InterSky

InterSky
IATA ICAO Callsign
3L ISK INTERSKY
Founded 2001
Commenced operations 5 November 2002
Ceased operations 5 November 2015[1]
Operating bases Friedrichshafen Airport
Fleet size 5
Destinations 20
Company slogan We Fly You
Headquarters Bregenz, Austria
Key people
  • Rolf Seewald, Founder
  • Renate Moser, Founder
  • Roger Hohl, CEO

InterSky, legally Intersky Luftfahrt GmbH, was an Austrian airline headquartered in Bregenz, which operated scheduled services from its base at Friedrichshafen Airport, Germany, to major cities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as well as seasonal holiday flights to the Mediterranean from other airports as well. The airline ceased operations on the evening of the 5 November 2015 due to financial difficulties.[1]

History

Early years

Intersky was established in November 2001 and started operations on 25 March 2002. At that time the company was owned by Renate Moser (50%), then first female airline CEO, Rolf Seewald (35%), the founder and owner of regional airline Rheintalflug, and other shareholders (15%).[2]

As of 2010, the airline had 110 employees. In October 2010, InterSky announced to quit their long-running route from Friedrichshafen to Cologne due to the heavy competition by Germanwings which also started the same route a few months earlier. InterSky also abandoned plans to add a fifth aircraft to the fleet for the time being.[3]

In July 2011 Intersky announced that Renate Moser and Rolf Seewald will take over again the operative management after four years absence. Claus Bernatzik, the son of Renate Moser, left the company by end of the year.[4] In August 2012 it was announced that InterSky has ordered two ATR 72-600s. The two aircraft were scheduled to be delivered in December 2012 and March 2013. These aircraft became the first ATRs to be operated by an Austrian carrier.[5]

In the same month the airline also announced to open a new base at Hamburg Airport. This plan was however cancelled in October 2012, after OLT Express Germany also announced to connect Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden with Hamburg as InterSky also planned.[6] Since OLT Express Germany filed for bankruptcy shortly after, InterSky started to operate the route in March 2013 on a wet-lease contract with Avanti Air.[7] However, this route ceased in January 2014 as Germanwings announced to start this route as well from spring 2014.

2015

In May 2015, InterSky announced to open its second base at Memmingen Airport by October 2015 consisting of one aircraft, adding a new route to Cologne and increasing frequencies on the already existing services to Berlin and Hamburg.[8] Later, that plan was changed as a triangled route Friedrichshafen - Memmingen - Cologne/Bonn will be established instead of basing an aircraft in Memmingen.[9] On 27 October 2015, InterSky announced to drastically cut down their Friedrichshafen-Memmingen-Cologne route which resumed just three weeks earlier. Instead of two daily flights only two flights a week will continue to operate due to a lower demand than expected.[10]

In September 2015, it was announced that InterSky was still loss-making and the owner, German investor Intro Aviation, planned to sell the company entirely.[11] All flights from Memmingen Airport and Zürich Airport as well as the Friedrichshafen-Düsseldorf route were likely to be terminated.[11] Additionally, InterSky tries to find another usage for their two ATR72-600s whose purchase back in 2013 has been called a mistake.[12] In October 2015, InterSky reported to be in advanced negotiations with a potential investor from Germany willing to pay 5 million Euros for the airline.[13] Shortly after, the Austrian aviation authorities requested InterSky to provide information over their financial security by 5 November 2015. Otherwise their operational license could be revoked.[14] On 4 November 2015, the aforementioned sale agreement fell through. In the same time, InterSky submitted the requested documents regarding their financial security to the Austrian authorities.[15] Shortly after, the airline announced plans to go into administration while maintaining operations.[1]

However, on the evening of 5 November 2015, InterSky was forced to cease all operations immediately as the lessor of its fleet ceased four of the airline's five aircraft - both ATR 72-600s and two Bombardier Dash 8 Q300s - over unpaid leasing charges on short notice.[1][16] All four aircraft have been returned to the lessor immediately, while the remaining one - which is owned by InterSky - operated the last flight from Zürich to Graz.[1] Previously, a potential investor declined to financially support the plans to go into administration.[1]

On 6 November 2015, InterSky announced to apply for insolvency.[17] It has been reported that the airline accumulated around 5 million Euros of debt with several airports being amongst the creditors.[18]

Destinations

InterSky Bombardier DHC-8-300
InterSky ATR 72-600

InterSky operated scheduled and charter flights to the following destinations as of 5 November 2015:[19]

Austria
Croatia
Germany
Greece
Italy
Spain
Switzerland
United Kingdom

Fleet

As of 5 November 2015, on its last day of operations, the InterSky fleet consisted of the following aircraft:[20]

 InterSky fleet
Aircraft In Fleet Orders Passengers Notes
ATR 72-600 2 — 70 returned to the lessor on 5 November 2015[1]
Bombardier Dash 8 Q300 3 — 50 2 returned to the lessor on 5 November 2015[1]
Total 5 —

    References

    1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 austrianaviation.net - "Intersky is grounded" (German) 6 November 2015
    2. ↑ "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 2007-04-03. p. 94.
    3. ↑ http://www.airliners.de/intersky-gibt-koeln-auf/22331
    4. ↑ http://austrianaviation.net/
    5. ↑ volaspheric: InterSky orders two ATR 72-600
    6. ↑ volaspheric: InterSky to open a new base on Hamburg Airport
    7. ↑ http://www.aero.de/news-16756/Intersky-uebernimmt-Karlsruhe-Hamburg-.html
    8. 1 2 http://www.aero.de/news-21707/Intersky-kehrt-nach-Koeln-zurueck.html
    9. 1 2 http://www.aero.de/news-21891/Intersky-verlinkt-Memmingen-und-Friedrichshafen.html
    10. ↑ austrianaviation.net - InterSky muss FDH-Köln kürzen ("InterSky forced to cut Friedrichshafen-Cologne") (German) 27 October 2015
    11. 1 2 austrianaviation.net - InterSky vor Strecken-Kahlschlag ("InterSky faces route eradication") (German) 18 September 2015
    12. ↑ aerotelegraph.com - Intersky plant Rückzug aus Zürich und Memmingen ("InterSky plans to leave Zürich and Memmingen") (German) 18. September 2015
    13. ↑ schwaebische.de - Intersky kostet fuenf Millionen Euro ("InterSky costs five Million Euros") (German) 15 October 2015
    14. ↑ austrianaviation.net - Achterbahnfahrt bei InterSky (German) 22 October 2015
    15. ↑ austrianaviation.net - "InterSky sale fell through" (German) 4 November 2015
    16. ↑ ch-aviation.com - InterSky suspends operations after investor talks fail 6 November 2015
    17. ↑ flyintersky.com - PASSENGER INFORMATION 06th November 2015 / 10:30 am Stop of air traffic retrieved 6 November 2015
    18. ↑ aerotelegraph.com - Flughäfen warten auf Million von Intersky ("Airports wait for millions from InterSky") 6 November 2015
    19. ↑ http://www.flyintersky.com/en/destinations
    20. ↑ ch-aviation.com - InterSky retrieved 6 November 2015

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