Gestair () is an aeronautical group based in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, Spain, and

Valletta Valletta ( ; , ) is the capital city of Malta and one of its 68 Local councils of Malta, council areas. Located between the Grand Harbour to the east and Marsamxett Harbour to the west, its population as of 2021 was 5,157. As Malta’s capital ...

, Malta. Ceated in 1977, it specialises in

business jet A business jet, private jet, or bizjet is a jet aircraft designed for transporting small groups of people, typically business executives and high-ranking coworker, associates. Business jets are generally designed for faster air travel and more ...

charter, maintenance and support services.

History

Gestair was founded in 1977 in Madrid. It specialized in offering private jets for short lease from key airports in Spain and with the years it expanded its operations to include six hubs spread across the country. The aircraft of Gestair's Business fleet section are categorized into four types: ultra long range, long range, medium-range and short range. Along over three decades of operation the activities and services of Gestair group expanded to include

charter airline Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a ticket through a traditional airline). Regulation Charter – also called air taxi or ad hoc – flight ...

services — through Audeli Air—,

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. History The concept of air taxis existed as early as the 1910s. This concept goes back as early as 1917 with Glenn Curtiss’ prototype, the auto-plane. Furthermor ...

flight training Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills. Flight training can be conducted under a str ...

(in 2013 bought by

G Air Group G, or g, is the seventh letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages, and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''gee'' (pronounced ), plural ''gees''. The lowerc ...

), handling, consulting, as well as maintenance and overhaul of aircraft. The maintenance and overhaul unit, initially named Corjet Maintenance, was later renamed Gestair Maintenance.

Cygnus Air

In 1994 Gestair founded 'Regional Líneas Aéreas' together with

Regional Airlines (France) Regional Airlines was a French regional airline headquartered at Nantes Atlantique Airport and in Bouguenais, France, near Nantes. History The airline was formed on 1 January 1992 by the merger of Air Vendée and Airlec. On 30 March 2001 Region ...

. The airline operated scheduled passenger flights from Madrid with a fleet of

Saab 340 The Saab 340 is a Swedish twin-engine turboprop aircraft designed and initially produced by Saab AB and Fairchild Aircraft. It is designed to seat 30–36 passengers and, as of July 2018, there were 240 operational aircraft used by 34 differen ...

. In January 1998 Regional was renamed

Cygnus Air Cygnus Air (Corporación Ygnus Air) is a cargo airline based in Madrid, Spain. It is a privately owned airline operating scheduled flights to destinations mainly in Europe. Its main base is Madrid Barajas International Airport. Founded in 1994 as ...

and by November the airline shifted to full cargo operations. Its fleet consisted then of two

Douglas DC-8 The Douglas DC-8 (sometimes McDonnell Douglas DC-8) is an early long-range Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body jetliner designed and produced by the American Douglas Aircraft Company. Work began in 1952 towards the United States Air Force's (USA ...

62F aircraft. In July 2002, a DC8-73F was phased in. At that time the airline was owned 60% by Macholfam International, a branch of the Gestair group, and 40% by Imesapi of the ACS group. In May 2007, as part of a new policy of the Gestair Group, the name of the airline was changed to Gestair Cargo. At that time its main customer was

Iberia Airlines Iberia (), legally incorporated as ''Iberia Líneas Aéreas de España, S.A. Operadora, Sociedad Unipersonal'', is the flag carrier of Spain. Founded in 1927 and based in Madrid, it operates an international network of services from its main ...

.Airways, June 2007 Gestair Cargo expanded and modernized its fleet in 2011 adding two

Boeing 767-300F The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified o ...

. and by March 2010, following a capital increase, 73% of the company belonged to Imesapi and 27% to the Gestair group. In mid 2013 Gestair sold its cargo section to the founder of the

Dutch Antilles Express Dutch Antilles Express B.V. was an airline of the Dutch country of Curaçao in the southern Caribbean Sea, specifically the Dutch Caribbean region. It operated high-frequency scheduled services in the Dutch Caribbean to United States, Dominican R ...

airline, US businessman Arnold Leonora.ch-aviation - Gestair sells off cargo subsidiary; now operating as Cygnus Air again
/ref> Gestair Cargo has been rebranded as Cygnus Air.

Fleet (Gestair Business fleet section)

Gestair used different aircraft along its history. In 2023 it operated the following aircraft in its business jets fleet:Gestair 2009
''Note'': ULR=Ultra Long Range, LR=Long Range, MR=Medium Range, SR=Short Range

References

External links

Gestair - FleetGestair - Nazca
{{Airlines of Spain Airlines established in 1977 Airlines of Spain

History

Cygnus Air

Fleet (Gestair Business fleet section)

See also

References

External links