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Belair, legally ''Belair Airlines AG'', was a
Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...
charter airline headquartered in
Glattbrugg Opfikon (; in the local Swiss German dialect: )Andres Kristol/Gabrielle Schmid, ''Opfikon ZH (Bülach)'' in: ''Dictionnaire toponymique des communes suisses – Lexikon der schweizerischen Gemeindenamen – Dizionario toponomastico dei comuni sviz ...
operating out of
Zürich Airport Zürich Airport (), french: Aéroport de Zurich, it, Aeroporto di Zurigo, rm, Eroport da Turitg is the largest international airport of Switzerland and the principal hub of Swiss International Air Lines. It serves Zürich, Switzerland's larg ...
and
EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg IATA airport 3-letter codes for the French area, the Swiss area, and the metropolitan area, french: Aéroport de Bâle-Mulhouse-Fribourg, it, Aeroporto di Basilea-Mulhouse-Friburgo, rm, Eroport da Basilea-Mu ...
. It was a subsidiary of Air Berlin and operated under the Air Berlin brand name until the 31 March 2017. During the 2017 summer season, it flew on behalf of its sister company
Niki __NOTOC__ Niki may refer to: People * Niki (given name) * NIKI (singer), Indonesian singer and songwriter * Niki DeMar, American singer * Niki Etsuko (1928–1986), Japanese author of mystery fiction Places * Niki, Hokkaido, a town in Japan * Ni ...
and was shuttered by then-bankrupt Air Berlin on 28 October 2017.


History


The first Balair (1925-1931)

''Basler Aviation AG - Balair'' was founded by Balz Zimmermann in 1925 in Basel. The name ''Balair'' is a reference to the French name of the Basel: Bâle. The first route was from Basel to Freiburg and Mannheim. Balair grew rapidly. In 1929
Basel Airport EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg IATA airport 3-letter codes for the French area, the Swiss area, and the metropolitan area, french: Aéroport de Bâle-Mulhouse-Fribourg, it, Aeroporto di Basilea-Mulhouse-Friburgo, rm, Eroport da Basilea-Mu ...
was the largest airport in Switzerland, with direct flights to Zurich, Geneva, Lyon, Karlsruhe and Frankfurt. In response to the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, Balair (based in Basel) and Ad Astra Aero (based in Zurich) merged on 1 January 1931 to form
Swissair Swissair AG/ S.A. (German: Schweizerische Luftverkehr-AG; French: S.A. Suisse pour la Navigation Aérienne) was the national airline of Switzerland between its founding in 1931 and bankruptcy in 2002. It was formed from a merger between Bal ...
, headquartered in Zurich. Up to that point, Balair had carried over 18,000 passengers, 320 tons of cargo and 143 tons of mail. The company only flew in the summer and was mainly financed by federal subsidies and transportation of mail for the Swiss post office.


The second Balair (1953-1993)

On 5 October 1952, the Basel electorate voted for the creation of a limited company. Soon then, the second Balair was founded in January 1953, with Hans Peter Tschudin elected as the first president. In its early years, Balair was active in flight training, aircraft maintenance and handling Swissair aircraft at Basel-Mulhouse Airport. Balair entered the charter business with the acquisition of two
Vickers Viking The Vickers Viking was a British single-engine amphibious aircraft designed for military use shortly after World War I. Later versions of the aircraft were known as the Vickers Vulture and Vickers Vanellus. Design and development Researc ...
s in June 1957. In 1959, Swissair acquired a 40% stake in Balair. Two Swissair DC-4s were added to the fleet and later the
DC-6 The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with th ...
came into service in 1961. During the Biafran airlift (1967–71), chartered aircraft, including C-97 Stratocruisers, delivered humanitarian aid to a remote Biafran airstrip in eastern Nigeria. The airline's first jet aircraft was the
Convair 990 Coronado The Convair 990 Coronado is an American narrow-body four-engined jet airliner produced between 1961 and 1963 by the Convair division of American company General Dynamics. It was a stretched version of its earlier Convair 880 produced in respon ...
and then the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 entered service followed by a
Douglas DC-8-63CF The Douglas DC-8 (sometimes McDonnell Douglas DC-8) is a long-range narrow-body airliner built by the American Douglas Aircraft Company. After losing the May 1954 US Air Force tanker competition to the Boeing KC-135, Douglas announced in Jul ...
which it flew on routes to Colombo, Bangkok and Rio de Janeiro. In 1979, Balair added a
McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 was intended to succeed the DC-8 for long- range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; it was introduced on August 5, 1971 ...
to its fleet. By 1982, Balair became an all jet airline and by 1986, the Airbus A310-300 and MD-82 were the mainstay of the fleet. Later, Swissair operated charter flights using the Balair name. By this time, Swissair was a majority owner.


BalairCTA (1993-1995)

In 1993, Balair and CTA – Compagnie de Transport Aérien were merged and formed a new airline named BalairCTA. For political reasons, the registered office of the company was in Geneva and the accounting department in Basel. The operational base was moved to Zurich. Despite restructuring and mass layoffs, the Swissair charter business was unprofitable and operations ended in 1995. Short-haul operations were transferred to Crossair and long-haul operations to Swissair.


