ScandinavianCharter

Updated 1st January, 2024

Charterflyg i Skandinavien - Skandinaviska charterflygbolag

time Air Sweden, Flying Enterprise A/S Denmark, Internord, Interswede Aviation, Ostermanair OAC, Skyline Sweden, Sterling Airways, Loadair Sweden, Torair AB, Nordair A/S, Scanair Aeronord A/S, Hilair, Falconair Charter AB, Fairline Ltd, Airtrader Sweden, Transwede Airlines, timeAir Sweden





Charter Operators in Scandinavia

A website about when charter airlines and travel agencies fought for the favor of travelers during the 1970 - 1980.



Loadair Sweden Douglas DC-3 SE-CFT at Bulltofta/Mailmö airport 1963
Photo:

* * *
Carriers

Sunclass Airlines, Transair Sweden AB, Flying Enterprise A/S Denmark, Nordair, Scanair, Sterling Airways, Ostermanair OAC, Torair AB, Conair of Scandinavia, Aeronord, A/S, Internord, Fairline Ltd, Capella AirCharter, Skyline Sweden AB, Interswede Aviation, Hilair, Airtrader Sweden, Transwede, Blue Scandinavia, time Air Sweden, Premiair

The charter market has been very important to the travel industry, providing capacity for small touroperators and brookers who has not been verically integrated and hence did not have an inhouse airline to serve their needs. The chartermarket has tried with their efforts to survive all over the years since the pioneers started in early 1960:s.

2021

At the beginning of 2020, the whole world was shaken by the very serious Covid-19 situation and it is still ongoing which affects the future of aviation. Many large and even smaller airlines have parked their aircraft pending what is happening. Will the newly launched Sunclass Airlines survive this "disaster".


Sunclass Airlines Denmark


Sunclass Airlines A321 OY-TCG
Photo: the net

Sunclass Airlines Denmark
Copenhagen, Denmark
2019 -
Owner: Peter Stordalen
Strawberry Group

Sunclass Airlines A/S (formerly Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia) is a Danish charter airline that operate charter services from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. The company is affiliated with Ving Group, a Nordic tour operator. It and Ving Group were a part of Thomas Cook Group until 23 December 2019 when Norwegian investor Petter Stordalen and Strawberry Group rebranded the company as Sunclass Airlines.

The airline was originally founded in 1994 as Premiair. It was renamed MyTravel Airways in 2002 before being renamed Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia when Thomas Cook Group acquired the previous parent company MyTravel Group. In 2019, the airline was renamed Sunclass Airlines after Thomas Cook Group entered liquidation.


Transair Sweden AB


Transair Sweden DC-6 SE-BDI at Malmö/Bulltofta airport 1963
Photo: Tony Edlind

Transair Sweden AB (TB)
Bromma, Sweden
1951-1981.
Founder/technical operative org: Pelle Lovén

Transair Sweden AB was funded by Pelle Lovén and began as Nordisk Aerotransport) with purpose of flying newspapers from Stockholm to other locations in Sweden useing Airspeed Oxford aircraft.

Transair Sweden DC-3 SE-BSN Malmö/Bulltofta airport 1963
Photo: Tony Edlind collection

In 1954 passenger charters were begun using Douglas DC-3 and in 1957 the name was chang ed to Transair Sweden. The carrier operated Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando cargo aircraft. With a loan of SEK 3 miljons kronor from Handelsbanken and a new CEO Gösta Ellhammar, the carrier acquired three DC-6 from SAS and they were introduced in 1959.

In the early 1960s, group travel by air took off and Transair flying travelers, primarily to destinations around the Mediterranean. Now, in order to increase flight capacity, the TSA had to examine the aviation market for suitable aircraft. Transair also received a mission to fly for the United Nations in the Congo during the ongoing Congolese civil war in 1965.

Transair Sweden DC-7B SE-ERD Copenhagen/Kastrup airport 1967.
Photo: Erik Frikke

From 1965 nine Douglas DC-7B were bought from Eastern Airlines and were added to the fleet for charter use and for flights during the civil war in Congo on behalf of the United Nations.

The choice of the DC-7 was completely unsuccessful with delays due to troublesome engines.
Other airlines had already started introducing jets.


Transair Sweden B727-134C SE-DDC msn 20042 at Stockholm/Arlanda airport 1981
Photo: Denham Chaloner



Freight flights on behalf of SAS were begun to cities such as Malmo, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Amsterdam, and Paris. In 1967 Boeing 727-134s were acquired but those were not kept very long. However, a year later Transair was bought by Svenska Handelsbank and financing was introduced to acquire jet aircraft again.

