After suspending flights for a month due to financial problems, AtlasGlobal took the skies once again. The carrier officially re-launched regular flights on December 21, 2019 ‒ exactly on the day it had planned.
Informing passengers that its reservation system was again open, the Turkish airline with headquarters in Istanbul resumed scheduled flight operations. On December 21, AtlasGlobal’s Airbus A321 flew from Istanbul (IST) to London (STN), returning to Turkey later on the same day.
AtlasGlobal’s commercial problems date back to 2015-2016, when Turkey’s tourism sector was hit by “terrorist incidents” and a coup attempt, according to the statement. Later, at the beginning of 2018, it also suffered from currency fluctuations and decrease in demand.
“[…] The recent past negativity and the economic burden it brought along with the increase in logistics and operational costs with the transition to Istanbul Airport as of April 2019 have eliminated the possibility of compensating our 2016/2017 losses in sufficient time for our airline,” was outlined in the airline’s statement as cited by Turkish media.
Unable resolve in time its financial troubles, the airline announced the decision to cease its flights for a month on November 26, 2019. “As per the decision taken by our airline, we have entered a new phase of restructuring in order to provide you a unique flight experience,” announcement on the airline’s website read. The airline was planning to resume operations on December 21, 2019.
AtlasGlobal operated an all-Airbus fleet of 11 leased aircraft, according to planespotters.net data. Other sources put the total number of aircraft in AtlasGlobal fleet between 16 and 18 jets.