Germania airline

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Germania Fluggesellschaft mbH iL
Germania logo
Boeing 737-700 from Germania
IATA code : ST
ICAO code : GMI
Call sign : GERMANIA
Founding: 1986
Operation stopped: 2019
Seat: Berlin , GermanyGermanyGermany 
Home airport : Berlin Schönefeld Airport
Company form: GmbH i. L.
IATA prefix code : 761
Management: Karsten Balke ( CEO ), Clauspeter Schwarz ( COO )
Number of employees: 1,376 (2017)
Sales: 456 million euros (2017)
Passenger volume: 4 million
Fleet size: 34
Aims: international
Website: www.flygermania.com
Germania Fluggesellschaft mbH iL ceased operations in 2019. The information in italics refer to the last status before the end of operation.
Airbus A319 with the registration D-ASTX approaching Berlin-Tegel

The Germania Fluggesellschaft mbH was a German line and charter airline based in Berlin and based on the airport Berlin-Schönefeld . The up to then fourth largest airline in Germany applied for the opening of insolvency proceedings on February 4, 2019 and ceased operations the following night. Germania recently flew from its bases to destinations in the Mediterranean , the Canary and Balearic Islands , northern , eastern and southeastern Europe and the Middle East . The Swiss subsidiary, Germania Flug AG, was taken over by new shareholders and will be called Chair from June 2019 .

history

Foundation and first years

Sud Aviation Caravelle of the SAT in 1979

Germania emerged from the Cologne-based airline SAT (Special Air Transport), which was founded in 1978 by Turkish entrepreneurs. It began its flight operations with the Fokker F-27 and in 1980 added three Sud Aviation Caravelle aircraft , which were acquired second-hand from LTU . Soon the company was taken over by the lawyer Hinrich Bischoff and the three Caravelle. These aircraft were replaced in 1985 by two used Boeing 727-100s from the inventory of Hapag-Lloyd Flug .

Germania Boeing 727-100 in 1987

Germania Fluggesellschaft mbH was founded in June 1986 and the operating license from SAT was transferred to Germania. SAT was as a society for leasing continued by aircraft. In 1987, Germania announced that it would offer domestic German scheduled flights, but received no approval from the Federal Ministry of Transport . Instead, they agreed on a long-term leasing contract with Lufthansa . In the same year, the first of a total of 13 Boeing 737-300s went into operation under the company name Germania.

In 1992, the operational and technical headquarters were relocated to Berlin-Tegel Airport. In the same year, Germania was awarded the contract for the “officials shuttle” between Bonn and Berlin, after the main business for many years was the charter flight service for TUI , Condor and Neckermann Reisen , among others .

In 1995 Germania ordered twelve Boeing 737NGs . With the delivery of the first 737-700 ( aircraft registration D-AGEM ) on March 11, 1998, the Germania crew set a world record in its class with a direct flight from the Boeing factory in Everett to Berlin-Tegel Airport (approx. 8117 km) with a takeoff weight of 60 to 80 tons. Since 1998, more and more aircraft have been leased to other companies (including Hapag-Lloyd Express , dba , Maersk Air and Delta Air Lines ), and Germania was the first German airline to market the fuselage of its aircraft as advertising space, advertising for Siemens and various other companies Travel provider.

Scheduled and low-cost airline

When American airlines partially gave up their slots after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 , Germania took the opportunity and offered the first scheduled flight under its own responsibility between Berlin-Tegel and Frankfurt am Main on November 12, 2001 . In 2002, Germania bought 19 Fokker 100s from US Airways , which were owned by Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau , which was under bankruptcy protection.

From June 2003, the airline was meanwhile operating as a low-cost airline under the Germania Express (also gexx ) brand .

Fokker 100 from Germania in 2005

On March 28, 2005, Germania took over 64% of the shares in dba . The twelve Fokker 100s were operated in wet lease , at the same time dba took over 15 routes of Germania Express in return. Initially, no more flights were operated under the name Germania because all the aircraft were leased to other companies. The capital links between dba and Germania were reversed in summer 2005, but the collaboration was expanded to 14 Fokker 100s.

On November 11, 2005 the founder Hinrich Bischoff died. His shares went to his wife and four children, three of whom resold their shares, so that his wife Ingrid Bischoff and son Erik Bischoff jointly held the majority of the shares.

