Sundair

Sundair is one of those airlines you do not see every day – and that is exactly what makes it interesting. The leisure airline from Stralsund operates only a handful of aircraft, flies mainly in the vacation season and shares the work with a Croatian sister airline. If you want a complete Sundair set in your logbook, you can set yourself a realistic goal: the whole fleet fits on one hand. This page shows you how to recognize the airline, what to watch for with registrations and codes and where your chances are best.

Sundair at a glance

Sundair is a German leisure and charter airline based in Stralsund. Its operational business base, however, is not on the Baltic coast but in Waltersdorf, right at Berlin Brandenburg Airport. The airline was founded in spring 2016 by Marcos Rossello, managing director of the Berlin IT company Air 41. The operating license followed in September 2017, and in the same month Sundair took off with its first own aircraft.

The original concept called for smaller Airbus A319s and several bases, including Berlin Tegel, Frankfurt and Kassel-Calden. Because Sundair went with the larger A320 instead, the start was delayed. In June 2018 the airline bought two A320s from the Air Berlin bankruptcy estate, doubling its fleet to four aircraft.

Sundair flies mainly for tour operators: charter flights to the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands, the Red Sea and Bulgaria, plus individual special flights. That suits its owner. Since May 2023, Schauinsland-Reisen from Duisburg has held the majority of Sundair and the sister airline Fly Air41 Airways. Sundair has no alliance membership.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code SR: appears in the flight number – on the departure board, on the ticket and in travel documents.
• ICAO code SDR: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on flight trackers when Sundair itself is flying.
• Callsign SUNDAIR: this is how the crew identifies itself on the radio.

For aviation fans with a sense of history, the IATA code is a small stumbling block: SR was for decades the code of Swissair, which ceased operations in 2002. IATA reassigns freed-up codes after some time. So if you are sorting old schedules or photos from before 2002, SR stands for Swissair – in current data for Sundair. More on how the two code systems work is in the article on IATA and ICAO codes.

One brand, two airlines: Sundair and Fly Air41

As with many small leisure airlines, a look at the flight number is not enough to know who is really flying. In February 2021, Rossello and Branimir Vuković founded the sister company Fly Air41 Airways in Zagreb. The name goes back to the IT company Air 41, which Sundair founder Rossello also comes from. In August 2021 the Croatian airline received its operating license; the first flight for Sundair started on August 20, 2021, in Leipzig/Halle.

Since then, Fly Air41 has operated some of the Sundair flights – with aircraft that, after repainting, also fly in the Sundair design. The UFO union criticized the model at the time as a possible way out of the German collective agreement, which Sundair rejected. For you as a spotter, what matters most is this: the aircraft look the same but differ in registration and ICAO code.

Airline	Headquarters	ICAO code	Callsign	Typical registration	Fleet (as of August 2026)
Sundair	Stralsund, Germany	SDR	SUNDAIR	D-A…	three A320-200s
Fly Air41 Airways	Zagreb, Croatia	BER	BERLIN	9A-…	four A319-100s, three A320-200s

A curiosity on the side: the ICAO code BER used to be Air Berlin’s code. If you keep older logbooks, better pay attention to the date with this code. By the way, Fly Air41 does not fly only for Sundair – in 2023, for example, the airline began deploying A320s for Condor out of Düsseldorf. Assignments like this on behalf of another airline are called wet lease; how that works is explained in the article Wet lease explained.

The fleet: a small Airbus family

Sundair flies only aircraft of the Airbus A320 family, and older first-generation examples at that. According to the fleet data evaluated in August 2026, the fleet looks like this:

Type	Number	Seats	Who flies it	Spotter note
Airbus A320-200	3	180	Sundair	The airline’s workhorse, some ex-Air Berlin aircraft
Airbus A319-100	1	150	Fly Air41 Airways	Shorter fuselage, one overwing exit instead of two

The average age is just under 20 years. Because the fleet is so small, even a single new arrival or return changes the picture noticeably. The figures are therefore a snapshot – before a targeted photo trip, check which registrations are currently active.

With such a small fleet, it is worth looking at the differences between the types. The A320 is the standard of the family, and the A319 is just under four meters shorter. The easiest way to recognize it is by the emergency exits: the A320 has two pairs of doors over the wing, the A319 only one. The Sundair aircraft clearly differ from the newer A320neo with its large engines – Sundair has no neo in service. The manufacturer of all types is Airbus.

