AVIA

Brief History

AVIA is a brand co-operatively owned by around 100 independent oil companies in nine or more European countries. It was established in Switzerland in 1927 as a response to aggressive competition by the majors, and the concept has been gradually extended to most main European markets. Many independent names have disappeared into AVIA, although there have also been a few start-ups carrying the brand from day 1, particularly in newly liberalised markets such as Spain or Eastern Europe. AVIA has been most successful in Germany, Switzerland and France; the UK operation has in contrast remained very small. The brand is co-ordinated by AVIA International, based in Zurich, and there are national AVIA organisations in each country where it operates.

Maps

Road maps are generally issued by the national organisations. Thus maps of Germany, Switzerland and France are not uncommon, whereas the British operation has never produced a road map. An AVIA map of Britain does exist, but it is a cross-border issue from the German national organisation. Earliest maps carry a "propeller" logo; later ones the classic "space rocket" logo and the most recent maps carry simplified logos. As each national organisation is responsible for its own maps, there are a wide variety of styles and cartographers.

In 1953, Avia was still then known as the Association des Importateurs Hors Trust de Benzine et de Mazout en Suisse when it issued the map shown below as part of a set of 5 covering Switzerland.

Sold in the unusual format of a three panel loose card cover with adverts inside and on the rear, including ones for service station equipment and JSO scooters, with a 16 page brochure detailing sites of touristic interest in the Suisse Romande. The map itself - specially printed for Avia - was loose inside the cover, and printed on the reverse with a gazetteer for other cantons. Prepared by Kümmerley & Frey at 1:200,000 it is the only petrol company map known to show contours, at 100m intervals. In contrast, the 1971 map of the entire country (above right) has cartography by Hallwag at 1:500,000.

(L-R) A mid 1950s Avia map of Germany (West) shows the older AVIA logo and was issued by A May of Schweinfurt, one of the largest German AVIA participants. Next is a mid-1960s JRO sectional map of West Germany; there were 10 small format sheets at the generous scale of 1:300,000 sold in a vinyl wallet. Finally AVIA maps in Germany were still on sale as late as 1990, this section 7 has an AVIA card cover pasted over a Kümmerley & Frey stock map.

The first map here (left) covers all of France on a single sheet at the very small scale of 1:2,666,666, created by Gaston Maillet. Two years later AVIA had switched to Michelin, keeping their number 998 for the Northern France section at 1:1,000,000. The cover design was similar, being chosen by AVIA not the cartographer. By 1977 the AVIA logo had been modernised, with France using a red & green symbol - most other countries had a red bar in lieu of the green. This map is again a Michelin edition but being Southern France is numbered 999.

In the 1980s the AVIA co-ordinating body in Switzerland retained Hallwag to produce maps covering most of Europe, including the continent as a whole (left, date uncertain). These were continued as late as 1988, when the map right was produced showing Britain and Ireland. By then AVIA had 5 participants supplying just over 100 outlets in the UK, but these maps were never sold there. Indeed the example shown was bought from an AVIA station in Linz, Austria as late as March 2002, fourteen years after it had been printed.

The most recent known AVIA map was issued to its credit card holders in Belgium in February 2000 and shows the latest sign variant with a dotted I. As one AVIA participant (nv Brouw sa) had recently merged with Octa+ and acquired the former Burmah chain, the map shows stations from both brands. Comparing this extract with the one on the Octa+ page shows that an additional AVIA site had opened between January and February 2000.

This A5 booklet of Germany was issued in November 2004 and is described as being the 2004/2005 AVIA Tankstellenverzeichnis (filling station network). But it is actually a high quality road map in booklet format at the scale of 1:800,000, with 40 pages of maps by GeoGraphic Media (based on Digital Wisdom). AVIA locations are marked by the company logo, and there is a complete address listing of their outlets in rear. This reveals how AVIA is unevenly split across the country - so although there are over 30 stations within a 30km radius of Papenburg (near the Dutch border) there are none in Berlin, Hamburg or Köln.

This booklet exists in at least two versions; one with generic AVIA advertising on all the covers, and a second version where the inside and rear covers advertise Knittel Mineralöle; it is not known if versions exist for other AVIA participants. Knittel trace their origins back to 1877, but have been supplying service stations for over 50 years, at various times using DEA, BP and their proprietary Fulmin brand. These days they supply over 60 AVIA stations, 20 under Shell colours (mentioned in the Knittel version as accepting AVIA cards) plus a BFT and an unbranded station.

There are very occasional maps from individual AVIA participants (independent companies carrying the brand). Ste Propetrol issued a simple map of its home town, Strasbourg, in the late 1970s, shortly before being sold to Aral. There are very few maps from predecessor brands, such as the British independent Bell Oil Operations which switched to AVIA around 1979 and in 1972 published a map of Lincolnshire (shown under Murco).

The next page shows a selection of pre-war German maps from predecessor brands to AVIA produced before World War II.

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Text and layout © Ian Byrne, 1999-2005