Air Hellas | Avro RJ70 | SX-FKS | 2009-present

The Greek aviation market has always focused around Athens, it being the gateway to the largest part of the country. However, this has left other major markets underserved, namely the one in Thessaloniki, which can support several year-round flights. Filling this gap in service was the goal of the Greek consortium that founded Air Hellas in 2007. Initially the airline was planning to purchase several 737 Classics, which could be found for low prices as they were being phased out en masse across Europe, however the 2008 financial crisis left its toll in the airline. Not wanting to try out an untested market, the founders instead decided to launch the airline with a fleet of smaller Avro RJs on domestic routes from the co-capital of Greece.

After its inaugural flight to Athens in February 2009, Air Hellas quickly launched a series of domestic flights from Thessaloniki, as well as other point-to-point flights within Greece and to Cyprus, bypassing the capital of Athens, with a fleet of 4 RJ70s and 2 RJ85s, the latter addded in 2010. Up until 2012 the airline expanded with an additional RJ70 and two extra RJ85s, while it also added an Airbus A319 for international services. However, by that time the effects of the financial crisis had been largely overcome, and airlines started expanding once again. The mid-2010s saw Greek airlines expanding in cities other than Athens, foreign LCCs entering the market and European majors launching more flights to Thessaloniki. This lead to a saturation of the Greek aviation market, and to survive Air Hellas was forced to lower prices drastically. The launch of aerosalonika in 2015, also based in Thessaloniki, brought an end to the airline's international plans.

By 2020 the airline had been bleeding cash for 5 years, and had downsized to just 3 RJ70s and a single RJ85. Faced with ever-increasing competition the airline had been forced to depart the lucrative Athens-Thessaloniki market, while the grounding of a large part of flights in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic lead to the airline fighting for survival. The summer proved a better period, with a large part of the airlne's network being restored, and there was once again hope for its survival. However on August 18th 2020, after one of the airline's RJ70s overran the runway at Preveza Airport, ending up in the water and leading to 28 passengers and crew drowning, the Hellenic CAA grounded the airline. Although this has been presented as temporary, the airline's dire financial situation has raised questions regarding its ability to successfully restart services.

SX-FKS was initially built in 1994, initially flying in neighboring Italy and then Iceland until it was retired in 2008. It was purchased by Air Hellas in 2009 as part of the initial fleet. It was one of just 8 BAe 146-100/RJ70s in active service until it was written off in the Preveza accident in 2020. Just like the rest of the RJ70 fleet it was configured with 82 Economy Class seats in a 6-abreast layout, and flew domestic flights from Air Hellas' Thessaloniki base