German Regional Airlines
| |||||||
| Founded | 1974 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating bases | Cologne Bonn Airport | ||||||
| Fleet size | 8[1] | ||||||
| Parent company | Zeitfracht | ||||||
| Headquarters | Cologne, Germany | ||||||
| Key people |
| ||||||
| Website | germanairways.com | ||||||
German Regional Airlines GmbH & Co. KG,[3] operating under the German Airways brand[3] and formerly named WDL Aviation, is a German charter and wet lease aircraft operator, headquartered at Cologne Bonn Airport, and part of the Zeitfracht Group.
History
[edit]Initially named WDL Flugdienst, the company was set up in 1974[4] as a subsidiary of Westdeutsche Luftwerbung GmbH, an aerial advertising provider founded in 1955.[5]
The current name was adopted in 1991, when the parent was reorganized as WDL Group.[5] With WDL Aviation offering aircraft lease and charter services, the aerial advertising and sightseeing flight branch (using blimps) survives in the other subsidiary of WDL Group, which is called WDL Luftschiff. Since 1998, the British Aerospace 146 is in service with WDL Aviation. Other aircraft types that were operated by WDL Aviation include the Fokker F27 Friendship[5] and an Airbus A320-200 on lease from Adria Airways between 1992 and 1993.[6]
WDL Aviation was acquired by the Berlin logistics company Zeitfracht on 1 October 2017.[4] During 2018, WDL Aviation started acquiring BAe 146-300 QT freighter aircraft while planning to replace its BAe 146 passenger aircraft with newer Embraer 190s[7] and received its new brand name German Airways thereafter.
In March 2020, Zeitfracht announced a rebranding for WDL Aviation which is to become German Regional Airlines operating within the German Airways branding alongside sister company Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter which became the actual, and now defunct, German Airways.[3]
Corporate affairs
[edit]Ownership and structure
[edit]German Regional Airlines is owned by Zeitfracht Group, an owner-managed family business with interests in logistics, aviation and real estate. It has its headquarters in Berlin and over 1,200 employees.[8][2] German Airways is part of Zeitfracht Aviation, together with the now defunct German Airways Fluggesellschaft mbH, which ran short-lived wet lease operations for Eurowings.
Business trends
[edit]Both German Regional Airlines and the Zeitfracht Group are private companies, and annual reports do not appear to be published. In the absence of these, the little information for German Regional Airlines that appears to be available is:
| 2018 | |
|---|---|
| Turnover (€m) | |
| Profit (€m) | |
| Number of employees | 120 |
| Number of passengers (m) | |
| Number of aircraft (at year end) | 4 |
| Notes/sources | [8] |
Fleet
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As of January 2024, the German Regional Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft:[1]
| Aircraft | In fleet | Orders | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Embraer 190 | 8 | — | operated under the German Airways brand |
| Total | 8 | — |
Incidents
[edit]- On 25 March 2019, British Airways Flight 3271 operated by then WDL Aviation, which took off from London City Airport enroute to Düsseldorf but landed in Edinburgh. BA blamed WDL Aviation for a paperwork error.[9][10][11][12]
References
[edit]- ^ a b germanairways.com - Fleet retrieved 6 January 2024
- ^ a b "Walter Böhnke retires from WDL management, becomes Chairman of the Advisory Board at Zeitfracht". 29 May 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
- ^ a b c airliners.de - "LGW and WDL get new names" (German) 11 March 2020
- ^ a b "WDL Aviation: Official website".
- ^ a b c "Information about WDL Aviation at the Aero Transport Data Bank".
- ^ "WDL Aviation Fleet of BAE146 (Active) | Airfleets aviation". www.airfleets.net. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
- ^ luchtvaartnieuws.nl - WDL Aviation vernieuwt vloot met Embraer 190 6 December 2018
- ^ a b Aviation Fleet Facts and Figures[permanent dead link] retrieved 22 July 2019]
- ^ Topham, Gwin (25 March 2019). "British Airways flight to Düsseldorf lands in Edinburgh by mistake". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
- ^ Coffey, Helen (25 March 2019). "British Airways flight to Germany lands in Scotland". The Independent. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
- ^ Horton, Helena (25 March 2019). "BA flight bound for Dusseldorf lands in Edinburgh after paperwork mix-up". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
- ^ Hope, Katie (25 March 2019). "BA flight lands in Edinburgh instead of Düsseldorf by mistake". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
External links
[edit]
Media related to WDL Aviation at Wikimedia Commons
