page_title: Maersk Air
section_title: Decline
hierarchical_section_title: Maersk Air / History / Decline
context_page_description: Maersk Air A/S was a Danish airline which operated between 1969 and 2005. Owned by the A. P. Møller–Mærsk Group, it operated a mix of scheduled and chartered passenger and cargo services. Headquartered at Dragør, its main operating bases were Copenhagen Airport, Billund Airport and Esbjerg Airport. The airline had offshore helicopter operations from 1975 to 1999 and had three airline subsidiaries: Maersk Air UK, Maersk Commuter, and Star Air.
  The airline was founded on the foundations on the purchase of Falck Air on 21 February 1969. Fokker F27s were bought and domestic services from Copenhagen to Odense and Stauning. From 1971 to 1995 Maersk participated in Danair, which held a monopoly on all domestic services. Maersk Air was heavily involved in the inclusive tours market during the 1970s, operating the Boeing 720B and 737-200. From 1981 Maersk started international flights, first out of Billund and from the 1990s out of Copenhagen.
  Maersk Air gradually invested in new aircraft, including the Fokker 50, Boeing 737 Classic, and later the 737-700. During the 1990s the number of international services increased, often codesharing with foreign airlines.
context_section_description: Maersk was struck by a series of labor disputes in 1998 and 1999. At the turn of the century Maersk Air fell into financial distress. The airline was struck hard by the 2001 airline recession, making a loss that year of DKK 341 million. Ridership increased in 2002, largely through the increased sale of discounted tickets. Maersk Air therefore turned to divest its non-core activities. Estonian Air was sold to SAS in 2003. The British subsidiary lost an accumulative DKK 325 million from 2000 through 2002. The company was therefore sold in a management buyout in 2003, with the airline becoming Duo Airways.
  The Maersk Group was forced to issue more than DKK 700 million in the airline from 2002 to 2005. In late 2003 the Maersk Aircraft A/S was established to own the fleet, spurring speculation in the media that Maersk was planning of liquidating the company. The year gave a net loss of DKK 841 million.
  In the years following the cartel case, almost the entire executive management of the airline was replaced. A large portion of the new management was without experience from the aviation industry.  On 1 November 2003 Ipsen was replaced as CEO by Finn Øelund, who came from the same position in Air Greenland. He devised a new strategy, in which the airline would better utilize tis fleet by placing flights closer to each other and flying throughout the day. He also proposed competing head-on with SAS, as he believed that Maersk Air with the new strategy could operate with lower costs than the consortium. Aircraft received a new white and dark blue livery, replacing the old light-blue Maersk colors. The airline adopted the slogan "fly as you like" and focused its route production on typical holiday destinations and cheap fares.
  Since 2002 Maersk had seen competition in the scheduled market from Sterling, which had reorganized itself as a low-cost carrier targeting the Mediterranean leisure market. In 2005 Fred. Olsen & Co. sold the airline to FL Group. The Maersk Group announced on 30 June 2005 that it would sell Maersk Air to Sterling. Star Air and the corporate jet were kept out of the deal. Ownership of the 737 was also not included, and instead, there were leased to Sterling. The sales price of Maersk Air was never made public.
caption: Boeing 737-300
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