Hanse Express

Hanse Express was originally organised in Hamburg in 1962 as the air taxi operator General Air. The company was reformed and renamed Hadag Air in 1974. The decision was then taken to undertake scheduled commuter operations with services linking the company base with Helgoland, Westerland, Sylt, Dortmund and Wyck. In the interest of promoting new services, the company was renamed Holiday Express in 1983. The fleet, upgraded by the addition of a Dornier 228-100, undertook new services to Rotterdam. Flights to Goteborg and Hanover began in 1986, by which time the Canadian turboprop has been withdrawn in favor of two Britten-Norman BN-2 Islanders and a Fairchild-Swearingen Metro II. In an effort to capitalize on the idea of providing an air link between the old trading cities of northern Europe, the carrier is reformed yet again in early 1988 and renamed Hansa Express