Shortly thereafter SAS took a majority holding in Transair Sweden and the airline was kept flying independently under its own colors taking tourists to Spain, the Canary Islands, and other Mediterranean destinations. In 1981 SAS sold all the 727s and the employees were integrated into SAS.

Fleet:
Airspeed Consul
3 no AS 65
Douglas
9 no DC-3
5 no DC-6
8 no DC-6B
11 no DC-7B

Super Curtiss C-46 Commando
10 no C-46

Boeing
4 no B-727-134


Flying Enterprise A/S, Denmark

Flying Enterprise Denmark DC-7 OY-DMs at Basel-Mulhouse airport West
Gernany 1964.
Photo: Marcel Tschudin


Flying Enterprise A/S (FE)
Copenhagen, Denmark
1959-1965.
Founder/technical operative org: Hans Linde and Finn Nielsen
(former SAS employees).



Flying Enterprise Denmark Canadair OY-AAI msn 166 at Kastrup - Copenhagen airport, Denmark 1961
Photo:


Flying Enterprise was the first charter airline in Denmark established in 1959 by two former SAS-employees Hans Linde and Finn Nielsen who wanted to challenge their former employer because of SAS, at the time, negative attitude towards charter operations.


Flying Enterprise Denmark passengers boarding the Canadair C-4 Argonaut OY-AAI at Kastrup - Copenhagen airport,

In the beginning FE operated leased Canadair C-54s from Overseas Aviation. FEs first own Argonaut arrived in January 1960 andhe first DC-7 OY-DMP was delivered in October 1963. The carriers main destinations were Palma, Palma de Majorca and to Las Palmas in the Can ary Islands serving Danish and Swedish tour operators.

Flying Enterprise's had two major clients, the Danish travel agent, Spiesrejser and the Swedish travel agency Reso. However, due to the the airline's unreliability to perform the agreed assignment, Reso was therefore forced to terminate the agreement.

In early 1964, three DC-7s were accqired for Flying Enterprise A/S but the carrier then had to stop operations towards the end of March 1965 due to "hard negotiations" by Simon Spies, Spiesrejser which led to economical difficulties and the carrier was forced to go bankrupt after a few years of operation.

On this occasion, the Danish tycon Simon Spies saw to starting his own airline and could now negotiate with the bankrupt company to buy the estate at a very reasonable price. The purchase included three DC-7s and hangars.

A week later after the deal was set, the "new" carrier Conair of Scandinavia was established on 1 March 1965 and obtained a temporary permit on 2 April 1965, the final licence was granted on 23 April the same year.

Fleet:
Canadair
5 no C-54, North Star
Douglas
4 no DC-7



Conair of Scandinavia


Conair of Scandinavia DC7 OY-DMT at Arlanda/Stockhom 1968
Photo: Lars Söderström


Conair of Scandinavia (FE)
Copenhagen, Denmark
1959-1965.


Founder/technical operative org: Simon Spies.



Conair of Scandinavia B720-025 OY-DSM at Monastir/Tunisia airport 1974
Photo:


Conair of Scandinavia Airbus A320-200 OY-CNG msn 169 at Gronningen, Germany 1992
Photo: Jordi757

Conair of Scandinavia Airbus A300B4-120 at Copenhagen/Kastrup 1990
Photo:

Conair of Scandinavia (OY)
Copenhagen, Denmark
1965-1993.
Owner: Simon Spies

Conair of Scandinavia was established on 1 March 1965 week Conair of Scandinavia was
founded by Simon Spies on March 1, 1965, a week later after Simons Spies acquired the bankrupt Flying Enterprise. With three DC-7s and a granted temporary permit issued on April 2 to operate charter flights primarily for its own travel agency Spiesrejser.

Simon Spies major idea was that all aircrafts should be fully-booked or that the remaining empty seats should be "sold-out" in the last minute and also that cheep hotels should be offered to tour ists who were waiting at the airport. Therefore Spies Travels and Conair were known as a "low-cost airline" speciallity to young travelers.

Fleet modernization plans in the late sixties came about due to holidaymaker's desire for jet-travel. Therefore Conair was the last charter airline in Scandinavia to operate propeller aircrafts. Sterling Airways and i.e. Scanair operated Sud SE-210 Caravelle or Douglas DC-8 aircrafts.

