The airline expanded , operating a second Airbus A300 for a while and started to acquire Boeing 737-200 aircraft . It later acquired Belgian tour operator SunSnacks , which it had helped to form in 1976 , and created a subsidiary , TEAMCO ( Trans European Airways Maintenance Company ) to handle maintenance of its own aircraft and those of other operators , both civil and military . The company was involved in Operation Moses in 1984-1985 , and then started to expand rapidly during the late 1980s , forming subsidiaries in the United Kingdom ( TEA-UK ) , France ( TEA-FRANCE ) , Italy ( TEA-ITALY ) and Switzerland ( TEA-BASEL ) , but the global economic downturn in the early nineties , partly as a result of the Gulf War , caused it to go out of business on 27 September 1991 . Following its failure , parts of the group gave rise to successor airlines : European Airlines and EuroBelgian Airlines ( the later Virgin Express ) were formed , and the management of the UK subsidiary , who had previously managed Orion Airways went on to form Excalibur Airways . TEA Switzerland continued to trade successfully , and was eventually purchased by easyJet in 1997 and became easyJet Switzerland . Georges Gutelman later went on to found CityBird , which also failed in the aviation slump that followed the September 11 attacks in 2001
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Trans European Airways