OAG Travel News

The phrase blue skies refers to a cloudless, clear sky that is most often an indication of good weather for flying.  This led me to wonder how many airlines around the world include the word ‘blue’ in their name.  Seemingly it would be popular, and, in fact, 11 ‘blue’ carriers are operating nearly 1,250 daily flights to destinations around the world.  A brief overview about each one are included below.

Atlas Blue
Morocco-based Atlas Blue is the low-cost subsidiary of Moroccan flag carrier Royal Air Maroc.  Atlas Blue’s hub is Marrakech, and the carrier’s all-Boeing 737 fleet links the city with 14 destinations in Europe.  Additional service is provided from the Moroccan cities of Fez and Oujda to Marseille, France.

Azul Linhas Aereas Brasileiras
Azul is ‘blue’ in both Spanish and Portuguese.  jetBlue (described later in this piece) founder David Neeleman – a Brazilian-born American – established Azul in 2008 to provide domestic service in the growing Brazilian air service market.  From its hub at Sao Paulo’s Viracopos-Campinas International Airport, Azul connects 13 cities with Brazil’s capital.  Additional point-to-point service is provided between numerous Brazilian cities.  All of this service is operated using Brazilian-made Embraer aircraft (E190s and E195). 

Blue1
Finland-based Blue1 is wholly-owned by the SAS Group.  From its hub in Helsinki, Blue1 provides service to 16 cities in Europe, with the most flights operating to the Scandinavian cities of Stockholm, Copenhagen and Oulu (Finland).  Additional service is provided from Stockholm to the Finnish cities of Tampere, Turku and Vaasa.  Operating four types of aircraft, Blue1 has the most diverse fleet of any ‘blue’ airline.

Blue Air
Romania-based Blue Air provides low-cost service from its hub at Bucharest’s Aurel Vlaicu International Airport to 22 cities in Europe.  In addition, focus cities in the Romanian cities of Arad, Bacau and Sibiu provide connections to Europe.  All of Blue Air’s flights are operated on Boeing 737-300 aircraft, and nearly three of every four Blue Air flights are international.

Blue Islands
Blue Islands is the airline of the UK’s Channel Islands.  The carrier operates services between three cities on the Channel Islands – Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney.  In addition, Blue Islands links Jersey with the Isle of Man, Geneva and Zurich; and Guernsey with Southampton.  Blue Islands recently announced a fleet expansion to include ATR 42-320 aircraft.  This will add to the carrier’s fleet of Jetstreams, Dorniers and Britten-Norman aircraft.

Blue Panorama Airlines
Italian carrier Blue Panorama operates an all-Boeing fleet – both B737s and larger B767s.  From its hub at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport, Blue Panorama provides service to 13 cities – ranging from domestic service to exotic destinations including Havana, Cuba, and Phuket, Thailand.  More limited point-to-point services are also offered by Blue Panorama.

Blue Wings
Germany-based Blue Wings operates services from its base in Dusseldorf.  All passengers on Blue Wings travel on the same aircraft type – Airbus A320s.  Although Blue Wings maintains a hub in Dusseldorf, more of the carrier’s flights operate on point-to-point routes between various cities in Germany, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Turkey, Russia and the United Arab Emirates.

jetBlue Airways
Of the nine ‘blue’ airlines, jetBlue is the busiest with 43 percent of total ‘blue’ flights.  jetBlue also serves more nonstop destinations than any of the other carriers – 59 airports in the USA, Caribbean, Mexico, and Central and South America.  jetBlue operates its schedule using Airbus A319s and Embraer E190s.

Virgin Blue, etc.
As the second-largest airline in Australia, low-cost carrier Virgin Blue provides service to 42 cities across ten countries in the Australia/Oceania region.  Virgin Blue’s fleet includes Boeing B737s, Embraer 170s and Embraer 190s.  In addition, two other ‘blue’ brands fly under the Virgin Blue code – New Zealand-based Pacific Blue and Polynesian Blue, a joint venture between Virgin Blue and the Government of Samoa. 

Source: Official Airline Guide (OAG) Schedule Tapes for October 2009, unless otherwise indicated; flights are total operations (combined arrivals and departures); Air Transport Intelligence.