Spain’s Wamos Air ends B747 operations

Wamos Air (EB, Madrid Barajas) has retired its last B747-400, EC-KXN (msn 25703), joining the ranks of airlines phasing out the passenger-configured quadjets. The 27.1-year-old Boeing aircraft was withdrawn from revenue service on July 19, 2020, after a repatriation charter from Windhoek Int’l to Frankfurt Int’l. It has been stored first at Madrid Barajas, then at Ciudad Real, and since December 21 again at Madrid Barajas. On March 26, 2021, it was ferried from Spain to Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows. The carrier did not respond to ch-aviation’s query regarding the aircraft’s future operator. Currently, the only B747 operator in Kyrgyzstan is AeroStan (BSC) with two B747-200B(SF)s in its fleet, the ch-aviation fleets advanced module indicates. Wamos Air operated eight B747-400s throughout its history, though never more than six at the same time, the ch-aviation fleets history module shows. The aircraft were frequently used for seasonal Hajj charters for Garuda Indonesia (GA, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta), operating in a high-density configuration between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. The Spanish ACMI/charter specialist retired three units in 2020 (including one, EC-KSM (msn 27178), before the COVID-19 pandemic spread to Europe) and a further one in January 2021. It had originally planned to retire the type by 2023, but facing surging pre-COVID demand it was looking at extending its service life by a further two years to 2025. The airline, then known as Pullmantur Air, also used to operate three B747-200B(M)s and one B747-300, all of which were retired in 2008. Following the retirement of the last B747, Wamos Air’s fleet now comprises six A330-200s (three of which have been converted into makeshift freighters) and one A330-300, also operating as a makeshift freighter.