D-AWBA was the last WDL BAe 146 flying for SAS, although by then she had lost her SAS colors (Jacques Panas)
At the end of November, German BAe 146 operator WDL Aviation wound down the services it was operating on behalf of SAS. WDL began flying three BAe 146s on SAS services in late January, helping cover for the loss of capacity resulting from the grounding of the Scandinavian airline’s Bombardier Q400 fleet following a string of incidents. With SAS now receiving new-build Q400s and CRJ900s, it no longer requires WDL’s services. Series 300 D-AWBA (msn E3134) was the first to stop flying for SAS, at the end of August, and series 100 D-AWDL (msn E1011) left at the end of October. The remaining member of the original trio, series 200 D-AMGL (msn E2055) went in for a heavy check in late October, and was replaced by series 200 D-AMAJ (msn E2028). When D-AMAJ had some engine problems in mid-November, however, D-AWBA returned to complete the balance of the contract.
Recent news items on WDL:
- WDL starts new Air France contract (2019-12-04)
- Second WDL BAe 146-200 ferried to Australia (2019-11-25)
- Pionair buys BAe 146s from WDL (2019-11-12)
- WDL flies Adria’s last services (2019-09-30)
- WDL BAe 146QTs sold to Pionair (2019-09-29)