 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Founded | 1994 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ceased operations | April 1996 | ||||||
| Hubs | Gregorio Luperón International Airport | ||||||
| Fleet size | 1 | ||||||
| Headquarters | Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic | ||||||
Alas Nacionales S.A. ("National Wings" in Spanish) was a Puerto Plata-based carrier that operated charter flights between Dominican Republic and Germany. The airline served as a representative of Birgenair. [2] [3]
In summer 1994, the German tour operator Öger Tours and the small German airline Ratioflug entered into a cooperation to offer low-cost charter flights from Germany to the Dominican Republic in winter 94/95. The German Federal Ministry of Transport granted traffic rights to Ratioflug for period of six months. Because Ratioflug did not have any airplane with corresponding capacity and range it leased a Boeing 757-200 from the Turkish airline Birgenair for these flights. [4]
In order to continue the charter flights in the next winter season, Öger Tours and Birgenair went into a cooperation with Alas Nacionales in summer 1995. This Dominican airline was founded in Puerto Plata by the Finn Matti Puhakka and six other shareholders earlier that year. The company owned an Air Operator Certificate, but no aircraft at that time. It was agreed that Birgenair organize and operate the flights of Alas Nacionales. In return Matti Puhakka and his business partners were offered a remuneration of 10 DM per registered passenger. After Alas Nacionales received traffic rights to Germany the airline officially leased a Boeing 767-200ER from Birgenair. On October 25, 1995 the Turkish aircraft was registered in the Dominican Republic as HI-660CA. A week later the flights to Germany began, they were carried out by Turkish crews. [4]
Due to a defective hydraulic pump on the Boeing 767, it was not available for Birgenair Flight 301 from Puerto Plata to Frankfurt via Berlin on February, 6 1996, so that this flight was carried out exceptionally with Boeing 757-200 from Birgenair. Due to the shorter range of this type, a refuel stop in Gander was planned. The aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff from Puerto Plata Airport. Birgenair had leased this Boeing 757 in November 1995 to the Argentine airline Servicios de Transportes Aéreos Fueguinos (STAF) and operated it on five flights between the Dominican Republic and Buenos Aires until January 1996. Afterwards the aircraft was not transferred back to Turkey, but remained in Puerto Plata. [4]
Both airlines suspended their operations and eventually vanished in the same year after the crash.
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This is a list of aviation-related events from 1996:
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Madagascar Airlines is an airline based in Antananarivo, Madagascar. It is the flag carrier of Madagascar; it operates services to Europe, Asia and neighbouring African and Indian Ocean island destinations, from its main base, Ivato International Airport in Antananarivo. It also operates an extensive domestic network.
Hewa Bora Airways Sarl was the national airline of the Democratic Republic of the Congo based in Barumbu, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was one of Congo's largest airlines and operated regional and domestic services. Its main base was N'djili Airport. "Hewa bora" is Swahili for "fresh air". The company slogan was N°1 in Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Birgenair Flight 301 was a flight chartered by Turkish-managed Birgenair partner Alas Nacionales from Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic to Frankfurt, Germany, via Gander, Canada, and Berlin, Germany. On 6 February 1996, the Boeing 757-200 operating the route crashed shortly after take-off from Puerto Plata's Gregorio Luperón International Airport, killing all 189 people on board. The cause was pilot error after receiving incorrect airspeed information from one of the pitot tubes, which investigators believe was blocked by a wasp nest built inside it. The aircraft had been sitting unused for 20 days, and without pitot tube covers in place for the two days preceding the crash.
Birgenair was a Turkish charter airline established in 1988 with headquarters in Istanbul, Turkey. It ceased operations in October 1996, following the crash of Birgenair Flight 301.
Albatros Airlines was a charter airline from Turkey that operated from 1992 to 1996.
Holiday Airlines was a Turkish charter company that operated between 1994 and 1996.
Odyssey International was a charter airline based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
On October 29, 2015, Dynamic Airways Flight 405, a Boeing 767 on a scheduled international passenger service operating from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Caracas, Venezuela, caught on fire while taxiing for departure. All 90 passengers and 11 crew members on board were evacuated using the emergency slides. However, 22 of them were injured. The aircraft was damaged beyond economic repair.
