Aurela is a charter airline based in Vilnius

Vilnius

Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...

, Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

. It operates charter services for several tour operators in the Baltic states

Baltic states

The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...

. Its main base is Vilnius International Airport

Vilnius International Airport

Vilnius International Airport is the largest civil airport in Lithuania. It is located south of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. It began operations in 1944. The old terminal was built in 1954.- History:...

.

History

The airline was established and started operations in 1996 as a joint-stock air company using a Tupolev Tu-134

Tupolev Tu-134

The Tupolev Tu-134 is a twin-engined airliner, similar to the American Douglas DC-9 and the French Sud Aviation Caravelle, and built in the Soviet Union from 1966–1984. The original version featured a glazed-nose design and, like certain other Russian airliners , it can operate from unpaved...

A.
In 1995 Aurela Airlines became the first private aviation company in Lithuania.

In 1996 the company acquired a VIP configured aircraft, a TU-134A for charter flights.

In 2001 an eight-seater business class plane, Hawker HS-125-700, was purchased for VIP flights. Further demand on the market for chartered flights allowed the Company to take a loan on a newer and more economical YAK-42D containing 120 seats.

In 2003 as the number of charter flights increased, the Company rented out another YAK-42D.

In 2004 one YAK-42D was replaced with a more advanced and higher volume Boeing 737-300. The first flight of this plane coincided with Lithuania's membership in the European Community. Aurela was also used by Valdas Adamkus

Valdas Adamkus

Valdas Adamkus was President of Lithuania from 1998 to 2003 and again from 2004 to 2009.In Lithuania, the President's tenure lasts for five years; Adamkus' first term in office began on February 26, 1998 and ended on February 28, 2003, following his defeat by Rolandas Paksas in the next...

, the President of Lithuania. In 2004-2005 the President was taken to Kiev

Kiev

Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

 during the Orange Revolution

Orange Revolution

The Orange Revolution was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate aftermath of the run-off vote of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election which was claimed to be marred by massive corruption, voter...

 and to attend the funeral of the Holy Father John Paul II.

In 2005 as soon as the EU had tightened its position in respects to the use of Russian aircraft, the company updated its fleet by acquiring western manufactured planes. In December, upon expiration of the rent agreement, the remaining YAK-42D was returned to the lessor.

In July 2006 a second Boeing 737-300 was rented out. In December the Company's shareholders purchased a brand new nine-seater plane, a Hawker 850XP for VIP charter flights. That same year the key client for chartered flights had become Novaturas Travel Company.

In spring 2009 Aurela announced plans to expand its aircraft fleet by acquiring a Boeing 767-200.
Aurela have signed a three year contract with Thomas Cook airlines to provide them with Boeing 757-200 aircraft for summer months at its UK bases.

Services

The core activities are:

• Regular charter Flights - one of the key operational activities by Aurela is travel agencies chartered flights to different resorts in Europe, Asia and Africa.
• Individual charter Flights - Aurela Airlines organizes individual or so-called exclusive charter flights.
• ACMI Lease - Aurela provides an aircraft with all maintenance and crew including engineers to a lessee. In 2006 Aurela had successful cooperation with aviation company Estonian Air
  Estonian Air
  AS Estonian Air is Estonia's national carrier, owned by the Estonian state. The airline is based in Tallinn, Estonia. It is a regional airline feeding into the Scandinavian Airlines System network via Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen from Estonia....
  
  . One of the aircraft was leased to the Estonian company for three and a half month. During this time, it took passengers on trips of this company. Civil aviation companies airBaltic
  AirBaltic
  A/S Air Baltic Corporation, operating as AirBaltic and styled as airBaltic, is the Latvian flag carrier airline and a low-cost carrier, with its head office on the grounds of Riga International Airport in Mārupe municipality, near the capital, Riga...
  
  , Small Planet Airlines and Star1 Airlines
  Star1 Airlines
  JSC "Star1 Airlines" was a Lithuanian low cost airline founded in 2009. The company was owned by the Star Team Group which was also an owner of the tour operator Star1 Holidays. The airline operated both regular and charter flights from its base in Vilnius International Airport. Star1 Airlines was...
  
   also hire the service, when necessary.
• VIP Flights - Aurela is the only aviation company in Lithuania operating a commercial category, VIP class aircraft.

Current aircraft

The Aurela fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of 11 December 2010):

• 2 Boeing 737-300
• 1 Hawker 850XP
• 1 Hawker 900XP

Retired aircraft

• 2 Boeing 757-200
• 1 Tupolev Tu-134
  Tupolev Tu-134
  The Tupolev Tu-134 is a twin-engined airliner, similar to the American Douglas DC-9 and the French Sud Aviation Caravelle, and built in the Soviet Union from 1966–1984. The original version featured a glazed-nose design and, like certain other Russian airliners , it can operate from unpaved...
  
  
• 2 Yakovlev Yak-42D
• 1 British Aerospace BAe 125
  British Aerospace BAe 125
  The British Aerospace 125 is a twin-engined mid-size corporate jet, with newer variants now marketed as the Hawker 800. It was known as the Hawker Siddeley HS.125 until 1977...