Airline Name
Airest (Airest AS)
IATA: [not listed] / ICAO: AEG / CALLSIGN: AIREST CARGO
Founded and commenced operations in 1996, ceased operations at an unknown point afterwards; revitalized operations in 2002 (Jan. 15th)SUBSIDIARY INFO:
FlyestIATA: [not listed] / ICAO: [not listed] / CALLSIGN: [not listed]
Founded and commenced operations in 2015 (Aug. 31st), ceased operations in 2018[?](Planespotters lists Flyest has been inactive since 2018, though I couldn’t find much else to definitively prove or confirm its inactivity or if it is defunct - though it seems the airline does not have any active aircraft types as of now. Also, I believe it may be likely that the subsidiary’s IATA/ICAO codes and callsign came from the parent airline.)
Country of Origin
Estonia, Europe ()
Main Hub(s): Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport (TLL), Billund Airport (BLL), Goteborg Landvetter Airport (GOT), Jonkoping Airport (JKG), Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden Airport (FKB)[Subsidiary shares the same country of origin.]
Subsidiary Main Hub(s): Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport (TLL)
Aircraft Types Used (from those available in WoA)
Airest’s fleet:
(For this airline, most aircraft types operated are already available in WoA.)Aircraft operated (already in-game):
Bombardier CRJ (-200SF, CRJ2F) - 1 former.
(Pictured below: ES-LCA - now known as N7452R, stored)(Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any shots of the right side - this aircraft doesn’t have much media surrounding it, from what it seems)
Saab 340 (340AF, SF34F) - 7 operating, 2 former.
(Pictured below: ES-LSH)Now, this next livery appeared, at my first glance, to be a pretty cool livery based off the Estonian flag:
(Pictured below: ES-LSE - preserved)
However, upon context from @Hirohitoswaifu down below, this actually was an ex-Estonian Air Regional aircraft, just without any operating titles. Still is a pretty nice livery, though I figured I’d put in this extra context.
Before moving on though, there’s one last interesting livery I wanted to include. The subsidiary mentioned above, Flyest, operated a Saab 340 with a passenger configuration - though it appears as if it was later brought back into Airest’s fleet around 2018, and was thus converted into a freighter. Here’s what that looked like:
(Pictured below: ES-LSF)
More information about this livery will be provided below, with the subsidiary’s section.
For now, here’s the next aircraft:Let L-410 Turbolet (UVP-E, L410) - 8 former.
(Pictured below: ES-LLC - now known as OK-LRB)This livery and aircraft actually originated from a prior Estonian airline, that being ELK Airways (Eesti Lennukompanii ELK Lennuliinid) - though I am unsure of any other specifics beyond that.
Now though, here’s an alternative livery for the type, not appearing related to ELK:(Pictured below: ES-LLG - later damaged beyond repair)
When it comes to the L-410s, there’s quite a few details I couldn’t find regarding their history - I’m unsure of exactly when all 8 were acquired, or when they left the fleet. The final picture I was able to find of this type with Airest was of ES-LLB, taken in March 2009:
This might unfortunately mean it falls short of the 2010s rule, though I’m not 100% sure about it, as information is a bit sparse.
And with that, I believe that should be all when it comes to the aircraft types in-game.
Now, there were also a few other aircraft types that they either operate, or previously operated (ATR-72-500F and A320-200 specifically), though I did not include them as they were bare white airframes, with no livery and markings to indicate they were part of Airest.Moving on, here’s the part of the fleet that’s not in-game:
Aircraft operated (not in-game):
Antonov An-26 (-26B, AN26F) - 1 former.
(Pictured below: EW-246TG - stored)This aircraft appears to have been part of Genex’s fleet, a Belarusian-based airline, and was only operated by Airest - though for how long I am unsure; I couldn’t find any records to indicate when this aircraft was operated by them, though it seems as if it was a time period starting from at least November 2006…
…up to February 2009:
Anyways though, with that, I believe that should be it for Airest’s fleet. Here’s what the subsidiary has to offer:
Flyest’s fleet:
(All operated aircraft types are present in WoA already.)Aircraft operated:
Saab 340 (340A, SF34) - 1 former.
(Pictured below: ES-LSF - earlier in its life)This aircraft and livery actually originated from OLT Express, specifically from the German subsidiary of the airline (as a matter of fact it was the subsidiary’s only Saab 340 and even appeared in that suggestion - D-COLE was the former identity of ES-LSF).
Why should this airline be added?
I’d say this airline should be added as it has operated a quite a varied fleet over the years, from L-410s, Saab 340s, to even the CRJ-200SF at one point (which I believe is a rarer/lesser-represented type in-game) - the last two of which were operated throughout the 2010s, allowing for this airline to offer variety in aircraft choices to visit European airports, all while being accessible for players to buy if they wish to.The event/special arrival side of the airline is rather unique, too, as the airline has quite a selection of older aircraft (L-410s and maybe the An-26 if added), with a few potential special liveries too, which would be great to see as events.
So, all in all, I’d say this airline - of course with its subsidiary - should be added, as it maintains (and has maintained) quite a varied fleet over the years, and would be capable of appearing both through regular contracts for players to pick up at Euro airports, and through event/special arrivals, having quite a few great liveries/aircraft types available for such - as such, and with all of this in mind, I do believe that this airline would be quite a nice addition to have in-game.
SOURCES:
Airest’s Planespotters.net page
Flyest’s Planespotters.net page
Airest’s (and Flyest’s) Wikipedia page