The delivery of the first of five Boeing 720 jets commenced in May 1971. The first Boeing 720 inaguration-flight took place on 15 May from Copenhagen to Palma de Majorca. The initial batch of Boeing 720 was replaced with a similar number of Boeing 720B acquired from Maersk Air and Monarch from January 1973 onwards which coincide with withdrawl on the last DC-7.The last Douglas DC-7 charter was operated on 29 September 1971 on the Copenhagen - Genoa route.

The replacement of Boeing B720 jets began with the introduction of Airbus A300Bs purchased from SAS and on 26 February 1987 the first Airbus-flight was operated on the Copenhagen - Malaga route. By November 1987 all B720 jets had been phased out. Airbus A320 aircrafts were introduced into service on 5 September 1991.

In the wake of general shake-up of Scandinavian charter scene it was decided to merge Conair and Scanair and to ground the new charter airline, Premiair which became operational on 1 January 1994. Both carriers initially retaind the ownership of their respective aircraft. On 15 February 1966 Conair and its associated tour operator Tjaereborg Rejsor (Travel) was acquired by the British concern Airtours and subsequent to this Conair of Scandinavia ceased to exist.

Fleet :
Douglas
7 no DC-7
Boeing

5 (9) no Boeing 720-025
Airbus Industri 3 no Airbus A300
6 no Airbus A320


Scanair

Scanair DC-7 OY-KND msn 45211 at Las Palmas Gando Airport, Gran Canaria 1966.
Photo: Tony Edlind collection

Scanair (DK)
Denmark
1961-1993
Owner: SAS (Scandinavian Airlines)


Scanair DC-8-55 SE-DBD msn 45753 at Las Palmas Gando airport 1972
Photo: Tony Edlind collection


Scanair Airbus A300B4-120 SE-DFL msn 128 at Las Palmas Gando airport, Gran Canaria 1986.
Photo: Tony Edlind collection

Scanair MD-80 and DC-10 "workhorses" at Athens Int airport Greece 1988
Photo: Tony Edlind

Scanair was originally founded in Denmark in June 1961 and was partially owned by SAS. The first two aircrafts to be operated was the Douglas DC-7C for charter flights to Spain, North Africa and the USA. The DC-7C era ended in December 1967

In 1965 the headquarters was moved to Stockholm and SAS supplied Scanair with Douglas DC-8 aircrafts. Soon thereafter four Boeing 727 joined the growing fleet and Scanair soon became the biggest charter company in Scandinavia.

Other destinations served throughout the years in addition to those mentioned before were the Canary Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the winter resorts of Austria, Germany and Switzerland. To increase capacity the Airbus A300 was acquired but the A300's range was not sufficient for the needs and those were soon replaced with Douglas DC-10s and McDonnell Douglas MD82/83. From 1974 Scanair operated Fokker F28s (in SAS livery) on city weekend tours.

Scanair grew so much that by the 1980s was carrying over 2 million passengers a year, but that was not enough to turn a profit so a merger partner was found in the Danish airline Conair of Scandinavia with which it merged on January 1, 1994 and that resulted in the formation of a whole new airline called Premiair.

Fleet:
Airbus Industri
4 no A300B4
Boeing
4 no B727 (Transair)
1 no B747-100
3 no B747-200

Douglas
2 no DC-7C
3 no DC-8-33
2 no DC-8-55
1 no DC-8-61
3 no DC-8-62
2 no DC-8-62CF
7 no DC-8-63
2 no DC-8-63PF
6 no DC-10-10
1 no DC-10-30

Fokker
F-28 (Linjeflyg/SAS)

McDonnell-Douglas
5 no MD-82
3 no MD-83



Sterling Airways


Sterling Airways DC-6B OY-BAV Stockholm/Bromma, 1965
Photo:Tony Edlind

Sterling Airways (NB)
Denmark
1961-1993
Owner: Ejlif Krogager



Sterling Airways SE-210 Caravelle 10B3 msn 257 at Nicosia Airport Cyprus 1972
Photo: Paul Goddard


Sterling Airways B727-2JA OY-SAS at Kastrup/Copenhagen airport 1988
Photo:

Sterling Airways was founded by the legendary Ejlif Krogager (known as the "Reverend" ) founder of Tjaereborg Rejser in 1961. In the beginning, the company operated two DC-6B´s from Swissair on a contract/subcharter for Transair Sweden. Soon after the set up of the airline, there were roamers that Sterling Airways was faceing economical problems and that Sud Aviation was going to take over the company and look after their interests in Sterlings fleet of Caravelle aircrafts until the problems were solved.

Sterling operated Caravelles on charter flights into sun-destinations during the 1970s and early 1980s but replaced these with Boeing 727-200s.

