Maersk Air UK

Born from a demerger

The airline was created in July 1993 through the demerger of Brymon European Airways, which had been created through the merger of Brymon Airways and Birmingham European Airways. Maersk took over the latter operations, while its co-owner, British Airways, took over the ex-Brymon operations. Maersk Air UK commenced operations on 1 August of that same year inside the British Airways Express brand with a fleet made up by five BAC One-Eleven and three Jetstream 31 aircraft. Routes were flown to Amsterdam, Belfast, Copenhagen, Cork, Dublin, Glasgow, Milan, Newcastle and Stuttgart. As of 1994 the air carrier had 185 employees.^[2] The four One-Elevens were sold and replaced with newer Boeing 737-500s.^[3] Meanwhile, a Jetstream 41 was transferred from British Airways,^[4] replacing the smaller Jetstream 31s.^[5] The services to Dublin, Cork and Glasgow were terminated and instead a route was started to Lyon.^[5]

Growth

Maersk Air UK saw its passenger numbers increase by 22% in 1997, ending at 550,000. At the end of the year it operated three One-Elevens and three 737-500s. In November the airline ordered three 50-seat Bombardier Bombardier CRJ200s with an option for a further twelve of any combination of the CRJ200 and the larger 70-seat CRJ700^[6] The first CRJs were delivered in 1998 and by August 1999 there were six such aircraft in the fleet.^[7] The One-Eleves were retired in 1998 and the Jetstream 41 was pulled from service the following year.^[8] The airline launched services to Geneva and Vienna in February 1999.^[9] In November routes were added to Stockholm and Rome.^[10] By 1999 the airline had grown to a staff of 347.^[11] A year later Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt and Zürich had been added as destinations and the fleet grown to six 737-500s and six CRJ200s.^[12]

By 2001 the number of employees had risen to 490 and the first CRJ700 had been delivered. That year services commenced to Hamburg, Hanover^[13] and Marseille.^[14] Meanwhile, British Airways was building up at Birmingham Airport through two other franchise agreements, with Brymon Airways and BRAL-British Regional Airlines. The franchise agreement with Maersk, set to expire on 24 March 2001, was extended that month through the summer season. This spurred speculation that Maersk would abandon the franchising agreement. However, in August a five-year extension was signed. From May 2002 the air carrier commenced three new routes, to Bordeaux, Nice, Toulouse, all in France.^[15] By then the first two CRJ700s had been delivered, while the number of 737-500s was reduced to three. Services also commenced to Gothenburg, but by then the services to Brussels, Frankfurt, Newcastle, Rome and Zürich had been terminated.^[16]

Debts and decline

From 2000 through 2002 Maersk Air UK lost an accumulative 325 million Danish krone (DKK).^[17] By early 2003 the Danish Maersk Group had lost interest in operating an airline in the UK and put the company up for sale. However, there were not interested buyers and it was speculated that British Airways would have to step in and take over the franchise partner.^[18] The company was therefore sold in a management buyout in 2003, with the airline becoming Duo Airways. At the time the airline had eight aircraft and 350 employees.^[17] Up till this point Maersk Air had lost DKK 250 million on its UK operations. The renamed company folded in 2004, and Maersk Air was forced to bring home five CRJs from Birmingham. Maersk lost a further DKK 65 million with the sale of these aircraft.^[19]