Early years and growth Blue Wings was established in 2002, received the
AOC on 27 June 2003 and started operations in July of the same year. It initially operated charter flights from Düsseldorf using a wet-leased
Airbus A320. In June 2006, the Russian National Reserve Corporation (NRC) acquired a 48 percent shareholding through its
Zürich based subsidiary
Alpstream AG, which was intended to lead to a close co-operation between Blue Wings and
Red Wings Airlines, also belonging to NRC.
Development since 2009 and closure On 30 December 2009, the
Federal Office for Civil Aviation of Germany revoked the operating license of Blue Wings because of solvency fears, forcing the airline to shut down all operations. Blue Wings was saved for once on 23 April of the same year, when it was announced that
Elite Aviation, a VIP charter airline from
Abu Dhabi, had signed a charter agreement with Blue Wings. Subsequently, the license was reinstated on 5 May. On 5 August 2009, it was announced that
Iraqi Airways,
Iraq's national airline, had signed a contract to lease three Blue Wings
Airbus A320-232, which were used on European routes. On 13 January 2010, Blue Wings ceased all operations, filing bankruptcy due to the
Great Recession and the
2008 financial crisis, which reduced investor interest. The airline's corporate head office was located in
Düsseldorf, at
Düsseldorf Airport. Before closure it was in Terminal A. Previously it was in Hangar 8 at the same airport. ==Destinations==