Sterling Airlines

Sterling Airlines

Sterling Airlines A/S was a low-cost airline with its head office at Copenhagen Airport South in Dragør, Dragør Municipality, Denmark. It was created in September 2005 through the merger of two Danish airlines — Sterling European Airlines and Maersk Air — which had been bought by the Icelandic investment group Fons Eignarhaldsfélag a few months before. One month after the merger, Sterling Airlines was sold to the FL Group. In December 2006, Sterling was sold again, this time to Nordic Travel Holding. On 6 January 2006, Hannes Smárason, CEO of the FL Group, stated that a merger of EasyJet and Sterling was a possibility.

On 29 October 2008, Sterling filed for bankruptcy and ceased operations. On 4 December 2008, Cimber Air announced that it had purchased Sterling and intended to restore the airline as a separate company, with a gradual expansion throughout Europe. The purchase included Sterling's name, website and landing slots, but not aircraft. Former Sterling employees were not guaranteed jobs in the resurrected company, although Cimber believed many of them would be offered jobs.

At the end of 2005, Sterling Airlines had 1,600 staff and 29 aircraft, making it almost twice as large as Icelandair. The company flew to some 40 European destinations, with Copenhagen Airport, Oslo Airport, Gardermoen and Stockholm-Arlanda Airport as primary hubs.