Sterling Airways was one of the leading charter companies with some 19 aircrafts but due to ecconomical problems the carrier was adjudged bankrupt 1993.

Fleet:
Aérospatiale
1 no Corvette SN601
Beech Craft
2 no King Air 65
Boeing
15 no B727-270Adv
6 no B757-200
Douglas
1 no DC-6
21 no DC-6B
3 no DC-8-60
Fokker
2 no Fokker F-27-500

Lochheed
1 no L-80, Electra
SUD Caravelle SE-210
13 no SE-210 VIR
9 no SE-201 10B3 2 no SE-210 10R


Loadair Sweden AB


Loadair Sweden DC-3 SE-CFT , 1963
Photo:

Loadair Sweden DC-3, SE-BSN at Bromma airport Stockholm 1964ö Photo:

Loadair Sweden AB
Stockholm, Sweden
1964-1966
Owner: Göte Rosén
Technical operative org:


Loadair Sweden was a shortlived operator, started up in 1963 with a stwo DC-3; SE-CFT and SE-BSN. Loadair was declared bankrupt after only one year.
In the summer of 1964, and as the time went by, Loadair’s pilots borrowed money in Aug1964 under the name of the new Tor Air company. Tor Air immediately took over all the chartered agreements of Loadair.

Fleet:
DC-3D SE-CFT




Nordair A/S

Nordair DC-6 Cloudmaster OY-AOU, 1964
Photo:

Nordair A/S
Denmark
1960-1965
Owner: Erik Östbirk, Oscar Pedersen oand Jörgen Tönnesen
CEO: Erik Ösbirk
Manager Director: Alex Clausen
Chief Pilot: Ejgil Schmeltz

Nordair AS was founded in September 1960 by former Scandinavian Airlines Sales Manager Erik Östbirk and the hotelowners Oscar Pedersen and Jörgen Tönnessen but much to the surprise SAS declared that they were not interested in charters operations. Nordair launched their first fligh on 4th February 1961 and the company operated 3 (three) DC-6 purchased from American Airlines. Further 3 (threASe) aircrafts were purchased during 1962 and 3 (three) aircrafts were leased from KLM and Osterman Aircharter - OAC.

Nordair operated from their homebase at Kastrup/Copenhgen, Denmark and also from Bulltofta/Malmö and their targets were the Mediterranean areas and foremost Palma, Majorca. Nordair also operated as subcharter for Flugfjelag (Icelandair) and Loftleidir. The carrier had their own catering kitchen "7 Nations" at Kastrup with a capacity of some 5000 meals per day.

The company was grounded during 1964. One of the reasons was that the aircrafts were to old and were not in a good shape (but still airworthy). Nordair had set up a contract with SAS Kastrup formaintennace of the aircfrafts. An another interesting task is that SAS tried to buy less than 50% of the capital stock but they could not make an agreement in the final end and since Nordair could not in the end full to pay for the service and SAS adjudged Nordair bankrupt. Therefor the founder Erik Östbirk brought the the whole administration and started a new airliner named Aeronord.


Fleet:
Douglas DC-6
6 no DC-6

Leased aircrafts:
3 no DC-6


AeroNord A/S


Aero-Nord DC-7 OY-ANA msn 45402 at Copenhagen/Kastrup Airport 1965
Photo:Erik Holm Aero-Nord A/S (NK)
Denmark
1965-1965
Owner: Aero-Nord A/S

Aeronord AS was a shortlived Danish charter- and inclusive-touroperator formed early 1965 to succed Nordair A/S (Nordic Airways) which ceased operations in October 1964. The airline was based at Copenhagen/Kastrup, Denmark and was founded by Erik Östbirk and his former Nordair administration. The intentions was to operate three (3) ex. American Airlines Douglas DC-7B. The carrier also built a new hangar as its base at Kastrup Airport.

Aero-Nord A/S was merged with Osterman Aircharter Sweden to form Internord Aviation in 1965.

Fleet:
Douglas DC-7
OY-ANA c/n 45402
OY-ANB c/n 45401


Osterman Air Charter OAC



Osterman Air Charter DC-7 1965
Photo:

Ostermanair - Osterman Air Charter OAC (CG)

Stockholm/Bromma, Sweden
Owner: Lennart Osterman



Sveaflyg DC-6 Cloudmaster SE-CHC msn 43138 at Stockholm-Bromma airport 1965

Sveaflyg AB was founded by Göte Rosén in late 1962, based at Stockholm/Bromma and operated a singel DC-6, SE-CHC on holiday charters to the Mediterranean area.



