Sky Express

CJSC Sky Express (Russian: ЗАО «Небесный Экспресс»), simply known as Sky Express and in Russian as Скай Экспресс, was a Russian low-cost airline. Its main base was Vnukovo International Airport, Moscow, Russia.

Sky Express was the first airline to focus on being a low-cost domestic airline in Russia. It operated from January 2007 until October 2011.

History

The airline was established in March 2006 by a consortium of investors which included KrasAir CEO Boris Abramovich, EBRD, Altima Partners and others, becoming Russia's first low-cost airline. The first flight took off on 29 January 2007 from Moscow to Sochi.

Merger with Kuban Airlines

Only 20 days after the only other Russian low-cost airline, Avianova, ceased its operations, Sky Express also decided to stop all flights from 29 October 2011. Its fleet and brand name will be transferred to Kuban Airlines.

Destinations

In March 2011, Sky Express served the following destinations:

Regular flights

Sky Express (Greece)

Sky Express, legal name Cretan Aeronautical Exploitations (Greek: Κρητικές Αεροπορικές Εκμεταλλεύσεις), is a Greek airline headquartered in Heraklion International Airport. It was established in 2005 and so far operates a number of domestic flights, serving 18 destinations.

History

The airline was established in early 2005 by Cpt. Miltiadis Tsagkarakis, a former Olympic Airlines director-general and pilot as well as George Mavrantonakis, former Chief Operating Officer and Accountable Manager of Olympic Airlines and former Advisor to the President of Olympic Airways. Operations commenced in July 2005, including scheduled, charter and cargo flights, air-taxi, emergency medical services, excursions and sightseeing. Sky Express Aircargo was later established in a joint effort with the Finaval Group, focusing on cargo transport between Europe and the Far East.

Logo controversy

The airline's initial logo was inspired by the flag of the Cretan State, a semi-independent state under the Ottoman Empire. The flag of the Cretan State was composed of a white cross extending to the edges of the flag, with the upper-hoist canton in red, featuring a white star symbolizing Ottoman sovereignty on the island, and the other squares in blue, symbolizing the Greeks of Crete. The flag has also been adopted as the flag of the Cretan independence movement recently. The logo was not well-received, and following complaints by the public in Greece, especially Cretans, the logo was changed. The company has said that they do not consider the flag to be offending, since it represented a milestone in the unification of Crete with the Kingdom of Greece, but changed their logo anyway in order to avoid any further confusion.