From “Bucher & Co, Publications” to “aero-terminal”
Our story from the foundation in the 1960s to the aero-terminal in 2022.
The story began in 1962, when Frank E. Bucher, Ernst Sommer and Ueli Klee helped the publicist Fred Anderson Weder (then “Cockpit”) to publish the booklet “Kennzeichen der Verkehrsflugzeuge” with the then current and correct fleets of all airlines. Unfortunately, the 1962 edition was not followed by another.
1966, Frank E. Bucher founded the company “Editions JP”. Together with Ernst Sommer and Ueli Klee, they dedicated themselves to the production and distribution of “jp” branded fleet directories. As all three men were airplane spotters themselves at the time, they produced and distributed the “jp airline-fleets international” yearbook in their spare time as a hobby.
In 1981, “Bucher & Co, Publikationen” was founded and Frank E. Bucher, Ernst Sommer and Ueli Klee turned their hobby into a profession. They moved into offices in Glattbrugg and ran the “BUCHairSHOP” floor store there. The company began selling its own yearbook and books & directories from other manufacturers. Soon aircraft models from various manufacturers and scales as well as aircraft fan articles such as radio receivers, postcards, slide films and many other items were added. The first exclusive aircraft models, such as the 1:200 Bristol Britannia of Globe Air, were also produced and distributed.
Ten years later, in 1991, the “buchAIRcenter” store was set up at Schaffhauserstrasse 76 in 8152 Glattbrugg / Opfikon (Switzerland) in a good, easily accessible location. The business with articles for aviation fans grew rapidly. It had to be continuously expanded and soon the two stores “Wilbur Wright” and “Orville Wright” were in operation. Unfortunately, it was not possible to run a single large store at this address, as the entrance to the apartments above was in between.
At this time, it was also possible to operate the “Charles A. Lindbergh” store on the observation deck at Zurich Airport. This meant that buchAIR was available to aviation fans seven days a week, right where the action was. The airport decided to build a modern new terminal building without a store in the security-controlled zone, so the terrace store had to close in 2008.
Photo: Annick Ramp / NZZ
Photo: Annick Ramp / NZZ
With the increasing popularity of the Internet, sales figures for the yearbook stagnated, so in 2008 it was decided to sell the title of the yearbook, which had been delivered to aviation fans on time year after year for 42 years, to the English publisher Flight Global.
The health of the three partners dictated a “downsizing” and the offices were moved from Europastrasse to Schaffhauserstrasse and the contents of the “Wilbur Wright” store were integrated into the “Orville Wright” store. To make room, the diorama of the Alpnach airfield had to go. This created shorter distances and everyone was directly at the “front”, namely at the aviation meeting place “buchAIRcenter” at Schaffhauserstrasse 76 in 8152 Glattbrugg together with the customers.
In 2016, “Bucher & Co, Publikationen” was sold to Erwin Bachmann and the name was changed to “BuchAIR Center & Shop”. Under Erwin Bachmann, the product range was expanded to include numerous model airplanes in various scales and the store was redesigned.
In 2017, BuchAIR carried out the last AVRO RJ100 “Jumbolino” flight together with SWISS.
In just under an hour, “BUCHAIR 1” flew over Switzerland, around the Matterhorn and over the Aletsch Glacier.
In 2021, Erwin Bachmann decided to step back and sell the business to the next generation.
Since 01.01.2022, the newly founded Terminal 870 GmbH around Kai Schuler has been operating the "BuchAIR Center". Together with many good friends, the store has since been refurbished, redesigned and digitized. After 30 years, the old checkout counter had to make way for a 1:200 airport diorama of Zurich Airport from the 1960s. The shelves in the entrance area were removed to create space and room for the new counter and a meeting zone. The store is now called "aero-terminal by BuchAIR" to herald a new era in its name. A new website went online in the first few months after the takeover and the completely new online store was launched in summer 2022. Over the course of the year, the store was further optimized, the space was made more open and the product range was updated and expanded.
In the summer of 2022, we had the unique opportunity to buy seat rows from various SWISS Boeing 777-300ERs. These were removed as part of a cabin modification and were no longer needed. Over 100 economy seat rows thus found a new home on the ground with our customers and friends.
In fall 2022, the first major event took place at aero-terminal - "herpa on tour" visited us in Glattbrugg and presented new models and molds. Among other things, the new Embraer 190-E2 model of Helvetic Airways in 1:200 scale was presented.
Our biggest highlight to date followed in 2023. We were able to be part of the big 75th anniversary celebrations at Zurich Airport. We set up a mobile aero-terminal sales outlet in a tent and welcomed several thousand visitors, customers and friends on the apron of ZRH over three days.
In 2024, we focused on our online presence. After exactly 2 years, our online store, which was initially only intended as a short-term interim solution, went offline on August 1, 2024.
Since then, we have been presenting ourselves with a refreshed color concept on this platform, on which we have bundled our website and online store.