Aero Lloyd

Not to be confused with Aerolloyd or Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano.

Aero Lloyd

IATA ICAO Call sign YP AEF AERO LLOYD
Founded	September 6, 1979; 45 years ago (1979-09-06)
Ceased operations	October 16, 2003; 21 years ago (2003-10-16)
Operating bases	Frankfurt Airport
Frequent-flyer program	Flyplus
Fleet size	56
Destinations	59
Parent company	BayernLB (66%)
Headquarters	Oberursel, Germany
Website	www.aerolloyd.de

Aero Lloyd Flugreisen GmbH & Co, operating as Aero Lloyd, was a German charter airline based in Oberursel, Germany. ^[1] It was headquartered in Building 182 at Frankfurt Airport in Frankfurt before it was moved to Oberursel. ^{[2] [3]}

History

Early years

An Aero Lloyd Sud Aviation Caravelle at Frankfurt Airport, Germany

Aero Lloyd was founded on September 6, 1979 ^[4] and launched operations in March 1981 with three Sud Aviation Caravelles. ^[5] By 1982, the airline received 3 ex-Garuda Indonesia Douglas DC-9-32 aircraft.

In 1986, the airline began to receive McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft used to add new destinations. In 1988, Aero Lloyd launched scheduled services to London in the United Kingdom, Paris in France, and Zürich in Switzerland with the newly acquired aircraft. However, by 1992, Aero Lloyd dropped scheduled operations after realising it was not a good move for the airline.

In 1998, the Bayerische Landesbank took over a majority stake of 66% with the intention of selling it on to a strategic buyer. The Bayerische Landesbank was also the largest lender. In 2000, the return on sales was below 1% and thus below the industry average. In 2001 the Bayerische Landesbank had to grant a loan of 20 million euros to ensure liquidity. Aero Lloyd achieved a market share of around 12% in 2002, but suffered from overcapacities on the market.

Collapse

The airline ceased operations on October 16, 2003 after shareholders refused to continue funding the airline. The collapse left 4,000 passengers stuck at German airports and 4,500 stuck overseas. ^{[6] [7]} Its assets were acquired by Aero Lloyd founder, Bogomir Gradisnik. Under the management of Gradisnik's associate, Miso Aksmanovic, the company was reshaped into a smaller charter operation named Aero Flight which was established in March 2004 and started operations on March 26, 2004. Aero Flight ceased operations in October 30, 2005.^{[ citation needed ]}

Fleet

An Aero Lloyd McDonnell Douglas MD-87 at Luqa, Malta

An Aero Lloyd Airbus A321-200. This aircraft later crashed in Pakistan in 2010 as AirBlue Flight 202

The Aero Lloyd fleet consisted of the following aircraft throughout operations:^{[ citation needed ]}

Aero Lloyd fleet

Aircraft	Total	Introduced	Retired	Notes
Airbus A320-200	1	1991	1991	Leased from Adria Airways
	2	1994	1994	Leased from Leisure Air and Translift Airways
	11	1996	2003
Airbus A321-200	11	1998	2003
McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32	4	1982	1994
McDonnell Douglas MD-82	2	1994	1997
McDonnell Douglas MD-83	16	1987	2001
McDonnell Douglas MD-87	4	1988	1997
Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle	3	1979	1983

Accidents and incidents

• On September 1, 2001, an Aero lloyd Airbus A321-200, operating a charter flight from Catania-Fontanarossa Airport, Italy to Berlin Tegel Airport, Germany, had an attempted hijacking shortly after takeoff. The plane was diverted to Naples Airport in Italy where it made an emergency landing and the hijacker was arrested. There is a mix of reports ranging from the man using wax candles as dynamite and that of a panic attack. Nobody was injured in the incident. ^{[8] [9]}

• On July 1, 2002, Aero Lloyd flight 1135, an Airbus A320-200, was running behind schedule and did not reach Friedrichshafen Airport until after the allotted arrival time for passenger flights. The region's Zürich-based traffic control centre was not expecting to handle any more landings that night and therefore only had a single controller working the late-night shift, despite regulations that required at least two controllers on duty at all times. Although flight 1135 ultimately landed safely, the controller's efforts to assist this flight had repeatedly distracted him from his prior responsibility to handle high-altitude traffic in the Lake Constance region; this was cited by investigators as a major contributing factor in the nearby mid-air collision above Überlingen, which occurred while flight 1135 was preparing to land.

See also

• List of defunct airlines of Germany

References

1. "Konakt." Aero Lloyd. Retrieved on 21 June 2009.
2. "World Airline Directory." Flight International . 16 May 1981. 1391. "Luftverkehrs KG, Gebäude 182, Flughafen, 6,000 Frankfurt, West Germany" - Direct PDF Link, Archive
3. "World airline directory." Flight International . 26 July 1980. p. 262. Direct PDF link (Archive) "Flughafen Frankfurt Rheim-Main, West Germany"
4. Airlife Publications UK, ed. (1997). Major Airlines of the world. Robert Hewson. ISBN   1-85310-581-3.
5. "Aero Lloyd Remembered" . Retrieved 21 February 2017.
6. "TUI Says Aero Lloyd Stops Service Amid Insolvency". Bloomberg.
7. "BBC NEWS - Business - Bank pulls plug on German airline" . Retrieved 21 February 2017.
8. Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Airbus A321 registration unknown Napoli Airport (NAP)" . Retrieved 21 February 2017.
9. Ranter, Harro. "Aviation Safety Network > ASN Aviation Safety Database > Operator index > Germany > Aero Lloyd" . Retrieved 21 February 2017.

External links

Media related to Aero Lloyd at Wikimedia Commons

• "AeroLloyd" (in German). Archived from the original on 2009-08-07. Retrieved 2008-05-13.