Osterman Air Charter DC-7 at Stockholm-Bromma airport 1965

In the summer of 1963, Lennart Osterman acquired three Douglas DC-7s from the US Overseas National Airways (ONA). Immediately after delivery, the first two machines were leased to the Danish airline Flying Enterprise via Svea-Flyg from October and December 1963, respectively. Svea-Flyg started using the third Douglas DC-7 in April 1964. At the same time, Osterman paid off the other shareholders and took over the company entirely. After the takeover, the company was renamed Osterman Air Charter AB. The company continued the charter flight operations and appeared under the brand name Ostermanair-Sweden .

In early 1965, the company put two additional Douglas DC-7s into service. At the same time, the Danish Flying Enterprise surprisingly filed for bankruptcy and returned its two leased aircraft. Ostermanair-Sweden thus had five instead of three machines, which they could only use to a limited extent during the 1965 summer season. The company wanted to work with the Danish Aero-Nord to operate the aircraft more efficiently.

On 30 November 1965 the two companies entered into a collaboration that the establishment of the joint venture Inter Nord Aviation A/S. The Copenhagen- based successor company started operations on January 1, 1966. At the same time, Ostermanair-Sweden stopped all charter services on December 31, 1965 and ceded its contracts of carriage to Internord Aviation. The Osterman charter AB remained the owner of the aircraft, then by the Inter North were used.

On October 1, 1966, Osterman Air Charter AB was renamed Internord Aviation AB based on its Danish subsidiary. A Douglas DC-7 returned by the Danish Internord in April 1967 was used by the Swedish parent company in wet lease for the International Red Cross on aid flights in Africa until the end of March 1969. fleet

Fleet:
Douglas
1 no DC-6
5 no DC-7


Internord Aviation


Internord Douglas DC-7 OY-AND Malmö/Sturup 1966.

Photo: Leo Larsen




Internord Aviation
1966-1968.
Manager: Gösta Ellhammar.

Internord Aviation was a consotium formed on November 30, 1965 by the amalgation of Danish Aero-Nord A/S and Ostemanair - Osteman Air Charter OAC, Sweden on a 50 per cent basis. The company was managed by a board of four (4) members comprising two of each from Aero-Nord and Ostermanair. Charter- and IT (inclusive-tour) operations started on January 1, 1966 particulary between Scandinavia and the Mediterranean.

At the time, when the airline introduced th new Convair Coronado CV-99, the company moved the base to Stockholm- /Arlanda. The DC-7's were still based at Stockholm/Bromma. After 3 years, the fall 1968, the company was liquidated.



Internord Aviation Convair 990A Coronado SE-ANL msn 30-10-36 at Stockholm/Arlanda
Int. airport 1968
Photo: Lars Söderström

Fleet:
Douglas
4 no DC7
4 no DC-7B
Convair
3 no Convair Coronado CV-990


Torair AB


Tor Air Super Curtiss C-46 Commando SE-CFA, 1965
Photo: Brendan McCartney

Tor Air AB
Gothenburg, Sweden
1964-1966
Owner: Ture Hultman
Technical operative org: Kurt Klausson, Tommy Jexell



Tor Air Douglas DC-3D SE-BSN 1965
Photo:

This charter carrier was founded after the filed bankruptcy of Mr Göte Roséns company Loadair whichhad one DC-3, SE-CFT in the fleet but owned by Stig Hedlund.

The aircraft was based at the time at Stockholm - Bromma airport but was flewn out and was reregistered in a new company, later Torair AB since it the aircraft was expected to be executed by theexecutory authority.

The carrier flew cargo on several contracts and in early 1965 the company got a feeder-contract from Transair Sweden and three of Transairs Curtiss C-46 was taken over by Torair AB.

Unfortunately the carrier faced ecconomical problems during 1966 and was filed for bankruptcy. The airline had been in talks with interested investors and among them, Thun-rederierna AB, Linköping which had showed some interests in acquiring the company and to rename it to Thun-Air but the discussions also ended, the plans to reconsruct the airline was never full-filled.

Fleet:
Douglas
DC-3A SE-BSN
DC-3D SE-CFT

Super Curtiss C-46 Commando
3 no C-46C Super Commando


Fairline Ltd, Sweden


Fairline Super Curtiss C-46 Commando msn B26713 Malmö/Bulltofta airport 1967
Photo:Tony Edlind collection

Fairline Ltd AB, Sweden
1966 – 1967
Owner: Ture Hultman Traffic Manager: Olle Holst
Technical Manager: Carl Lestrell

Fairline Sweden AB operated C-46 Super Curtiss SE-CFA from the home-base at Malmö/ Bulltofta, Sweden but was due for an early bancruptsy.

