Deutsche Lufthansa AG / Lufthansa German Airlines, commonly shortened to Lufthansa, serves as the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it stands as the second-largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried, after the ultra low-cost carrier Ryanair, largest in Europe and fourth largest in the world by revenue. Lufthansa is also one of the five founding members of Star Alliance, which is the world's largest airline alliance, formed in 1997.
Scandinavian Airlines, more commonly known and styled as SAS, is the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. SAS is an abbreviation of the company's full name, Scandinavian Airlines System or legally Scandinavian Airlines System Denmark-Norway-Sweden. Part of the SAS Group and headquartered at the SAS Frösundavik Office Building in Solna, Sweden, the airline operates 180 aircraft to 90 destinations. The airline's main hub is at Copenhagen-Kastrup Airport, with connections to 109 destinations around the world. Stockholm Arlanda Airport is the second largest hub, with Oslo Airport, Gardermoen being the third major hub of SAS. Minor hubs also exist at Bergen Airport, Flesland, Göteborg Landvetter Airport, Stavanger Airport, and Trondheim Airport. SAS Cargo is an independent, wholly owned subsidiary of Scandinavian Airlines and its main office is at Copenhagen Airport.
Swiss International Air Lines AG, colloquially known as SWISS, is the flag carrier of Switzerland and a subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group, as well as a Star Alliance member. It operates scheduled services in Europe and to North America, South America, Africa and Asia. Zurich Airport serves as its main hub and Geneva Airport as its secondary hub.
Swissair was the national airline of Switzerland between its founding in 1931 and bankruptcy in 2002.
Japan Airlines Co., Ltd. is the flag carrier of Japan. JAL is headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport, as well as Osaka's Kansai International Airport and Itami Airport. The JAL group of which it forms part include Japan Airlines as well as J-Air, Japan Air Commuter, Japan Transocean Air, and Ryukyu Air Commuter for domestic feeder services, and JAL Cargo for cargo and mail services.
Frankfurt Airport, also known as Rhein-Main-Flughafen is Germany's main international airport by passenger numbers and is located in Frankfurt, the fifth-largest city of Germany and one of the world's leading financial centres. It is operated by Fraport and serves as the main hub for Lufthansa, including Lufthansa CityLine and Lufthansa Cargo as well as Condor and AeroLogic. The airport covers an area of 2,300 hectares of land and features two passenger terminals with capacity for approximately 65 million passengers per year; four runways; and extensive logistics and maintenance facilities.
The Star Alliance is the world's largest global airline alliance. Founded on 14 May 1997, its headquarters are located on the grounds of Frankfurt Airport in Frankfurt, Germany,
Oneworld is a global airline alliance consisting of 13 member airlines. It was founded on 1 February 1999. The alliance's stated objective is to be the first choice airline alliance for the world's frequent international travellers. Its headquarters have been located in Fort Worth, Texas since December 2022.
SkyTeam is one of the world's three major airline alliances. Founded in June 2000, SkyTeam was the last of the three alliances to be formed, the first two being Star Alliance and Oneworld, respectively. Its annual passenger count is 630 million (2019), the second largest of the three major alliances. As of January 2019, SkyTeam consists of 19 carriers from five continents and operates with the slogan "Caring more about you". It also operates a cargo alliance named SkyTeam Cargo, which partners ten carriers, all of them SkyTeam members. Its centralised management team, SkyTeam Central, is based at the World Trade Center Schiphol Airport on the grounds of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands.
Air France–KLM S.A., also known as Air France–KLM Group, is a French airline holding company with its headquarters in the rue du Cirque, Paris. The group’s three major brands are Air France, KLM and Transavia. Air France–KLM is the result of the merger in 2004 between Air France and KLM. Both Air France and KLM are members of the SkyTeam airline alliance. The group's main hubs are Paris–Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris Orly Airport and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. Air France–KLM Airlines transported 83 million passengers in 2022.
A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by the government for international operations.
Singapore Airlines Cargo is the unit within Singapore Airlines (SIA) responsible for air cargo operations. It was incorporated in 1988. SIA Cargo manages the cargo operations of SIA's fleet of freight- and passenger aircraft. Its main office is on the fifth floor of the SATS Airfreight Terminal 5 at Singapore Changi Airport.
Privatair SA was a Swiss airline headquartered in Meyrin, which operated business jets as well as scheduled services on behalf of major airlines. In addition the company operated crew and pilot training facilities. PrivatAir SA was a registered air carrier with two air operator's certificates, in Switzerland and through its subsidiary PrivatAir GmbH in Germany. On 5 December 2018, PrivatAir filed for insolvency and ceased operations.
Lufthansa Cargo AG is a German cargo airline and a wholly owned subsidiary of Lufthansa. It operates worldwide air freight and logistics services and is headquartered at Frankfurt Airport, the main hub of Lufthansa. Besides operating dedicated cargo planes, the company also has access to cargo capacities of 350 passenger aircraft of the Lufthansa Group.
SAS AB, trading as SAS Group, is an airline holding company headquartered in the SAS Frösundavik Office Building in Solna Municipality, Sweden. It is the owner of the airlines Scandinavian Airlines and SAS Connect. SAS once owned 19.9% of the now defunct Spanish airline Spanair as well as shares in Estonian Air and Skyways Express. SAS Group is partially owned by the governments of Sweden and Denmark with a 14.82% and 14.24% holding, respectively. The remaining 70.92% is held by private shareholders, of which Foundation Asset Management owns 6.50%. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange, the Stockholm Stock Exchange, and the Copenhagen Stock Exchange.
Austrian Airlines AG, often shortened to Austrian or AUA, is the flag carrier of Austria and a subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. The airline is headquartered on the grounds of Vienna International Airport in Schwechat where it also maintains its hub. As of July 2016, the airline flew to six domestic and more than 120 international year-round and seasonal destinations in 55 countries and is a member of the Star Alliance.
SAS Ground Handling is Europe's third-largest full-service provider of aircraft ground handling and airport related services. SAS Ground Handling is the largest ground-handling company in Scandinavia.
Alcazar was a 1993 proposal to merge Austrian Airlines, KLM, Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), and Swissair to create Symphony, which would have been Europe's largest airline.
