Triple Alpha Luftfahrtgesellschaft

Triple Alpha Luftfahrtgesellschaft (also known as 3A Airlines and 3AA) was a German charter airline headquartered in Düsseldorf and based out of Düsseldorf Airport. It operated charter, general aviation, business, cargo, flight school, air ambulance, aerial evacuation and organ transport services.

History

• 1994 - Hans Pfeiffer and Erik Scheidt worked in the overhaul and maintenance of Cessna T303 aircraft; the installations were in Aachen
• 1995 - Creation of Avanti Aviation Aachen Luftfahrtgesellschaft
• 1996 - The airline obtained its AOC and starts flights with two Cessna 421 aircraft
• 1997 - The airline obtained its first jet aircraft, a Cessna Citation II
• 1998:

April - The first turboprop aircraft, a Piper Cheyenne was added

June - The airline was relocated to Düsseldorf and renamed Triple Alpha Luftfahrtgesellschaft

• 1999 - A second Cessna Citation II was delivered
• 2000 - The last propeller aircraft were retired
• 2001:
• February - The first Cessna Citation CJ2 approved in Europe was delivered to Triple Alpha
• October - Due to the economic problems caused by the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Triple Alpha is forced to reduce flight frequencies and also to mothball the Citation CJ2
• 2002 - Triple Alpha returned to normal activity and the Citation CJ2 was re-activated
• 2004:
• June - Triple Alpha planned to expand, but had not completely recovered from the crisis caused by the 9/11 attacks, and the only new aircraft added to the fleet was an obsolete Cessna Citation V
• August - More Cessna Citation CJ2 aircraft were added
• 2005 - The airline held a Cessna Citation V based in Paris and with French registration, on behalf of French and German aviation authority
• 2006 - Now with 9 Cessna Citations in the airline fleet, Triple Alpha obtained a contract for the construction of an Airbus A319
• 2007:
• June - The airline obtained their first mid-range aircraft, a Challenger 300
• September - The first long-haul aircraft, a Bombardier Global 7000, was added to the fleet
• 2008:
• January - The first Cessna Citation Mustang of Europe was delivered to Triple Alpha
• March - 2 more CJ2 were added
• April - The first A319 was delivered to the airline
• 2009:
• January - Another CJ2 was added
• April - A new CJ2+ was delivered
• September - 60% of Triple Alpha was acquired by the British group Ocean Sky
• December - Another CJ2 was incorporated
• 2010:
• March - Triple Alpha obtained their first IAI Astra
• December - Ocean Sky increased their stake to 80%
• 2011:
• January - A second IAI Astra was delivered
• July - Triple Alpha filed for insolvency and was put under the control of an administrator, named by the German court.[1][2]

Fleet

• 1 Airbus A319CJ
• 1 Bombardier Challenger 300
• 1 Bombardier Global 7000
• 2 Cessna Citation II
• 2 Cessna Citation V
• 8 Cessna Citation CJ2
• 1 Cessna Citation Mustang

References

1. flightglobal.com - Mounting debts force Triple Alpha insolvency 8 July 2011
2. "faa.gov" (PDF).