Founded at St. Paul, Minnesota, in the summer of 1935 to offer scheduled passenger flights on a route into the Dakotas, touching en route at such communities as Watertown, Pierre, Rapid City, and Spearkfish, plus Mount Rushmore. Revenue frequencies commence in August, but traffic proves too insufficient to justify operations beyond the first quarter of 1936.
WATERWINGS AIRWAYS, LTD.: New Zealand (1990-1994). Under Managing Director Chris Willett, Waterwings is established on Te Anau Island in 1990 to provide scheduled service to various points on the southern tip of the nation’s South Island. Sight-seeing flights are also undertaken. The initial fleet includes 2 GAF Nomad N.22s plus 1 Cessna 206 and 1 Cessna 207. Operations continue until 1994.
WAYFARER AVIATION: 10 Hangar Road, Westchester County Airport, White Plains, New York 10604, United States; Phone (914) 949-4424; Fax (914) 949-5206; Http://www. wayfareraviation. com; Year Founded 1956. Laurence, David, and Nelson Rockefeller establish this aircraft management, charter, sales, maintenance, and consulting concern at Westchester County Airport in 1956. Over the next 40 years, the full-service aviation concern becomes well known for the provision of executive and small group passenger charters to airports in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and other Eastern U. S. locations.
James Christiansen is president in 2000 and operates a fleet that includes 2 Canadair 600 Challengers, 1 Dassault Falcon 20, 1 Learjet 35A Century III, and 2 Augusta A-109 helicopters.
WDL AVIATION (KOLN), GmbH.: Postfach 98 02 67, Koln 90, D-51130, Germany; Phone 49 (2203) 53082; Fax 49 (2203) 64100; Http://www. wdl-aviation. de; Code WDL; Year Founded 1991. In late 1991, WDL Flugdienst is reformed and its group headquarters are moved to Cologne. The airship division, WDL Luftschiffgesellschaft MbH., remains at Mulheim on the Ruhr. In 1992, the route network of this operator is lengthened as President Walter Bohnke acquires three Airbus Industrie A320-231s on lease from Adria Airways. The FH-227J is leased to CARA Express.
The Airbus lease ends in early 1993 and the fleet now includes 5 F.27-600s, 3 F.27-100s, and 1 F.27-200. Two more F.27-600s, 8 F.27-100s, 2
F.27-200s, and 1 F.27-400 join the fleet in 1994 as both routes and services are expanded. The mission, however, is altered as WDL becomes an all-cargo operator, flying on behalf of United Parcel Service (UPS), Lufthansa Cargo, A. G., Emery Worldwide, DHL Worldwide Express, and TNT Express Worldwide.
Flights continue in 1995-1997, during which years the fleet consists of 9 F.27-600s, 4 F.27-200s, and 1 each F.27-400 and F.27-100.
In addition to contract services on behalf of the large freight operators, WDL also continues to provide its own services, offering logistical support to the automotive and other industries. A corporate shuttle division is established at Frankfurt during the year, flying executives aboard a Bombardier Learjet 55.
Freight service and executive passenger charters are maintained in 1998. During the spring, the decision is taken to reenter the passenger charter market. A British Aerospace BAe 146-100, just off lease to KLM U. K., Ltd. , is acquired from the charter arm of the manufacturer on July 1.
Repainted, the BAe enters service on August 8; initial operations consist of the provision of replacement services for Aero Lloyd, GmbH. A second British-made jetliner, a VIP-configured Dash-200, is acquired from Pelita Air Service late in the year.
Service is maintained in 1999. The former Pelita BAe 146-200 enters service on April 14. The replacement business is found to be most promising as flights are operated on behalf of LTU International Airlines (Lufttransport Unternelhmman, GmbH.), Aero Lloyd Flugreisen, GmbH., Eurowings Luftverkehrs, A. G., Hapag-Lloyd Flugge-sellschaft, mbH., Virgin Express, S. A., and Fti Fluggesellschaft, mbH. Corporate shuttle customers include Airbus Industrie and the automobile manufacturers Audi, BMW, and Daimler Chrysler.
On May 1,2000, a wet-leased British Aerospace BAe 146-300, operated on behalf of Air Nostrum, S. A., launches Iberia Regional weekday return flights from Zaragoza to Madrid, Nice, and Frankfurt. These are complemented with weekend services to Bologna from Madrid and Barcelona.
A BAe 146-200 is wet-leased to Deutsche BA Luftfahrtgesselschaft,
GmbH. on November 1 and is employed to offer scheduled frequencies from Koln to Munich, Dusseldorf, and Berlin (Tegel). Two more planes, also wearing Deutsche BA stickers, will follow.
WDL FLUGDIENST, GmbH. (WESTDEUTSCHE LUFTVERBUNG FLUGDIENST, GmbH.): Germany (1956-1991). WDL is incorporated at Mulheim on the Rhur in 1956 as a subsidiary of Westdeutsche Luftwerbung Theodor Wullenkemper GmbH. & Co., K. G., to provide executive air charter and aerial advertising. In the beginning, flights seldom total more than 90 in a whole year. Lightplane charters continue without incident or headline during the next several decades. In 1972, an airship division is also established at Mulheim on the Ruhr; it will eventually become known as WDL Luftschiffgesellschaft MbH. and will operate the company’s own dirigible type, the WDL-1-B. Like the Goodyear blimps in the U. S., these will almost always be employed for aerial observation and photography.
The first Fokker F.27-100 is acquired in 1974 and is employed to operate scheduled passenger replacement service under contract to Deutsche Lufthansa, A. G. By the middle 1980s, Managing Director Theodor Wullenkemper’s fleet comprises 3 Fokker F.27-100s and 1 Fairchild-Swearingen Metroliner.
Operations, primarily on behalf of Deutsche Lufthansa, A. G. and Deutsche Luftverkehrsgesellschaft, GmbH. (DLT), continue apace. In 1990, the fleet comprises 4 Fokker F.27-100s (3 of which are leased to FTG Air Services, GmbH.), 1 F.27-200, which is also chartered to FTG Air Services, GmbH., and 2 WDL-1-B airships.
The FTG Air Services, GmbH. charters end in 1991 , at which point the F.27-100/200s are joined by 3 F.27-600s and 1 Fairchild Hiller FH-227J. The carrier is reformed late in the year and renamed.
WEARNE’S AIR SERVICE, LTD.: Malaya (1936-1941). Wearne’s is founded at Singapore on December 18, 1936 as an associate of the automobile dealer and importer Wearne Brothers, Ltd. Equipped with a single DH 89 christened Governor Raffles, the company launches thrice-weekly Singapore to Penang service via Kuala Lumpur and Ipoh, on June 28, 1937. The route’s frequency becomes daily following delivery of another Rapide, the Governor Fullerton, on September 27.
Two DH 86s are acquired in 1938, one each from British Airways, Ltd. (1) (the Governor Ibbotson) and Jersey Airways, Ltd. (the Governor Murchison). A DH 60 is also purchased. In 1939, flights begin from Penang to Kota Bharu and the Governor Ibbotson conducts a survey flight across the South China Sea to Sarawak. On June 30, 1940, Penang to Kota Bharu service is suspended. By year’s end, the fleet comprises 2 DH 89s and 1 DH 90 Dragonfly.
On December 1, 1941, the carrier becomes “B Flight” of the Malayan Volunteer Air Force; after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, the company officially ceases to exist. As a military unit, Wearne’s now flies passengers and mail from Singapore to various military destinations. All three of the company’s aircraft are lost in accidents or under Japanese attack.
World History
