Trek Airways was an airline based in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

that operated from August 1953 until April 1994. Trek Airways Boeing 747SP Krier

History

Founded in 1953 by retired German Generalmajor Friedrich Wilhelm von Mellenthin (1904–1997), Trek Airways was the only South African airline apart from SAA to fly international services. At the beginning, flights were operated from

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

to South Africa with one over-night stop. The aircraft used at the time was the

Vickers VC.1 Viking The Vickers VC.1 Viking is a British twin-engine short-range airliner derived from the Vickers Wellington bomber and built by Vickers-Armstrongs, Vickers-Armstrongs Limited at Brooklands near Weybridge in Surrey. After the Second World War, ...

. Since the Viking did not have the range for the operations, they were replaced by the

Douglas DC-4 The Douglas DC-4 is an American four-engined (piston), propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Military versions of the plane, the C-54 and R5D, served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960 ...

and Lockheed L-749A Constellation. Later on it operated the Lockheed L-1649 Starliner. Trek operated from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

Windhoek Windhoek (; ; ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek, which ...

and

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

with two or three intermediate stops. In 1964 an arrangement with

Luxair Luxair, legally , is a flag carrier of Luxembourg with its headquarters in Munsbach, Luxembourg, and Airline hub, hub at Luxembourg Airport. It operates scheduled services to destinations in Europe, North Africa, the Mediterranean and the Middle ...

was made whereby Luxair would carry connecting passengers to other European airports. It was in 1968 that the first

jet aircraft A jet aircraft (or simply jet) is an aircraft (nearly always a fixed-wing aircraft) propelled by one or more jet engines. Whereas the engines in Propeller (aircraft), propeller-powered aircraft generally achieve their maximum efficiency at much ...

was used when a

Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an early American long-range Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, the initial first flew on Decembe ...

was introduced, but with the embargo of South African registered aircraft due to

Apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

, Trek had to suspend flights for a period of time. Those operations were re-established in 1991 and once again a co-operation with Luxair was established whereby Trek used a Luxair/Luxavia

Boeing 747SP The Boeing 747SP (for ''Special Performance'') is a shortened version of the Boeing 747 wide-body airliner, designed for a longer range. It is the highest flying subsonic passenger airliner, with a service ceiling of . Boeing needed a small ...

painted in the old Trek color scheme. It was also during this time that Trek founded a subsidiary called Flitestar using

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first membe ...

and ATR-72 aircraft. In 1991, politics changed again and the South African Government deregulated its aviation policy. Trek Airways applied for and was granted a license for a South African domestic service, in direct competition to SAA. Flitestar was born operating Airbus A320s. On 11 April 1994, Trek ceased all operations.Hengi,

Fleet details

* Lockheed L-749A Constellation * Lockheed L-1649 Starliner * Boeing 747-SP

Bibliography

* William Buckland "Paddy" Rorke: ''Trek Airways – A South African Adventure'', Athena Press, 2007

References

External links

TimeTableImagesTrek photos at AirnersNetDC-4 accident no fatalitiesTrek Airways website in South Africa
{{Authority control Defunct airlines of South Africa Airlines established in 1953 Airlines disestablished in 1994 1953 establishments in South Africa 1994 disestablishments in South Africa