It was a 737-300. Do we know if it was sold directly to them from Boeing, or was it an older plane that they leased from someone?
Leased to Helios by Deutsche BA in April 2004.
Other info about the airline, from a Cypriot newspaper.
Helios beset by a history of problem
By Jean Christou
YESTERDAY’S tragic crash was not the first time Helios had problems with flights. In the past two years alone there were several incidents involving troubled flights and urgent landings.
In April 2003, a damaged Helios Boeing 737 carrying 180 passengers landed safely at Stansted Airport following an incident involving bird strike, which damaged the aircraft’s tail. The flight took off from Luton Airport when the tail sustained minor damage after take-off and the pilot had to decide whether to return to Luton for safety reasons or go on to land at Stansted, where it landed safely.
In September of the same year, a Helios flight from Larnaca to Luton carrying over 100 passengers was forced to divert to Rhodes due to engine failure. The pilots of the Boeing 737 noticed a problem with the engine around 40 minutes into the 9am flight out of Larnaca and immediately diverted to Rhodes where it landed safely. The Boeing was later given a new engine.
Three months later, three passengers from a Helios flight from Warsaw were taken to hospital after the aircraft lost cabin pressure and was forced to make an urgent landing at Larnaca airport.
Several more of the 35 passengers and six crew members were treated at First Aid in the airport after the emergency services were mobilised.
The reports said that the Helios captain had contacted the Control Tower at Larnaca saying they had lost a significant amount of cabin pressure and that passengers had reported feeling dizzy as the plane was coming in to land.
In February this year, A Helios Airways plane was struck by lighting on its way from Larnaca Airport to pick up a number of passengers for a flight to Luton.
The Boeing 737was carrying 62 passengers and seven crew members when it left Larnaca for Paphos at around 9am. As the plane was coming in to land, the lightning struck but the landing was not affected.
It is not clear whether the Boeing that crashed yesterday was involved with any of the four incidents but reports were rife that the particular plane had had problems in the past, including problems in the aircraft’s cockpit.
There was also speculation that the Boeing that crashed was the same one that was known to have had problems with its air conditioning system and that the company knew about the problem.
Several callers to Greek and Cypriot television channels yesterday said they had traveled with Helios and there had been problems with the temperature. One man said that on a flight back from Prague only this week, temperatures fell dramatically some 20 minutes out of Larnaca and all passengers had to be given blankets.
Another caller said that on a flight last Sunday, water dripped on his head and when he complained to cabin crew he was told there was a problem with the air conditioning.
However, Viki Xitas, the commercial manager for Helios told Greek television yesterday said the company had no information about problems with the plane’s air conditioning. “This plane received maintenance as usual and left Cyprus without any problem,” she said.
Helios general manager Demetris Pantazis also said he could not confirm that the plane had the same problems previously since they do not know what the problem was that caused yesterday’s crash.
Communications and Works Minister Haris Thrasou told a news conference later in the day that the plane in question had been given the all clear in examinations.