Fleet:
Super Curtiss C-46 Commando
3 no C-46C Super Commando



Capella Aircharter AB


Capella Aircharter Douglas DC-3D msn 42970 Göteborg/Torslanda airport 1968
Photo: Rolf Larsson

Capella Aircharter AB
1968 - 1969
Göteborg/Torslanda
Owner: Anders Rogberg

Capella Aircharter operated a single Douglas DC-3, SE-CFW c/n 42976 here seen at Stockholm Bromma, Sweden

The aircraft was bought from Austrian Airlines and kept the Austrian red and white livery and sold to Hilair AB. During 1972 the company was sold to Malmros concern/Malmros Aviation.


Fleet:
Douglas
1 no DC-3



Hilair AB

Douglas DC-3D SE DFW msn 42978 at Stockholm/Bromma airport 1970
Photo: Kjell Nillsson

HillerströmFlyg AB/Hilair AB
1969 - 1972
Malmö/Bulltofta
Owner: Folke Hillerström/Christoffer Drangel

Hillerström Flyg operated Beach Baron B55, Cessna 402, MU-2 and a single Douglas DC-3, SE-CFW c/n 42976 here seen at the hombase Malmlö, Bulltofta, Sweden. In late 1970 it was detected that the aircraft had to be repaired, since the wingconstruction seemed to to rusty and the main bolts had to be shiffted. Therfore it was decided to sell the DC-3 as spareparts in May 1971 to the Belgian Delta Air Transport, Antwerp. Soon after the arrival to Delta, the aircraft collided with a SF-260 (SIAI-Marchetti) while taxying for take-off. The aircraft was written off and spareparts were sold off.

In June 1970 the company was renamed to Hilair AB. During 1972 the company was sold to Malmros concern/Malmros Aviation.

Fleet:
1 no Beech Baron B55
1 no Cessna 402
1 no Mitsubishi MU-2
1 no DC-3



Falconair Charter AB (FC), Sweden


Lockheed L-188-C Electra, SE-FGA
Photo:Lae


Vickers Viscount 784D, SE-CNK
Photo:Lae

Falconair Charter AB
1966 – 1970
Owner: Stig and Lars Berglöf
CEO: Bo Virving
Technical Manager: Kjell-Åke Larseke
Chief Financial Officer: Tommy Jexell
Reorganized in 1969 when acquired by Scandinavian Touring travel agency.

Falconair Charter AB was a Malmo based holiday charter carrier that operated Vickers Viscount 800 and Lockheed Electra L-188 aircraft from May 1967 until financial difficulties caused the airline to cease operations in September 1970. The airline was renamed Skyline in August 1971.

The airline took delivery of two used Vickers Viscount 784D from Philippine Airlines in April 1967 and started operations in May 1967. A third Viscount, a series 784D aircraft, was added to the fleet in May 1967, also from Philippine Airlines.

In January 1969 a Lockheed L-188C Electra was bought from Eastern Airlines, followed by two more, the last one on 16 September 1969.

Fleet:
3 no Vickers Viscount 784D (1967-1971)
Lockheed Electra (1969-1971)


Skyline Sweden AB


Skyline Sweden SE-CNK msn 227 Stockholm/Bromma airport 1972
Photo: Kjell Nilsson

Skyline Sweden AB (OX)
Malmö, Sweden
1971-1977
Owner: Lennart Nordström, Christoffer Drangel
Technical operative org: Arne Rosengren

Skyline Drangel and Nordström AB was founded during 1971 by Lennart Nordsröm who already during 1959 founded Malmö Aero and later its subsidary Hawk Air to operate three (3) Vickers Viscounts obtainded from Falconair Charter (1966-1977). Christoffer Drangel was invited to be a joint owner of the new carrier Skyline Sweden AB and Arne Rosengren was recruited to be the head of the technical organization.

In the beginning Skyline flew as an odd-charter but in mid seventies the airline signed a contract to operate on behalf of Linjeflyg on their domestic routes due to the delay of delivery of Linjeflyg new fleet of Fokker F28-400s, all Convair Metropolitan should be phased out. Skyline leased three (3) Vickers Viscounts for this service.

