Denim Air ACMI B.V. was a Dutch

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 ...

based in

Mijdrecht Mijdrecht is a town in the Netherlands with about 16,000 residents. It is located in the municipality of De Ronde Venen, about west of the main A2 motorway, between Utrecht and Amsterdam. The main street is the Dorpstraat, where most shops an ...

. It provided ACMI wet lease services to other airlines. Its main base was

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol Amsterdam Airport Schiphol , known informally as Schiphol Airport (, ), is the main international airport of the Netherlands, and is one of the major hubs for the SkyTeam airline alliance. It is located southwest of Amsterdam, in the municipal ...

. It was wholly owned by Sky Greenland and had 50 employees in January 2016. Denim operated full charters and under wetlease (ACMI) contracts on behalf of other airlines as well as governments and corporations. Its operations licence was revoked on 24 November 2016.

History

This airline was established in 1996 and started operations on 26 April 1996. Denim Air mainly targeted African, Asian and other willing markets, operating for the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees in

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

and Central Africa, for the

Norwegian Army The Norwegian Army () is the land warfare service branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces. The Army is the oldest of the Norwegian service branches, established as a modern military organization under the command of the King of Norway in 1628. The ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, and for Veba Oil in

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

. The airline also operated aircraft for airlines, mainly

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

n airline Arik Air and

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airline

Air Nostrum Air Nostrum (doing business as Iberia Regional) is a Spanish regional airline based in Valencia that merged with CityJet in 2023, forming the region's largest aviation holding company, Strategic Alliance of Regional Airlines (SARA). An affiliate ...

. They also operated one aircraft for African airline Air Affaires Gabon. On 18 February 2010, Denim Air ceased operations after all wet-lease contracts had ended within weeks and Dutch legal company De Vos & Partners was appointed as curator of wet-lease specialist Denim Air after it was declared bankrupt. A successful restart of the company was initiated as Denim Air ACMI or Denim in short. In April 2015, Denim established FlyDenim as a new brand and

corporate design A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

for their charter operations. During the summer of 2015, the airline operated several new charter flights - for example from

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

to Murcia and Innsbruck. From December 2015 to February 2016, Denim operated domestic flights in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

thanks to an agreement with the Italian tour operator Air Sud. flights from

Reggio Calabria Reggio di Calabria (; ), commonly and officially referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the List of cities in Italy, largest city in Calabria as well as the seat of the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria. As ...

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

and

Bergamo Bergamo ( , ; ) is a city in the Alps, alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from the alpine lakes Lake Como, Como and Lake Iseo, Iseo and 70 km (43 mi) from Lake Garda, Garda and Lake ...

were operated with

Fokker 100 The Fokker 100 is a regional jet that was produced by Fokker in the Netherlands. The Fokker 100 was based on the Fokker F28 with a fuselage stretched by to seat up to 109 passengers, up from 85. It is powered by two newer Rolls-Royce Tay tur ...

and

Fokker 50 The Fokker 50 is a turboprop-powered airliner manufactured and supported by Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. It was designed as an improved version of the successful Fokker F27 Friendship. The Fokker 60 is a stretched freighter version of t ...

of Denim's fleet. As of March 2016, all Air Sud's flights were suspended. On 24 November 2016, the Dutch aviation authorities revoked Denim Air's operational license which subsequently led to the grounding of all of its flights.austrianaviation.net - "People's ACMI-partner loses AOC"
(German) 25 November 2016 At the time, Denim Air operated its sole aircraft on behalf of People's Viennaline and was immediately replaced by Helvetic Airways after Denim Air's grounding.aero.de - "People's switches ACMI partner"
(German) 25 November 2016

Fleet

The Denim fleet consisted of the following aircraft as of November 2016: The airline fleet previously included the following aircraft: * 1

* 1

References

External links

Official website
{{IATA members, europe Defunct airlines of the Netherlands Airlines established in 1996 Airlines disestablished in 2016 Defunct charter airlines