Topic Title: ICAO Code
OLT/YAP/JEA
Airline Name
OLT Express Germany / Poland / Poland Regional
Country of Origin
Germany/Poland
Aircraft Types Used (from those available in WoA)
OLT Express Germany (OLT);F100 (Fokker 100),
SF34 (Saab 340),
SF20 (Saab 2000),
OLT Express Poland (YAP);
A319 (A319-100),
A320 (A320-200),
OLT Express Poland Regional (JEA);
ATR42 (ATR 42-300),
Why should this airline be added?
This airline was exceptionally short lived, being founded in August 2011 and dead by January 2013. The airline was based in Bremen and had a hub in Saarbrücken from which it had regular routes as well as being a charter airline. The airline was the relaunch of the previous OLT which had run from 1958 until August 2011 when it was forced to reshuffle its operations after losing shuttle flight for Airbus. The airline purchased Contact Air in 2012 after it had lost its contract with Lufthansa.The airline also had a sister airline based in Warsaw, Poland which I’ve included here as well due to it being the same company just across the border. It began as Jet Air in 2001 providing aircraft for business services until winter 2005 when it started operating on low demand routes for LOT. in October 2007, the relationship with LOT came to an end and Jet Air started its own flights while also doing some work for OLT. In 2011, it was purchased by the same company that owned OLT Germany and thus was rebranded. The regional airline operated under its own ICAO code but was essentially the same airline.
Both airlines came to a halt in August 2012 when the majority was dissolved due to a lack of funding, but the German airline was purchased and thus kept on chugging for a little longer with hopes it may be able to claw its way out of the hole, but lost its contract with Swiss in January 2013 and declared bankruptcy.
It would be an interesting addition as the airline has a long history and a fantastic livery and has one of the only examples of being able to outcompete a low cost carrier where it managed to continue making money on the Bristol to Hamburg route whereas easyJet never made a profit and cancelled the route. Plus, it operated the Fokker 100 in a snazzy livery that I’m sure players would want to see in their airports.