- Contact Air
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Contact Air 
IATA
C3ICAO
KISCallsign
CONTACTAIRFounded 1974 Operating bases Stuttgart Airport
Zürich AirportFrequent-flyer program Miles & More Alliance Star Alliance Fleet size 8 Destinations 22 Headquarters Stuttgart, Germany Key people Gunther Eheim Website www.contactair.de 
Contact Air Flugdienst is a regional airline headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany,[1] operating scheduled services as part of Lufthansa Regional out of Stuttgart Airport, and on behalf of Swiss International Airlines (which is a Lufthansa subsidiary) out of Zürich Airport.[2]
Contents
History
The airline was established by Gunther Eheim (who is the whole owner until today) as a worldwide passenger and executive charter airline and started operations in 1974 with an initial fleet of Dassault Falcon 20 and Bombardier Learjet aircraft. Contact Air became the first partner airline in the Team Lufthansa regional group in April 1996. On 16 October 2003 the airline introduced the new Lufthansa Regional brand and began operating as such in early 2004.[2]
Destinations
At April 2010, Contact Air operates the following scheduled services on behalf of Lufthansa and Swiss International Air Lines :[3]
- Operating for Lufthansa
- Austria
- Belgium
- British Crown Dependencies
- France
- Paris - Charles de Gaulle Airport
- Germany
- Berlin - Tegel Airport
- Bremen - Bremen Airport
- Dresden - Dresden Airport
- Düsseldorf - Düsseldorf Airport
- Hamburg - Hamburg Airport
- Munich - Munich Airport
- Stuttgart - Stuttgart Airport Base
- Greece
- Athens - Athens International Airport [seasonal]
- Ireland
- Dublin - Dublin Airport [seasonal, begins 9 May]
- Italy
- Spain
- Switzerland
- United Kingdom
- Edinburgh - Edinburgh Airport [begins 25 March 2012]
- London - Heathrow Airport
- Operating for Swiss
- Czech Republic
- Prague - Ruzyně Airport
- Germany
- Poland
- Switzerland
- Zürich - Zürich Airport Base
Terminated destinations
- Operated for Lufthansa
- Germany - Frankfurt, Hanover, Hof/Plauen, Nuremberg
- Operated for Swiss
- Italy - Venice
- Italy - Verona
Fleet
A Contact Air ATR 72 in Lufthansa Regional livery upon landing at Munich Airport (2005). This aircraft type was operated between 2005 and 2010.
As of December 2010, the Contact Air fleet consists of 8 Fokker 100 aircraft with an average age of 16.8 years.[4][5][6]
Aircraft Number in fleet Seats Operated for Fokker 100 6 100 Lufthansa Regional 2 Swiss International Airlines Fleet development
Over the years, Contact Air operated the following aircraft types:[7]
-
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Aircraft Introduced Retired ATR 42 2003 2010 ATR 72 2005 2010 Dash 8-100 1986 1994 Dash 8-300 1990 1997 Fokker 50 1996 2004 Fokker 100 2008 Incidents and accidents
- On 6 January 1993, Lufthansa Flight 5634 from Bremen to Paris, which was carried out under the Lufthansa CityLine brand using a Contact Air Dash 8-300 (registered D-BEAT), hit the ground 1800 metres short of the runway of Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, resulting in the death of four out of the 23 passengers on board. The four crew members survived. The accident occurred after the pilot had to abort the final approach to the airport because the runway had been closed due to the aircraft ahead, a Korean Air Boeing 747, had suffered a blown tyre upon landing.[8]
- On 14 September 2009, Lufthansa Flight 288 from Berlin to Stuttgart, which was operated by a Contact Air Fokker 100 (registered D-AFKE) on that day, made an emergency landing at Stuttgart Airport at 10:47 local time due to undercarriage failure. There were no injuries amongst the five crew members and 73 passengers on board;[9] one of them was the then SPD chairman Franz Müntefering.[10]
References
- ^ "Contact." Contact Air. Retrieved on 21 May 2009. "Contact Air Flugdienst GmbH + Co. Echterdinger Strasse 30 D-70599 Stuttgart (Plieningen)"
- ^ a b "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International: p. 68. 2007-04-03.
- ^ Contact Air destinations
- ^ Contact Air official fleet page
- ^ Contact Air official Route Page
- ^ Contact Air fleet list at planespotters.net
- ^ Contact Air former fleet at airfleets.net
- ^ Lufthansa Flight 5634 at the Aviation safety Network
- ^ "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. http://www.aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20090914-0. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
- ^ "SPD-Chef Müntefering übersteht Notlandung". Der Spiegel. September 14, 2009. http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/0,1518,648811,00.html. Retrieved September 14, 2009.
External links
- Official website
- Official website (German)
Airlines of Germany Passenger MajorAir Berlin · Augsburg Airways · Condor Flugdienst · Contact Air · Eurowings · Germania · Germanwings · Hamburg Airways · Lufthansa · Lufthansa CityLine · TUIfly · XL Airways Germany
MinorACM Air Charter · Aero-Dienst · Air Hamburg · Air Independence · air-taxi europe · Arcus-Air Logistic · Avanti Air · Bin Air · Cirrus Airlines · FAI rent-a-jet · FLN Frisia Luftverkehr · Hahn Air · Jet Executive · Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter · Luftverkehr Friesland-Harle · Nightexpress · Ostfriesische Lufttransport GmbH · Private Wings · Stuttgarter Flugdienst · Sylt Air · Vibroair · WDL Aviation · Windrose Air
Cargo AeroLogic · Air Cargo Germany · European Air Transport Leipzig · Lufthansa Cargo
Categories:- Airlines of Germany
- European Regions Airline Association
- Airlines established in 1974
- Lufthansa
- Companies based in Stuttgart
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