Airline Name
BelairOriginal,
Then,
Logo after Air Berlin took the airline over in 2007,
IATA: 4T / ICAO: BHP / Callsign: BELAIR
Country of Origin
Switzerland
Aircraft Types Used (from those available in WoA)
B752 (757-200) (2 operated),HB-IHR,
HB-IHS,
Later colours (Worn in 2007 prior to Air Berlin by both aircraft),
B763 (767-300) (1 operated),
HB-ISE,
Air Berlin era (Post 2007),
B752 (757-200) (The 2 above repainted),
B763 (767-300) (1 operated),
Later fully integrated Air Berlin fleet (wore the little Belair sticker on the port side from July/August 2017 until the October of that year when Air Berlin went bust and took Belair with it, except for the A319s as they were removed from the fleet in March),
A319 (A319-100) (3 operated),
A320 (A320-200) (10 operated - Same as below A321s but applied at the start of August 2017),
A321 (A321-200) (4 operated - transferred from Air Berlin in May 2017 and sticker applied in July),
Why should this airline be added?
Belair was founded in 1925 as Balair before it merged with Swissair in 1931 as a response to the Great Depression. In 1953, Balair was voted to be reformed by the people of Basel so the airline came back and operated until the 1980s as a full service airline until Swissair took ownership and transitioned the airline into its charter branch by 1993. In 1995, Swissair folded the airline as the charter business wasn’t profitable, merging the short haul destinations and fleet into subsidiary Crossair and long haul destinations and fleet into Swissair. In 1997, however, the airline was relaunched for a 2nd time as a subsidiary of Swissair and operated the charter business flights for parent Swissair, using 2 757-200s and 2 767-300s (though the 767-300s were returned to their lessors in 2000), until it collapsed in 2001 in a massive scandal taking all the group, bar Crossair, with it.Within 10 days of the collapse on the 5th October, Balair was purchased by Hotelplan who founded a new airline called Belair (so they didn’t have to repaint the planes). This airline operated charter flights across Europe but mainly to Spain and the Canaries, on behalf of the hotel company and leased a 767-300 for long haul operations, from Zurich.
In 2007, Air Berlin purchased a 49% share in the airline and fully took it over in October 2009, integrating the aircraft into the fleet and switching out the 757-200s and 767-300 for the A320 family that Air Berlin ran, the ones it inherited from LTU when it took that over around the same time as Belair. The flights to non-EU countries continued to fly under the Belair ICAO and IATA codes and the airline ran flights from Zurich, Geneva and Basel to destinations mainly in Spain and the Canary Islands, though they also flew to North Macedonia, Portugal and Italy.
In October 2017, the Air Berlin group collapsed, taking all the subsidiary companies with it including Belair, LTU (existed only on paper) and Niki.
The airline should be added as it was a very important part of both Basel and Swiss aviation heritage, up there with Swissair, and it operated 757s on routes in Europe in a snazzy scheme. If it was to be added, the 757s and 767 at the top would be a pleasure to see and the A320 family and 767 further down if Air Berlin is also added as they were distinctive by the sticker on the port side of the aircraft.
Destinations,
2009,
2017,
Edit; Changed the aircraft photos to the final website version. The liveries changed a lot in the airlines history.
