UK has a new airline — but you won't be able to buy tickets for it

The UK has a new airline — but it is not one you can actually purchase tickets for.

Ascend Airways is the UK's newest airline, but as its rather confusing slogan suggests — "Carrying your customers with care" — its customers aren't passengers or holidaymakers. Instead, its customer are other carriers. Ascend Airways is the leading short-term supplier of planes, with pilots and cabin crew included. This practice is known as 'wet leasing' or Acmi - aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance.

The process is nothing new, in fact, it has been around for decades — but has grown in demand recently.

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Fully crewed aircraft can help with operational difficulties. For example, when a technical issue arises and an airline is short of aircraft. Alternatively, fully crewed aircraft are also used for one-off events such as a popular supporting event. In 2024, for example, many 'wet-leased' aircraft where use to fly to, from and within Germany for the Euro football tournament, according to

Niche operations can also be a source of business for fully crewed aircraft and sometimes 'wet-leasing' will also be used to meet demand during peak seasons. As such, holidaymakers cannot book directly with Ascend Airways, but depending on circumstances, may end up on one of their aircraft.

One example of a popular route that utilises the 'wet leasing' process, is Aer Lingus Regional flights between Great Britain and which are operated by Emerald Airlines, an entirely separate carrier from the Irish national airline. Another example is all Aer Lingus flights from Belfast to which are actually operated British Airways.

uses Ascend Airways "for a helping hand when we need a few extra planes to take off from London Gatwick Airport", according to its website. Alastair Wilson, chief executive of Ascend Airways, said: “We obtained our AOC [air operator certificate] in April this year and immediately commenced operations on behalf of two airlines – flying their passengers to various destinations in and around the We’ve created more than 200 new UK jobs, which we’re very proud of, and have ambitious plans to grow the fleet.

“We’re excited about the prospects of the business and helping UK carriers grow and overcome operational difficulties.”

'Wet-leased' planes are sometimes hard to spot as they tend to not have branding until they are used by an airline, which can then chose to customise the exterior and cabin of the aircraft to reflect its brand.

“Our objective as a wet-lease provider is to ensure that when you step on board an Ascend aircraft, high standards of safety are maintained, and also that the service and the product on board is also maintained. From a consumer point of view, it should be of at least the equivalent standard," added Wilson, The Independent reports.

Ascend Airways is part of the Avia Solutions Group Family and is based in Dublin. The organisation also includes SmartLynx of Latvia, which often refers to itself as 'the Uber of aviation', and Avion Express, with roots in both Lithuania and