Dear Community,
The virtual year of 1998 is on the way to come to an end, but a new one is just about to follow. The last year of this century could become a very important year for many airlines, such as FlyCologne.
Named after the foundator's town of birth, FCL started their adventure of flying as a small company two years ago in Frankfurt EDDF operation a small Antonov 38-100. It has always been the company's most relevant goal to not only fly on main routes, but mostly on smaller routes without concurrence but a lot of need of fast and save transport.
From the first day on, FCL connected the Aland Islands with the European Mainland, built up a commuter route to Augsburg and set the first route from Frankfurt to south Poland's city of Lodz.
The first break through the ice was made by signing a wet-lease contract for a Fokker 50, which helped the airline to transport more passengers, to grow faster and finally to purchase new aircraft for even more routes.
Flights to Eastern Europe cities such as Minsk or Rostov succeeded that well that FlyCologne leased a Jetstream 61. For the first time, the daily revenues incresaed over 1 Million Euros and the planning for the biggest step in the airline history began: The step across the pond.
A focus city and aircraft were needed, but this time the decision to purchase aircraft instead of leasing made the race. The company decided that Kansas City would be the most reasonable hub to start up new North America connections. The central position, no influence from the huge 'Coast traffic', many passengers, comparable cheap gates - All this enforced the decision to create a completely new Dornier 128/228 fleet for regional flights in the Midwest and the Rocky Mountains and 2 CASA 235 for longer flights, such as to Key West or Fairbanks in Alaska.
Towards the year's end, the European fleet was extended by 2 more Antonov 38-100 and 4 ATR 42. Both models have already proved their great economic skills and are worth to be part of our fleet in an even bigger number. For the next year, 5 more options for ATR42's and 2 more options for Antonov 38-100's can be completed.
Today, the FlyCologne carries more than 4,000 passengers every day, earns more than 2.2 Mio. € every day and offers 73 different routes to 71 destinations, from Frankfurt and Kansas City.
But as this is what happened UNTIL 1999, we'd like to give you a little outlook what our plans are FOR the year 1999:
Having a strong partnership is essential for success in world airline management. For this reasons, FCL is planning to join the HFA Alliance.
Furthermore, there are plans to purchase a transatlantic flights fleet from our 'Oversea Flights Hub' in Shannon/Ireland with at least 3 A330-200, to attractive destinations such as JFK, Kansas City, St. Maarten and Toronto. There are 2 daily connection flights planned from Frankfurt to Shannon when the hub is released.
As the CEO of FlyCologne, I would like you to welcome you on one of our flights.
ENJOY IT.
Pascal F.