Until 2008, Germania only flew in wet lease for Hapag-Lloyd Express (later TUIfly ) and dba (later Air Berlin ) and gradually sold eleven of the Fokker 100s. At the beginning of March 2008, Air Berlin wanted to take over Germania completely. However, the attempt failed because of Hinrich Bischoff's heirs. Shortly afterwards, Air Berlin prematurely terminated the leasing contracts for eight Germania Fokker 100s that ran until 2010. In summer 2008 Germania resumed its own scheduled flights for the first time. Instead of a planned expansion with eleven new destinations, the last eight Fokker 100s remaining in the fleet were taken out of service in October 2008.

In spring 2010 Germania started its comeback as a holiday airline after around ten years with flights for TUI . At the ILA 2010 a letter of intent to order five Airbus A319-100s as part of a fleet modernization was signed, which was subsequently converted into a firm order for three A319-100s and two A321-200s. In February 2011 the first of a total of eight A319-100s was added to the fleet.

In 2011 Germania Technik Brandenburg (GTB) was founded as a 100 percent subsidiary of Germania. In March of the same year construction began of a future together with Air Berlin used maintenance hangar on the site of the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport . On September 23, 2011, Germania took over Flynext , which had previously operated two Airbus A319-100s since June. As a result, Flynext was renamed Germania Express in June 2012.

From November 2011, Germania carried out Airbus company air traffic between the production sites in Hamburg-Finkenwerder and Toulouse-Blagnac , which it took over from OLT . The two Airbus A319-100s used for this purpose were also used on the weekends to fly to holiday destinations from Bremen. As part of the fleet modernization, Germania decommissioned its last Boeing 737-300 . Also in 2012 the Gambian airline Gambia Bird was founded as part of the expansion of the Germania group. From the beginning of 2013 until the cessation of operations at the end of 2014, Germania operated an Airbus A319-100 for Gambia Bird on routes from Banjul to Barcelona and London-Gatwick as well as on intra-African routes.

At the end of the summer flight schedule at the end of October 2013, the long-term wet leasing of several aircraft for Air Berlin was ended and the aircraft were again used in its own route network. In November 2013 Germania received the first of two Airbus A321-200s , which are used exclusively for Alltours and also in the Alltours corporate design . In 2014, Germania founded a Swiss subsidiary called HolidayJet in cooperation with Hotelplan, based at Zurich Airport ; flight operations started on March 26, 2015. Hotelplan already announced its cooperation with Germania in summer 2015. In the autumn, Hotelplan stopped working with Germania and HolidayJet was renamed Germania Flug .

Takeover by Karsten Balke

Ingrid Bischoff appointed Karsten Balke as General Manager in 2012 . In October 2014, the immediate replacement of the two managing directors Andreas Wobig ( CEO ) and Oliver Pawel (CCO) was announced. The new managing director was Karsten Balke, who at the same time, with the support of Ingrid Bischoff, entered as owner via an investment company and took over the majority by 2015. The previous owners, Ingrid Bischoff and her son Erik, had previously fallen out.

On July 12, 2016, Germania ordered 25 A320neo from Airbus with an option for a further 15 machines, which should be delivered from 2020. The aim was to create a uniform fleet for the A320 family. In 2017, a Bulgarian subsidiary was founded specifically for the wet leasing business. The Company Bulgarian Eagle had its own air operator certificate and operating with stand February 2019 two Airbus A319-100 for Germania. In 2018, the Germania route network was strengthened by the insolvency of Air Berlin and expanded by over 50 routes and capacity increased by 39%. To this end, the Germania Group's fleet was to be expanded in the course of the year by a total of ten Airbus A319-100s and two former Air Berlin Airbus A321-200s, and the Boeing 737-700 aircraft should continue to leave the fleet by the start of the 2019 summer season. In July 2018, Germania signed a letter of intent to purchase a plot of land at Berlin Brandenburg Airport in order to build the airline's new headquarters on 16,400 m². With the opening of the airport, the move to the new headquarters should also be completed.

Application for bankruptcy

At the beginning of January 2019, Germania announced that there was a “short-term liquidity requirement”. A sale of the company is also being examined. On January 31, the employees were informed that for this reason the salaries could not be paid on time.

On 4 February 2019, the Germania airline GmbH and its two subsidiaries reported Germania Technology Brandenburg GmbH and Germania air services GmbH in Charlottenburg District Court for bankruptcy after the funding gap had not been able to be closed. Flight operations ceased on the night of February 5, 2019. The Federal Aviation Office last checked the airline's profitability on December 5, 2018. As a result, the parent company Germania Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH and the sister company Germania Reisen GmbH filed for insolvency on February 26, 2019 , before the wholly owned subsidiary Bulgarian Eagle finally filed for bankruptcy in early March. A possible takeover of Germania Fluggesellschaft by investors finally failed at the end of March, as a result of which the liquidation was initiated as part of the insolvency proceedings and the remaining employees were dismissed. Since mid-March 2019, the Charlottenburg District Court has been investigating airline boss Karsten Balke on suspicion of bankruptcy delay and fraud. It is believed that tickets were still being sold when the airline was already insolvent.

