PauknAir, also known as Melilla Jet, was a Spanish

regional airline A regional airline is a general classification of airline which typically operates scheduled passenger air service, using regional aircraft, between communities lacking sufficient demand or infrastructure to attract mainline flights. In North ...

which operated between 1995 and 1998. The airline operated flights between various Spanish domestic destinations.

History

PauknAir was founded in 1995 and commenced operations in September 1995 with two

BAe 146 The British Aerospace 146 (also BAe 146) is a short-haul and regional airliner that was manufactured in the United Kingdom by British Aerospace, later part of BAE Systems. Production ran from 1983 until 2001. Manufacture by Avro International ...

aircraft operated on its behalf by

PAN Air ASL Airlines Spain, formerly PAN Air Líneas Aéreas S.A., was a cargo airline based at Madrid–Barajas International Airport, Spain. Its main hub was at Madrid–Barajas International Airport with small hubs at Barcelona–El Prat, Seville, ...

. It was majority owned by Paukner SA, a Spanish company involved in the travel industry, with a 78% holding; private interests based in

Melilla Melilla ( , ; ; rif, Mřič ; ar, مليلية ) is an autonomous city of Spain located in north Africa. It lies on the eastern side of the Cape Three Forks, bordering Morocco and facing the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of . It was par ...

, a Spanish

exclave An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

in North Africa, held 20% of the company, with the remaining 2% held by the governing council of Melilla. The airline provided air services from Melilla to

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

and

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

. In November 1998, PauknAir ceased operations following the crash of

PauknAir Flight 4101 PauknAir Flight 4101 was a British Aerospace 146 that crashed on a flight from Málaga, Spain, to the Spanish North African exclave of Melilla on 25 September 1998. All 38 passengers and crew on board the aircraft were killed in the accident. T ...

on 25 September 1998. The crash caused a drop in passenger numbers for PauknAir; this sealed the fate for the airline.

Fleet

PauknAir operated the following aircraft before ceasing operations:Melilla Air entry in 1997 World Airline Directory, ''Flight International'', 26 March - 1 April 1997, p.87 (online archive version
retrieved 2010-05-31. *2 British Aerospace BAe 146-100

Accidents and incidents

*On 25 September 1998,

flew into a hill on approach to Melilla; all 34 passengers and four crew died.PauknAir 146 accident
/ref>

References

External links

*
Airline History; Spain
{{Airlines of Spain Transport in Melilla Defunct airlines of Spain Airlines established in 1995 Airlines disestablished in 1998 1998 disestablishments in Spain Spanish companies established in 1995