Aurela was a

charter airline Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a airline ticket, ticket through a traditional airline). Regulation Charter – also called air taxi or ad h ...

based in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

. It operated charter services for several tour operators in the

Baltic states The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...

. Its main base was

Vilnius International Airport Vilnius Airport ( lt, Vilniaus oro uostas) is the international airport of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. It is located south of the city. It is the largest of the three commercial airports in Lithuania by passenger traffic. With one runway ...

Flight International ''Flight International'' is a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", it is the world's oldes ...

, 27 March 2007

History

The airline was established and started operations in 1996 as a joint-stock air company using a

Tupolev Tu-134 The Tupolev Tu-134 (NATO reporting name: Crusty) is a twin-engined, narrow-body jet airliner built in the Soviet Union for short and medium-haul routes from 1966 to 1989. The original version featured a glazed-nose design and, like certain ot ...

A. In 1995 Aurela Airlines became the first private aviation company in Lithuania.
In 1996 the company acquired a VIP configured aircraft, a TU-134A for

charter flights Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a ticket through a traditional airline). Regulation Charter – also called air taxi or ad hoc – flights r ...

.
In 2001 an eight-seater business class plane,

Hawker HS-125 The British Aerospace 125 is a twinjet mid-size business jet. Originally developed by de Havilland and initially designated as the DH.125 Jet Dragon, it entered production as the Hawker Siddeley HS.125, which was the designation used until 19 ...

-700, was purchased for VIP flights. Further demand on the market for chartered flights allowed the Company to take a loan on a newer and more economical

YAK-42 The Yakovlev Yak-42 (russian: Яковлев Як-42; NATO reporting name: "Clobber") is a 100/120-seat three-engined mid-range passenger jet developed in the mid 1970s to replace the technically obsolete Tupolev Tu-134. It was the first airli ...

D containing 120 seats.
In 2003 as the number of charter flights increased, the Company rented out another YAK-42D.
In 2004 one YAK-42D was replaced with a more advanced and higher volume

Boeing 737-300 The Boeing 737 Classic is a series of narrow-body airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the second generation of the Boeing 737 series of aircraft. Development began in 1979 and the first variant, the 737-300, first flew in Febru ...

. The first flight of this plane coincided with Lithuania's membership in the

European Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

. Aurela was also used by

Valdas Adamkus Valdas Adamkus (; born Voldemaras Adamkavičius; 3 November 1926) is a Lithuanian-American politician, diplomat and civil engineer. He served as the 5th and 7th President of Lithuania from 1998 to 2003 and again from 2004 to 2009. Adamkus' ...

, the

President of Lithuania The President of the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublikos Prezidentas) is the head of state of Lithuania. The officeholder has been Gitanas Nausėda since 12 July 2019. Powers The president has somewhat more executive authority tha ...

. In 2004-2005 the President was taken to

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

during the

Orange Revolution The Orange Revolution ( uk, Помаранчева революція, translit=Pomarancheva revoliutsiia) was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate afterm ...

and to attend the funeral of Pope

John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

.
In 2005 as soon as the EU had tightened its position in respects to the use of Russian aircraft, the company updated its fleet by acquiring western manufactured planes. In December, upon expiration of the rent agreement, the remaining YAK-42D was returned to the lessor.
In July 2006 a second Boeing 737-300 was rented out. In December the Company's shareholders purchased a brand new nine-seater plane, a

Hawker 850XP The Hawker 800 is a mid-size twinjet corporate aircraft. It is a development of the British Aerospace BAe 125, and was assembled by Hawker Beechcraft. Development In April 1981, the British Aerospace board sanctioned the programme to improve th ...

for VIP charter flights. That same year the key client for chartered flights had become Novaturas Travel Company.
In spring 2009 Aurela announced plans to expand its aircraft fleet by acquiring a

Boeing 767-200 The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body aircraft developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified on ...

. Aurela have signed a three-year contract with Thomas Cook airlines to provide them with Boeing 757-200 aircraft for summer months at its UK bases, and provides a charter service for ''Small Planet Airlines'' to Samos island and Limnos. In 2012, Aurela began to operate several routes for

Monarch Airlines Monarch Airlines, also known as Monarch, was a British Air charter, charter and scheduled airline founded by Bill Hodgson and Don Peacock and financed by the Switzerland, Swiss Sergio Mantegazza family. The company later became a low-cost air ...

due to Monarch opening new routes and not having sufficient fleet. Routes such as

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

. Monarch ceased their partnership with Aurela in September 2012 due to extensive delays, customer complaints and an Aurela aircraft skidding off the runway at Birmingham Airport. On 18 February 2013, the decision was taken by the Lithuanian CAA to suspend the licence of Aurela.Aurela License Suspended
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Services

The core activities were: * Regular charter Flights - one of the key operational activities by Aurela was travel agencies chartered flights to different resorts in Europe, Asia and Africa. * Individual charter Flights - Aurela Airlines organizes individual or so-called exclusive charter flights. * ACMI Lease - Aurela provided aircraft with all maintenance and crew including engineers to a lessee. In 2006 Aurela had a successful cooperation with

Estonian Air Estonian Air was the flag carrier airline of Estonia between 1991 and 2015. Headquartered in Tallinn it operated scheduled services from Tallinn Airport. Prior to its closure, the airline flew from Tallinn to 11 destinations in Europe. From 19 ...

. One of the aircraft was leased to the Estonian company for three and a half months. Airlines such as

airBaltic airBaltic, legally incorporated as AS Air Baltic Corporation, is the flag carrier of Latvia, with its head office on the grounds of Riga International Airport in Mārupe municipality near Riga. Its main hub is Riga, and it operates bases in T ...

Small Planet Airlines Small Planet Airlines was a Lithuanian leisure airline based at Vilnius Airport with further bases throughout Europe. It was the subsidiary of the Small Planet Group which also owned sister companies in Cambodia, Germany, Italy, and Poland, all ...

and Star1 Airlines also hired the service, when necessary. * VIP Flights - Aurela was the only aviation company in Lithuania operating a commercial category, VIP class aircraft.

Fleet

Aurela B737-300 landing to Vilnius Airpor (WNO)

Aurela had various aircraft types, including: * 1

* 1

Hawker 900XP The Hawker 800 is a mid-size twinjet corporate aircraft. It is a development of the British Aerospace BAe 125, and was assembled by Hawker Beechcraft. Development In April 1981, the British Aerospace board sanctioned the programme to improve t ...

* 2

Boeing 757-200 The Boeing 757 is an American Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The then-named 7N7, a twinjet successor for the Boeing 727, 727 (a trijet), received its first orders in August 1978. ...

* 1

* 2

Yakovlev Yak-42D The Yakovlev Yak-42 (russian: Яковлев Як-42; NATO reporting name: "Clobber") is a 100/120-seat three-engined mid-range passenger jet developed in the mid 1970s to replace the technically obsolete Tupolev Tu-134. It was the first airlin ...

* 1

British Aerospace BAe 125 The British Aerospace 125 is a twinjet mid-size business jet. Originally developed by de Havilland and initially designated as the DH.125 Jet Dragon, it entered production as the Hawker Siddeley HS.125, which was the designation used until 19 ...

* 2

References

External links

* at

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...

{{Airlines of Lithuania Defunct airlines of Lithuania Airlines established in 1996 Airlines disestablished in 2013 Companies based in Vilnius 2013 disestablishments in Lithuania Aviation in Vilnius Lithuanian companies established in 1996