This is the place where you will find the latest news and rumours on the L-1011. If you have any news, comments, corrections or additional information please mail them to me!
Latest news and rumours
24th of February
A yet undisclosed customer has signed a Letter of Intent with Delta Air Lines to acquire up to 44 L-1011s for cargo conversion operated on so called ACMI contracts (Aircraft Crew Maintenance Insurance). Mainly -250s and -500s will be converted, but some -1s are also included, presumably for spares use.
24th of February
Avborne Accessions Group bought three ex. TWA L-1011s (msn 1015, 1017 and 1018). The TriStar will be broken up for parts.
24th of February
Intercapital Aviation will buy 13 L-1011-1s from Delta Air Lines for cargo conversion.
24th of February
Canadian charter airline Air Transat will expand its 13-strong fleet of TriStar with four more L-1011-500s shortly. Two from Swedish charter airline Novair (msn 1183 and 1241) and two from SriLankan (msn 1235 and 1236). The airline will also buy one L-1011-50 and one L-1011-100 from SriLankan (msn 1053 and 1062) which will be scrapped for parts use.
24th of February
Garland Aviation, which intended to start ad-hoc airline Big Bird Aviation in Manchester last summer now plans to buy two ex. Caledonian L-1011-100s (msn 1093 and 1106). They are to be dismantled for parts. Since before, Garland Aviation has one L-1011-1 (msn 1050) stored in Abu Dhabi.
24th of February
Swedish charter operator Novair are currently flying one L-1011-500 SE-DVI (msn 1248) for Air Algerie on a Hadj-contract.
24th of February
New TriStar-operator called Tropical Airlines are being established in the Caribbean. They plan to fly five L-1011s (leased from TradeWinds) from different islands in the Caribbean.
Other news and rumours
14th of December
On the 4th of December Miami-based Custom Air Support announced officially that the deal including 16 L-1011-200s from Saudia was closed.
14th of December
UK Jet is the name of a Gatwick-based charter start-up that currently plans to start operations this incoming summer with either two Boeing 737s or two Lockheed L-1011s.
14th of December
Novair received its first Airbus A330-200 in late November and announced a few days later that they will speed up the replacement of their L-1011s. SE-DVX (msn 1183) was taken out of service immediately. SE-DVI (msn 1248) will operate its last flight on the 6th of January and SE-DVF (msn 1241) will end L-1011 operations for Novair on the 10th of January 2000.
4th of November
Aero Continente of Peru plans to launch service between Lima and Miami during this month, using both the L-1011 TriStar and Boeing 757. Initially not three weekly flights will be offered, but within the year the service will go daily. Aero Continente owns a single L-1011-1 aircraft (msn 1013) but is believed to be on their way to pick up a second one, a L-1011-100 (msn 1215) on lease from Raven Corporation.
4th of November
British ad-hoc operator Air Scandic reports to be very satisfied with their single L-1011-1 that they have had in this past summer from Aer Turas. In fact, they are planning for two L-1011s the next summer, one from Aer Turas (EI-CNN, msn 1024) and a second one.
11th of October
Some very good news for the future of the L-1011! The L-1011 TriStar freighter-conversion program recently received its official go-ahead with a firm order from a company called Intercapital of London for 13 freighter-converted L-1011-40s (ex. Delta machines). The converting facility will be Lockheed Martin Aircraft & Logistics Centre.
11th of October
Caledonian's last L-1011 flight will be Gatwick-Salzburg and return on the 2nd of November. All L-1011 employees has been invited to join this farewell-flight.
9th of September
Caledonian Airways plans to retire their fleet of L-1011s by the end of October in favour for more Boeing 757s.
9th of September
Nova Airlines will replace their L-1011s with Airbus A330s during this and the next year. First aircraft to leave the fleet will be SE-DVX (msn 1183) which leaves during the autumn this year. SE-DVI (msn 1248) will leave in February 2000 and the last aircraft, SE-DVF (msn 1241) is estimated to fly for Nova the whole next year as well.
10th of August
Laker Airways, a long term DC-10 operator who went bankrupt earlier this year, has been bought by IAG and IAG will place a minimum of six L-1011s on its certificate. The L-1011s should be online by October.
10th of August
Lockheed Martin Aircraft & Logistics Centre now plans to establish a L-1011 TriStar Freighter conversion program to give new life to second-hand TriStars. LMALC is currently negotiating with a yet undisclosed leasing company which would be a launch customer for the first 10 aircraft. If the interest is big enough, LMALC is also looking at using the current freighter-capability at Marshall Aerospace.
10th of August
Saudi Arabian Airlines is negotiating with one potential buyer for six to eight of their L-1011-200s which would be converted to freighters.
25th of July
Sri Lankan Airlines (formerly Air Lanka) announce that they will take delivery of one A330-300 every month as from September 1999 for a total of six new A330-300s. At the same time, the four remaining L-1011s in their fleet will be retired.
8th of July
Chileinter has been forced to cease operations in June 1999. It's two L-1011-100s (msn 1058 and 1069), leased from Royal Airlines in Canada, has been ferried to Montreal for storage. Royal Aviation intends to sell the low-time and low-cycle TriStars.
8th of July
A new TriStar operator is being established in Manchester, England. The airline, to be called Big Bird Aviation, will be a ad-hoc operator. The airline will operate a single L-1011-1, msn 1050, which is currently in Abu Dhabi to undergo C-check and wing spar modification. The airline intends to start operations in September this year.
8th of July
New Zeeland-based Gateway Airlines is negotiating with Equis Finance to lease L-1011-50 (msn 1145) and L-1011-100 (msn 1118) to start operating out of Auckland.
8th of July
A company called Custom Air (Ft Lauderdale-based) is negotiating with Saudi Arabian Airlines for its entire fleet of 17 L-1011-200s.
2nd of May
After a shorter conflict between the leasing company and TradeWinds, their passenger charter service is back operating again.
25th of April
ATA reports to be interested in adding further L-1011-500s to its fleet. Currently, ATA has three of the type with further two for delivery from Royal Jordanian, along with 14 L-1011s of other versions (L-1011-50s/100s).
25th of April
Swedish charter airline Nova Airlines has put two of the airline's three L-1011-500s up for sale for delivery in January and February 2000. The reason is that Nova Airlines wants to renew their long-haul fleet and is looking at different types of which the Boeing 767-300 reports to be interesting.
5th of April
American charter operator TradeWinds International reports to have ceased operations, leaving four L-1011s (two L-1011-1s and two L-1011-200s) parked. The airlines' single L-1011-1F reports to continue operations separately.
14th of March
Saudi Arabian Airlines offers all 17 L-1011-200s for sale as new aircraft arrive to replace. The airline will base one of three TriStars, already taken out of service, in the US for inspection by potential buyers.
14th of March
Orient Thai leased one L-1011-1 (msn 1040) and one L-1011-50 (msn 1070) from International Air Lease (IAL) for use on Hadj-flights.
14th of March
New Zeeland-based Seaboard Airlines will lease three ex. Delta L-1011-1s with estimated start of delivery as from summer 1999.
