New Operator - or not ?
Local BBC radio reporting this morning the possibility of the MME - Heathrow link being restored in the not too distant future. Some detail from the Northern Echo below indicates a completely new operator running ‘scheduled’ charter flights with a 733 into Heathrow, and London City as well. 733 and London City ?
‘’Excelsis Airways is hoping to start three round trips a day from Durham Tees Valley Airport (DTV) to Heathrow in early July. Excelsis has been formed by an American who was in the US Air Force and then became a British Airways executive. Before settling in County Durham, he worked in US internal flights.
The airline is leasing a Boeing 737-300 plane, which can normally seat up to 140 passengers, but because it is offering an up-market service, the capacity will be about 44.
Because the service will be classed as a private chartered flight, it is hoped to avoid the long check-in queues that usually more than double the 50-minute flying time. The new airline hopes to expand its service to six round trips a day, and then to create a triangular service between DTV, Heathrow and London’s City Airport.
There are longer term plans to fly businessmen and women to European capitals.’’