OLT Express
| OLT Express Germany | |
|---|---|
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| IATA code : | OIL |
| ICAO code : | OLT |
| Call sign : | OLTRA |
| Founding: | 1974 |
| Operation stopped: | 2013 |
| Seat: |
Bremen , Germany
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| Home airport : | * Bremen Airport
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| Company form: | GmbH |
| Management: | Joachim Klein |
| Fleet size: | 15th |
| Aims: | national and continental |
| OLT Express Germany ceased operations in 2013. The information in italics refer to the last status before the end of operation. | |
OLT Express Germany (previously OLT - Ostfriesische Lufttransport ) was a German regional airline based in Bremen , which ceased operations on January 27, 2013 and filed for bankruptcy two days later .
history
East Frisian air taxi - Dekker and Janssen OHG
On November 1st, 1958 Jan Jakobs Janssen and Martin Decker founded the Ostfriesische Lufttaxi - Dekker und Janssen OHG in Emden . The company's founder Janssen died on April 13, 1970 when he was flying into the Großer Feldberg (Taunus) in a Cessna 402 . On December 11, 1970, the airline was majority-owned by AGIV and renamed Ostfriesische Lufttaxi GmbH . On December 29, 1972, the company was renamed Ostfriesische Lufttransport GmbH again . In addition to the flights to the islands, a regional air transport network has also been established. In the summer of 1973 scheduled flights to Düsseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Hanover, Kassel, Saarbrücken and Stuttgart were offered.
On September 13, 1974 the company was renamed DLT Luftverkehrsgesellschaft , which laid the foundation for further development as today's Lufthansa CityLine .
Foundation of Ostfriesische Lufttransport GmbH, Emden
On September 13, 1974, OLT Express was founded under the name Ostfriesische Lufttransport GmbH, Emden , thus separating the seaside resorts from regional air traffic.
Until the end of 2011, OLT was a subsidiary of Reederei AG Ems in Emden. For decades, the OLT was only active from Emden and, in addition to the ferries of the parent shipping company, ensured a fast connection to the North Sea islands of Helgoland , Borkum , Juist and Norderney . After the reunification of Germany, a second mainstay developed in Bremen with regional scheduled and charter flights, first across Germany, then across Europe.
The OLT had its own stations in Emden , Bremen , Bremerhaven , Heide , on Borkum and on Helgoland . The maintenance of the larger aircraft such as the Saab 2000 was carried out in Bremen.
The company Roland Air Bremen (ROA) , initially flying with a Cessna 207 and Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander , was taken over by OLT in 1990. It also operated aircraft of the types Cessna 404 , Cessna 421 , Piper PA-34 Seneca and later also a total of seven 19-seat Fairchild Swearingen Metro , mainly on behalf of OLT. Roland Air was then fully integrated in 1996.
From 1991 onwards, OLT offered charter flights across Europe, initially in domestic German regional air traffic from Bremen, including to Leipzig / Halle . Later there were charter flights from Bremen to Naples . Most recently, the OLT regularly flew soccer clubs such as Werder Bremen or Hamburger SV to their away games. At times the combined OLT through regular charter flights for crews and employees of the European Air Transport Leipzig GmbH and DHL , the DHL European hub at Leipzig / Halle Airport with the Brussels airport .
For Airbus , the OLT handled part of the works traffic across Europe with connections to Bristol and Toulouse . In addition, the OLT also flew the works traffic from Hamburg-Finkenwerder to Toulouse. Two Fokker 100 machines were bought specifically for this purpose . These machines were therefore the first jets in OLT history. In a Europe-wide tender in the summer of 2011, the OLT was subject to the airline Germania , which operated its works traffic with two Airbus A319-100s until its bankruptcy in February 2019 .
Restructuring as OLT Express Germany
In August 2011, the OLT announced that it would only continue to operate the island air traffic, sell a large part of the fleet and lay off 100 of the 120 employees. The Polish investor Amber Gold took over the scheduled flight operations and the island air traffic was spun off as OFD Ostfriesischer Flugdienst .
At the beginning of November 2011, the Amber Gold airlines received a uniform corporate branding , OLT became OLT Express Germany , Jet Air became OLT Express Regional and Yes Airways later became OLT Express Poland .
In February 2012 Joachim Klein became managing director of OLT Express Germany. At the end of March 2012, the takeover of several departments, including marketing and technology, of the insolvent Cirrus Airlines was announced. A base was to be established at Saarbrücken Airport ; the Cirrus fleet was not taken over. At the beginning of May 2012, the takeover was canceled due to pending dismissal protection lawsuits from pilots. Instead, the takeover of the Stuttgart airline Contact Air was announced on July 5, 2012 , which took place on September 1, 2012.
