History
- 1993
- 1996
- 1995 - 1997
- 1996 - 2001
- 1998
- 2001
- 2002
- 2003
- 2004
- 2005
- 2006
- 2007
The company was established under the name General Aviation, a Limited Liability Company, based in Goraszka. The major activities and the basis of the first civil aviation certificate were for commercial recreational and sight seeing flights based on vintage aircraft.
Shareholders changed the name of the company to White Eagle Aviation and contributed the airfield called Goraszka, consisting of 36ha with buildings, as equity in WEA. During this process, the air service company Aeropol was acquired, resulting in a fleet expansion of new types of aircraft – turboprop L-410 and Mi-2 helicopters.
In February 1995 the company moved it’s base to Warsaw Okecie Airport and in March 1995 regular flights for UPS were started. In May 1996 WEA purchased another L-410 aircraft to fly for the Polish Post. In January 1997 a new Bell 407 started operations at WEA.
The same year a F-27 was registered under the WEA call sign to operate for UPS on the Warsaw-Koln-Warsaw route. In October 1997 JAK-40 aircraft started operations in the form of unscheduled passenger flights for the Israeli Government.
The company performed scheduled and unscheduled cargo flights for UPS (for 5 years) and TNT, (Fokker F-27, Let-410), unscheduled, regular passenger flights for EL-AL to over 10 destinations in former USSR. (JAK-40), scheduled flights for Polish Post (5 days a week), Aero-Taxi, patrol, emergency transplant services (JAK-40, KingAir 350, Bonanza, Bell 407, Let-410, Mi-8) and special helicopter services (assembly of steel structures, rescue missions etc) (Mi-8, Bell 407).
In 1998 general aviation operations using King-350 and Bell 407 were initiated, based on long term contracts with prestigious corporate clients.
Board of directors of WEA modified the legal form of the company’s activity, transforming it in to a joint stock company. The new joint stock company excluded Goraszka airfield, which became part of a separate Limited Liability Company.
A new investor – the TUI Group a European tour operator acquired 30% of the initial WEA capital, resulting in a passenger charter operation based on a fleet of B-737 400 (first was introduced into WEA a year before the investor came – in 2000) and 800 (in 2003) being developed.
This operation continued until March 2003, when due to the difficult international market conditions after 09.11 and extremely difficult Polish market conditions, extensive losses occurred.
The charter flight operations were discontinued, and the 30% stake reverted to the former owner – Mr. Zbigniew Niemczycki who continues to hold a 100% stake in WEA.
In the process of company restructuring WEA developed a daughter company – WEAC – a maintenance base, moving all maintenance activity into this new company. WEAC was then certified for JAR and PART 145, respectively to the WEA operator JAR OPS 1 certificate, gained for all the types within WEA AOC – ATR 42-300, B-737 400 and 800, LET-410, Bell-407, Mi-8, King-350.
A new contract signed with the Polish Post in 2001 extended the exclusivity to WEA for the performance of cargo mail air service within Poland for another five years, (the first contract was signed in 1996) and ran until March 2006.
The contract was serviced using 4 LET-410, 1 Mi-8 and 1 ATR 42, although the process of withdrawing the older types of aircraft – Mi-8 heli and LET-410s had started. WEA has been exchanging its fleet to ATR-42s, operating two at that moment with the plans for more.
WEAC as a maintenance base after completion of certification started to acquire external contracts, besides servicing WEA’s aircraft, including a long term agreement with Sky Europe Airlines in November 2004 for line maintenance up to A-checks level for their B-737s.
WEAC continues to develop sales, benefiting from significantly lower wage costs than comparable European maintenance bases, skilled personnel and with a plan to upgrade it’s operations to include C-checks performed on Boeings and ATRs.
In August WEA initiated a new business model, transforming its operational profile in order to offer charter passenger and cargo both on an unscheduled and scheduled basis, based mainly on ATR regional size aircraft and as an external ACMI provider of practically any type, acting on the European market as a specialized air broker.
This area of activity is constantly being developed and continues to generate more and more business value, as WEA is seen as not only a broker, but also as an airline with its own product.
WEA signed contracts for air service provision based on ATRs with Polish, German, Lithuanian and Italian customers, as well as for other airlines and tour operators.
WEA also continued to expand its general aviation services for corporate clients based on King-350, Bell 407 and new Bell 427, being then introduced into WEA’s AOC.
In April WEA extended the fleet with the new ATR42-320 series QC (quick change) version bearing the registration SP-KCN. It was the first ATR QC registered and available in Poland. It can carry 46 passengers or 4,5 ton of cargo. This version can be easily converted from passenger to a cargo version and vice versa. In November the next ATR42-320 in QC version joined WEA’s feet. It bears the registration SP-KEE.
At the end of May WEA started a new venture – passenger flights from Dundee to Birmingham and Belfast. It operates under its own callsign (in ACMI plus model) with the trade name Flywhoosh.
At present WEA performs regular passenger flights from Albenga, Palermo and Dundee, the fourth aircraft is used as a back-up or for charter flights from various places in Europe.
News
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT FLYWHOOSH PROJECT
We entered into a contractual agreement with a company known as BluArrow Aviation pursuant to which we were to operate flights on behalf of Flywhoosh. Unfortunately, BluArrow failed to make payments due to us under that agreement as a direct result of which we were forced to withdraw our services to Flywhoosh. Therefore, on the 4 December 2007, it was with much regret that we notified BluArrow / Flywhoosh that following BluArrow's breach we were terminating the contract. We are aware of the information which has recently been published on www.flywhoosh.com concerning this matter which we consider to be factually incorrect, misleading and from which we wish to distance ourselves. If you were unable to travel then you will be entitled to a full refund of your ticket at the price you paid including taxes and, if appropriate, card handling fees. In addition to reimbursement of the price of the ticket for the parts of the journey not made, you may be entitled to compensation subject to certain conditions. IN addition may also be entitled to make a claim for reasonable out of pocket expenses, such as meals or accommodation, incurred as a result of the cancellation of your flight. Your rights in the regard are set in more detail on the Air Transport Users Council website at: http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=306 Those wishing to submit a claim should send details including your booking reference, flight number and passenger details to us, either by post, email or by fax as follows:
Fax: 00 48 22 33 20 960 Address: 02-256 Warsaw, Poland, 106, Al. Krakowska Str.