The subsidiary Germania Flug AG was taken over by the Swiss entrepreneur and Air Prishtina boss Leyla Ibrahimi-Salahi in mid-February .

Der Spiegel published in January 2020 that the insolvency administrator Rüdiger Wienberg is demanding an amount of over 400 million euros from the owner Karsten Balke and another manager, as they have made payments that would no longer have been permitted under the law. Furthermore, investigations are ongoing against the former management because of controversial activities around the former Germania subsidiary Gambia Bird .

fleet

Airbus A319-100 of Germania
Airbus A321-200 from Germania

Fleet at the time of cessation of operations

As of February 2019, Germania's fleet consisted of 34 aircraft with an average age of 13.1 years:

Aircraft type number ordered Remarks Seats
Airbus A319-100 22nd 1 Two each operated by Bulgarian Eagle and Germania Flug 144
150
Airbus A320neo 25th + 15 options; Delivery was planned from January 2020 180
Airbus A320-200 1 2 operated by Sundair
Airbus A321-200 7th 2 equipped with sharklets ; one operated by Germania Flug 210

215

Boeing 737-700 4th 3 equipped with winglets; Retirement was planned by the end of 2019

D-AGER in 30 years - special livery (without winglets)

148
total 34 28

Former aircraft types

In the past, Germania also used the following types of aircraft:

Incidents

In its history, Germania has not recorded any incidents involving the total loss of an aircraft or fatalities.

Other activities

The former headquarters of Germania in Berlin

Germania owned two hotels in Germany, the Usedom Palace in Zinnowitz and the Hotel Waldhaus Prieros near Berlin, where the flight personnel were trained. They were sold to Ingrid Bischoff, the widow of the company founder.

See also

literature

  • Wolfgang Mendorf: Deutsche Airlines and their aircraft since 1970 , Podszun, Brilon 2016, ISBN 978-3-86133-824-6 , pp. 91–97
  • BI Hengi: Airlines Worldwide , 9th updated edition from 2018, Nara, ISBN 978-3-925671-69-2 , p. 166

Web links

Commons : Germania  - Collection of Images
Commons : SAT Special Air Transport  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
 Wikinews: Germania  - in the news

