User:Jim amsterdam/Pon-Air

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Pon-Air is the aerospace division of the Dutch registered Pon Holdings company.

History

In 1900 Ben Pon became the official importer of Opel bicycles into The Netherlands. This led the company to becoming the importer for Opel in 1928, and three years later the founding of Pon's Automobielhandel. The brothers Ben and Wijnand became the importer for Continental in 1936. At this time Continental were partly owned by the Fokker aircraft company. The relationship with Pon led to a meeting between Fokker and Ben Pon in 1937. Ben Pon decided on a new business initiative which was called 'Pon-Air' and launched in May 1937. With just two Fokker 12 seaters, the company was based in Lelystad.

Volkswagen

The business was modestly successful for a period of eight months, during which they developed a new passenger plane with Fokker named the FC38. Due to the advanced delta wing design, and problems with material technology, the project was abandoned after six months development work.

This led the brothers to look for more profitable markets and increased sales volume which led to the signing of the Volkswagen import contract in 1947.

Relaunch

The company was relaunched on April 1st 2010 after a hostile takeover of Houston-Lease-Air. The company has eight operating aircraft and currently flies to three destinations : Amsterdam, New York and Chicago. The CEO of the Company is Janus Smalbraak.

Pon Holdings CEO Janus Smalbraak (L) and CEO of Houston-Lease-Air Al Meren (R) during the takeover.

References

External links

[1] Pon-Air official website