Contact Air

The airline was founded in 1974 as a tax-break by Gunter Eheim, a German WWII test pilot and later manufacturer of aquarium filters, initially operating charter passenger services using a small fleet of Dassault Falcon 20 and Learjet executive jetliners. In 1981, Contact Air became one of the launch customers for the British Aerospace Jetstream. Its first aircraft was delivered in the following year. This event accelerated the company's march towards more regular and structured flight activities. In fact, in May 1984, Contact Air was subcontracted by DLT to operate one of its Jetstreams on scheduled regional flights on behalf of Lufthansa. Subsequently, DLT acquired 24.8 percent of the Contact Air shares. Having waged the alternative of ordering the ATR 42, Contact Air announced in 1986 that it had chosen the de Havilland Canada Dash 8-100 for a fleet enlargement, thus becoming the second European airline to operate that type. Two years later, Contact Air became the first non-Canadian buyer of the stretched Dash 8-300 version, ordering three aircraft worth $35 million.