Sterling Airlines

If you stood at Copenhagen Kastrup in the 1970s, you saw a Caravelle with “Sterling” titles almost every day – full of vacationers on their way to the Mediterranean. Sterling was Denmark’s big private airline alongside SAS for decades: first as the charter airline of a tour operator, then, after a bankruptcy and a restart, as one of Scandinavia’s early budget carriers. This page explains the airline’s three phases, its fleet, the end in October 2008 and how to identify old Sterling photos cleanly.

Sterling at a glance

Sterling was a historic Danish airline that flew under this name from 1962 to 2008. Strictly speaking, several companies are hidden behind it: the original Sterling Airways went bankrupt in 1993, its successor Sterling European Airlines started anew in the same year, and after the merger with Maersk Air the company was called Sterling Airlines A/S from 2005. What links them all is the name – and the role as private competition to the Scandinavian flag carrier SAS.

In every phase, home was Copenhagen Airport. Most recently the airline was based in Dragør, right next to the airport grounds. There were also bases in other Scandinavian cities, such as Billund, Oslo and Stockholm Arlanda.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code NB: most recently appeared in Sterling Airlines flight numbers.
• ICAO code SNB: this is how the airline appeared in flight plans and air traffic control data.
• Callsign STERLING: this is how the crews identified themselves on the radio.
• Registration OY-: the fleet was registered in Denmark. One example from the charter years is the Caravelle OY-STL. How registrations are structured in general is explained in the guide Understanding aircraft registrations.

Sterling Airways: a pastor’s vacation airline (1962–1993)

Tjæreborg and the founding

The story does not begin at an airport but in a parsonage. Eilif Krogager, pastor in Tjæreborg in Jutland, was already organizing trips in the 1950s and built the tour operator Tjæreborg Rejser out of it. To control the flights for his vacationers himself, he founded Sterling Airways together with Jørgen Størling on May 16, 1962.

The first flight took off on July 7, 1962, with a four-engine Douglas DC-6B – the young airline had bought two aircraft of this type in its founding year. For decades Sterling flew mainly for Tjæreborg – a textbook example of the classic model of a tour operator with its own airline. What sets this apart from scheduled service is explained in the article Charter flights vs. scheduled flights.

The jet era with the Caravelle and 727

The first jets arrived as early as 1965: Sterling went with the French Sud Aviation Caravelle, the first short- and medium-haul jet with rear-mounted engines. Over the years several versions flew for the airline, including the Super Caravelle 10B and the stretched Caravelle 12. In 1972 Sterling also took over a larger number of used Caravelle 6Rs from the US.

In May 1972 Sterling ordered its first Boeing 727-200s. The three-engine jet became the airline’s second face and was still flying for Sterling after the 1993 restart. Other types also appeared at times: two Fokker F27s between 1968 and 1973, two Douglas DC-8-63s for long-haul and later the Boeing 757-200. There were also smaller models such as a helicopter and Aérospatiale Corvette business aircraft.

Accidents and setbacks

The history also includes serious accidents. On March 14, 1972, the Caravelle OY-STL, on a charter flight from Colombo to Copenhagen, hit a mountain in the United Arab Emirates on approach to Dubai. All 112 people on board died. The investigation concluded that the crew had descended below the minimum prescribed altitude. In March 1974 the landing gear of a Sterling Caravelle failed in Tehran, the aircraft caught fire, and several people died.

Spin-off and bankruptcy

In 1988 Sterling was split off from the Tjæreborg group, and the tour operator went to its competitor Spies in early 1989. The airline was now on its own. In September 1993 Sterling Airways ceased operations and filed for bankruptcy.

Sterling European: restart and shift to budget carrier (1993–2005)

The name did not stay orphaned for long. As early as December 1993, Sterling European Airlines was formed – at first with only three aircraft and 182 employees. The new company flew charters again, initially with Boeing 727s and Boeing 737s. In 1996 the Norwegian shipping group Fred. Olsen bought the airline.

Around the turn of the millennium came the shift in business model. To offset the shrinking charter business, the airline began scheduled flights to Málaga and Alicante on November 1, 2000. In 2001 the decision was made to give up the charter business and become a full-fledged budget airline – making Sterling one of the first low-cost carriers in Scandinavia. How this model works is explained in the article How budget airlines work.

Growth was rapid:

• 2002: 21 new routes.
• 2003: fleet grows from six to eight aircraft, eleven new routes, around 1.3 million passengers – an increase of 40 percent.
• 2004: twelve aircraft.
• End of 2005: after the merger with Maersk Air, 29 aircraft, around 1,600 employees and about 40 destinations in Europe.

The merger with Maersk Air (2005)

2005 became the year of the big ownership changes. In March, Fred. Olsen sold Sterling to the Icelandic investment company Fons. In June came the next coup: the shipping group A.P. Møller-Mærsk also sold its airline Maersk Air to Fons.

