Maersk Air A/S was a Danish airline which operated between 1969 and 2005. Owned by the A. P. Møller–Mærsk Group, it operated a mix of scheduled and charter passenger and cargo services. Headquartered at Dragør, its main operating bases were Copenhagen Airport, Billund Airport and Esbjerg Airport. The airline run also offshore helicopter operations from 1975 to 1999 and had three airline subsidiaries: Maersk Air UK, Maersk Commuter, and Star Air.
The airline was founded on 21 February 1969 - coinciding with the purchase of Falck Air regional airline scheduled operations - and legally incorporated on 1 January of the following year. Twin turboprops Fokker F27s were bought and scheduled domestic services from Copenhagen to Odense and Stauning started on 1 November 1969. From 1971 to 1995 Maersk participated in Danair consortium, which run all domestic services in Denmark. Maersk Air was heavily involved in the inclusive tours market during the 1970s, firstly operating Boeing 720Bs and later on 737-200s. From 1981 Maersk started international flights, first out of Billund and in the 1990s out of Copenhagen.
Maersk Air gradually invested in new aircraft, including the Fokker 50, Boeing 737 Classic, and later the 737-700. During the 1990s the number of international services increased, often codeshared with foreign airlines. When the Danish airlines were deregulated in 1995, Maersk first sought to compete with Scandinavian Airlines and later they created a "cartel". After being exposed, the airline fell into a decline after 2001, posting large deficits from which it never recovered. The airline was bought by the FL Group and merged to form Sterling Airlines in the fall of 2005.
History
Establishment
The giant shipping entity A. P. Moller first investment in aviation was in 1937 when it bought a stake in Danish Air Lines, at the time the Danish flag carrier. Its next step took place in 1967, when the group bought a Hawker Siddeley HS 125-3B corporate jet.Ellemose: 42 At that time there were few possibilities for Danish airlines as the charter market was dominated by Spies Rejser and Tjæreborgs Rejser, each of them with their own airline: Conair and Sterling, respectively. Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) was the flag carrier and had the sole right to run international scheduled services, and freight charters could only be carried out if the entire load had a single shipper and recipient.Ellemose: 49
The establishment of the airline was approved by the group in 1969.Ellemose: 47 The airline aimed at a charter market with aircraft in the 50-seats range, and perhaps securing the rights to fly regional schedules to small domestic airports. To secure an organization already running, Maersk bought Falck Air on 21 February 1969 from the Falck Group. At that time Falck Air operated a fleet of two de Havilland Herons and two Hawker Siddeley HS 748s aircraft and had a hangar at Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup. The Herons allowed Maersk to commence services from Copenhagen to Stauning Airport, a route taken over from Cimber Air. Meanwhile, the airline had ordered three Fokker F27 Friendships, the first which was delivered on 9 December.Ellemose: 51 Operations to Odense Airport commenced on 26 December.Ellemose: 52
The new airline, Maersk Air I/S was officially incorporated on 1 January 1970. The same day it took over the assets in Falck Air along with its air operator's certificate (AOC), concessions and the operational management of the HS-125. The initial scheduled operations consisted of five daily trip pairs from Copenhagen to Odense Airport, and two daily pairs to Stauning Airport.Ellemose: 62 Norwegian-American Finn Rassmussen Ryssdal was hired as the airline's first director. He held the position for two years until he was replaced by another Norwegian, Johan Paus, former CEO of Scanair.Ellemose: 53 As part of the build up, Maersk entered the travel agency industry. Originally named Maersk Air Rejsebureau, was later named Maersk Travel.Ellemose: 111
Initial operations
The assignement of domestic routes was a contentious political issue. SAS held the privilege to commence any route they wanted, but lacked regional partner airlines to link the smaller airports. the situation was complicated by alternative domestic airlines in Norway and Sweden, Braathens SAFE and Linjeflyg, respectively.Buraas: 244 Danish authorities, therefore, asked the three scheduled carriers, SAS, Maersk, and Cimber, to negotiate and reach an agreement. This was reached in November 1971, whereby the joint consortium company Danair was established. Flights to Vágar Airport on the Faroe Islands commenced in 1971.Ellemose: 56 Thisted Airport opened in 1971 and Maersk was selected as the operator. The Thisted and Stauning services were transferred to Cimber Air in 1976, although Maersk continued to operate some services.
