After Cirrus Airlines ceased operations in 2012, Mannheim City Airport was left without any scheduled airline service. Although well connected to Frankfurt Airport, the local economy demanded the re-establishment of direct flight connections from the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region to other German cities. Rhein-Neckar Air was consequently founded as a LLC with the support of local companies such as SAP, Heidelberg Cement and Südzucker.[citation needed] Operations commenced on 10 March 2014, offering weekday flights between Mannheim City Airport and Berlin Tegel Airport.[4][5][6] After a successful start, flights to Hamburg began later that year.[citation needed]
Later developments
Since 2016 RNA serves the island of Sylt during the summer season, flights which were also offered from Münster/Osnabrück in 2016 and from Nuremberg in 2017;[7] however both routes since ceased. The network has since been seasonally expanded with flights to Usedom which was also served from Kassel as of 2022.[8] According to the company, 35,000 passengers used its service per year as of 2017, a figure that decreased to 22,000 by 2022.[1]
In April 2023, RNA announced it would not resume its sole remaining year-round scheduled service to Hamburg, which it had suspended in 2020 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, due to insufficient booking numbers.[9]
In November 2024, RNA filed for insolvency while maintaining operations for the time being.[10] Shorty after, it announced to change its brand name to Mannheim City Airlines for the planned resumption of its seasonal services in 2025.[11]
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