Contact Air

Contact Air Flugdienst was a German regional airline from Filderstadt. With flight operations based at Stuttgart Airport, it operated scheduled passenger flights under the Lufthansa Regional brand.

Contact Air
IATA ICAO Callsign
C3 KIS CONTACTAIR
Founded1974
Ceased operations2012 (acquired by OLT Express Germany)
Operating basesStuttgart Airport
Frequent-flyer programMiles & More
AllianceStar Alliance
HeadquartersFilderstadt, Germany
Key peopleW.A. Hayward (owner)
Websitecontactair.de

History
A Contact Air Dash 8-300 at Frankfurt Airport in 1994.

The airline was founded in 1974 as a tax-break by Gunter Eheim, a German World War II test pilot and later manufacturer of aquarium filters, initially operating chartered passenger services using a small fleet of Dassault Falcon 20 and Learjet aircraft.[1] In 1981, Contact Air became one of the launch customers for the British Aerospace Jetstream, along with US carrier Mall Airways.[2] Its first aircraft of that type was delivered in the following year.[2]

In 1984, Contact Air was subcontracted by DLT to operate one of its Jetstreams on scheduled regional flights on behalf of Lufthansa.[1] Subsequently, DLT acquired 24.8 percent of the Contact Air shares.[1]

Having waged the alternative of ordering the ATR 42, Contact Air announced in 1986 that it had chosen the de Havilland Canada Dash 8-100 for a fleet enlargement, thus becoming the second European airline to operate that type, after Tyrolean Airways.[3][4] Two years later, Contact Air became the first non-Canadian buyer of the stretched Dash 8-300 version, ordering three aircraft worth $35 million.[4]

In April 1996, Contact Air became a founding member of Team Lufthansa.[5] In 2004, this airline association was reorganized as Lufthansa Regional, a Star Alliance affiliate. Henceforth, all Contact Air flights were operated using the Lufthansas branding and flight numbers.

On 29 November 2011, it was reported that Lufthansa would terminate its contract with Contact Air effective 1 October 2012. At that time, the Contact Air fleet consisted of eight Fokker 100, six of which were operated on behalf of Lufthansa out of Stuttgart Airport, with another two being based at Zurich Airport and operated for Swiss International Air Lines.[6] In May 2012, Contact Air agreed to be taken over by OLT Express Germany, a step which was finalized in September of that year following its approval by the Federal Cartel Office.[7]

Corporate affairs

Prior to acquisition the headquarters were in Filderstadt.[8] Previously they were in Stuttgart.[9]

Destinations
A Contact Air Fokker 50 in Team Lufthansa colors takes off at Cologne Bonn Airport in 2003.
A parked Contact Air ATR 72 in the livery of Lufthansa Regional at Stuttgart Airport in 2005.
A Contact Air ATR 42 taxiing at Düsseldorf Airport in 2010, featuring the Lufthansa Regional branding.
A Contact Air Fokker 100 in Star Alliance colors lands at Prague Ruzyně Airport in 2010.

The scheduled destinations that were served by Contact Air on behalf of Lufthansa included:[5][10][11]

City Country Airport
Graz Austria Graz Airport
Vienna Austria Vienna International Airport
Brussels Belgium Brussels Airport
Prague Czech Republic Prague Ruzyně International Airport
Mulhouse France EuroAirport Basel–Mulhouse–Freiburg
Paris France Charles de Gaulle Airport
Berlin Germany Berlin Tegel Airport
Bremen Germany Bremen Airport
Cologne Germany Cologne Bonn Airport
Dresden Germany Dresden Airport
Düsseldorf Germany Düsseldorf Airport
Frankfurt Germany Frankfurt Airport
Hamburg Germany Hamburg Airport
Hannover Germany Hannover Airport
Leipzig Germany Leipzig/Halle Airport
Munich Germany Munich Airport
Nuremberg Germany Nuremberg Airport
Paderborn Germany Paderborn Lippstadt Airport
Stuttgart Germany Stuttgart Airport (base)
Budapest Hungary Budapest Ferihegy International Airport
Bologna Italy Bologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport
Milan Italy Malpensa Airport
Turin Italy Turin Airport
Geneva Switzerland Geneva International Airport
Zürich Switzerland Zurich Airport

Fleet development

Over the years of its existence, Contact Air operated the following aircraft types:[12][13]

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.
Contact Air Fokker 50
Aircraft Introduced Retired
ATR 42
2003
2010
ATR 72
2005
2010
British Aerospace Jetstream
1982[2]
Dash 8-100
1986
1994
Dash 8-300
1990
1997
Fokker 50
1996
2004
Fokker 100
2008
2012

Incidents and accidents
The Fokker 100 involved in the emergency landing of Flight 288 shortly after the incident at Stuttgart Airport.
  • 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), crashed 1,800 metres (5,900 ft) short of the runway of Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport. Four out of the 23 passengers on board died; the four crew members survived. The accident happened as a result of a failed go-around, which had become necessary because the aircraft ahead, a Boeing 747 of Korean Air, had suffered a blown tyre upon landing and the runway had subsequently been closed.[14]
  • On 14 September 2009, Lufthansa Flight 288 from Berlin to Stuttgart, which was operated by a Contact Air Fokker 100 registered D-AFKE, 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.[15] In the media coverage following the accident, Contact Air was criticised for operating ageing Fokker 100 aircraft, some of which previously had belonged to an airline that had been banned from European airspace over safety concerns.[16]
  • One of Contact Air's former Fokker 100 aircraft crashed in Kazakhstan as Bek Air Flight 2100 on December 27, 2019, killing 12.[17]

References
  1. "World Airline Directory: Contactair Flugdienst". Flight International: 82. 27 March 1991. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
  2. "Jetstream 31 clinches first sales". Flight International: 1813. 13 June 1981. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
  3. "DHC Scores in Europe". Flight International: 2. 17 May 1986. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
  4. "Canada exports Dash 8-300". Flight International: 15. 20 August 1988. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
  5. "Directory: World Airlines—Contact Air Flugdienst". Flight International: 51. 19 March 2002. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
  6. "Contact Air verliert Lufthansa-Vertrag" (in German). airliners.de. 29 November 2011. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
  7. "Stuttgarter Contact Air geht in OLT Express Germany auf" (in German). aero.de. 5 July 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
  8. "Impressum." Contact Air. 17 July 2012. Retrieved on 7 January 2015. "Contact Air Flugdienst GmbH + Co. Gottlieb-Manz-Straße 2 70794 Filderstadt"
  9. "Impressum." Contact Air. 13 April 2008. Retrieved on 7 January 2015. "Contact Air Flugdienst GmbH + Co. Echterdinger Str. 30 D-70599 Stuttgart (Plieningen)"
  10. "Directory: World Airlines—Contact Air Flugdienst". Flight International: 50. 25 March 2003. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
  11. "Directory: World Airlines—Contact Air Flugdienst". Flight International: 56. 23 March 2004. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
  12. "Contactair fleet details". airfleets.net. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
  13. "Contact Air fleet details and history". planespotters.net. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
  14. "Accident description of Lufthansa Flight 5634". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
  15. "Accident description of Lufthansa Flight 288". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
  16. "Fliegende Zeitbombe". Der Spiegel (in German): 125. 21 September 2009. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
  17. Путаницу с количеством жертв при крушении самолета Bek Air признали чиновники

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