Aircraft
AirTanker Explores Alternative Leases for Refueling Fleet
Provider of tankers to UK Royal Air Force has placed only one A330 with an airline to date.
AirTanker has deconverted this Airbus A330-200 from MRTT (tanker) configuration to lease it to British holiday airline Thomas Cook. (Photo: MoD Crown Copyright)
AirTanker has deconverted this Airbus A330-200 from MRTT (tanker) configuration to lease it to British holiday airline Thomas Cook. (Photo: MoD Crown Copyright)

The commercial company responsible for providing air-to-air refueling (AAR) capability to the UK Royal Air Force has delivered one of the five Airbus A330-200 MRTTs in its "surge fleet" to Thomas Cook Airlines on a three-year lease as a passenger aircraft. AirTanker has already fulfilled its contract with the RAF to provide a "core fleet" of nine tankers to be available full time for AAR, leaving it to seek alternative revenue from another five aircraft, although these must be recalled in times of crisis for military service if required. The military-to-civil conversion process for Thomas Cook took three months in AirTanker’s dedicated facility at RAF Brize Norton.