Air Exel

Last updated
Air Exel
IATA ICAO Callsign
XTAXLEXEL COMMUTER
Founded26 April 1991 (1991-04-26)
(as Air Exel Commuter)
Commenced operations
  • January 1998 (1998-01)
    (as KLM exel)
  • 6 November 2004 (2004-11-06)
    (as Air Exel Netherlands)
Ceased operations31 January 2005 (2005-01-31)
Hubs Maastricht Aachen Airport
Secondary hubs Eindhoven Airport
Frequent-flyer program Flying Dutchman
Parent company KLM (1998—2004)
Headquarters Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Key peopleHarm Prins (CEO)

Air Exel was a Dutch airline based in Maastricht in the Netherlands, operating scheduled and chartered flights out of Eindhoven Airport and Maastricht Aachen Airport to several domestic and international destinations.

Contents

History

KLM Exel logo KLM exel.svg
KLM Exel logo

The airline was established on 26 April 1991 as Air Exel Commuter on a co-operational base with Dutch national carrier KLM. [1] Scheduled flights were launched on 1 May of the same year. As part of the parent's move to integrate the services of its feeders, the company was renamed to KLM Exel in January 1998. On 6 November 2004, the co-operation with KLM ended, and the airline became Air Exel Netherlands. [2] One month later, in December 2004, Air Exel's Chief Executive Officer, Harm Prins, was arrested on charges of fraud, blackmail, and money laundering. The investigation brought to light financial difficulties with Air Exel, which was subsequently shut down on 31 January 2005. [3]

Destinations

An ATR 42 of KLM exel approaches Maastricht Aachen Airport in 2002. ATR-42 Air Exel PH-XLE MST March 2002.jpg
An ATR 42 of KLM exel approaches Maastricht Aachen Airport in 2002.

Upon closure, Air Exel operated scheduled flights to the following destinations:

France
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
United Kingdom
Germany

Fleet

Over the years, the KLM Exel/Air Exel fleet consisted of the following aircraft types: [4]

KLM Exel/Air Exel former fleet
AircraftIntroducedRetiredTotal
(at closure)
ATR 42 19982005
2
ATR 72 19992005
1
Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia 19982005
2
Embraer ERJ 145 20002004
3

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KLM</span> Flag carrier of the Netherlands

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V., is the flag carrier of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM group and a member of the SkyTeam airline alliance. Founded in 1919, KLM is the oldest operating airline in the world, and has 35,488 employees with a fleet of 110 as of 2021. KLM operates scheduled passenger and cargo services to 145 destinations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amsterdam Airport Schiphol</span> Airport in the Netherlands

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, known informally as Schiphol Airport, is the main international airport of the Netherlands. It is located 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) southwest of Amsterdam, in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer in the province of North Holland. It is the world's third busiest airport by international passenger traffic in 2021. With almost 72 million passengers in 2019, it is the third-busiest airport in Europe in terms of passenger volume and the busiest in Europe in terms of aircraft movements. With an annual cargo tonnage of 1.74 million, it is the 4th busiest in Europe. AMS covers a total area of 6,887 acres of land. The airport is built on the single-terminal concept: one large terminal split into three departure halls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eindhoven Airport</span> Airport in Eindhoven, Netherlands

Eindhoven Airport is an international airport located 7.6 km (4.7 mi) west of Eindhoven, Netherlands. In terms of the number of served passengers, it is the second largest airport in the Netherlands, with 6.8 million passengers in 2023 The airport is used by both civilian and military traffic.