The new Balair (1997-2001)

In 1997, Swissair's charter business was outsourced again and on 1 November 1997, BalairCTA resumed operations as a subsidiary of Swissair, reverting to the ''Balair'' name. On short and medium-haul routes, two
Boeing 757-200 The Boeing 757 is an American Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The then-named 7N7, a twinjet successor for the Boeing 727, 727 (a trijet), received its first orders in August 1978. ...
s were operated exclusively for tour operator Hotelplan and its subsidiaries ESCO-Reise and M-Travel. The lessee was also Hotelplan. Balair also had two
Boeing 767-300ER The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body aircraft developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified on ...
s for long-haul operations. However, the new Balair was affected by the failure of Swissair. On 5 October 2001, the last Balair flight landed in Zurich. The Boeing 767s were returned to the lessor.


Belair (2001-2017)

After consulting
Migros Migros () is Switzerland's largest retail company, its largest supermarket chain and largest employer. It is also one of the forty largest retailers in the world. It is structured in the form of a cooperative federation (the Federation of Mig ...
(its parent company), Hotelplan founded a new charter airline named Belair and transferred their Boeing 757s to it. It entered into the commercial register on 16 October 2001. The minor name change meant it was possible to repaint the two Migros-owned Boeing 757s with very little effort. 120 Balair employees were employed by the new company. The first Belair commercial flight took place on 3 November 2001, departing from Zurich. Flights were mainly to Mediterranean resorts. Besides the two Boeing 757s it operated, Belair also leased a Boeing 767-300ER for long-haul operations. As part of the partnership with REGA (Swiss Air Rescue), a 757 was redesigned by Belair to be used as a rescue aircraft for repatriations in case of disasters.


Part of Air Berlin

Air Berlin acquired 49% of Belair in 2007 and fully owned it after October 2009. This increased Air Berlin's presence in Switzerland and provided Migros customers access to more flights. While Air Berlin owned Belair, Belair was managed from Berlin and Air Berlin only published consolidated financial statements. Air Berlin Switzerland (Air Berlin pilots), the CHS Switzerland (Air Berlin flight attendants) and Belair were combined to form the new company Belair on 1 January 2010. Belair flew from Zurich, Basel and Geneva to Mediterranean destinations and the Canary Islands. The aircraft used to have ''Belair'' signage combined with Air Berlin's corporate design, but then wore Air Berlin's livery. Due to bilateral traffic rights, certain routes to non-EU countries continued to use Belair's IATA code, 4T.


Shutdown

On 15 January 2017, it was announced that Belair would shut down all routes from
EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg IATA airport 3-letter codes for the French area, the Swiss area, and the metropolitan area, french: Aéroport de Bâle-Mulhouse-Fribourg, it, Aeroporto di Basilea-Mulhouse-Friburgo, rm, Eroport da Basilea-Mu ...
. On 1 April 2017, the four Airbus A321-200s began to operate on behalf of
Niki __NOTOC__ Niki may refer to: People * Niki (given name) * NIKI (singer), Indonesian singer and songwriter * Niki DeMar, American singer * Niki Etsuko (1928–1986), Japanese author of mystery fiction Places * Niki, Hokkaido, a town in Japan * Ni ...
and switched from Air Berlin to Niki flight numbers on routes to EU destinations.austrianaviation.net - Belair operates wet lease for Niki
(German) 10 March 2017
Belair ceased operations on 28 October 2017.ch-aviation.com - Air Berlin calls off Belair sale, carrier to be liquidated
27 October 2017
In December 2017, it was reported that Belair lacked the funds to pay outstanding salaries and other expenses and might face
bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
.


Destinations

These are the final destinations of Belair prior to its shutdown on 28 October 2017:


Fleet


Final fleet

As of August 2017, the Belair fleet consisted of the following aircraft:


Retired fleet

Over the years, Belair had previously operated the following aircraft:


Accidents and incidents

*On May 15, 1960, a Douglas DC-4 (registered HB-ILA) was being ferried from
Jeddah Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's pro ...
to Dakar when it crashed in the Djebel Marr Mountains due to a navigation error. All 12 crew members were killed. *September 13, 1964, a
Fokker F-27 Friendship The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner developed and manufactured by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. It is the most numerous post-war aircraft manufactured in the Netherlands; the F27 was also one of the most successful Europe ...
(registered HB-AAI) was approaching Málaga Airport with a steep descent. It touched down heavily, causing the centre section of the wings to break apart and skidded before coming to rest. All 45 occupants on board survived.


See also

*
List of defunct airlines of Switzerland This is a list of now defunct airlines from Switzerland. See also *List of airlines of Switzerland *List of airports in Switzerland References

{{List of defunct airlines Defunct airlines of Switzerland, * Lists of defunct airlines, Swi ...


References

*


Annotations


External links

*
Timetable images
{{DEFAULTSORT:Belair (Airline) Defunct airlines of Switzerland Airlines established in 1925 Airlines disestablished in 2017 Air Berlin Swiss companies established in 1925 Opfikon Companies based in the canton of Zürich Swiss companies disestablished in 2017