SAL air transport
| SAL Luftverkehrsgesellschaft mbH | |
|---|---|
| IATA code : | |
| ICAO code : | SXN |
| Call sign : | Saxon |
| Founding: | 1991 |
| Operation stopped: | 1995 |
| Seat: |
Leipzig , Germany
|
| Company form: | GmbH |
| Fleet size: | |
| Aims: | |
| SAL Luftverkehrsgesellschaft mbH ceased operations in 1995. The information in italics refer to the last status before the end of operation. | |
The SAL aviation mbH was an existing 1991 to 1995 airline based in Leipzig .
history
The first Saxon airline was founded on April 5, 1991 as a GmbH by the Leipzig musician (group Soft) and entrepreneur Uwe Böhme . It was initially called "SAL Nahluftverkehrsgesellschaft mbH". Since "Nahluftverkehrsgesellschaft" was more associated with sightseeing flights over Leipzig than with Europe-wide scheduled services, the "Nah-" was dropped and the company was renamed "SAL Luftverkehrsgesellschaft mbH", entered in the commercial register of the Leipzig District Court under no. 3413.
Franz Josef Lennefer, former owner of Roland Air and at that time retired, acted temporarily as flight operations manager, took care of the complex certification process and imported the first three aircraft from the USA . On behalf of SAL, he bought two Cessna 172 Skyhawks and a Cessna 421 Golden Eagle, which Böhme financed from his private assets. Lennefer transferred the machines from the USA himself and also took care of the German approval process for the aircraft.
On March 6, 1991 the SAL was officially opened with the first landing of the Cessna 421 ( aircraft registration number: D-ISAL), which was flown by Lennefer, and a ceremony at Leipzig-Halle Airport. Among the 300 invited guests were Wolfgang Hesse (Director of Leipzig-Halle Airport), Hinrich Lehmann-Grube (Lord Mayor of Leipzig), the Leipzig pop group Die Prinzen and other representatives from the state.
The first SAL pilots were taken over by the former state airline of the GDR , Interflug . In the beginning, SAL earned its money with sightseeing flights over Leipzig and air transport on demand. One of the first SAL passengers on April 10, 1991, was Gewandhaus Kapellmeister Kurt Masur , who flew to London for a concert.
In mid-1991, Böhme acquired an order from the Volkswagen AG plant in Mosel for daily factory traffic between Braunschweig and Altenburg, for which, however, he needed a larger aircraft. The decision was made in favor of a used Fairchild Swearingen Metro II with 19 seats, which was taken over by the Nürnberger Flugdienst . The capital requirement for this aircraft was DM 1,000,000 , which was to be financed by SAL's house bank, Commerzbank , the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau and the ERP special fund . Commerzbank rejected the loan application on the grounds that Böhme was not qualified enough. Böhme, who could neither understand nor accept Commerzbank's decision, got in touch with the media, which reported on his situation. Horst W. Urban, then CEO of Continental AG , read the article about Boehmes SAL in the Frankfurter Allgemeine . Urban then got in touch with Böhme and made an appointment at Commerzbank Leipzig. Urban, who believed in Boehme's business acumen, insisted that Commerzbank finance the plane. Commerzbank agreed on the condition that Urban take a 50% stake in SAL.
In the following years, SAL expanded its fleet to include additional Fairchild Swearingen Metroliners B. on the routes Erfurt-Munich-Erfurt or Leipzig-Cologne-Leipzig. SAL flew under the ICAO code SXN. At the beginning of 1993, SAL opened the Leipzig-Dresden-Budapest-Dresden-Leipzig route with an Avions de Transport Régional ATR 42 leased by Eurowings . At its wedding, SAL had six Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner, a similar Fairchild Swearingen Merlin, a Cessna 421, two Cessna 172 and employed more than 80 people.
In 1993 SAL sold its entire fleet as well as personnel and route rights to the newly founded TAL Thuringia Airlines in Erfurt , whose shareholders consisted of 50% from SAL Luftverkehrsgesellschaft mbH and 50% from BSF Berliner Spezialflug and of which Uwe Böhme was appointed managing director . SAL only kept a Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner with the registration D-IESS in order to be able to continue to fulfill the works contract with Volkswagen AG.
In 1994 SAL Luftverkehrsgesellschaft mbH sold its last remaining Metroliner to Hahn Air GmbH & Co. KG, including the existing work contract with Volkswagen AG. Since the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt expressed concerns, Hahn Air GmbH & Co. KG founded a subsidiary, SAL Airlines GmbH, with which it received the flight operating permit for the Altenburg-Braunschweig route. Neither Böhme nor SAL Luftverkehrsgesellschaft mbH were involved in SAL Airlines GmbH, Böhme only acted as a coach for a few months.
In 1995, SAL Luftverkehrsgesellschaft mbH ceased operations and was then liquidated. Uwe Böhme then returned to his roots and now manages two cover bands with A4U and Jive Talkin´ . Horst W. Urban had his shares paid out.
See also
swell
- Head contact 1/1991
- Economy March 7, 1991
- Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung September 2, 1993
- Transport & Environment 2/1993
- Business courier Munich 2/1994
- Tele-Prism 7/1994
- Diners Club Magazin 8/1995
- Star 9/1996
- "From musician to boss of your own airline", ISBN 978-3-9811321-0-6 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Jeppesen JP Airline Fleets International 1993/1994
- ↑ ICAO Operator by State ( Memento of the original from April 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , P. 21.
