Spanair

Spanair S.A. was a Spanish airline, with its head office in the Spanair Building in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, near Barcelona. It was, until 2009 a subsidiary of the SAS Group; the same parent company in control of Scandinavian Airlines and held slightly under 20% of the company. Spanair provided a scheduled passenger network within Spain and Europe, with an extension to West Africa. Worldwide charters were also flown for tour companies. Its main hub was Barcelona El Prat Airport, with focus cities at Madrid-Barajas Airport and Palma de Mallorca Airport. The airline had 3,161 employees and was a Star Alliance member from 2003 until its demise.

History

The airline was established in December 1986 and began operations in March 1988. It was set up as a joint venture between Scandinavian Airlines and Viajes Marsans, and began operations with European charters. Long-haul flights to the United States, Mexico and the Dominican Republic were launched in 1991, followed by domestic scheduled flights in March 1994. The airline flew long-haul flights with Boeing 767-300ER aircraft to Washington and Buenos Aires in the late 1990s.

Spanair Flight 5022

Spanair Flight 5022 (JK5022) was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Madrid-Barajas Airport to Gran Canaria Airport, Spain, that crashed just after take-off from runway 36L of Barajas Airport at 14:24 CEST (12:24 UTC) on 20 August 2008. The aircraft was a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, registration EC-HFP. 154 people died; six died en route to hospital, one died overnight and one died in hospital three days later. Only 18 people survived.

It was the only fatal accident for Spanair (part of the SAS Group) in the 25-year history of the company, and the 14th fatal accident and 24th hull loss involving MD-80 series aircraft. It was the world's deadliest aviation accident in 2008 and Spain's deadliest since the 1983 crash of Avianca Flight 011.

The accident weakened Spanair's image, which at the time was already negative among the public because of frequent breakdowns and delays. The crash exacerbated financial difficulties at Spanair, which ceased operations on 27 January 2012.