Back in the '90s, a small company was formed in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire. Known as "Stockwood Air Services", the company operated a single Beechcraft King Air 350 on private charter and transport services from Luton Airport.
As time progressed, the company progressively became more popular among business commuters, and several scheduled services were opened, connecting Luton with Guernsey, Belfast, Teeside and Humberside. These services became increasingly popular, and the growing airline was granted a loan and began charter and wet leaseagreements with BMI, securing temporary operation of 3 A320s with IAE V2500 engines for a short period of time.
Upon the termination of these agreements, Stockwood Air Services began an ambitious rebranding scheme to "Stockwood Air Charters", and ordered a single brand-new Airbus A320-200 with its remaining funds.
This new aircraft and business model proved to be a success, and the new A320-200, appropriately registered G-SGWS, saw regular operation to European destinations such as Geneva, Madrid, Paris, Tenerife Los-Rodeos and Gran Canaria. Business was booming for several years, and eventually a second A320-200 was ordered with the registration G-SGWT.
These A320s, while orginally based at London Luton Airport (EGGW), were also operated on regular services from East Midlands (EGNX) and Doncaster Sheffield (EGCN), and occasionally Leeds Bradford (EGNM).
Unfortunately, as inevitable, the rising prices in fuel, airport services and landing fees in combination with the dwindling demand for charter flights of such nature (especially with the airline's largest competitor operating similar services from the same airport, with a much larger fleet) forced Stockwood Air Charters to 'temporarily' withdraw this second A320-200 from service.
In an attempt to rescue the company, management decided to expand their existing route of scheduled services to include more exotic holiday destinations such as Alicante, Sevilla, Palma, Ibiza and Lanzarote, however this soon failed due to the lack of any unique selling point; people would much rather choose to fly with larger, more renowned airlines such as Monarch and Debonair. The airline was also struggling to pay off its debts, and eventually became unable to fully pay airport fees and fuel costs.
Upon arriving after a return flight from Alicante on August 11th 1998, G-SGWS was impounded by London Luton Airport's adminstration, leaving the airline with no operational aircraft, and a substantial debt that would be virtually impossible to pay off.
All of this culminated in the demise of Stockwood Air Charters in the summer of 1998 as the airline fell into administration, to be liquidated several months later. Many passengers were stranded in several destinations, and 26 rescue flights were carried out by other airlines. G-SGWS and G-SGWT were placed into long-term storage and had not seen commercial service since, until recently, when they were purchased by the modern Stockwood Air, despite their age.
Later, in the mid 2010s, an ambitious entrepeneur saw the potential in domestic services from London Luton Airport, and began searching for investors to begin scheduled and charter operations from London Luton Airport. This airline, becoming relatively successful in a today's market, was appropriately named "Stockwood Air" as a tribute to the former glory Stockwood Air Charters.
REGISTRATION: G-SGWS / G-SGWT
SELCAL: AD-MS / AD-MR
TYPE: Airbus A320-200
ENGINES: International Aero Engines V2527-A5
THE ABOVE INFORMATION IS ENTIRELY FICTIONAL. STOCKWOOD AIR IS A FICTIONAL AIRLINE AND HAS NO INTENDED REAL-WORLD AFFILIATION WITH ANY REAL-WORLD COMPANY OR AIRLINE. STOCKWOOD AIR CHARTERS IS A FICTIONAL AIRLINE AND HAS NO INTENDED REAL-WORLD AFFILIATION WITH ANY REAL-WORLD COMPANY OR AIRLINE. ANY RESEMBLENCE TO ANY REAL-WORLD COMPANY, INDIVIDUAL, AIRLINE OR OTHER IS NOT INTENDED.