Ad Astra Aero

Ad Astra Aero (Latin for "to the stars air") was a Swiss airline based at Zürichhorn in Zürich.

Initiated by Oskar Bider and Fritz Rihner in July 1919, the "Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Lufttourismus" (literally: Swiss corporation for air tourism) was established in Zürich.

Tourist flights with flying boats were planned from sites at Zürichhorn in Zürich-Riesbach,[1] and in Genève, Interlaken/Thun, Locarno, Lugano, Luzern, Lausanne-Ouchy, Romanshorn and St. Moritz.

[2] The driving forces of the latter Ad Astra Aero company were the Swiss aviation pioneers Walter Mittelholzer and Alfred Comte.

[3] Alfred Comte was appointed by the board as chief pilot for land planes and Walter Mittelholzer as head of the aerial photography department.

On 24 May 1920, Émile Taddéoli, the chief pilot for seaplanes, and his mechanic, died during a demonstration flight at an air show in Romanshorn aboard a Savoia flying boat.

At the same time, the Ad Astra route Geneva-Zürich-Munich got a new intermediate station in Lausanne; on May 15, the line Zürich-Munich-Vienna was admitted to the grid.

Besides, Ad Astra Aero concentrated to post and photo flights with smaller machines, some with a decommissioned military aircraft.