In serviceLines
Arturo Ferrarin
BAe 146-300
- Reg
- N146BG
- Base
- Turin
- Seats
- 99
Flagship. The four lines from Turin.
FoehnAviation
Where the Alps begin, we fly
Alpine & Northern Mediterranean regional carrier. Based in Turin.
Live. Fly. Live the flight.
The sky here never gives you a free ride. Eyes reading a wall of Alpine ridgelines for the landmarks you know, peaks sliding by just under the wing. Heavy classic on short final, hands full, the runway coming up fast. This isn't set-it-and-forget-it — it's flying you stay awake for, every leg lived instead of watched. This is what flying was supposed to feel like.
A unique timeline that starts in 1985 and flies through the golden pre-GPS era of aviation.
Simulated timelineBase 1985 · rate 3:1 · live
——
History
Our Story
By 1985 the big carriers had what they wanted: the thick trunk routes between the major cities. The thinner ones — the mid-sized fields, the mountains, the islands — were left to irregular charters, even as more people every year needed to fly them. Between the two lay an open niche.
Every year more people landed at the hubs than the charters could carry onward, and the gap kept widening. The big carriers knew the balance was off; the small operators wanted steady contracts and a steady flow of passengers, not the odd charter. Out of that came the first partnerships between them.
One man began carrying those passengers on, and before long he saw it was no passing imbalance but the shape of the market. Foehn Aviation is what came of it. He knew the state airlines from the inside, and the big banks and corporations would only back them — so he started with a few private investors and the aircraft he could afford: old ones, bought wherever they were for sale, one on the far side of the world, one across the Atlantic, and flown home. Charters first; the lines would come. This is the flying we chose. Where the Alps begin, we fly.
- Hub
- 1
- Lines
- 5
- Charter rings
- 5
- Destinations
- 23
Lines
Charter rings
Hub — Turin
Our Fleet
In serviceLines
Charles Lindbergh
Fokker F-27
- Reg
- I-FOHN
- Base
- Turin
- Seats
- 40
The lines, on the days that call for fewer seats.
In serviceCharter rings
Géo Chavez
Saab 340
- Reg
- I-CQIJ
- Base
- Salzburg
- Seats
- 22
The Salzburg ring: Innsbruck, Klagenfurt, Linz, Bolzano.
In serviceCharter rings
Jean Mermoz
Shorts 330
- Reg
- I-MIST
- Base
- Naples
- Seats
- 24
The Naples ring: Rome Ciampino, Bari, L'Aquila, Pescara.
In serviceCharter rings
René Cornemont
Dornier 228
- Reg
- I-AURA
- Base
- Barcelona
- Seats
- 19
The Barcelona ring: Reus, Palma, Andorra, Carcassonne.
In serviceCharter rings
Wiley Post
Embraer EMB-110
- Reg
- I-ZEPH
- Base
- Olbia
- Seats
- 21
The Olbia ring and the line to Cagliari.
In serviceCharter rings
Henri Guillaumet
Pilatus PC-6 Porter
- Reg
- OK-PTT
- Base
- Olbia
- Seats
- 10
Elba and Oristano, a handful at a time.
Aircraft storyIn serviceCharter rings
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
DHC-6 Twin Otter
- Reg
- OK-OTR
- Base
- Turin
- Seats
- 19
The Turin ring: Genoa, Sion, Lugano, Aosta.
In serviceSpecial ops
Bob Reeve
Douglas DC-3
- Reg
- I-RIME
- Base
- Turin
- Seats
- Cargo
Cargo: mail, parcels, pharma, perishables.
Next step · Jets
McDonnell Douglas MD-82 · Boeing 757-200
The Horizon
L-1011 TriStar
About Foehn
Foehn Aviation is a virtual airline that starts in 1985 — the last years before GPS, when a chart, a radio needle, and the terrain out the window were all a pilot had. We recreate a boutique regional carrier threading the Alps and the northern Mediterranean, from the Alpine valleys to the islands.
01
Every route, chosen to be flown.
Not the shortest line between two cities — the one worth flying. Steep valley glideslopes, island strips, circling approaches with the terrain in your windscreen. Every leg on the network is picked for the interest and the challenge of the flying.
02
Long enough to feel it. Short enough to finish it.
Almost every leg on the network falls under two and a half hours — sized so you stay in the flight from taxi to touchdown, engaged through the climb, the cruise and the approach, with no dead hours of autopilot in between.
03
A fleet you'll actually want to fly.
We pick our aircraft by one rule: is it a joy to fly? Only well-modelled types with real character and honest flight dynamics make the roster — regional turboprops today, jets as the airline grows — each one chosen because flying it is the point, not just getting there.
04
The needles, not the magenta line.
Our world begins in 1985, in the last years before GPS smoothed the edges off flying. Just charts, raw radio navigation, and terrain that doesn't forgive — machines you flew, not computers you monitored. Come feel the era when the hard part was finding the runway, not just landing on it.
05
The company behind the cockpit.
Behind every flight is a working airline. Demand, costs and revenue that behave like a real operation's, where your flights move the books and the network has to earn its keep. Not a string of random legs, but a company that breathes, with real economic weight behind every route. You don't just fly the aircraft — you fly the airline.
06
An airline you can see.
The immersion is built, not just described. Foehn wears its own brand — every aircraft in the fleet painted in the airline's colours, a real website behind it, the whole world made to look like the carrier it imagines. This isn't a callsign borrowed for a flight; it's a company you can see, on the ramp and on the screen.
07
A map worth flying.
One small airline, but a map that runs the length of the Alps and out to the islands — glacier passes and Rhône-valley strips, a Pyrenean valley at La Seu d'Urgell, the emerald water off Sardinia, UNESCO lakes ringed by mountains. Every destination is its own piece of country, chosen as much for what's out the window as for what's on the chart.
08
Write the airline's history.
Foehn begins small, in 1985, and grows from there — new aircraft joining the fleet, new routes opening, new eras unlocking as the years roll forward and the airline builds. Come in early, fly the network while it's still taking shape, and watch a boutique regional carrier become something larger.