Lipican Aer
 

This Slovenian operator is showing on ACL slot reports for both Birmingham and Luton, using 33 seat aircraft.

The Birmingham thread includes a post to the effect that they will be operating Waterford services, which makes sense.

Their website shows pictures of a Saab 340 S5-BBS, described as a 33-34 seater, but currently without windows, in cargo configuration.

Does anyone know more about this operator? It's a bit late for an untested, unknown operator to start ops in a few weeks' time between two third countries. Or is Lipican Aer operating on someone else's behalf?

Has any operator been able to make Waterford work?

Not since the motorway, and I doubt any operator will be able to in the future.

I guess we don't know if VLM were making it work, as other events took over.

However I'd suggest it's a route that needs an airline people will feel able to trust to deliver some stability, and that an unheard of Slovenian airline with an unpronounceable name and no other passenger routes isn't the perfect fit.

Also applied for 4 weekly MAN and daily LTN.

I suspect they will be acting as an ACMI provider to Firnas Airways, which states that it wants to become the UK's third long-haul full service airline but will start on routes from London and Birmingham to Waterford....

A crowd-funded airline?

Err... yay?

Flights from Waterford are not connected with Firnas Airways.

Thank goodness!

Are you sure, because it says on the Firnas Airways website that they plan to launch Waterford to Birmingham and London flights from this April. Seems highly unlikely that two airlines would be interested in commencing the same flights to Waterford at the same time.

But Lipican are also interested in MAN and not aware of firnas looking there. The Lipican flights will also be marketed under a 'Aer Southeast' brand, wonder if that's the actual start up as seen as Lipican seem to be an AMCI airline?

Im sure ...

'aer' today, gone tomorrow...

from the Firnas Airways website - sounds like a plan... :ok:

If being the only operator on a route is so closely connected with instant success, it makes you wonder where all the other airlines that have been in this situation have been going wrong!

That's quite funny :)

Based on that logic, I could start a route from Knock to Tokyo tomorrow and be successful, just because I've the market to myself :)

You'd think an airline of all figures wouldn't make such a strange and illogical statement.

A bit of a contrived name, but 10 out of 10 for inventiveness - Lipizzaner (which might just about sound like 'Lipican Aer' depending on your accent) being a famous breed of horse used by the Spanish Riding School, originally native to Slovenia. Sorry for going OT. :8

Well, it's not actually an airline. And I suspect it never will be.

The logic, however, is disturbingly similar to that of the (other) people that want to operate Slovenia - China.

Clever name :-) Would have never realised!

Is this the same SF340 operator that was recently escorted in to BHX by a couple of Eurofighters?

No, different company.