The Airline: Air Australia

Air Australia Airways was the trading name for Strategic Airlines Pty Ltd an airline flying domestic and international scheduled passenger flights. Strategic Aviation, a sister company, flew charter flights using the Air Australia fleet or other leased aircraft. Both companies had their head office in Hendra, Brisbane, Australia.

Air Australia halted all flights and was placed into voluntary administration on 17 February 2012, and into liquidation on 23 March 2012.


Founded in 1991 as an air freight broker and trading as Air Charter Logistics, Strategic Aviation Pty Ltd was established by Executive Director, Shaun Aisen. The company specialised in the transportation of oversize or unique cargo, chartering flights on Antonov An-124s, Ilyushin IL-76s and Boeing 747 freighters. In 2002, Michael James joined the company as an Executive Director and equal shareholder. With a background at Ansett and air charter, James assisted the company to successful bid for the Australian Defence Force Troop Lift Contract. With this diversification, the trading name was dropped and the company rebranded as Strategic.

The Airline: Malév Hungarian Airlines

Malév Ltd. (Hungarian: Malév Zrt.), which did business as Malév Hungarian Airlines (Hungarian: Magyar Légiközlekedési Vállalat, abbreviated Malév, and pronounced MAH-lev), was the flag carrier and principal airline of Hungary between 1946 and 2012. It had its head office in the Lurdy House in Budapest, with its main operations at Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport. From there, the airline flew to 50 cities in 34 countries worldwide using a fleet of 22 aircraft. In its final years, Malév was a member of the Oneworld alliance, having joined 29 March 2007. On 3 February 2012, Malév grounded all planes and cancelled all flights because planes were held overseas for unpaid debts. On 14 February 2012 the Metropolitan Court of Budapest declared Malév Ltd. insolvent and ordered its liquidation.

Before its closure, the airline had 2,600 employees and had almost half of all of the air traffic at Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport. In 2011 about 40% of the revenues at Budapest airport originated from Malév operations, and during that year the airline served 9.2 million passengers.

Malév's head office is located inside the Lurdy House (Lurdy Ház) in Budapest. Lurdy Ház, an office and shopping complex, opened in the autumn of 1998. Previously the airline head office was located in another area in Budapest. At one time 600 employees occupied two floors and about 6,000 square metres (65,000 sq ft) of space. In 2011 the airline stopped using one floor and consolidated its remaining employees into a smaller office area.