In 1977 when almost all Fokker F28s were delivered to Linjeflyg, Skylines operations on the domestic routes were phased out one by one. Since no other contracts were obtained this led to ecconomical problems for the carrier. The worse was the loss of one of their Viscounts SE-FOZ on final to Bromma Airport, known as the "Kälvesta-disaster" with 22 fatalities.(The aircraft suddenly pitched down from an altitude of 1150 feet, went into a vertical five and crashed on a parking lot, 5km short of the runway because the no. 2 and no. 3 engines had been running with reduced power for a long time, the anti-ice system temperature was too low. Probable cause: Ice on the leading edge of the stabilizer resulted in flow separation and stabilizer stall.

Due to the fullfilled contract with Linjeflyg and no other contracts and the loss of the Viscount, the airline ceased operations early 1978.


Fleet:
Vickers
7 no. Vickers Viscount 748



InterSwede Aviation


Interswede DC-8-51 SE-DCT msn 45648 at Stockholm/Arlanda airport 1972
Photo: Kjell Nilsson

InterSwede Aviation
Malmö/Bulltofta, Sweden
Owner: Interswede Leasing Malmö AB
Manager: Per Engström
Tecnical management: Ynvge Syrén, Kurt Klausson
1971-1972.

This shortlived airline was based at Malmö/Bulltofta, Sweden with the intentions to operate two Boeing 720B 170 seats)from Continental Airlines but the negotiations were never fullfilled. At the same time Eastern Airlines, Miami, had two DC-8-51 (189 seats) for sale and after negotiations a contract was signed including training of the crew and staff.


Interswede DC-8-51 SE-DCT msn 45648 at Göteborg-Torslana airport 1972

The first operation starded on December 30,1971 by a flight from Malmö/Bulltofta to Stockholm/Arlanda followed by a flight to Malta.

Due to Scandinavian Airlines SAS declarations regarding the company´s right to the monopoly, Interswede had to be stopped. The order-book included flights from Copenhagen among of them to Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Detroit. Other destinations were Asmara, Bangladesh, Boston, Santiago de Chile and Trinidad but the airline had already faced economical problems since they faild to amortize to Eastern Airlines.

The aircraft were collected by EA and later sold to another company. The manager declared that the carrier should continue to fly later that year with intension to continue to operate Douglas DC-8 but the airline was grounded in July 1972.


Fleet:
Douglas
2 no DC-8-51



Airtrader Sweden AB

Vickers VanguardS 952 SE-FTI msn 744 at Stockholm/Bromma airport 1972
Photo: Brian Mells

Airtrader, Sweden AB
Stockholm/Bromma
1972 – 1973
Owner: Sparbanken
Manager: Ulf Engelbrecht

Airtrader Sweden AB, financed by Sparbanken bought four Vickers VC9 Vanguard. The intentions were to operate three(3) of the Vickers Vanguards and the fourth (4) should serve as "sparparts". But soon the one of the aircrafts, SE-FTK had to be delivered back to the seller due to early ecconomical problem..

The company operated most as a cargocompany to i.e. Italy, Europe, Africa, Far East and to India. The company also operaded on behalf of the Swedish Red Cross.

Airtrader operated this Vickers Vanguard 952, SE-FTI from the home-base at Stockholm/ Bromma, Sweden


Fleet:
Vickers VC9 Vanguard
4 no VC9 Vanguard


Transwede Airways AB


Transwede Caravelle SE-210 10B3 LN-BSE 1998
Photo:
Transwede B757 SE-DUK,1998
Photo:

Transwede Sweden
Owner: Thomas Johansson and the staff from Aerocenter. 1985-1998

Transwede Airways AB, trading as Transwede, was a Swedish airline which operated between 1985 and 1998. During the mid -1990s the airline charter flights with Boeing 757-200 under the name Transwede Leisure.

When Transwede later was merged into Braathens and Blue Scandinavia it became Sweden's second-largest airline after the dismiss of Linjeflyg in 1993.

Transwede operated a fleet of Caravelles, Fokker F28s, F100s, Boeing 737s and 757s, McDonnell Douglas MD-80s and Lockheed L-1011 TriStars for charter flights.


Fleet:

Boeing
8 no B737
2 no B757

Fokker

10 F28/F100

Lockheed

no L L-1011 Tristar
McDonnellDouglas
14 no MD-80

Sud Caravelle SE-210
3 no SE-201 10B3
2 no SE-210 10R


Blue Scandinavia


Blue Scandinavia L-1011, SE-DTC msn 1995
Photo:


Blue Scandinavia SE-DUK,1995
Photo:
Blue Scandinavia (5T)
Stockholm/Arlanda, Sweden
Owner: Fritidsresor 1985-1998

The airline was originally formed in 1985 to handle the charter operations of Transwede Airways. In 1996, the charter part of the airline was taken over by Swedish tour operator Fritidsresor and renamed Blue Scandinavia. When Britannia Airways took control in 1998 following the acquisition of Fritidsresor by Thomson, the airline was renamed Britannia AB and later rebranded as Britannia Nordic. In 2000 Preussag (later TUI) acquired the Thomson Group.

