Flydanube

flydanube, legally Danube Low-budget Flight Corporation is a Danubian low-cost airline with it's head office and flight operations in Nová Osada, Danubian Federation. The airline operates between a total of 50 destinations, serving, , and.

Early years
flydanube was founded on May 1st, 1977 as Sky Danube Charter Lines by the Danubian businessman Benedikt Svätý. It commenced operations on January 1st, 1978 with it's first flight being conducted between Danubenburg Metropolitan International Airport and Vienna International Airport.

The idea of a Danubian low-cost carrier quickly gained popularity, and as of 1987, Sky Danube Charter Lines (rebranded as Skydanube in 1984) carried over 2 million passengers yearly and it conducted flights to 70 destinations with a fleet size of 80.

Danubenburg Airport collision and decline
Main article: Danubenburg Airport disaster 

On July 1st, 1988, an Boeing 737 operated by Skydanube and conducting a flight between Danubenburg Metropolitan Int'l Airport and Indira Ghandi Int'l Airport with a stopover at Dubai Int'l Airport, collided with a Lufthansa McDonnell Douglas DC-10 conducting a flight between Düsseldorf Airport and Danubenburg Metropolitan Int'l Airport. 176 of the 203 on board of the Skydanube flight died as well as 48 of the 220 on board of the Lufthansa flight, totalling 224 fatalities and 179 survivors. The collision was the worst air disaster in the history of the Danubian Federation, and also third worst air disaster in European history.

Following the disaster, Skydanube's popularity declined.

Recovery
In 1990, following the declining fortunes of Skydanube, CEO Svätý decided to relocate it's main hub from Danubenburg Metropolitan International Airport to Danubenburg Nova Osada Airport, Danubenburg's second commercial airport. Skydanube also decided to co-operate with Danubian Air Lines, at the time the second largest carrier of Danubia. Danubian Air Lines took a 33% share in Skydanube and a 45% share in D'burg Aviation Group. The deal, however, didn't pay off, and in 1995, Skydanube pulled out of it.

Transition to a low-cost carrier
Realizing that Skydanube was at the brink of going bankrupt, CEO Svätý decided to turn the airline into a "no-frills" "low-cost airline", inspired by Southwest Airlines and Ryanair. Skydanube was rebranded as FlyDanube (and later as flydanube.com and flydanube) and aimed for the Danubian and European aviation market.

21st century
In 2000, FlyDanube opened a hub at Esztergom Airport in Esztergom, Hungary. In the same year, the airline opened a route between Danubenburg Nova Osada and Tokyo's Haneda Airport, becoming the first low-cost airline to fly to Japan. In 2001, the airline was rebranded as flydanube.com. Following Founder Benedikt Svätý's death in December 2001, Ferenz Keffin became the new CEO. In 2002, the airline opened new routes from Danubenburg to the Caribbean countries of Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Saint Martin, using Airbus A330 aircraft. In 2003, skydanube.com opened a route between Danubenburg and Rio de Janeiro via Casablanca. In the following years, the airline expanded with routes to 2 other South American cities (São Paulo and Buenos Aires) and 7 North American destinations (including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Calgary).

New hubs
In 2007, flydanube.com made it's Esztergom hub the main airport for short-haul flights. The airline rebranded Esztergom Airport as Danubenburg/Budapest Airport and launched Air Express high-speed trains from the airport to Budapest, Cistopole and Danubenburg. Nova Osada Airport would handle a short amount of flydanube.com's short-haul and it's long haul flights.

Fleet
As of November 2018 the flydanube fleet consists of the following aircraft: