The company was founded in 1958 as Aircraft Innsbruck, by Christian Schwemberger-Swarovski and Gernot Langes-Swarovski.

In 1978, the firm was renamed and restructured as Tyrolean Airways, combining airline, air ambulance and business travel operations.

In April 1980, a de Havilland Canada Dash 7 flew the first scheduled flight from Innsbruck to Vienna and Zurich.

In the first year in business, 38,500 passengers took the flight, which justified a second machine from May 1981.

In 1988 Tyrolean became a public company and Leipnik Lundenburger AG acquired 25%.