History
The airline was established in 1994 as Sabre Airways and started operations on 17 December 1994. The name Excel was adopted following the acquisition in November 2000 of a 67% stake by Libra Holidays Group, and subsequently increased. In March 2004 the Avion Group (now Eimskipafélag Íslands) completed the purchase of 40.5% of the Excel Airways Group. As a new charter airline, Excel concentrated on flights from Gatwick and Manchester to holiday destinations including Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Spain, the Canaries, St Lucia and Egypt.
In March 2006 Excel Airways signed an agreement with GE Commercial Aviation Services for the lease of two Next-Generation Boeing 737-900ER (Extended Range) aircraft. These were the first examples of the latest variant of the Boeing 737 aircraft to operate in the UK when delivered in May 2008.
The airline acquired three Boeing 747-300 aircraft following the merger of sister company Air Atlanta Europe in May 2006. The aircraft were operated for Travel City Direct between the UK and Orlando, however they left the fleet in November 2007 following expiration of their leases.
On 30 October 2006, members of management bought-out XL Leisure Group from Avion Group. XL Leisure Group consists of Excel Airways Group in the UK, Star Airlines France and Star Europe in Germany.
The XL.com website and aircraft branding was adopted by the Excel Airways Group in November 2006 as part of a major brand relaunch. Sister airlines in Germany and France were also rebranded.
Read more about this topic: XL Airways UK
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