Sterling Airlines

Sterling Airlines A/S
IATA ICAO Callsign
NB SNB STERLING
Founded1962; 62 years ago (1962)
(as Sterling Airways)
Merged with Maersk Air in 2005; 19 years ago (2005)
Ceased operations29 October 2008;
15 years ago (2008-10-29)
HubsCopenhagen Airport
Focus cities
Holding company#Parent companyNorthern Travel Holding
HeadquartersCopenhagen Airport
Dragør, Dragør Municipality, Denmark
Key peopleReza Taleghani (CEO)
Sterling Airways Douglas DC-6B at Copenhagen (Kastrup) Airport in 1968
Sud Aviation Caravelle in 1981
Sterling Aerospatiale Corvette operated on charter services at Brussels Airport in July 1985
Boeing 737-700 in 2006

Sterling Airlines A/S was a low-cost airline with its head office at Copenhagen Airport South in Dragør, Dragør Municipality, Denmark.[1] It was created in September 2005 through the merger of two Danish airlines — Sterling European Airlines and Maersk Air — which had been acquired by the Icelandic investment group Fons Eignarhaldsfélag a few months before for MDKK 500. Fons was owned by Icelandic business tycoon Palmi Haraldsson. One month after the merger, Sterling Airlines was sold to the FL Group for an amount of MDKK 1500. In December 2006, Sterling was sold again, this time to Nordic Travel Holding. On 6 January 2006, Hannes Þór Smárason, CEO of the FL Group, stated that a merger of EasyJet and Sterling was a possibility.

At the end of 2005, Sterling Airlines had 1,600 staff and 29 aircraft, making it almost twice as large as Icelandair. The company flew to some 40 European destinations, with Copenhagen Airport, Oslo Airport, Gardermoen and Stockholm-Arlanda Airport as primary hubs.

On 29 October 2008, Sterling filed for bankruptcy and ceased operations.[2] On 4 December 2008, Cimber Air announced that it had purchased Sterling and intended to restore the airline as a separate company, with a gradual expansion throughout Europe. The purchase included Sterling's name, website and landing slots, but not aircraft. Former Sterling employees were not guaranteed jobs in the resurrected company, although Cimber believed many of them would be offered jobs.[3]

  1. ^ "Contact." Sterling Airlines. Retrieved on 13 February 2011. "Head office Sterling Airlines A/S Copenhagen Airport South 2791 Dragoer Denmark."
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference bankrupt was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Sterling gjenoppstår e24.no December 4, 2008 (in Norwegian)