work on research, writing and producing episodes. I really appreciate any comments and feedback on this or other episodes as well as suggestions for future episodes. Believe me, if I say that your airline is "on the list", it really is :) Check back to see future episodes or better yet, subscribe to catch them as they land and as always, thanks for watching!
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#GroundedSeries #XtraAirways #CasinoExpress
Yes Another Great Show My Friend Thanks
Thank you Gregory :)
Never heard of that airline Phil, but what a great story and video. Thanks!
Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
Oh yes Xtra Airways what goldie but forgotten Airline is the past im so glad Expo you bring back this Airline up again. 😁👍
Thanks Alex :)
I’ve been fortunate to fly on Direct Air when they were in business. If I recall correctly, Xtra Airways operated at least one time
Cool, yes Xtra operated a few routes for them before cancelling the contract. Vision Airlines were the other primary carrier for Direct Air.
Hi Phil, another interesting and informative video on an airline I had not known of. Thanks.
Thanks Paul, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
Another great video Phil, been subbed for about 6 months now every upload you make is top tier
Thank you, I really appreciate that :)
Nice video 👍.Are you still working on Donbassaero or you forgot about it 😂? Keep up the good work.
Thanks Richard, I've got a script in progress on them though it kinda stalled due to what was happening over there and not wanting to get too political. I might have to dust it off and carry on with it :)
Another awesome video Phil!! Thanks for all
Your hard work!
Thanks Lea, I appreciate that and am glad you enjoyed this one :)
By any chance, did one of the -400s go to Nolinor at any point? Or is it just a coincidence that the blue and gold looks very similar to their livery?
Good catch! It's a bit of an odd one, C-GGWV had been with Xtra from 2015 until 2020 however Nolinor changed their livery to the similar scheme in early 2004 while Xtra didn't change theirs until late 2008, it's probably just one of those coincidences where to airlines end up with similar schemes.
@@ExpoAviation Very interesting! It's crazy how similar it looks.
Wow. What an incestuous tangled spider web of international interconnectedness.
If you’re ever bored, you should
Make a super cut of all the related stories
Thanks for the suggestion Gordon, I think that might finish me off having to look at XL again ;) Still, I do have to cover their French and German airlines ;)
Excellent content!
I would love to see you do a video on the original Midway Airlines.
Thanks for the suggestion Zak, Midway are on my to-do list :)