Swiftair
Spanish airline
Swiftair S.A. is an airline whose headquarters are in Madrid, Spain. It operates scheduled and charter, passenger, and cargo flights in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Its main base is Madrid-Barajas Airport.
01History
The airline was founded in 1986. It wholly owns subsidiary Mediterranean Air Freight. Currently Swiftair is also a United Nations contractor for the United Nations Mission in Sudan.
02Fleet
Current fleet
As of August 2025, Swiftair operates the following aircraft:
| Aircraft | In service |
Orders | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A321-200P2F | 4 | , | |
| ATR 42-300F | 4 | , | |
| ATR 42-300QC | 1 | , | |
| ATR 72-200F | 6 | , | |
| ATR 72-500 | 3 | , | |
| ATR 72-500F | 5 | , | |
| ATR 72-600F | 4 | , | |
| Boeing 737-400SF | 6 | , | 3 operating for DHL |
| Boeing 737-800BCF | 3 | , | |
| Boeing 737-800BDSF | 6 | , | Operated for DHL |
| Boeing 757-200PCF | 2 | , | |
| Boeing 757-200PF | 1 | , | |
| Total | 44 |
Former fleet
Swiftair formerly operated the following aircraft:
| Aircraft | Total | Introduced | Retired | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A300B4F | 1 | 2005 | 2006 | Leased from European Air Transport |
| Boeing 727-200F | 16 | 1999 | 2012 | |
| Boeing 737-300BDSF | 5 | 2008 | 2016 | One sold to Buffalo Airways in 2022 |
| Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner | 12 | 1990 | 2008 | Three sold to Swiftair Hellas |
| Embraer 120 | 10 | , | 2023 | Five sold to Swiftair Hellas |
| McDonnell Douglas MD-83 | 7 | 2005 | 2015 | One involved in Air Algérie Flight 5017 |
| McDonnell Douglas MD-87 | 1 | 2009 | 2010 | Operated by the United Nations |
03Accidents and incidents
- In October 1994, one of its aircraft was written off when the crew forgot to lower the landing gear as the plane arrived in Madrid.
- In May 1995, another aircraft was damaged beyond repair during a botched landing at Vitoria airport in Spain.
- In 2005, a Boeing 727 operating for DHL sustained starboard wing damage during a botched landing in Kandahar. It was repaired over the next 2 days and returned to Bahrain.
- In January 2012, a plane sustained substantial damage during a botched landing at Kandahar.
- On 24 July 2014, a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 operated by the company performed scheduled flight AH5017 from Ouagadougou to Algiers for Algerian airline Air Algérie. The aircraft disappeared off radar 50 minutes after takeoff and crashed in Gossi, Mali, killing all 116 people on board.
- On 18 January 2016, an Embraer 120 freighter took out runway edge lights during its takeoff roll at Amsterdam Schiphol airport, on a flight to London Stansted. No injuries occurred.
- On 17 November 2016, a Boeing 737-400, registration EC-MAD, was flying on behalf of EAT Leipzig out of Shannon Airport when the pilots reported shortly after liftoff that they had lost all instrumentation. The crew remained in visual contact with the airport and returned for a safe landing.
- On 24 September 2022, a Boeing 737-400SF, registration EC-NLS, experienced a runway excursion at Montpellier-Méditerranée Airport, France. After breaking through the barriers, the plane ended its journey in the waters of the Étang de l'Or. There were no injuries among the three crew members.
- On 25 November 2024, Swiftair Flight 5960, a Boeing 737-476(SF) registered as EC-MFE, crashed in Vilnius, Lithuania while on approach, killing one crew member and injuring three others.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Swiftair”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Swiftair logo.png by Unknown author, Fair use
- Swiftair - ATR-72-201.jpg by Ole Simon, GFDL 1.2
- Swiftair Boeing 737-3Q8(SF).jpg by Rui Miguel, CC BY-SA 4.0
- EC-NIU 2023-06-17 EDDK.jpg by Recoil16, CC BY-SA 4.0
- EC-JBE (20571493131).jpg by Bram Steeman, CC BY-SA 2.0
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