Spanair S.A. was a Spanish airline, with its head office in the Spanair Building in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, near Barcelona. It was, until 2009 a subsidiary of the SAS Group; the same parent company in control of Scandinavian Airlines and held slightly under 20% of the company.^[3] Spanair provided a scheduled passenger network within Spain and Europe, with an extension to West Africa. Worldwide charters were also flown for tour companies. Its main hub was Barcelona El Prat Airport, with focus cities at Madrid-Barajas Airport and Palma de Mallorca Airport. The airline had 3,161 employees.^[4] On 25 January 2011, the company was in an "Emergency Financial Situation." The Catalonian government approved a 10.5 million loan plan in order to save it. Revenue improved and the company was cutting costs; however on 27 January 2012, the airline ceased operations after a rescue deal with Qatar Airways fell through.^[5] Spanair was a Star Alliance member from 2003 until its demise.

History

The airline was established in December 1986 and began operations in March 1988. It was set up as a joint venture between Scandinavian Airlines and Viajes Marsans, and began operations with European charters. Long-haul flights to the United States, Mexico and the Dominican Republic were launched in 1991, followed by domestic scheduled flights in March 1994. The airline flew long-haul flights with Boeing 767-300ER aircraft to Washington and Buenos Aires in the late 1990s. Spanair joined Star Alliance on 1 May 2003.^[6]

The company was 94% owned by the SAS Group. SAS announced in a press release 13 June 2007 that it would sell its shares in Spanair.^[7] The divestment was canceled on 19 June 2008 due to SAS not being able to sell for a price that it considered to "reflect the underlying value in Spanair." On 30 January 2009, however, a one euro bid from group of investors from Catalonia, led by the Consorci de Turisme de Barcelona and Catalana d'Inciatives, was later accepted, whereupon SAS became a minority shareholder.^[3]

A report in The Times on the day of the Madrid crash suggests that staff were threatening strike action due to concerns about the company's viability.^[8]

In 2009 the airline asked for public input on a new logo,^[9] with a winner being officially confirmed on 13 May 2009.

As of June 2009, Spanair began applying the new corporate identity to their aircraft.^[10]

Financially troubled during its last few years, Spanair ended operations on 27 January 2012, after Qatar Airways pulled out of talks to inject cash into the airline. ^[11] Ana Pastor, the development minister of Spain, said that the Spanish government may fine the airline 9 million euros ($12 million USD) after breaking serious aviation security rules by shutting down without proper notice.^[12][13] As a result, SAS had a write-down of 1.7 billion Swedish kronor ($251 million U.S.).^[14] The carrier said all flights will remain suspended, but it did not say whether it planned to file for bankruptcy.^[15]

Destinations

Codeshare agreements

Spanair had codeshare agreements with the following airlines as of October 2010,^[16] * indicate as Star Alliance.

On-board service

For economy-class passengers traveling within Western Europe the airline offered a buy on board service offering food and drinks for purchase.^[17]

Frequent flyer programme

Spanair was part of the Star Alliance. They also had revamped their own frequent flyer programme. It was called Spanair Star. It was innovative for allowing members to redeem points immediately, in the form of a discount on a future flight.

Fleet

The Spanair fleet consisted of the following aircraft at the time of closure.^[18][19][20]

As of November 2011, the average age for the Spanair fleet was 12.1 years.^[21]

The airline announced on 19 August 2009 that it intended to replace 11 McDonnell Douglas jets in its fleet with new Airbus planes in 2010.^[22]

Gallery

• Airbus A320-200

• McDonnell Douglas MD-82

• McDonnell Douglas MD-83

• McDonnell Douglas MD-87

Total: 36 planes.

Head office

Spanair's head office was located in the Spanair Building (Edifici Spanair) in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, near Barcelona.^[23]

Previously Spanair's head office was in the Spanair Building on the grounds of Palma de Mallorca Airport in Palma de Mallorca.^[24] In 2008, during the changes in ownership, Spanair said that its head office would remain in Palma de Mallorca, despite rumors that the company would relocate its head office to Barcelona. ^[24] In 2009 the company announced that it planned to relocate its corporate offices to Barcelona.^[25] In May 2009 Spanair made Barcelona its registered domicile. The airline began to search for a site for the Spanair headquarters in Barcelona.^[26] In June of that year around 200 employees protested outside of the Spanair offices in Palma, saying that the timetable to move the offices was too hasty.^[25]

Incidents and accidents

On 20 August 2008 at 14:45 CEST, a Spanair McDonnell Douglas MD-82 aircraft, flight number JK 5022, crashed with 165 passengers and nine crew members on board moments after takeoff at Madrid's Barajas Airport on a scheduled flight to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. 18 of the 172 on board survived. Initially 19 people survived, but one person died in hospital three days after the crash.^[27] The initial investigation reports no deployment of flaps with failures in the take-off configuration warning system.

See also

• List of airlines of Spain
• List of airports in Spain
• List of companies of Spain
• Transport in Spain

References

External links

• Spanair (English)/(Spanish)
• Spanair mobile version (Spanish) (Archive)
• SAS Group (English)
• Spanair MD-82 crash - August 20th 2008 - Investigation and photos