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Astraeus Airlines

Logo: L doddrell, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons3

British airline

Astraeus Limited, trading as Astraeus Airlines, was a British airline based at Astraeus House in Crawley, West Sussex, England. Founded in January 2001, and named after the Greek God of the dusk, it entered administration on 21 November 2011, ceasing operations the same day. Established as a charter airline, Astraeus changed its business model in May 2008 and ceased full-time charter and scheduled service flying to concentrate on sublease activities.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

2002Founded1

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Astraeus.commons.b737-300.g-stra.arp.2
Photo: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons5

Astraeus Limited, trading as Astraeus Airlines, was a British airline based at Astraeus House in Crawley, West Sussex, England. Founded in January 2001, and named after the Greek God of the dusk, it entered administration on 21 November 2011, ceasing operations the same day.2

The story

Astraeus Airlines commenced charter operations in April 2002 with Boeing 737 aircraft and also operated under the Flystar brand for a short time. After establishing itself as a reliable charter carrier to UK leisure tour operators for both summer and winter seasons, the fleet was extended in 2004 to include Boeing 757 aircraft. By 2008 the fleet had grown to two Boeing 737-300s, two Boeing 737-700s and five Boeing 757-200s.

As of 2009, Astraeus Airlines was the only airline charter company which remained based at Gatwick Airport, and grew its fleet, adding a Boeing 737-500 and 737-700.

Astraeus was a 100%-owned subsidiary of Eignarhaldsfelagid Fengur hf, an Icelandic-based travel group that also owned the Iceland Express airline.

Astraeus ended operations on 21 November 2011 and entered administration. The airline cited a lack of contracts for the winter of 2011 and some "extremely bad luck" with technical issues as reasons for ending operations.

From Wikipedia’s article on Astraeus Airlines, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Products and brands

In November 2011, the Astraeus fleet consisted of the following aircraft with an average age of 17.4 years:

From Wikipedia’s article on Astraeus Airlines, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Timeline

  1. Nov 21, 2011Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 2002Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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