Individual evidence

  1. a b In: Federal Gazette . Consolidated financial statements 2017 Germania Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, accessed on February 5, 2019
  2. flygermania.com - company profile ( memento of November 16, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) accessed on April 20, 2019
  3. ^ After bankruptcy: No state aid for Germania , tagesschau.de, published and accessed February 5, 2019
  4. flygermania.com - route network ( memento of November 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) accessed on March 3, 2017
  5. ^ Germania. In: ueber-den-wolken.jimdo.com. Andreas Unterberg, accessed June 15, 2013 .
  6. ^ Karl-Dieter Seifert: The German air traffic 1955-2000 . Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn 2001, ISBN 3-7637-6121-7 , p. 144.
  7. Manfred Soumagne: SE-210 Caravelle. In: ltu-flugzeuge.de. Retrieved June 15, 2013 .
  8. a b c d e f g Company history. In: flygermania.com. Germania Fluggesellschaft mbH, archived from the original on January 14, 2016 ; Retrieved June 15, 2013 .
  9. Appetite for raisins. Der Spiegel 25/1987, June 15, 1987, accessed November 30, 2009 .
  10. a b Michael Machatschke: Hinrich Bischoff - Phantom of the taxiway. Fall of the Berlin Wall as a personal turning point. In: manager-magazin.de. Dr. Arno Balzer for the editor-in-chief manager magazin, May 4, 2005, accessed on June 15, 2013 .
  11. FAI Record ID # 5336. In: fai.org. Fédération Aéronautique Internationale , archived from the original on December 3, 2013 ; accessed on November 24, 2013 .
  12. a b c Dinah Deckstein, Martin U. Müller: "My father would turn around in his grave" . The mirror . May 8, 2017. Accessed January 2019.
  13. Germania gives up scheduled flight expansion plans. airliners.de, October 17, 2008, accessed October 7, 2010 .
  14. airliners.de - Germania relies on Airbus A319, June 10, 2010
  15. Germania signs order for Airbus A319. Flug Revue online, July 21, 2010, archived from the original on December 18, 2010 ; Retrieved October 7, 2010 .
  16. airliners.de - Germania takes delivery of the first A319, February 18, 2011
  17. airliners.de - laying of the foundation stone for BBI maintenance hangar, March 21, 2011
  18. Flugrevue.de - Germania takes over FLYNEXT, September 23, 2011 ( Memento from August 2, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.flugrevue.de
  19. Flugrevue.de - Airline Flynext starts operations ( Memento from August 1st, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.flugrevue.de
  20. Germania: Gambia Bird is ready to go. New West Africa business. In: airliners.de. October 19, 2012, accessed June 15, 2013 .
  21. austrianaviation.net - Germania ends Air Berlin wet lease, September 2, 2013
  22. ch-aviation - Germania takes delivery of its first sharkletted A321-200 (English), accessed on November 14, 2013
  23. aerotelegraph.com - Swiss subsidiary of Germania: Holidayjet will be bigger than planned, September 25, 2014
  24. aerotelegraph.com - Hotelplan announces Germania flight: Holidayjet no longer flies in winter, August 31, 2015
  25. Germania dismisses two managing directors. airliners.de, October 14, 2014, accessed on October 21, 2014 .
  26. a b Airbus - Germania Group orders 25 Airbus A320neos, July 12, 2016 (English), accessed on March 3, 2017
  27. flygermania - Germania Group invests in the future with the Airbus A320neo. Comprehensive fleet renewal from 2020, July 12, 2016 ( Memento from July 14, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  28. Germania subsidiary Bulgarian Eagle insolvent. In: aero.de. March 24, 2019, accessed July 17, 2019 .
  29. Press release - Press & Media - Germania. flygermania.com, archived from the original on July 25, 2018 ; accessed on July 24, 2018 .
  30. Press release - Press & Media - Germania. flygermania.com, archived from the original on July 25, 2018 ; accessed on July 24, 2018 .
  31. Dominik Bath, Gudrun Mallwitz: Berlin airline Germania is building new headquarters at BER. In: morgenpost.de. July 27, 2018, accessed August 13, 2018 .
  32. Germania is in financial straits . In: Spiegel Online . January 9, 2019. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  33. Germania does not currently pay any salaries . In: airliners.de . January 31, 2019. Accessed January 31, 2019.
  34. Press release - Press & Media - Germania. flygermania.com, archived from the original on February 5, 2019 ; accessed on February 5, 2019 .
  35. Luftfahrt-Bundesamt did not see Germania bankruptcy coming despite an examination. In: wallstreet-online.de. March 3, 2019, accessed March 26, 2019 .
  36. ^ Germania. hww.eu, accessed on March 4, 2019 .
  37. ^ Timo Nowack: Two takeover offers for Germania. In: aerotelegraph.com. February 26, 2019, accessed March 11, 2019 .
  38. Stefan Eiselin: Bulgarian Germania subsidiary is also broke. In: aeroTELEGRAPH. March 23, 2019, accessed March 25, 2019 .
  39. Stefan Eiselin: Germania will definitely be wound up. In: aeroTELEGRAPH. March 25, 2019, accessed March 25, 2019 .
  40. ^ Insolvent airline: Public prosecutor investigates Germania boss. In: Spiegel Online. March 20, 2019, accessed March 26, 2019 .
  41. Handelsblatt: New owner for the Swiss Germania offshoot
  42. Dinah Deckstein, Martin U. Müller: After the bankruptcy of the airline: Germania insolvency administrator demands more than 400 million euros . In: Spiegel Online . January 3, 2020 ( spiegel.de [accessed January 6, 2020]).
  43. ^ Germania (Group) Fleet Details and History. Retrieved February 3, 2019 .
  44. Airbus - Orders & deliveries (English), accessed on March 3, 2017
  45. flygermania.com - Germania-Flotte ( Memento from May 18, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) accessed on May 5, 2017
  46. D-ASGK Sundair Airbus A320-200. Retrieved January 4, 2019 .
  47. ^ Ulrich Klee, Frank Bucher et al .: jp airline-fleets international . Zurich Airport 1978 to 2007.
  48. ^ Ulrich Klee, Frank Bucher et al .: jp airline-fleets international . Sutton, UK, 2008-2013.
  49. hotel-waldhaus-prieros.de ( Memento from September 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  50. Germania boss rejects accusation of dubious business. In: Spiegel Online. February 9, 2019, accessed March 4, 2019 .