Air Comet was an airline based in Madrid, Spain."Oficinas Centrales." Air Comet. 10 February 2007. Retrieved on 22 June 2010."dondeestamos.gif." Air Comet. 3 February 2007. Retrieved on 22 June 2010. It operated scheduled long-haul services from Madrid to 13 destinations in Central and South America, as well as services in Europe. Its main base was Terminal 1 at Madrid–Barajas Airport. The airline cooperated with airlines such as AeroSur through codeshare agreements.
History
The airline was established on 23 December 1996 as Air Plus Comet and started operations on 1 March 1997, based at Madrid-Barajas Airport. On 11 December 1996 Oasis Airlines ceased operations, and their only aircraft, an Airbus A310, and many of their pilots and staff became the foundation of Air Plus Comet. In the post-takeover haste, the airline lacked a commercial name and its ICAO code was MPD, which stood for the last names of its three main executives (Mata, Pascual and Díaz).
It mainly operated long-haul charter services from Madrid and Palma de Mallorca to destinations in America and the Caribbean. It relaunched as a full-service carrier under the Air Comet name in January 2007. It was wholly owned by Grupo Marsans.
In January 2007, the airline took over some of now-defunct Air Madrid's Latin American routes and was renamed Air Comet and changed its livery.Airlines Remembered; R. Leeuw - Air Plus Comet
On 11 February 2009, Air Comet was suspended from the IATA Clearing House due to non-payment of its January balance. On 21 December 2009, a High Court in London emitted a verdict favoring the German bank HSH Nordbank, which had sued Air Comet for not meeting the terms of payment for their leased aircraft. Therefore, the airline became legally unable to either operate their four A330-200s or sell any fare tickets. Air Comet's directors announced the airline was ceasing operations owing to bankruptcy.Milenio - Air Comet cerrará sus operaciones Air Comet's several women flight attendants posed for a nude calendar to cover lost wages. 1200 copies were printed, priced at €15 each.
Destinations Air Comet flew to the following destinations:Air Comet Schedules (as of December 2009)
Europe
Madrid - Madrid Barajas Airport base
Fiumicino - Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport
London - Gatwick Airport
The Caribbean
Havana - José Martí International Airport
South America
Buenos Aires - Ministro Pistarini International Airport
Santa Cruz de la Sierra - Viru Viru International Airport
Bogotá - El Dorado International Airport Medellín - José María Córdova International Airport
Guayaquil - José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport Quito - Mariscal Sucre International Airport
Lima - Jorge Chávez International Airport
Fleet
The Air Comet fleet consisted of the following aircraft:
+ Air Comet fleetAircraftTotalIntroducedRetiredNotesAirbus A310-30010199720091 leased from Austrian AirlinesAirbus A320-200320072009Airbus A330-2008200620094 leased from Grupo Marsans 1 leased from Eurofly 1 leased from IberworldAirbus A340-300320072009Boeing 737-300220032006Boeing 747-200B4200320082 leased from Aerolíneas ArgentinasMcDonnell Douglas MD-83220062007McDonnell Douglas MD-88220052007Leased from Aerolíneas Argentinas
See also
List of defunct airlines of Spain
References
External links
; (Archive) Air Comet Fleet