A320 or A319? How to tell them apart

In charter operations you often see both types side by side, in the same design and with the same flight number. A few details help you tell them apart.

The emergency exits are the surest feature because they are easy to see even in photos taken from a greater distance. This works best with side shots on approach or while taxiing. How to tell types apart in general is shown in the guide Aircraft recognition for beginners.

How to recognize Sundair

Sundair’s look has changed in recent years. At the end of 2024, the airline adapted its design to majority owner Schauinsland-Reisen. Sundair’s aircraft and the Fly Air41 aircraft flying for Sundair were repainted. Older photos therefore still show the original design – if you have been collecting Sundair for a while, you may have the same aircraft in two liveries in your archive.

A real highlight was the special livery “Katta Goes on Vacation” on the A320 with the registration D-ANNA. Sundair presented the aircraft with the lemur motif in February 2020, and it flew in this livery until March 2025. If you have it in your archive, you now own a small piece of Sundair history. How to track down current special liveries is explained in the article on special liveries.

The operating rhythm also helps with recognition. Typical for leisure airlines are early departures to the vacation destinations and returns in the afternoon or evening. Sundair aircraft therefore often show up in waves, not evenly spread across the day.

Spotting Sundair in Germany

The most important airport for Sundair is Berlin Brandenburg. The business base is there, and that is where you have the best chances of a sighting. A good starting point is the observation deck at BER.

In the past, Sundair was also at home at other airports. After the Germania bankruptcy in early 2019, the airline stationed aircraft in Bremen and Dresden and took over some routes there. Kassel-Calden was among the departure airports in the early days; since the 2024/25 winter schedule there have been no Sundair flights there. Fly Air41 was also stationed for Sundair at other German airports at times, at the 2021 start for example in Leipzig/Halle, later in Bremen and Dresden. If you live in these regions, take a look at the observation deck in Bremen, the observation deck in Dresden or the observation deck in Leipzig/Halle – but only after you have checked the current schedule.

In the German leisure market you meet Sundair alongside much bigger names like Condor, TUIfly, Marabu Airlines or Eurowings. The comparison helps with pre-sorting: TUIfly relies on the Boeing 737, Marabu on the A320neo – an older A320 with Sundair titles stands out quickly there.

Before you commit to a spot, it is worth looking at the wind direction, because it determines which direction the aircraft come from. How to judge this is shown in the guide to the runway direction in use at an airport. For live tracking of the few Sundair aircraft, the article on flight tracking with ADS-B will help you.

Brief timeline

• 2016: Founded in Stralsund; Schauinsland-Reisen joins shortly after with 50 percent.
• 2017: Operating license in September and first flights with its own aircraft.
• 2018: Purchase of two former Air Berlin A320s, the fleet grows to four aircraft.
• 2019: After the end of Germania, Sundair takes over routes from Bremen and Dresden.
• 2020: Presentation of the special livery “Katta Goes on Vacation”; in autumn, Sundair applies for a court-supervised restructuring under a protective shield procedure because of the COVID pandemic.
• 2021: The protective shield procedure ends in April; Fly Air41 Airways takes over flights for Sundair from August.
• 2023: Schauinsland-Reisen takes the majority of Sundair and Fly Air41.
• 2024: New design in the style of Schauinsland; end of flights from Kassel-Calden.
• 2025: The special livery on D-ANNA disappears in March.

Common mix-ups

• Taking SR for Swissair – since the end of Swissair, the code SR has belonged to Sundair.
• Taking BER on the tracker for Berlin Airport – as an ICAO airline code, BER stands for Fly Air41 Airways, while BER Airport’s ICAO code is EDDB.
• Taking every aircraft in the Sundair design for Sundair – Fly Air41 also flies in this look. The registration decides.
• Logging a Sundair A320 as an A320neo – Sundair flies only the first generation with smaller engines.
• Confusing the A319 and A320 – count the emergency exits over the wing.
• Assuming old bases are current – Kassel is history, and Bremen or Dresden are not included every season.

Conclusion

Sundair is one of the smallest German passenger airlines – and precisely for that reason a rewarding collecting target. A handful of older Airbus A320s and A319s, a clear focus on Berlin and a sister from Croatia flying under the same flight number: if you note registration and ICAO code, you can capture the entire fleet completely with manageable effort.