Maersk Air informations and photos

Maersk Air A/S was a Danish airline which operated between 1969 and 2005. Owned by the A. P. Møller–Mærsk Group, it operated a mix of scheduled and chartered passenger and cargo services. Headquartered at Dragør, its main operating bases were Copenhagen Airport, Billund Airport and Esbjerg Airport. The airline had offshore helicopter operations from 1975 to 1999 and had three airline subsidiaries: Maersk Air UK, Maersk Commuter, and Star Air.

The airline was founded on the foundations on the purchase of Falck Air on 21 February 1969. Fokker F27s were bought and domestic services from Copenhagen to Odense and Stauning. From 1971 to 1995 Maersk participated in Danair, which held a monopoly on all domestic services. Maersk Air was heavily involved in the inclusive tours market during the 1970s, operating the Boeing 720B and 737-200. From 1981 Maersk started international flights, first out of Billund and from the 1990s out of Copenhagen.

Maersk Air gradually invested in new aircraft, including the Fokker 50, Boeing 737 Classic, and later the 737-700. During the 1990s the number of international services increased, often codesharing with foreign airlines. With the Danish airlines deregulated in 1995, Maersk first sought to compete with Scandinavian Airlines. They later created a cartel. After being exposed, the airline fell into a decline after 2001, posting large deficits from which it never recovered. The airline was bought by the FL Group and merged with Sterling Airlines in 2005.

The A. P. Moller-Maersk Group's first investment in aviation was taken in 1937 when it bought a stake in Danish Air Lines, the flag carrier at the time. Its next step took place in 1967, when the group bought a Hawker Siddeley HS 125-3B as a corporate jet. At the time there were few options for Danish airlines. The charter market was dominated by Spies Rejser and Tjæreborgs Rejser, each with their own airlines—Conair and Sterling, respectively. Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) was the flag carrier and had the sole right to conduct international scheduled services, and freight charters could only be carried out if the entire load had a single shipper and recipient.

The establishment of the airline was approved by the group in 1969. The airline aimed at ad hoc charter with aircraft in the 50-seat market, and perhaps securing the rights to fly regional scheduled flights to smaller domestic airports. To secure a running organization, Maersk bought Falck Air on 21 February 1969 from the Falck Group. At the time Falck Air operated a fleet of two de Havilland Herons and two Hawker Siddeley HS 748 aircraft and a hangar at Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup. The Herons allowed Maersk to commence services from Copenhagen to Stauning Airport, a route taken over from Cimber Air. Meanwhile, the airline had ordered three Fokker F27 Friendships, the first which was delivered on 9 December. Operations to Odense Airport commenced on 26 December.

The new airline, Maersk Air I/S was officially incorporated on 1 January 1970. The same day it took over the assets in Falk Air along with its air operator's certificate, concessions and the operational responsibility for the HS-125. The initially scheduled operations consisted of five daily trip pairs from Copenhagen to Odense Airport, and two daily pairs to Stauning Airport. Norwegian-American Finn Rassmussen Ryssdal was hired as the airline's first director. He held the position for two years until he was replaced by another Norwegian, Johan Paus, former CEO of Scanair. As part of the establishment, Maersk entered the travel agency industry. Originally named Maersk Air Rejsebureau, was later named Maersk Travel.

The distribution of domestic routes was a contentious political issue. SAS held a privilege to commence any route they wanted, but lacked regional airlines to serve the smaller airports. It was complicated by the establishment of alternative domestic airlines in Norway and Sweden, Braathens SAFE and Linjeflyg, respectively. Danish authorities, therefore, asked the three scheduled carriers, SAS, Maersk, and Cimber, to negotiate to see if they could reach an agreement. An agreement was reached in November 1971, whereby the company Danair was established. Flights to Vágar Airport on the Faroe Islands commenced in 1971. Thisted Airport opened in 1971 and Maersk was allocated as the operator. The Thisted and Stauning services were transferred to Cimber Air in 1976, although Maersk continued to operate some services.

Maersk also aimed at serving the inclusive tours charter market. To gain better access to the market, Maersk bought two travel agents in December 1971, Raffels Rejser and Bangs Rejser. To better target the charter market, Maersk Air bought five used Boeing 720Bs in 1973. This was followed up with purchasing Unisol in 1974 and the three were merged to form a new agency under the brand Unisol and 120,000 annual trips. After having lost 100 million Danish krone (DKK) by 1979, Unison was sold to Tjæreborg in 1980. A participating cause was Unisol's inability to profile itself in a market dominated by two high-profile, yet diametrical, owners.

Maersk Air was contracted by Maersk Oil to operate to the latter's oil field in the North Sea. For this purpose, Maersk Air bought two Bell 212 helicopters. The airline stationed these at Esbjerg Airport and they commenced operations on 1 July 1975.

Maersk Air took delivery of its first two Boeing 737-200 Advanced in 1976. By 1981 the airline had taken delivery of fourteen aircraft. Some were leased to other carriers, including Guyana Airways, Malaysia Airlines and Tunisair. Others were used charter services, mostly to Danish inclusive tour operators. From 1983 three aircraft were entirely dedicated to this task. This was a highly competitive market, where Maersk had to compete with Conair, Sterling and Scanair, amongst others.

