Our History

 

 

 

 

2024

In 2024 American Sun has opened its 6th US hub in Denver, Colorado. While B787-9 are operating in longhaul from Denver, B737s, B717s and CRJ700 are based in Denver for short- and mediumhaul operations. Furthermore flywoh has found a new global cargo supplier: NEXUS Cargo. NEXUS Cargo Airlines has taken over the operations of Skyways Cargo and has enhanced the fleet by B777F, MD11F and A300F.
2017 In 2017 it has been decided to develop and introduce a new website (system). Most efforts has been put into that tremendous project and we are happy to announce, that the new website went live on December, 8th. This is a big and remarkable milestone in our history and lays the foundation for further successful years. At the same time, we have introduced two new aircraft types: The brand new Bombardier C Series 100 and the Airbus A350-900 are entering service for Swiss Sky.
   
2016 In spring 2016, Swiss Sky entered into the Longhaul market. 16 A330-200 offer longhaul destinations around the world from Zuerich. End of 2016 the last Airbus A310 left Arabian Sun.
   
2015 In 2015, the woh|group celebrated its 15th anniversary. It was also the first time, that the shareholders`meeting took place outside of Germany, in Zuerich, Switzerland. Furthermore, it has been announced two new partnerships, with EuroBerlin VA for Arabian Sun codeshare flights and with NordSur Alliance for aircraft leasing. End of 2015 our new subsidiary, Swiss Sky, took off.
   
2014 After 5 years, in January 2014, a new airline is taking off under the roof of woh|group. Skyways Cargo is the new cargo airline within the group and complements cargo opportunities in addition to the belly compartments of the passenger airplanes. 16 MD11-freighter are making the fleet. At the shareholders‘ meeting it is decided to order 36 additional airplanes to modernize the fleet such as Boeing B747-8i and B777F.
   
2013 In February 2013, Arabian Sun moves its hub from Abu Dhabi to the neighbour Emirat Dubai. The change was forced by economical reasons and due to a new release of a Dubai scenery. At the shareholders‘ meeting in 2013 it was decided to strenghten our business in Central Europe with the start of the planning for a Swiss and Austrian subsidiary. Additionally woh|group became partner of the initiative  "Ja zu FRA!" that underlines the significance of the airport hub Frankfurt/Main.
   
2012 The version 1.0 of the new PilotCenter “woh|PiCe“ was released in 2012. This tool contains all latest NOTAMs of the woh|group and offers a direct access to the Teamspeak-Server and a tracking of all flight parameters that makes an automatic submission of the flight report through PiCe possible.
   
2011 Early 2011 woh|group ordered another 34 aircrafts of the type of Boeing B777-200ER, -200LR, and -300ER for Arabian Sun. Those were put in service until 2012. The Operations Manual Part A (OM-A) as of then was the new rule book and offered valuable information to the administration and airline operations of woh|group.
   
2010 Commencing 2010 American Sun received as the last airline of the group its new appearance. In order to expand our network, woh|group concluded a profound codeshare agreement with the British flyUK Virtual Airline. While flyUK mainly had access to flights of American Sun and Arabian Sun, they covered many routes from the UK to Germany for woh|group. By the end of 2010 woh|group put a considerably airplane order in place of 8 Embraer 190 and 8 Boeing 787-900. One change took place within the regional area, the long used ATRs were replaced with Bombardier Q400 Turboprops flying for Virtual Skyways.
   
2009 After the closure of Brasilian Sun already in the year before due to the lack of profitability, Arabian Sun, a new airline with its hub in Abu Dhabi was founded on January 1st, 2009. Primarily Arabian Sun opened the markets to Africa, Asia and Australia through its hub in the UAE for the woh|group. In addition the new logo of the woh|group with the “three orange waves“ has been introduced and established.
   
2008 With January 1st, 2008 Virtual Skyways and European Airlines have been formally brought together. The integration was fully completed by the end of 2008. The new Virtual Skyways ever since has become the strong German commercial airline of the WOH. Also in 2008 European Sun was renamed back to its original brand name “charterair“ and operated since then as the holiday- and low cost carrier within the group. Furthermore, due to the altered profile of World of Holidays, it changed its name to “woh|group“. The new name should indicate the historical origin but at the same time elucidate the transformation to a global airline in which charter flights are only one part of the business model.
   
2007 In 2007 the European subsidiaries have been re-organized. While the CharterAir VA and Viva Espana were put together under the joint brand name “European Sun“, the CityLink was renamed as “European Airlines“. In the end of 2007 the acquisition of Virtual Skyways was announced. Virtual Skyways was also founded in 2000 and operated mainly scheduled flights from Frankfurt/Main and Munich. In the same year in 2007 the first  A380 became part of the fleet which until the end of the year did a world wide promotional tour before commencing long haul service with European Airlines.
   
2006 WOH was also the first German virtual airline to take orders for the B787 and A350. With five orders WOH closed a deal for both aircraft types in the beginning of 2006. In spring the Holiday Flight Academy, the new flight school of the WOH, has been introduced. Under the supervision of a professional commercial pilot it was possible to offer profound advanced training lessons. In summer the “virtual|miles“ were introduced as the future foundation for promotions and the purchase of typeratings.
   
2005 With the 5th birthday of CharterAir VA and the 3rd anniversary of WOH, another expansion took place towards overseas. In August 2005 the American Sun for the US market and Brasilian Sun for the South American market were founded. Both airlines made up the portfolio of WOH and established its international standing. Essential changes within the leadership team ensured continuously advanced ideas.
   
2004 Again in 2004 another virtual airline was acquired. With the acquisition of flyFTI virtual, which was as well integrated into CharterAir VA, WOH gained access to smaller regional airports. As the first German virtual airline in 2004, WOH decided to order 2 Airbus A380 with virtual Airbus. With this order WOH started the planning of comprehensive long-haul services to world wide metropolises.
   
2003 In the year 2003 World of Holidays launched a complete new website with an interactive Flight Planning System. At the same time the airline concept was revised and led to the closure of Air Caribe and Air Nuernberg in favor of two new airlines. Viva Espania for the Spanish market as well as CityLink, with a wide range of scheduled fligths complemented the CharterAir VA. The in the beginning acquired Virtual Virgin Sun was integrated into the the CharterAir VA.
   
2002 The continued growth led to the decision in the beginning of 2002 to introduce a virtual holiday group. The CharterAir VA should work as a platform for additional virtual airlines under one roof. At the ILA 2002 the new name and concept of the new holiday group was introduced: World of Holidays VA, short WOH. The first two subsidiaries with Aero Caribe for connecting fligths within the Caribbean and Air Nuernberg for regular and low-cost flights have been founded mid 2002.
   
2001 The year 2001 was driven by continuous fast growth. The first long haul flights started to operate with A330 and A340 to various world wide holiday destinations and the fleet grew to 40 aircrafts. By the end of 2001 the 200. pilot was welcomed.   
   
2000 On August 18th the first German virtual holiday and leisure airline, charterair, was founded by Florian Brunner and Christoph Schneider. Beginning September 11th, two B737-800 flew from Munich and Bremen to holiday destinations along the Mediteranian Sea, to the Canary Islands and Egypt. In the same year, due to quickly increasing memberships the fleet rose to 12 aircrafts and the network experienced a significant growth