Humberside From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2005, 4899 posts, RR: 5 Posted (6 years 6 months 3 weeks 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 4141 times:
Astraeus has been sold (again) to the owners of Iceland Express, Fons Eignarhaldsfelag. They will buy 51% of the company, the management and existing investor Aberdeen Asset Management having 24.5% each. Hidden in the notes to editors is the announcement of a new route to Monrovia. AEU's new Cape Verde flights are also doing well
Quote: Fons Eignarhaldsfelag, the Icelandic investment company, has today entered into a binding agreement to acquire a majority shareholding in Astraeus, the niche UK airline based at London Gatwick with Aberdeen Asset Management and Astraeus Management. Aberdeen Asset Management is a major UK based Fund Manager with funds under management of US$140billion.
Fons is headed by Palmi Haraldsson and Johannes Kristinsson and has a number of aviation interests including Iceland Express. Palmi has a wide variety of other business ventures in the retail industry.
The arrangement will see Astraeus continue to operate its existing route structure from London Gatwick and Manchester, whilst at the same time providing back-of-house support and assistance to other airlines in Fons' expanding portfolio of investments. Exciting developments are in prospect, particularly in the Scandinavian arena, where Iceland Express has just announced an expanded route network of flights from Summer 2007.
Quote: It is launching the first ever direct services between the UK and the Cape Verde Islands on Thursday 2 November - early signs are very encouraging as the inaugural flight between London Gatwick and the islands' main international airport at Sal is already fully booked.
Astraeus' development plans include launching additional specialist flights to serve the oil & gas industry, and opening up new markets in West and East Africa, an area long neglected by other British scheduled carriers. It will introduce the first direct flights for over 20 years between London and Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, on December 13. Further announcements on new routes and service developments are expected in the near future.
One question is will AEU take over the Iceland Express flying from Hello Airlines - AEU flew the Iceland Express routes when they first started flights
Cwldude From United Kingdom, joined May 2006, 691 posts, RR: 1 Reply 1, posted (6 years 6 months 3 weeks 1 day 14 hours ago) and read 3999 times:
Hmn, not sure if all this movement in Astraeus is a good or a bad thing, sure, they're being introduced to lots of fresh ideas, but it can't be a good sign of management!
Nonetheless Im sure (and hope) that Astraeus have a bright future ahead
Thomson Airways - The UKs premier charter airline // now flown : BY -AA -AJ -AE -AT; OO -AX -AU -RA -BG; BRIG; OBYD
ZuluTime From United Kingdom, joined May 2006, 151 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (6 years 6 months 3 weeks 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 3882 times:
The sale to Flyme never actually went through. There were some issues between the shareholders of Flyme - the Icelandic people who have now bought AEU were a shareholder in Flyme but are not any more.
UAL777UK From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2005, 3355 posts, RR: 1 Reply 4, posted (6 years 6 months 3 weeks 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 3865 times:
Well, all ~I can say is that I hope they havge a good future ahead. Having flown them a couple of times, once to Newfoundland and another to Corsica, those 757's with incredible legroom, coupled with great service onboard was first class.
Humberside From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2005, 4899 posts, RR: 5 Reply 6, posted (6 years 6 months 3 weeks 17 hours ago) and read 3638 times:
Quoting Vfw614 (Reply 5): Do I remember correctly that Astraeus was the airline that provided Icelandexpress with aircraft until it was replaced by Hello ?
AEU supplied the aircraft when Iceland Express started up but I think Jet X provided MD-80's for a while before Hello Airlines took over
David_itl From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2001, 7143 posts, RR: 14 Reply 7, posted (6 years 6 months 3 weeks 14 hours ago) and read 3572 times:
Quoting Vfw614 (Reply 5): is it reasonable to expect that Astraeus aircraft might end up operating on behalf of Icelandexpress
Don't think they've got enough 737s to operate their own programme and also the proposed new start-up Fly Gibraltar who are meant to be leasing a couple of 733s from them.
Prebennorholm From Denmark, joined Mar 2000, 6016 posts, RR: 55 Reply 8, posted (6 years 6 months 3 weeks 13 hours ago) and read 3548 times:
Funny thing this Icelandic Fons Eignarhaldsfelag. Last year they bought Sterling here in Denmark, then Maersk Air, then merged them into Sterling.
And earlier this year they sold the whole of Sterling (with roughly 15 B737) to the Icelandic FL Group which is also the owner of Icelandair.
Wonder what ideas Fons Eignarhaldsfelag have with Austraeus?
I have used Iceland Express a few times, operated by Austraeus and JetX, and even one segment by Maersk Air before the takeover (because an Austraeus plane was broken). Always on time and very friendly cabin crew.
Going to Iceland I normally took the night flight leaving directly from work in a state of severe starvation. I enjoyed to be able to just order more and more quite delicious sandwiches instead of having to make do with the old style one size fits all plastic catering.
Always keep your number of landings equal to your number of take-offs, Preben Norholm
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