During the second half of the 1970s, Maersk focused on wet leasing their aircraft on the intercontinental market. Contracts included flying pilgrims from Morocco to Mecca and Scandinavians to North America. The 737-200s proved too large for domestic services. The F27s had been sold and the airline, therefore, determined that it needed to procure new turboprops. A decision was made to buy the de Havilland Dash 7, but in the meantime, the airline leased three HS 748s from 1980 to 1981. The first Dash 7 entered revenue service on 13 May 1981.

Maersk Air experienced falling profits at during the late 1970s. The revenue of DKK 535 million in 1979 fell to DKK 454 million in 1981, hitting a record loss of DKK 29 million in 1981. The company started hitting problems with liquidity and in 1981 was not able to pay its employees wages. Bjarne Hansen was hired as CEO that year. The number of bases for charter aircraft was reduced, cutting personnel costs. The two Beechcrafts were sold, as were nine other of the airline's twenty-four aircraft. A key part of this plan was not allowing the aircraft to remain idle during the day, thus maximizing revenue. The number of employees were reduced from 720 to 480. By 1985 the revenue had risen to DKK 898 million in 1985, allowing the airline to make a profit of DKK 112 million in 1985.

Starting in 1981 Maersk Air started flying a Bell 212 under contract with the Cabinet of the Faroe Islands. By then the helicopter fleet had reached five Bell 212s. From 1983 the petroleum activity increased and two larger Eurocopter AS332 Super Pumas.

Danair was reorganized from 27 September 1982. SAS's routes to Aalborg, Aarhus, and Rønne were taken into the Danair pool. Maersk on its side increased the number of departures on its services. The goal was to improve profitability. And although the scheme did rise passenger numbers, it failed to improve Maersk Air's financial performance in the domestic market. Stauning was dropped from Maersk and Danair's scheduled from 1 January 1983. From 1988 Maersk Air saw competition on its scheduled service to the Faroes, through the establishment of Atlantic Airways.

Maersk decided to look for possibilities to fly international routes. The first non-SAS international concession was in 1981 granted to Air Business from Esbjerg via Thistedt to Stavanger Airport, Sola in Norway, using an Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante. Maersk Air bought the company in 1984 and bought two Short 360s. Soon the change to the concession was granted allowing the flight to operate from Aalborg instead of Thistedt, allowing for a greater catchment of passengers. The airline was kept as a regional subsidiary and took the name Maersk Commuter in 1988. It was dissolved in 1990.

Changes in European Community rules in 1984 allowed any carrier to operate intra-European routes, granted that they connected two regional airports. Maersk laid its eyes on Billund Airport, which was centrally located in Jutland and was classified as a regional airport. It was already a popular base for charter flights. London was a favored destination, but all the four primary airports were all categorized as primary airports. To exploit the new regulations, Maersk identified London Southend Airport, which was classified as a secondary airport. Maersk inaugurated the route on 29 November 1984 with two round trips, using Dash 7s. Due to the distance from the city Maersk could only market it as "London" if they included an onwards ticket with a train. The route carried about 12,000 passengers annually and failed to make a profit.

Maersk considered both Århus and Billund as the base for their Jutland operations, and settled for Billund. The next international route to inaugurate was to Cologne Bonn Airport in Germany in 1988, in cooperation with Lufthansa. It was flown with the Fokker 50, which had just entered into service with the airline. During the late 1980s Maersk Air started an expansion of its travel agencies, both domestically and abroad.

Based on the need for a replacement for the 737-200s, Boeing developed the shortened 737-500 on the request of Maersk and others. Maersk took delivery of its first -500 on 6 April 1990. From 1990 Maersk was free to compete on any intra-European international route. Using the new -500s, it focused on routes out of Billund, providing services to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Brussels Airport, London Gatwick Airport, Stockholm Arlanda Airport and Stavanger. In addition it flew from Copenhagen to London.

Maersk Air Cargo, which only acted as a handling agent, was founded in 1982. Maersk Air was barred from operating a cargo fleet until deregulation in 1987. The Maersk Group then established Star Air. It took into use a fleet of F-27-600s. From 1993 it acquired a fleet of Boeing 727-100s and started hauling for United Parcel Service.

Maersk Air also decided to enter the British market. It bought part of the Plimsoll Line, which again bought Birmingham Executive Airways (BEA) and Brymon Airways. After a merger into Brymon European Airways and subsequent demerger, Maersk Air UK was founded on the foundations of BEA. It operated a series of international and domestic services out of Birmingham Airport, initially with a fleet of three Jetstream 31 and three BAC One-Elevens. Maersk signed a franchise agreement in which Maersk Air UK would fly with British Airways livery and flight codes, but at their own expense and their own aircraft and crew. The 1-11s were replaced with Boeing 737-500s in 1996. Bombardier CRJ200s were introduced two years later.

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