Sunclass Airlines A/S is a Danish

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 ...

that operates charter services from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. The company is affiliated with Ving Group, a Nordic tour operator. It was, together with Ving Group, a part of

Thomas Cook Group Thomas Cook Group plc was a global travel group, headquartered in the United Kingdom and listed on the London Stock Exchange from its formation on 19 June 2007 by the merger of Thomas Cook AG — successor to Thomas Cook & Son — and ...

until 23 December 2019 when Norwegian investor Petter Stordalen and Strawberry Group rebranded the company as Sunclass Airlines. The airline was originally founded in 1994 as Premiair. It was renamed MyTravel Airways in 2002 before being renamed Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia when Thomas Cook Group acquired the previous parent company

MyTravel Group MyTravel Group plc was a British, global travel group headquartered in Rochdale, England. It was founded in 1972 as Airtours Group. The group included two in-house airlines, MyTravel Airways, MyTravel Airways UK and MyTravel Airways Scandinavi ...

. In 2019, the airline was renamed Sunclass Airlines after Thomas Cook Group entered liquidation.

History

The airline's roots trace back to two airlines:

Conair of Scandinavia Conair of Scandinavia A/S was a Danish charter airline based at Copenhagen Airport. It merged with Scanair to establish Sunclass Airlines, Premiair in 1994. History Conair was founded by the Scandinavian charter pioneer Simon Spies in 1965. ...

owned by Danish Spies Group and

Scanair Scanair was a Sweden, Swedish charter airline of Danish origins that operated between 1961 and 1994. Its head office was in Bromma, Stockholm Municipality, Sweden. History Scanair was founded in Denmark in June 1961 and was partially owned by Sc ...

, of the Swedish SLG - Scandinavian Leisure Group. It formed when the two charter airlines were merged and was established on 1 January 1994 as ''Premiair A/S''. In 1994, SLG was acquired by

Airtours MyTravel Group plc was a British, global travel group headquartered in Rochdale, England. It was founded in 1972 as Airtours Group. The group included two in-house airlines, MyTravel Airways UK and MyTravel Airways Scandinavia, and various to ...

; on 1 May 2002, the airline was renamed ''MyTravel Airways A/S'' (''MyTravel Airways Scandinavia''). In May 2008, after

was acquired by

, the airline was renamed to ''Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia''. On 23 September 2019, Thomas Cook Group plc went into administration and ceased trading with immediate effect after failing to secure £200 million in emergency funding. Causing the airline to initially suspend operations, but has since resumed flights. It continued to operate flights to leisure destinations, mainly in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

and the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

, as well as some long-haul service from several bases in the

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; ) are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe, as well as the Arctic Ocean, Arctic and Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic oceans. It includes the sovereign states of Denm ...

until November 2019. On 30 October 2019, it was announced that a new investment consortium consisting of Norwegian businessman Petter Stordalen (Strawberry Group) and two private firms (

Altor Equity Partners Altor Equity Partners is a private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and the DACH region. History The firm, which is based in Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm (; ) is th ...

and

TDR Capital TDR Capital LLP is a British private equity firm headquartered in London, England. History TDR Capital was co-founded in 2002 by Manjit Dale, Stephen Robertson, and Tudor Capital.

) had acquired Ving Group (also known as Thomas Cook Northern Europe) from

AlixPartners AlixPartners is a financial advisory and global consulting firm.Merx, Katie. "Thinking Big Thoughts." ''Crain's Detroit Business'' 19.36 (2003): 18. ''Regional Business News.'' Web. 29 May 2013. Jay Alix founded what became AlixPartners LLP in 1 ...

which handled the acquisitions of Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia, Ving, Tjäreborg and Spies and was also one of the liquidators of

. Following the acquisition, Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia was renamed ''Sunclass Airlines'' and acquired a new

air operator's certificate An air operator's certificate (AOC) is the approval granted by a civil aviation authority (CAA) to an aircraft operator to allow it to use aircraft for commercial air transport purposes. This requires the operator to have personnel, assets and s ...

(AOC). While the Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia name would continue to be present to passengers including on tickets, airport signage, and aircraft liveries for an unspecified period during the rebranding process to the Sunclass Airlines name, the airline would retain Thomas Cook's original "sunny heart" logo as part of its branding. On 26 November 2019, it was announced the airline had secured its new AOC. In December 2020, just over a year since its rebrand, Sunclass unveiled a rebrand, doing away with the sunny heart logo associated with the Thomas Cook Group to make way for its own new identity. In November 2021, Sunclass Airlines announced an Airbus A330neo would be delivered in 2022 for its long-haul operations. Sunclass is also eyeing potential routes within the Airbus A330-900's range like Delhi, Newark, Toronto, Chicago, Hong Kong, and Johannesburg.

Fleet

Current

, the Sunclass Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft:

Former

Sunclass Airlines and its predecessors had previously operated the following aircraft:

References

External links