Celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2022, EuroAtlantic Airways has carved a niche for itself, providing additional capacity on an ad-hoc basis to airlines worldwide, traditional charter operations, plus serving a single scheduled route alongside. Let's take a closer look at the carrier, its history, and its operations.
Who is EuroAtlantic Airways?
EuroAtlantic Airways (IATA YU / ICAO MMZ) or EuroAtlantic Airways – Transportes Aéreos S.A. to give the company its full title, was originally set up in 1993. Originally named Air Zarco, the company was founded by Portuguese businessman Tomaz Metello, who was the airline's owner until 2019.
The airline was then sold to a Luxembourg-based investment group called I-JetAviation PT, led by German-Lebanese pilot and businessman Abed El-Jaouni.
Based at Lisbon's Humberto Delgado International Airport (LIS), the company's primary business is providing capacity solutions for other airlines. It provides charter services, wet leases, and ad hoc flights worldwide, both under contract to other carriers and for its own purposes.
In addition, EuroAtlantic Airways operates regular weekly flights connecting Lisbon to São Tomé and Principe, and Guinea Bissau. The airline owns 38% of the national airline of São Tomé and Principe, STP Airways.
A brief timeline of the airline
EuroAtlantic's first flight operated in 1997 from Lison to Luanda, flown by the airline's only aircraft at the time; a single Lockheed L1011-500 TriStar registered CS-TEB, which was purchased from TAP Portugal. The airline's original focus was to operate aircrfat on behalf of other airlines under wet leasing contracts.
Having dropped its original name in favor of Air Madeira when operations began, the airline found its niche and quickly prospered. The TriStar was quickly joined by a Boeing 757-200 to meet the demand for short to medium-haul charters to transport Portuguese tourists to destinations in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Spain, and Greece.
In 2000, due to ongoing bureaucratic issues regarding the airline's name and its lack of appeal in the international charter market, the decision was taken to rename the carrier once again. In May 2000, the name EuroAtlantic Airways was adopted, which remains the airline's title to this day.
Over the years, EuroAtlantic airways set several other landmarks with its operations. In 1997 it began chartering airplanes to airlines from several Muslim countries such as Bangladesh, Nigeria, India, Indonesia, and Malaysia, to transport religious pilgrims to Mecca during the annual Hajj pilgrimage.
These operations were so successful that EuroAtlantic continues to hold a permanent license from the Saudi authorities to carry passengers on such operations.
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In March 1998, the airline was chosen to operate on behalf of the President of Portugal, President Jorge Sampaio, to Macau. This was the first of many flights the airline has operated for the Portuguese government throughout its history.
In May 2001, the airline received its first Boeing 737-300 and later purchased a second airframe to meet the growing demand in Europe for short-haul wet lease capacity. Starting in the same year, EuroAtlantic was chosen to provide the aircraft and support operation for a series of air cruises around the world for the company TMR. These flights all started and ended in Paris, each lasting between 15 to 80 days.
In 2003, EuroAtlantic negotiated the shared use of two Boeing 767-300ER with the now-defunct Brazillian carrier, Varig. This coincided with the airline's plan to acquire four similar aircraft the following year, and in July 2004, EuroAtlantic became the first Portuguese airline to operate the Boeing 767-300ER.
In 2005, the company continued its sustained expansion by leasing three more Boeing 767-300ER alongside a pair of additional Boeing 757-200s. Once again, the airline became a pioneer in introducing various Boeing models in Portugal in 2009 when the airline's first Boeing 777-200ER was acquired to carry out medium to long-haul flights.
Of particular note is that EuroAtlantic was the operator of the final ever Lockheed TriStar passenger service in Europe. The type was finally phased out of service with the airline in March 2010.
New owners bring new ambition
On November 15th, 2019, EuroAtlantic Airways was bought by I-Jet Aviation PT, a consortium formed by businessman Abed El-Jaouni and the investment firm Njord Partners. This was the latest in a series of recent strategic growth moves by the company to meet the growing demand for ACMI (aircraft, crew, maintenance, and insurance) and charters.
The new Chairman of the Board of Directors, Abed El Jaouni, had ambitious plans for the company and has provided the airline with all the financial and operational support it needed to fulfill those plans. Upon the takeover, EuroAtlantic Airways' founder, Tomaz Metello, remained a non-executive member of the I-Jet Aviation PT Board of Directors.
Abed El-Jaouni is a well-known aviation industry entrepreneur. He has founded several companies in the aviation industry, and he has a team of people with experience in various technical, financial, and management roles who came from companies such as Atlas Air, Lufthansa, VistaJet, GE, Bombardier, and Mesa Air Lines. Njord Partners is a long-term, flexible capital provider for midsize businesses in Western Europe.
The airline today
Today, EuroAtlantic Airways continues to operate worldwide charter services as well as ACMI and other wet lease operations, mostly on behalf of other airlines. To encapsulate the carrier's ethos and ability to offer turnkey operational solutions, often at short notice, the company's slogan is 'Anytime, Anywhere!'.
Since February 2021, EuroAtlantic Airways has operated a single scheduled service between Lisbon and Osvaldo Viera International Airport in Bissau, the capital of Guinea Bissau, a former Portuguese colony located in West Africa. This single route was inaugurated after TAP Portugal ceased operations on the route due to cutbacks in its network.
Fleet details
EuroAtlantic has operated a wide range of aircraft in its history, all Boeing-produced aircraft except for its single Lockheed Tristar CS-TEB, which retired in 2010. The airline has operated the Boeing 737-300, 757-200, and a single 767-300ER freighter from 2010 to 2017.
The airline was due to operate a single Boeing 787-8 on a short-term basis in 2021, but this option was never taken up by the airline due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
According to ch-aviation, EuroAtlantic Airways' current fleet consists of seven aircraft with an average age of 21.5 years. However, the airline is expecting delivery of two former Alitalia Boeing 777-200ER aircraft later in 2022. The breakdown of the current fleet is as follows -
- 1 x Boeing 737-800
- 5 x Boeing 767-300ER
- 1 x Boeing 777-200ER
Source: ch-aviation, EuroAtlantic Airways