Welcome Air

Welcome Air
IATA code :
ICAO code :	WLC
Call sign :	WELCOMEAIR
Founding:	2000
Operation stopped:	2017
Seat:	Innsbruck , Austria
Home airport :	Innsbruck airport
Company form:	GmbH & Co. KG
Management:	Manfred Helldoppler ( Managing Director )
Sales:	30 million euros (2005)
Fleet size:	1
Aims:	National and international
Website:	www.welcomeair.com
Welcome Air ceased operations in 2017. The information in italics refer to the last status before the end of operation.

The Welcome Air Luftfahrt GmbH & Co KG was an Austrian airline based in Innsbruck and based on the Innsbruck Airport . It was also the parent company of Tyrol Air Ambulance .

history

Welcome Air was founded in 2000 and began operating flights between Innsbruck and Graz on May 22nd . Since then, the offer has been gradually expanded.

In July 2011, however, it was announced that scheduled air traffic from Innsbruck and Graz would be suspended until the end of 2011 for economic reasons and that Welcome Air would concentrate on the other business areas.

From July 1 to August 31, 2012, Welcome Air operated the Klagenfurt - Vienna route on behalf of Austrian Airlines , which was unable to operate the route itself due to a lack of staff.

From April 1, 2012 to March 31, 2015, Welcome Air served the route Linz - Vienna up to four times a day on wet lease for Austrian Airlines . However, this was canceled in 2015 because Austrian Airlines is now relying on the cooperation with ÖBB as part of the AIRail offer. When this relationship was discontinued, it was also decided to sell one of the two aircraft.

In February 2015 it was announced that Welcome Air, together with Tyrol Air Ambulance, would change hands. British investor Kevin Walls is taking over all shares in Welcome Air from the previous owner, the Remi-Group under Urs Peter Koller. Even under the new owner, Welcome Air will focus on wet leases for other airlines.

On December 27, 2017, Welcome Air will cease operations after 17 years. The last flight was from Antwerp to Innsbruck, where the machine was finally adopted.

Destinations

The aircraft was available for wet lease contracts with other airlines, but could also be used within the group for Tyrol Air Ambulance .

fleet

As of July 2015, the Welcome Air fleet consisted of one aircraft:

Aircraft type	number	ordered	Remarks	Seats
Dornier 328-100	1			31 (- / 31)
total	1	-

See also

• Former Airlines List (Europe)

Web links

Commons : Welcome Air  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Welcome Air website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ welcomeair.com - companies accessed 14 June 2011
2. ↑ Welcome Air discontinues scheduled flights. aero.de, July 22, 2011, accessed on July 22, 2011 . 
3. ↑ Mini-plane from Klagenfurt. Kleine Zeitung , June 11, 2012, accessed July 31, 2015 . 
4. ↑ Pilot bottleneck AUA releases further flights. airliners.de, June 8, 2012, accessed July 31, 2015 . 
5. ↑ Austrian Airlines is outsourcing the Vienna-Linz route. Der Standard , March 26, 2012, accessed July 31, 2015 . 
6. ↑ Jan Gruber: AUA announces Welcome Air Wetlease. austrianaviation.net, February 2, 2015, accessed July 31, 2015 . 
7. ↑ Austrian Airlines is increasingly relying on rail between Linz and Vienna. airliners.de, February 3, 2015, accessed on July 31, 2015 . 
8. ↑ Austrian AIRail - flight departs from Linz. ÖBB , accessed on July 31, 2015 . 
9. ↑ Jan Gruber: Welcome Air halves the fleet. austrianaviation.net, February 11, 2015, accessed July 31, 2015 . 
10. ↑ The British join Welcome Air. austrianwings.info, February 25, 2015, accessed July 31, 2015 . 
11. ↑ Welcome Air stopped flight operations ORF.at, accessed on December 27, 2017.
12. ↑ ch-aviation.com , accessed on July 31, 2015