Onur Air (, often styled OnurAir or Onurair) was a low-cost airline with its headquarters in the Technical Hangar B at Istanbul Atatürk Airport in Yeşilköy, Istanbul, Turkey. "Onur" means honour in Turkish. It operated mostly domestic scheduled services, as well as charter flights out of its base at Istanbul Airport. In December 2021, it was forced to suspend all operations until further notice

History

Early years

thumb|A former Onur Air [[McDonnell Douglas MD-88 in 2001]]

thumb|A former Onur Air [[Airbus A300B2 in 2002]]

Onur Air was established on 14 April 1992 and started revenue operations using a wet-leased Airbus A320 with a flight to Ercan in North Cyprus on 14 May of that year. Over the next years, the Onurair fleet grew, so that by the end of 1995, it included nine aircraft.

In 1996, Ten Tour acquired ownership of the airline. By 1997, McDonnell Douglas MD-80 twin-jet airliners had been added to the fleet. Due to a recession, Onur Air had to reduce the size of its fleet to 13 in 1998, and then to nine in 1999. Since then, the airline had expanded again. Onur Air also carried out special full charter flights (tourist flights, guest worker flights) for sister tour operators such as Nazar Reisen in Germany and Nazar Travel in Turkey.

In August 2019, Onur Air established a new, partly owned subsidiary named Holiday Europe for leisure flights between Europe and destinations around the Mediterranean. Onur Air provided aircraft and crews for the new brand. In October 2021, the operational license of Holiday Europe has been revoked.

In December 2021, the Turkish aviation authorities did not renew the airline's operational license, suspending all of their operations. Beforehand, negotiations to regain financial stability in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic failed.

In February 2022, Onur Air's last remaining airworthy aircraft was taken back by its lessor, leaving the airline without a usable fleet. In April 2022, a Turkish court declared the airline bankrupt after legal proceedings of a former employee.

Destinations

By September 2021, prior to the suspension of its licence, Onur Air offered scheduled flights (excluding charter services) to the following destinations:

{|class="sortable wikitable"

|-

!Country

!City

!Airport

!Notes

!Refs

|-

|rowspan="2"|Germany||Cologne/Bonn||Cologne Bonn Airport||||align=center|

|-

|Düsseldorf||Düsseldorf Airport||||align=center|

|-

|Kuwait||Kuwait City||Kuwait International Airport||||align=center|

|-

|rowspan="2"|Turkey||Antalya||Antalya Airport||||align=center|

|-

|Istanbul||Istanbul Airport||||align=center|

|-

|Ukraine||Odesa||Odesa International Airport||||align=center|

|-

|}

Fleet

thumb|Onur Air [[Airbus A320-200]]

thumb|Onur Air [[Airbus A321-200]]

thumb|A former Onur Air [[Airbus A321neo, which was operated for a brief period]]

Onur Air had operated the following aircraft types:

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;"

!Aircraft

!Total

!Introduced

!Retired

!Notes

|-

|Airbus A300B2

|2

|2001

|2006

|

|-

|Airbus A300B4

|5

|1997

|2006

|

|-

|rowspan=2|Airbus A300-600R

|1

|2001

|2001

|Leased from Air Alfa

|-

|7

|2006

|2013

|

|-

|Airbus A320-200

|35

|1992

|2021

|

|-

|rowspan=2|Airbus A321-100

|2

|1996

|1999

|rowspan=2|

|-

|4

|2005

|2020

|-

|Airbus A321-200

|18

|2003

|2020

|

|-

|Airbus A321neo

|2

|2019

|2020

|Taken from Wow Air

|-

|Airbus A330-200

|12

|2016

|2021

|

|-

|Airbus A330-300

|5

|2015

|2021

|

|-

|McDonnell Douglas MD-82

|1

|2007

|2009

|Leased from Bestair

|-

|McDonnell Douglas MD-83

|4

|2005

|2010

|Sold to Khors Air

|-

|McDonnell Douglas MD-88

|5

|1997

|2011

|

|-

|}

Incidents and accidents

  • On 17 June 2003, Onur Air Flight 2263, a McDonnell Douglas MD-88 (registration TC-ONP) overshot the runway at Groningen Airport Eelde following an aborted take-off. There were no injuries, but the airline was accused of security breaches.
  • On 12 May 2005, Onur Air was denied access to Dutch airspace for a month. Several incidents were the cause of the suspension of the airline. Negotiations took place between the Dutch authorities and Onur Air and on 24 May 2005 Onur Air had permission to fly from and to the Netherlands again.
  • On 1 January 2007, the cargo hold of a McDonnell Douglas MD-88 aircraft burst open upon landing at Atatürk International Airport, spilling luggage onto the runway.
  • On 7 September 2007, an Airbus A321 aircraft lost cabin pressure on a charter flight from Dalaman Airport to Birmingham Airport, resulting in an emergency landing at Atatürk International Airport. Passenger reports included a smoking engine and broken down oxygen masks.
  • On 20 August 2011, an Onur Air pilot forgot to contact Munich Air Traffic Control and caused the quick reaction air defence of both Germany and Austria to send four Eurofighter Typhoons to intercept the company's A321.

See also

  • List of defunct airlines of Turkey

References

  • Official website