It may be the end of the road for Hans Airways as the airline’s only aircraft, an Airbus A330, is in the process of being deregistered. As per the data from UK’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) the deregistration was opened on February 3, 2023 with a review date set for February 24, 2023.
The start-up airline took delivery of the aircraft in August 2022, with hopes to launch the route from Birmingham to Amritsar from October 2022. However, since September 2022, the aircraft has only flown once, on a brief circular route from Birmingham to Birmingham with a flight time of just 19 minutes, on November 28, 2022. The aircraft has not flown since. Now, it looks like the aircraft will be returned to the lessor.
The A330 is on lease from Carlyle Aviation Partners. The aircraft G-KJAS could be transferred to a US registration and sent back to the US, or it could immediately be sent to another leasing customer.
Hans Airways wanted to provide low-cost service from Birmingham, UK to Amritsar in India and other underserved direct routes to India. With a large Punjabi population in UK, the airline had plans to cater to the passengers who would take connecting flights to get home to India from UK.
The airline expected to receive its AOC by the end of 2021, but as time went by, the airline started falling short of funds and began seeking new investments.
Although Hans Airways has not declared bankruptcy, prospects are dim for the start-up airline.