Sterling Airlines

Sterling Airlines
IATA code :	NB
ICAO code :	SNB
Call sign :	STERLING
Founding:	1962
Operation stopped:	2008
Seat:	Copenhagen , Denmark
Turnstile :	Copenhagen Kastrup; Stockholm / Arlanda; Oslo-Gardermoen;
Fleet size:	26th
Aims:	National and international
	Sterling Airlines ceased operations in 2008. The information in italics refer to the last status before the end of operation.

Sterling Airlines (from 2005; originally Sterling Airways , from 1994 Sterling European Airlines ) was a Danish airline based in Copenhagen . The company ceased operations in 2008.

history

A Douglas DC-6 from Sterling Airways

A Caravelle 12 , for a long time the backbone of the fleet

A Lockheed L-188 Electra operated by Sterling Airways

A Fokker F-27 of Sterling Airways

A Sterling Airways Boeing 727-200

In 1962, Sterling was founded as a charter airline by Ejlif Krogager, the founder of the tourism company Tjaereborg , under the name Sterling Airways and initially served mainly Mediterranean destinations with Douglas DC-6 .

In 1965, the Sud Aviation Caravelle became the company's first jet aircraft . In 1968 the first of 2 Fokker F-27 Friendship came into the fleet.

Over time, Sterling became one of the most important charter airlines in Europe and deployed its fleet of Boeing 727 , Douglas DC-8 and Sud Aviation Caravelle to Europe, North Africa , North America and Sri Lanka . It was also the first charter airline to receive overflight rights over the Soviet Union to destinations on the Black Sea .

In 1987, Sterling was able to celebrate its 25th anniversary, two years later, the company involved in the Portuguese airline Air Columbus .

Sterling filed for bankruptcy for the first time in 1993 and subsequently ceased all passenger flights. In 1994 flight operations were resumed as a pure cargo airline for TNT Express under the name Sterling European Airlines with three Boeing 727s . After a management buy-out in 1995, the company came into the possession of a Norwegian shipping company in 1996 , whereupon it again offered passenger flights as charter. The first scheduled flights to Spain were launched in 2000 .

In 2001, it was decided to restructure the previous charter company into a low-cost airline .

In 2005 the Icelandic FL Group , which also includes Icelandair and 16.8% of easyJet , acquired Sterling. Later in the same year the merger with Maersk Air to Sterling Airlines took place .

On October 29, 2008, the company again filed for bankruptcy. The reasons given by the company are financial bottlenecks as a result of rising kerosene prices, market stagnation and the financial crisis from 2007 , especially in relation to Iceland . Flight operations were subsequently discontinued. The business activities, naming rights and part of the fleet were later acquired from the bankruptcy estate of the Danish airline Cimber Air , which then operated under the name Cimber Sterling until its own bankruptcy in 2012 . After the flight operations of Cimber Sterling, a successor company was founded, which, however, renounced the name Sterling and is simply called Cimber .

Destinations

Sterling Airlines flew to around 40 destinations across Europe from their three main bases in Copenhagen-Kastrup , Stockholm / Arlanda and Oslo-Gardermoen . The airports in Billund and Helsinki were also important destinations in the route network. For example, Amsterdam , Athens , Barcelona , Berlin , Budapest , Edinburgh , London , Milan , Paris and Tenerife were served .

fleet

Fleet at the end of operations

Before flight operations ceased, the Sterling Airlines fleet as of April 2008 consisted of 26 aircraft:

Previously deployed aircraft

Previously, Sterling Airways, Sterling European Airlines and Sterling Airlines also used the following types of aircraft:

Incidents

The Douglas DC-6 OY-EAN had an accident in Gothenburg / Torslanda in 1967

On April 13, 1963, a Douglas DC-6B of Sterling Airways (OY-EAP) had an accident while landing at Copenhagen-Kastrup Airport . The plane was on a transfer flight from Las Palmas with only three engines running. Just before the runway, altitude and speed had dropped too far. When attempting a go-around with three engines, the airplane tilted sharply to the right and hit the wing tip 50 meters from the runway, whereupon the wing broke. The three-person flight crew survived and the machine was destroyed.

On December 23, 1967 a Douglas DC-6B of Sterling Airways (OY-EAN) landed hard on the runway at Gothenburg / Torslanda Airport . The aircraft was irreparably damaged during this second approach attempt. There were no injuries.

On March 14, 1972, an intact Caravelle 10B3 of Sterling Airways (OY-STL) flew on its approach to Dubai Airport into a hill about 500 meters high in the Emirate of Fujairah , about 80 km east of the airport (CFIT, Controlled flight into terrain ). The medium -haul aircraft was on the flight from Colombo-Bandaranaike Airport via Bombay to Dubai and, after a refueling stop, was supposed to fly on via Ankara to Copenhagen . All 112 people on board - including six crew members - were killed. It is the most serious accident of this type of aircraft (see also Sterling Airways flight 296 ) .

On March 15, 1974, while taxiing at Tehran-Mehrabad airport, the right landing gear suspension of a Caravelle 10B3 from Sterling Airways (OY-STK) broke , puncturing the right wing tank and leaking kerosene, which ignited. Despite the immediately initiated evacuation, 15 of the 96 people on board were killed (see also Sterling Airways flight 901 ) .

Trivia

The airline was also shown in films of the " Olsen Gang ", when this z. B. wanted to fly to Mallorca. The reason for this was that Sterling was the cooperation partner of the production company Nordisk Film in all of the Olsen Gang films .

Web links

Commons : Sterling Airlines - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ ch-aviation.ch - Sterling Airlines' fleet ( memento of September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (English) accessed on May 7, 2020
^ Ulrich Klee, Frank Bucher et al .: jp airline-fleets international . Zurich Airport 1967 to 2007.
^ Ulrich Klee, Frank Bucher et al .: jp airline-fleets international . Sutton, UK, 2008.
^ Accident report DC-6B OY-EAP , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on October 24, 2018.
↑ Accident report DC-6B OY-EAN , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on October 24, 2018.
^ Accident report Caravelle 10B3 OY-STL , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 5, 2019.
↑ Morten Grunwald: My days in yellow socks, Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf 2014, ISBN 978-3-86265-374-4 , p. 104

[1] -aviation.ch - Sterling Airlines' fleet ( memento of September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (English) accessed on May 7, 2020

[2] Ulrich Klee, Frank Bucher et al .: jp airline-fleets international . Zurich Airport 1967 to 2007.

[3] Ulrich Klee, Frank Bucher et al .: jp airline-fleets international . Sutton, UK, 2008.

[4] Accident report DC-6B OY-EAP , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on October 24, 2018.

[5] Accident report DC-6B OY-EAN , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on October 24, 2018.

[6] Accident report Caravelle 10B3 OY-STL , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 5, 2019.

[7] Morten Grunwald: My days in yellow socks, Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf 2014, ISBN 978-3-86265-374-4 , p. 104