In November 2005, the airline was rebranded as Thomsonfly and in May 2006 as TUIfly Nordic due to the new marketing strategy of the TUI Group. In the case of TUIfly Nordic, sometimes the logo of 'Fritidsresor' is marked on the fuselage to indicate their role as the companies main tour operator.

On 13 May 2015, it was announced by the TUI Group that all five of TUI's airline subsidiaries will be named TUI, whilst keeping their separate Air Operators Certificate, taking over three years to complete. The name change for TUIfly Nordic is scheduled to be completed around 2018.

Fleet:
Boeing
no B757-200

Lockheed
1 no L-1011
Douglas
1 no MD-82


timeAir Sweden

time Air Sweden Lockheed L1011 Tristar SE-DPR msn 193B Tucson Int airport 1995
Photo: David Oates



time Air Sweden B737-200 SE-DLD msn 19409 Berlin-Tempelhof airport 1991
Photo:Ralf Manteufel

Time Air Sweden Stockholm/Arlanda, Sweden
Owner: Thomas Johansson 1991-1993

time Air Sweden was a short-lived Swedish charter-company set up by one of the true entrepreneurs of Swedish airline-industry Thomas Johansson, also being responsible for establishing earlier Transwede Airways in 1985.


Fleet:
Boeing
4 no B737-200
2 no B737-300
Lockheed
1 (2) no L-1011
Douglas
2 no DC-8-71


Premiair


The first edition of Premiair DC-10-10 SE-DHU msn 47832 after the merger of Scanair
and Transair at Palma Son San Juan airport/ Mallorca airport 1994
Photo: Javier Rodrigues.


Premiair A320-211 OY-CNM 1997
Photo:


Premiair A330-349 OY-VKG msn 349 Arrecife airport Lanzarote 2002
Photo:

Premiair (DK)
Copenhagen/Kastrup, Denmark
Owner: Scandinavian Leisure Group
1994-2002

On January 1st 1994, Premiair was formed as a merger of the Danish charter airline Conair and Scanair which has been the charter arm of SAS for many years. The company headquarters was lockated to Copenhagen Intl Airport, Denmark. An important reason for this mergin was that Denmark, as opposed to Sweden, was a member of the EU.

Scanair was also the airline which brought in a fleet of six ex Western/Delta DC-10-10s.

Premiairs DC-10s were used on long-haul routes routes to the Mediterranean Sea, Canary Islands where it supplemented the A300. A DC-10-30 was added to the fleet in 1997 which brought the fleet to five aircraft. The fleet was upgraded by A320 and A330-300 and the latter with 411 seats.

Since the late 1990s, Airtours International from Great Britain has become a major stockholder of the Danish charter airline and the color scheme changed from almost all-white to a colorful scheme similar to the one of Airtours International. The DC-10s were transferred to Airtours International, which became MyTravel in 2002.

2002: In May, 2002, Premiair changes name to MyTravel Airways. In 2008 the company changed its name again to Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia.

Fleet:

Airbus Industri
3 no A300B4
13 no A320-231 Boeing
2 no B757

Douglas
5 no DC-10-10


* * * * *


Information:
This is an encyclopedia of former Scandinavian charter carriers inclusive links to other related sites.

Do you have any further information/ corrections of the airlines, please send an e-mail, thank you!

Sources:
Own sources from 1963 -

Additional sources:
Lars-Inge Grundberg/Flyget på Bulltofta 119-1972
Lars-Åke Holst, Transair Sweden
Kurt Klausson/Med flyget i blodet
Göte Rosén/25 års luftaffärer
Sven Stridsberg
Wim Zwakhals, Nordair, Oud16hoven.nl


Images/photos:
Many thank´s to:
Peter Frei, bsl-mlh-planes-Net
Günter Grondstein, Airliners.Net
Chrisoph Hartmann, bsl-mlh-planes.Net
Kjell Nilsson, Airliners.Net
Stefan Sjögren
Lars Söderström, Airliners.Net
Marchell Tschudin, bsl-mlh-planes.Net

© Copyright 2002 by Tony Edlind