InterSky was a regional airline registered in Bregenz, Austria, that for more than a decade connected the German Lake Constance airport of Friedrichshafen above all with destinations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, before having to shut down abruptly in November 2015 after a lessor seized several of its aircraft.
Photo: Kiefer. · License: CC BY-SA 2.0 · Source: Wikimedia Commons
From Bern-Belp to Friedrichshafen
InterSky was founded in November 2001 and began flying on 25 March 2002, initially from Bern-Belp Airport to Berlin and Vienna; Bern was chosen in part to help revive the underused regional airport. Its initial shareholders were Renate Moser (50 percent) and Rolf Seewald (35 percent). After heavy losses in its first year, the business model was overhauled toward low-cost practices, after which the airline said it became profitable within a year. Between 2004 and 2005, InterSky moved its base from Bern to Friedrichshafen Airport on Lake Constance, where it became the airport’s largest carrier, while keeping its registered office in Bregenz, Vorarlberg. The Friedrichshafen–Berlin Tempelhof route was flown until that airport closed in October 2008.
Fleet and Route Network
By November 2015, InterSky operated two ATR 72-600s (70 seats, ordered in 2012) and three Bombardier Dash 8 Q300s (50 seats). Its network included Berlin Tegel, Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Friedrichshafen, Hamburg, Memmingen, seasonal Munich, Zurich, and seasonal St. Gallen-Altenrhein, alongside leisure destinations such as Pula, Zadar, Naxos, Elba, Menorca, and Guernsey and Jersey. Between March 2013 and January 2014, InterSky also operated a wet-lease service with Avanti Air via Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden to Hamburg. From 2015, the company was owned by German investor Intro Aviation, which was seeking a buyer.
Sudden End in November 2015
On 3 November 2015, Austria’s transport ministry gave InterSky a final deadline to prove its financial standing. When a US lessor terminated its leases without notice on 4 November 2015 and seized four aircraft (two ATR 72s and two Dash 8-Q300s), having them flown to Maastricht, flight operations effectively collapsed; the final flight that evening was from Zurich to Graz. After a previously promising takeover candidate unexpectedly withdrew, CEO Renate Moser declared insolvency unavoidable on 6 November 2015, with the filing made at the Feldkirch regional court on 9 November 2015. For Friedrichshafen Airport, InterSky’s end meant the loss of its most important regional carrier, which had carried around 115,000 passengers a year, about 19 percent of the airport’s total traffic.
Further reading: Austrian Aviation History
Sources (Selection)
Part of the Austrian Aviation History section. An independent, private history project with no connection to Austrian Airlines AG or the Lufthansa Group.