After the withdrawal of the previous investor Amber Gold, a new investor was found in August 2012 in Panta Holding, who already owned Denim Airways , among others . At the same time, regular flights from Saarbrücken to Hamburg , Munich and Vienna were announced on October 1, 2012 . On December 14, 2012, OLT Express announced that it would discontinue part of the newly established routes in January and shut down four to five aircraft. In addition, the wet lease contract with Swiss , which is about to expire, has not been extended.
Cessation of operations
On the evening of January 27, 2013, OLT Express Germany ceased operations for economic reasons. Negotiations about restructuring measures with the owner company had failed. On January 29, 2013, OLT Express Germany filed for bankruptcy . Most employees were given notice.
The routes to Zurich operated under leasing for Swiss were taken over by the company itself and Helvetic Airways .
Destinations
OLT Express Germany recently operated several routes to destinations in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark and France. As of January 2013, these
- from Bremen to Copenhagen ( code-sharing with SAS ), Toulouse and Zurich (code-sharing with Swiss )
- from Dresden to Hamburg , Vienna and Zurich (codeshared with Swiss)
- from Karlsruhe / Baden-Baden to Hamburg and Vienna
- from Münster / Osnabrück to Munich and seasonally also to Vienna
- from Saarbrücken to Munich , Hamburg and Vienna .
There were also seasonal charter flights for tour operators .
The island air traffic offered by the former OLT - Ostfriesische Lufttransport was taken over as part of the realignment in 2012 by the split-off OFD - Ostfriesische Flugdienst . The seasonal flights from several cities in German-speaking countries to Usedom , which OLT used to carry out frequently, were also no longer offered by OLT Express.
fleet
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As of January 2013, the OLT Express Germany fleet consisted of 15 aircraft:
- 10 Fokker 100s with 100 seats each (8 taken over by Contact Air ; 3 operated for Swiss )
- 4 Saab 2000s with 50 seats each
- 1 Saab 340 with 32 seats
Incidents
The following total aircraft losses occurred at OLT Express and its predecessor and subsidiaries:
- On April 13, 1970, one of the two company founders, Jan Janssen, flew with a Cessna 402 in bad weather in the Großer Feldberg (Taunus) , where he was killed.
- On December 2, 2001, a Dornier 328-100 ( D-CATS ) turboprop aircraft coming on a transfer flight from Braunschweig Airport skidded when landing at Bremen Airport . The left main landing gear collapsed, as a result of which the left wing and propeller violently hit the runway. All three crew members survived the total accident of the aircraft.
See also
literature
- Karl-Dieter Seifert: OLT Ostfriesische Lufttransport GmbH . Self-published by OLT, Emden 1998.
Web links
- OLT on Planespotters.net
- OLT Express on Planespotters.net
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Handelsblatt: OLT Express Germany discontinues flights January 29, 2013
- ↑ a b - The airline OLT Express also files for bankruptcy on January 29, 2013
- ↑ Seifert, p. 18f.
- ↑ Seifert, pp. 45-49.
- ↑ a b Seifert, p. 57.
- ↑ aerobernie: Roland Air , accessed June 23, 2016.
- ↑ airliners.de - OLT is shrinking back to being an island hopper August 4, 2011
- ↑ airliners.de - OLT: Rescue from Poland August 24, 2011
- ↑ airliners.de - OLT becomes "OLT Express" November 11, 2011
- ↑ airliners.de - OLT Express grows in Poland February 16, 2012
- ↑ airliners.de - OLT Express with a new managing director
- ↑ aero.de - Cirrus takeover by OLT Express fixed March 31, 2012
- ↑ aero.de - OLT Express breaks takeover of Cirrus May 3, 2012
- ↑ aero.de July 5, 2012
- ↑ http://www.aero.de/news-15621/OLT-Express-Germany-findet-neuen-Investor.html
- ↑ austrianaviation.net - OLT Express in severe crisis December 14, 2012
- ↑ salue.de - OLT Express ceases flight operations January 27, 2013
- ↑ Insolvent OLT Express fires most employees. In: aero.de. April 16, 2013, accessed April 18, 2013 .
- ↑ austrianaviation.net - Helvetic takes over OLT wet lease on January 28, 2013
- ↑ airliners.de-OLT with new plans from Karlsruhe
- ↑ OLT Express Germany flies from FMO to six destinations in Germany and Europe , NOZ from August 30, 2012
- ↑ airliners.de-OLT Express grows from Saarbrücken
- ↑ austrianaviation.net - OLT Express starts in SZG and FDH November 15, 2012
- ↑ austrianaviation.net - OLT Express: Off for Usedom flights January 15, 2013
- ↑ ch-aviation.ch - OLT Express Germany (English) accessed on January 15, 2013
- ↑ Aircraft accident data and report Dornier 328-100 D-CATS in the Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on March 11, 2017.