KLM Cityhopper is the regional airline subsidiary of KLM, headquartered in Haarlemmermeer, North Holland, Netherlands. It is based at nearby Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. As a subsidiary of Air France–KLM, it is an affiliate of SkyTeam. The airline operates scheduled European feeder services on behalf of KLM.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ALM Antillean Airlines</span> Defunct Netherlands Antillean airline

ALM Antillean Airlines, and later Air ALM, was the main airline of the Netherlands Antilles between its foundation in 1964 and its shut-down in 2001, operating out of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. It was based at Hato International Airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maastricht Aachen Airport</span> Airport in Limburg, Netherlands

Maastricht Aachen Airport is a regional airport in Beek in Limburg, Netherlands, located 5 NM northeast of Maastricht and 15 NM northwest of Aachen, Germany. It is the second-largest hub for cargo flights in the Netherlands. As of 2016, the airport had a passenger throughput of 176,000 and handled 60,000 tons of cargo.

Transavia Airlines C.V., trading as Transavia and formerly branded as transavia.com, is a Dutch low-cost airline and a wholly owned subsidiary of KLM and therefore part of the Air France–KLM group. Its main base is Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and it has other bases at Rotterdam The Hague Airport and Eindhoven Airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlas Blue</span>

Atlas Blue was a low-cost airline with its head office on the grounds of Marrakech-Menara Airport in Marrakech, Morocco, operating out of Menara International Airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flamingo International Airport</span> Airport in Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands

Flamingo International Airport, also called Bonaire International Airport, is an international airport located near Kralendijk on the island of Bonaire in the Caribbean Netherlands. It was once the hub for BonaireExel and CuraçaoExel before they were rebranded as Dutch Antilles Express, and served as a secondary hub for Dutch Antilles Express and Insel Air. The airport is the fourth largest in the Dutch Caribbean, after Queen Beatrix International Airport on Aruba, Princess Juliana International Airport on Sint Maarten and Curaçao International Airport on Curaçao and is now the largest airport in the Caribbean Netherlands, with F. D. Roosevelt Airport in Sint Eustatius being the second largest and Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport in Saba being the smallest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Schiphol Group</span>

Royal Schiphol Group is a Dutch airport management company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DutchCaribbeanExel</span> Defunct Dutch airline

DutchCaribbeanExel was an airline with its head office in Amsterdam. The airline connected from the Netherlands to the Netherlands Antilles and was based at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

HollandExel was an airline based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It operated charter services for tour operators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TUI fly Netherlands</span> Charter airline of the Netherlands

TUI fly Netherlands, legally incorporated as TUI Airlines Netherlands, is a Dutch charter airline headquartered in Schiphol-Rijk on the grounds of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands. It is the charter carrier of the Dutch arm of the German travel conglomerate TUI Group and its main base is Schiphol Airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liège Airport</span> International airport serving Liège, Belgium

Liege Airport, previously called Liege-Bierset Airport, is an international airport located in Grâce-Hollogne, 5 nautical miles west of the city of Liège, Belgium. The airport mainly focuses on air freight. At the end of 2021, freight traffic reached 1,412,498 tonnes (+26%). Liege Airport is now the 5th biggest cargo airport in Europe and the 22nd biggest in the world.

NLM CityHopper, full name Nederlandse Luchtvaart Maatschappij, was a Dutch commuter airline, founded in 1966. Its head office was in Building 70 in Schiphol Airport East in Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands.

Interstate Airlines was a charter airline based in Maastricht, Netherlands. It operates wet lease services within Europe. Its main base was Maastricht Aachen Airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beek</span> Municipality in Limburg, Netherlands

Beek is a town and municipality in the southeastern Netherlands, in the province of Limburg. As of 2012, Beek has a population of about 16,400, of which about 8,800 live in the town of Beek.

Maastricht Airlines was a Dutch airline which had announced plans to start operating routes from Maastricht Aachen Airport using two Fokker 50 aircraft leased from the Italian cargo airline MiniLiner. The aircraft were to receive registrations PH-KVA and PH-KVB, since both aircraft once belonged to KLM Cityhopper. It was planned to extend the fleet to six aircraft. The airline was backed by the Municipality of Maastricht and the Province of Limburg.

References

  1. "Air Exel Commuter". Airline History. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  2. "KLM Exel". Airline History. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  3. "Chief executive Air Exel arrested". 13 December 2004. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
  4. KLM Exel fleet list at airfleets.net