Skyservice aircraft imports

[sanjet]

According to TC's imported aircraft section, Skyservice just imported a half dozen 320's, 737's & 757's in the last 30 days.

I thought they were only in the business of reselling private jets. Am I missing something here? Or are they expanding?

[jetdoc]

Skyservice Airlines imports several aircraft every fall and exports them back to the UK every spring. Airline division runs completley separate from the BAS and Air Ambulance.

[sanjet]

Thanks!

[learcapt]

Skyservice is not in the business of reselling jets. They are an aircraft management (50+ jets now operated), FBOs, and maintenance company.

[sanjet]

So a/c management; that means owner pays skyservice to take care of maintaining, crewing, etc..?

[learcapt]

That is correct

[captaingomes]

Sunwing also imports and exports aircraft on a seasonal basis. I believe Canada 3000 was the first Canadian airline to do this, by having a reciprocal agreement with a partner UK airline. This works well where mid-size (A320, 737, 757) aircraft are useful in Canada for the busy winter season, and vice versa in Europe, when the Brits take holidays to destinations in Spain, Greece, Portugal, etc.

[sanjet]

Who actually owns the aircraft? Or is it leased?

[captaingomes]

The aircraft are mostly leased, with a couple of exceptions. However, it seems to be My Travel / Thomas Cook Airlines and First Choice / Thomson that control things with respect to ownership. Look at Skyservice almost as a Canadian subsidiary of the above two UK entities. It gets complicated with the mergers going on in the UK as well.