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| Founded | 1996 | |||
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| Hubs | Madrid Barajas International Airport | |||
| Frequent flyer program | Club Air Comet | |||
| Fleet size | 12 (+74 orders) | |||
| Destinations | 10 | |||
| Parent company | Grupo Marsans | |||
| Headquarters | Madrid, Spain | |||
| Key people | Gerardo Díaz Ferrán | |||
| Website | aircomet.com | |||
Air Comet (formerly Air Plus Comet) is an airline based in Madrid, Spain. It operates scheduled long-haul services from Madrid to 13 destinations in Central and South America, as well as services in Europe. Its main base is Madrid Barajas International Airport[2], Terminal 1. The airline works together with well-known airlines such as Air Europa and AeroSur in a variety of codeshare agreements.
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History
The airline was established in December 1996 as Air Plus Comet and started operations in March 1997. 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 is wholly owned by Grupo Marsans.[2]
In January 2007, Air Comet took over some of the now defunct Air Madrid airline's Latin American routes. It also accepted passengers left stranded (those who had already flown a portion of their ticket) for a flat fee of 200 USD.
On 25 May 2007, Air Comet suspended its flights to the United States, citing a desire to focus on growth in the European and Latin American markets.
Grupo Marsans bought 4 Airbus A380's, all of which will go to Air Comet. Accordingly, Air Comet will be the first Spanish airline which will operate the A380 in May 2011.[3]
At the end of August 2008, the first of seventeen completely new Airbus A330 will be incorporated into the fleet which will cover the long-haul services to Lima, Bogota, Buenos Aires as well as to Quito and Guayaquil. The airline is in a full process of expansion and will incorporate new aircraft as well as enlarge their destination network especially in South America, Venezuela Maturín and Colombia Cartagena.[4]
In September 2008 Air Comet suspended temporarily two of its routes, to Santiago de Chile and San José de Costa Rica, in order to be able to raise the frequencies in other routes until all the new planes arrive.[5]
As of 11 February 2009, Air Comet has been suspended from IATA Clearing House due to non-payment of January balance.[1]
At the time of writing (April 10 2009) Air Comet has failed to pay a significant number of its staff salaries dating back to January 2009.[citation needed]
Destinations
Air Comet flies to the following destinations [2] (as of July 2009):
- Europe
- Madrid - Barajas Airport Main Hub
- North America
- Havana - José Martí International Airport
- Mexico City - Mexico City International Airport [begins 1 December][6]
- Cancun - Cancun International Airport
- San Jose, Costa Rica - Juan Santamaría International Airport
- South America
- Bogotá - El Dorado International Airport
- Buenos Aires - Ezeiza International Airport
- Guayaquil - José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport
- Lima - Jorge Chávez International Airport
- Quito - Mariscal Sucre International Airport
- Santa Cruz de la Sierra - Viru Viru Airport
Fleet
The Air Comet fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of 19 February 2009) [3]:
| Aircraft | Total | Orders | Options | Passengers (A Class/Turista Confort/Turista) |
Haul | Entry into Service |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A319-100 | 0 | 12 | 0 | - | Regional | - |
| Airbus A320-211 | 3 | 25 | 0 | 168 (12/156) | Regional | In service |
| Airbus A321-200 | 0 | 5 | 0 | - | Regional | - |
| Airbus A330-200 | 4 | 13 | 0 | 286 (24/-/259) | Medium-long haul | In service |
| Airbus A340-300 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 255 (30/28/227) 252 (6/42/204) |
Medium-long haul | In service |
| Airbus A350-900 XWB | 0 | 10 | 0 | - | Long Haul | 2014 |
| Airbus A380-800 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 620 (12/66/542) | Ultra long haul | 2010 |
As of 19 February 2009, the average age of the Air Comet fleet is 12.2 years ([4]).
On 7 January 2007, Grupo Marsans who controls Air Comet, orders 12 A330-200, of which all will go to Air Comet, to be delivered in 2008-2009.
On 12 October 2007, Grupo Marsans made a preliminary order for 61 various Airbus aircraft including 5 more A330, 42 A320 family (12 A319, 25 A320, 5 A321), 10 A350 and 4 A380, of which part (including 2 A380) will go to Air Comet
On 17 December 2007, Grupo Marsans adds 2 more options for A380 model. All A380 will be delivered with 620 seats configuration (12 first, 66 business and 542 tourist).
External links
- Air Comet
- Air Comet (Spanish)
- Air Comet Fleet
- Air Comet Crew
References
- ^ Airline Codes
- ^ a b "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International: p. 55. 2007-03-27.
- ^ Air Comet will operate the A380 in 2011 http://www.eleconomista.es/economia/noticias/781784/10/08/Economia-Empresas-Air-Comet-inicia-la-renovacion-de-su-flota-con-la-incorporacion-de-un-nuevo-Airbus-A330200.html
- ^ Air Comet in expansion http://www.finanzas.com/noticias/empresas/2008-07-28/28960_marsans-mantiene-firma-compra-aviones.html
- ^ News on official Air Comet Homepage http://www.aircomet.com/noticias.php
- ^ Air Comet - Comunicado Ruta México http://viajaryviajar.blogspot.com/2009/06/air-comet-comunicado-ruta-mexico.html
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