Theres a brand new UK airline you’ve probably flown with them without even knowing it [Video]

The UK has a brand-new airline, but good luck buying a ticket.

Ascend Airways won’t sell seats directly to passengers – instead, it operates behind the scenes.

As a short-term supplier of fully-crewed planes, Ascend Airways specialises in ‘wet leasing’, also known as ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance). This means their customers aren’t passengers, but other airlines. 

Ascend officially launched in April, with its first-ever commercial flight at Southend Airport.

Dubbed ‘white-tails’ due to their lack of branding, these ‘wet lease’ aircraft are designed for other airlines that need an extra boost and to cover any gaps left by technical faults or high demand. 

While the process isn’t new, emerging in the 1990s, it has grown in demand recently due to the surge in air travel. 

Although new, Ascend Airwaysis part of the Avia Solutions Group family, the world’s largest ACMI provider, based in Dublin – and includes Latvia-based SmartLynx which calls itself the ‘Uber of aviation’, and Lithuanian Avion …