City Star Airlines (CSA) was an airline based in Aberdeen, Scotland. It operated under the Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) of Landsflug in Iceland. Its main service was scheduled services between energy industry centres in Scotland and Norway, as well as charter services. Its main base was Aberdeen Airport. In a press release on 30 January 2008, City Star Airlines announced that it was to immediately cease all operations until further notice.

History

City Star Airlines started operations on 28 March 2005 with one aircraft flying between Aberdeen, Scotland ( Aberdeen Airport) and Oslo (

Oslo Gardermoen Airport Oslo Airport ( no, Oslo lufthavn; ), alternatively referred to as Oslo Gardermoen Airport or simply Gardermoen, is the international airport serving Oslo, Norway, the capital city, capital and List of towns and cities in Norway, most populous ...

) in cooperation with and on the AOC of domestic airline Landsflug in Iceland. CSA's owners acquired a controlling share in Landsflug in 2005 in order to acquire

JAR-OPS 1 JAR-OPS 1 is the Joint Aviation Requirement for the operation of commercial air transport (aeroplanes). Any commercial airline within the European Union flying jet or propeller aircraft has to comply with this standard. Compliance is governed thr ...

licensed operator for its operation. On 22 June 2006, a City Star Airlines Dornier 328 (TF-CSB) operating a passenger flight from

Stavanger Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...

, Norway, overshot the end of the runway at Aberdeen Airport by several hundred yards as it came in to land. None of the 16 passengers and 3 crew members on board were injured. The incident caused the airline to announce a suspension of all flight operations on 23 June 2006, although service was resumed a few days later. In March 2007, a Dornier 328 operated by CSA flying from Aberdeen to

Sumburgh Airport Sumburgh Airport is the main airport serving Shetland in Scotland. It is located on the southern tip of the mainland, in the parish of Dunrossness, south of Lerwick. The airport is owned by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) and s ...

in the

Shetland Islands Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

flew too close to cliffs and failed to respond to terrain warnings, although it did land safely. The United Kingdom's Air Accidents Investigation Branch recommended a safety audit. CSA first suspended the 61-year-old captain of the flight and then asked him to resign. An investigation found that the incident occurred because of a jammed throttle. CSA announced on 1 September 2007 that its holding company had purchased Caledonian Airborne Engineering, a company providing engineering, maintenance, and ground handling facilities at Aberdeen and Newcastle Airports. The purchase increased the company's employee base by an additional 60. On 22 December 2007 CSA's holding company stated that it would commence the first long haul, business class-only flights from Aberdeen Airport to

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

starting in 2008. In November 2007, a CSA plane was involved in an accident at Aberdeen Airport and was grounded. That December, the airline postponed its plans to provide routes to Ålesund as a result of the accident. In late January 2008, the airline announced its closure. A spokesman stated that it was a direct result of the damage from the accident: "the incident has had a major knock-on effect and we have simply not been able to recover from this and as of midnight have ceased all operations."

Destinations

City Star Airlines operated scheduled services to the following destinationsStar website
;Norway * Ålesund ( Ålesund Airport, Vigra) * Bergen ( Bergen Airport, Flesland) * Kristiansund ( Kristiansund Airport, Kvernberget) * Oslo (

) *

(

Stavanger Airport, Sola Stavanger Airport ( no, Stavanger lufthavn; ), commonly just known as Sola, is an international airport located in Rogaland county, Norway. The airport is located southwest of the centre of the city of Stavanger inside the neighboring munici ...

) ;United Kingdom * Aberdeen, Scotland ( Aberdeen Airport) ;The Netherlands *

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

, ( Groningen Airport Eelde)

Fleet

As City Star Airlines wasn't a licensed airline it never had any aircraft registered. The aircraft it operated were dry leased from sister company (airline) Landsflug which fleet consisted of the following aircraft (as of September 2007) *4

Dornier 328-110 The Dornier 328 is a turboprop-powered commuter airliner. Initially produced by Dornier Luftfahrt GmbH, the firm was acquired in 1996 by Fairchild Aircraft. The resulting firm, named Fairchild-Dornier, manufactured the 328 family in Oberpfaffen ...

The 32 seater aircraft were also used for private charters.

References

External links

City Star Airlines FleetAircraft photos at Airliners.net
{{Airlines_of_the_United_Kingdom Defunct airlines of Scotland Defunct airlines of the United Kingdom Airlines established in 2005 Airlines disestablished in 2008

History

Destinations

Fleet

See also

References

External links