Maersk also aimed at the inclusive tours charter market. To gain better access to the market, in December 1971 Maersk bought two travel agencies, Raffels Rejser and Bangs Rejser. This was followed up by the purchase of Unisol in 1974 and the three were merged to form a new agency under Unisol brand and an estimate of 120,000 annual trips.Ellemose: 55 After having lost 100 million Danish krone (DKK) by 1979, Unison was sold to Tjæreborg in 1980. A collateral cause was Unisol's inability to profile itself in a market dominated by two high-profile, yet diametrical, owners. To better serve the market, Maersk Air bought five used Boeing 720Bs in 1973. The destinations were typical of Scandinavian customers: Spain, the Balearic Islands, and the Canary Islands. But also Cyprus, Crete, Malta, and Tunisia. Boeings also flew for other carriers, including fellow airline Conair. During the second half of the 1970s, Maersk focused on wet leasing their aircraft to international customers. Contracts included flying pilgrims from Morocco to Mecca and Scandinavians to North America.Ellemose: 65
Maersk Air was contracted by Maersk Oil to operate to the latter's oil fields in the North Sea. For this purpose, Maersk Air bought two Bell 212 helicopters. The airline stationed these at Esbjerg Airport and they commenced operations on 1 July 1975.Ellemose: 82
Stabilization with jetliners Maersk Air took delivery of its first two Boeing 737-200 Advanced in 1976Ellemose: 77 and by 1981 the airline had 14 in the fleet. Most of them were used for charters, mostly for Danish inclusive tour operators. This was a highly competitive market, where Maersk had to compete with Conair, Sterling and Scanair, amongst others.Ellemose: 78 From 1983 three aircraft were entirely dedicated to this task. Some B737s were leased to other carriers, including Guyana Airways, Malaysia Airlines and Tunisair. The 737-200s proved too big for domestic services. The F27s had been sold and the airline, therefore, determined that it needed to buy new turboprops. A decision was made to buy the de Havilland Dash 7. In the meantime, the airline leased three HS 748s from 1980 to 1981. The first Dash 7 entered revenue service on 13 May 1981.Ellemose: 80
The challenges of the 80s Maersk Air experienced declining profits at during the late 1970s. The revenue of DKK 535 million in 1979 fell to DKK 454 million in 1981, hitting a record loss of DKK 29 million in 1981. The company started having problems with liquidity and in 1981 was not able to pay wages to its employees. In that same year Bjarne Hansen was hired as CEO.Ellemose: 70 The number of bases for charter operations was reduced, cutting personnel costs. The two Beechcrafts were sold, as were nine other of the airline's twenty-four light aircraft.Ellemose: 71 A key part of this plan was not allowing the aircraft to remain idle during the day, thus maximizing revenue.Ellemose: 86 The number of employees were reduced from 720 to 480.Ellemose: 72 By 1985 the revenue had risen to DKK 898 million in 1985, allowing the airline to make a profit of DKK 112 million in 1985.
From 1981 Maersk Air started flying a Bell 212 under contract with the Cabinet of the Faroe Islands. By then the helicopter fleet had reached five Bell 212s. From 1983 the petroleum activity increased and two larger Eurocopter AS332 Super Pumas were in operation.Ellemose: 83
From 27 September 1982 Danair 38%% subsidiary was reorganized. SAS's routes to Aalborg, Aarhus, and Rønne were transferred to the pooled airline. On its side Maersk increased the number of departures on its services. The goal was to improve profitability. And although the scheme did increase passenger numbers, it failed to improve Maersk Air's financial performance in the domestic market.Ellemose: 63 From 1 January 1983 Stauning was dropped from Maersk and Danair's schedules. From 1988 Maersk Air saw competition on its scheduled service to the Faroes because of the establishment of the local Atlantic Airways.Ellemose: 106
Domestic and international expansion Maersk explored the possibilities to fly international routes. The first non-SAS international concession dated back to 1981 and granted to Air Business scheduled flight from Esbjerg via Thistedt to Stavanger Airport, Sola in Norway, using an Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante. Maersk Air bought the company in 1984 together with the two Short 360s"Air Business", Air Transport World monthly magazine, U.S.A., August 1987 and renamed it Maersk Commuter I.S. in 1988. Soon the concession changed and the tiny airline was allowed to operate from Aalborg instead of Thistedt, a market with better passenger potential. The subsidiary was fully integrated in April 1990.Ellemose: 91
Changes in European Community rules in 1984 allowed any carrier to operate intra-European routes, provided that two regional airports were connected. Maersk focused on Billund airport, which was centrally located in Jutland and was classified as a regional airport. It was already a popular base for charter flights.Ellemose: 94 London was a favorite destination, but all its four main airports were all categorized as "primary". To exploit the new opportunities, Maersk turned to the neglected London Southend Airport, which was classified as a secondary airport.Ellemose: 95 The airline inaugurated the route on 29 November 1984 with two round trips, using Dash 7s. Given the distance from the city Maersk could only market the destination as "London" if they included an onwards train ticket. The route recorded about 12,000 passengers annually and failed to make a profit.Ellemose: 96
Maersk considered both Århus and Billund as the base for their Jutland operations, and settled for Billund.Ellemose: 97 The next international route to be inaugurated was to Cologne Bonn Airport in Germany in 1988, in cooperation with Lufthansa. It was flown with the Fokker 50, which had just started service with the airline.Ellemose: 98 During the late 1980s Maersk Air favored the expansion of its travel agencies, both domestically and abroad.
Based on the need to replace the 737-200s, Boeing developed the shortened 737-500 on the request of Maersk and others airlines. Maersk took delivery of its first dash 500 on 6 April 1990, the year the air carrier was free to compete on any intra-European international route. Using the new aircraft, it focused on routes from and to Billund, offering flights to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Brussels Airport, London Gatwick Airport, Stockholm Arlanda Airport and Stavanger. In addition it flew from Copenhagen to London.
New subsidiaries, at home and abroad Maersk Air Cargo, which until then had only been a handling agent, was established in 1982 changing the corporate name to its subsidiary Star Air. In fact Maersk Air was barred from operating a cargo fleet until deregulation in 1987. The freight subsidiary inherited a fleet of Fokker F27-600s.Ellemose: 100 From 1993 it acquired a fleet of Boeing 727-100s and started flying for United Parcel Service.Ellemose: 114