Blue Wings was a charter carrier based in Germany’s fourth-largest airport, Düsseldorf Airport. It was in service for just under seven years before it was forced to cease operations. This is the story of an airline that had a seemingly positive outlook, but ultimately folded.

Blue Wings is introduced to the world

Founded in 2002, Blue Wings (not to be confused with Blue Wing Airlines, a passenger airliner based in Paramaribo, Suriname, that was also founded in the same year) received its Air Operators Certificate on June 27, 2003. In the following month, the airline commenced operations using a wet-leased Airbus A320. Blue Wings operated out of Düsseldorf Airport in North Rhine-Westphalia, approximately 12 miles (20 kilometers) from Essen in the Rhine-Rurh area, Germany’s largest metropolitan region.

Recognizing the airline’s potential, the Russian National Reserve Corporation (NRC) acquired a 48 per cent share of Blue Wings in June 2006. The acquisition was planned to establish a close cooperation between Blue Wings and Russian regional leisure airline, Red Wings Airlines, which the NRC owns.

In October of that same year, Blue Wings signed a purchase agreement with low-cost carrier and the United States’ seventh-largest airline (by passengers carried), JetBlue Airways. The agreement was for five second-hand Airbus A320-200 aircraft (fun fact: Blue Wings adopted an almost identical color scheme to that of JetBlue for cost-saving reasons). 11 days after the signing, an order for another 16 A320s and four A321s was made.

Fleet and destinations

Blue Wings operated a total of 17 aircraft throughout its seven-year history. Its fleet included 15 narrowbody aircraft: 12 A320s and three A321s, and two A330 widebodies. When it folded, Blue Wings’ fleet had 11 remaining aircraft (11 A320s and 3 A321s) and unfulfilled orders for 16 A320s, three A321s, and five Tupolev Tu-204s.

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The airliners were operated on charter flights to Africa, Asia, and Europe, with 23 destinations in 12 countries:

1. Germany: Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, Leipzig/Halle, Münster/Osnabrück
2. Greece: Athens, Crete, Corfu
3. Italy: Alghero, Rome
4. Kazakhstan: Karaganda
5. Lebanon: Beirut
6. Morocco: Marrakech, Agadir
7. Portugal: Faro, Madeira
8. Russia: Moscow
9. Spain: Barcelona, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Palma de Mallorca, Ibiza, Málaga
10. Tunisia: Monastir
11. Turkey: Izmir, Antalya, Samsun
12. Ukraine: Kyiv

Blue Wings ceases operations

On December 30, 2009, due to fears of solvency, Blue Wings’ Air Operators Certificate was revoked by the Federal Office for Civil Aviation of Germany – and the airline was forced to end all its operations.

Fortunately, less than four months later, a premium charter airline from Abu Dhabi known as Elite Aviation, signed an agreement with Blue Wings. This subsequently led to the reinstatement of Blue Wings’ license. Several months later, Iraq’s national carrier, Iraqi Airways leased three A320s from Blue Wings for its European routes.

Despite the redemption, Blue Wings soon found itself in a rough spot yet again. Due to the Global Financial Crisis, the airline faced a pull-out of investors. Eventually, Blue Wings filed for bankruptcy and ceased all operations for the last time.