Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 06-Jul-23.
With additional 'Operated by H C Airlines Ltd' titles. 'Prime' was another airline that didn't last long. They had just the one A300-200 trying to tap the 'ACMI' (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance & Insurance) market and were the passenger division of Heavylift Cargo Airlines.
First flown with the Airbus test registration F-WZEL, this aircraft was delivered to Laker Airways as G-BIMB in Jan-81. A year later, in Feb-82 Laker ceased trading and the aircraft was impounded at Manchester.
It was released to the lessor, GPA Group Ltd 2 weeks later and stored at Bournemouth, UK. It was leased to Air Jamaica in Feb-83 as 6Y-JMK. Returning to GPA Group in Oct-96, it was stored at the British Aerospace airfield at Bristol-Filton.
The aircraft was transferred to Airplanes Finance Ltd in Apr-98 and leased to TransAer International Airlines as EI-TLQ. As well as operating it's own services, TransAer was a major ACMI airline (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance & Insurance) and the aircraft operated some short & long-term leases to other airlines including 'jmcAIR' between May/Oct-00.
The aircraft had to be returned to TransAer before the summer season was over when they suddenly ceased trading on 20-Oct-00 and the aircraft was repossessed and stored at Bordeaux, France.
In May-01 it was leased to HC Airlines (HeavyLift Cargo) as G-HLAD. It was to be sub-leased to their new passenger division, Breeze Airlines. However the name was changed to Prime Airlines before delivery.
Prime Airlines ceased trading in Sep-02 and the aircraft was repossessed, ferried to Marana, AZ, USA, and permanently retired. It was last noted at Marana in Oct-04 and subsequently broken up.
There is also a photo in my database of this aircraft when it was with Laker Airways. Just type G-BIMB into the 'Photos, people or groups' box at top right of this page and enter.