On September 13, 2005, the owners merged the two airlines into Sterling Airlines A/S. The Maersk Air brand disappeared, and the fleet now consisted mainly of Boeing 737s. At the end of 2005 the new airline counted among Europe’s larger budget carriers.

After that, things moved fast among the owners: a few weeks after the merger the Icelandic FL Group bought the airline, and at the end of 2006 it moved to Northern Travel Holding, which was backed by Icelandic investors and also owned the budget carrier Iceland Express. At times there was even speculation about a merger with easyJet.

The fleet at a glance

Over 46 years, a whole series of types flew in Sterling colors. The most important airliners at a glance:

Type	Period at Sterling	Use	Spotter note
Douglas DC-6B	from 1962	First charter flights	Four-engine propeller aircraft
Sud Aviation Caravelle	from 1965	Backbone of the charter fleet	Two engines at the rear, triangular cabin windows
Fokker F27	1968–1973	Smaller assignments	High-wing with two turboprops
Boeing 727-200	1970s to after 1993	Charter, later also at Sterling European	Three engines at the rear, T-tail
Douglas DC-8-63	at times (two examples)	Long-haul charter	Long four-engine jet
Boeing 757-200	at times	Charter	Slim fuselage, tall landing gear
Boeing 737-500	2000s to 2008	Low-cost network	Short 737 Classic
Boeing 737-700	2000s to 2008	Largest part of the fleet at the end	737 Next Generation
Boeing 737-800	2000s to 2008	Busy routes	Stretched 737 NG

At the end in October 2008, the airline’s own fleet consisted of around 26 Boeing 737s: four 737-500s, plus mostly 737-700s and a few 737-800s. The jets were mostly leased. How to tell the 737 generations apart is shown in the guide Telling Boeing 737 Original, Classic, NG and MAX apart.

How to recognize Sterling

Because Sterling flew for so long, there is no single paint scheme. Three things are decisive: the titles, the type and the registration. In the charter years the fuselage said “Sterling Airways,” and after the restart usually just “Sterling.” All aircraft carried Danish registrations with OY-.

The end in October 2008

In 2008 everything came together. Fuel prices rose sharply, and the Icelandic owners were caught in the middle of their country’s financial crisis, which shook Iceland’s entire banking system. At the end of October 2008 the Sterling jets stayed on the ground, and bankruptcy was declared on October 29, 2008. Many travelers were stranded or lost tickets they had paid for, and employees lost their jobs. The article Major airline bankruptcies in Europe gives an overview of similar cases.

In December 2008 the regional airline Cimber Air took over the name, the operating license, the website and takeoff and landing rights – the fleet was not part of it, as the lease contracts ran through the lessors. Under the name Cimber Sterling the company kept flying from 2009 until it had to file for bankruptcy itself in May 2012. Other airlines filled the gap in the Scandinavian budget market, above all Norwegian.

Risk of mix-ups: Sterling in three phases

Name	Period	What it was
Sterling Airways	1962–1993	Charter airline of Tjæreborg, Caravelle and 727
Sterling European Airlines	1993–2005	New company after the bankruptcy, low-cost from 2001
Sterling Airlines A/S	2005–2008	Merger with Maersk Air, all-737 fleet
Cimber Sterling	2009–2012	Cimber Air with a taken-over name, its own roots

Sterling today: a topic for the archive

You will never see Sterling in scheduled service again. The airline stays exciting nonetheless – as part of Danish aviation history and as a subject in old collections. If you travel to Copenhagen today, the Copenhagen spotter guide and the Flyvergrillen offer the right locations to photograph today’s traffic from SAS, Norwegian and others. Historic aircraft in Denmark are on show at the Danmarks Flymuseum in Stauning.

If you are digitizing old Sterling slides, be systematic: record registration, type, location and – as far as known – the date. Besides Sterling, it is worth looking at other Danish airlines of this period, such as Maersk Air or Sunclass Airlines, whose roots also lie in Scandinavian vacation traffic.

Common mix-ups

• Thinking of Sterling as a single company – there were three companies with the name, plus Cimber Sterling.
• Equating Cimber Sterling with Sterling – Cimber took over only the name, license and slots, not the fleet.
• Taking every Danish 737 for Sterling – Maersk Air also flew 737s with OY registrations.
• Seeing Sterling only as a budget carrier – for its first three decades it was a charter airline.
• Overlooking the 1993 bankruptcy – there is a hard break between Sterling Airways and Sterling European.

Conclusion

For over 46 years, Sterling was a fixture of Danish air travel. Founded by a pastor who wanted to bring vacationers from Jutland into the sun, the airline flew DC-6Bs, Caravelles and Boeing 727s for Tjæreborg. After the 1993 bankruptcy it returned as Sterling European, reinvented itself as a budget carrier from 2001 and swallowed Maersk Air in 2005. Rising fuel prices and the Icelandic financial crisis ended the story in October 2008. For you as a spotter, Sterling lives on today in photos and logbooks – and if you read titles, type and registration together, you can place these pictures with confidence.