Formation of the company
On November 26, 1947, Adolf Bauer began his business with the idea of providing LPG to residentials in cylinders for the purposes of cooking and heating. It was this idea that gave the company its name: FLAGA is an abbreviation of "FLASCHEN GAS", German for " cylinder gas".
Making use of used cylinders, some of them from military surplus stocks, a simple trading company was born. LPG was brought to the railroad station in tank cars - rare at the time - where it was manually transferred to cylinders and made available for consumers.
 Making a virtue of necessity, the newly founded trading company also had to get involved in developing domestic regulators, commercial regulators and heaters. These ambitious plans bore fruit in the wake of the economic boom of the 1950s. The age of cylinder gas, clean energy packed into a small space, mobile and simple, had begun. Throughout the 1950s and into the early 1960s, the cylinder was the most important container for storing and transporting LPG for domestic and commercial use.
Development of the company
At the beginning of the 1960s, customers were looking for greater convenience, particularly for heating single-family houses and for supplying commercial workshops with LPG. This is what created the need for LPG tanks, the first of which were built in Germany in 1962 and sold by FLAGA in Austria for the first time.
 In order to meet the logistical requirements created by the higher demand for LPG, the first gas tanker trucks were designed, approved and constructed in co-operation with the regional government in Salzburg. For reasons of security - this was, after all, 1964 - this was an all-wheel drive ÖAF truck with a payload of 9 tones.
In the meantime, FLAGA had expanded to establish depots in Linz, Graz, Klagenfurt and Vorarlberg, in order to be closer to its customers.
 Because the pollutants released by heavy heating oil was having a serious environmental impact, large-scale industry began in the middle of the 1970s to convert plant to use LPG. This was a successful move, as could be seen most importantly in the reduced pollutant levels.
The LPG-Cylinder was therefore increasingly replaced by the liquid gas tank in commerce and, above all, in industry. This resulted both from the increased need for energy and from the significantly lower operating costs of tanker trucks as compared with smaller containers.
Innovations and patents
1982/83 saw a renaissance of the domestic and motor gas cylinder, since the FLAGA engineers had, after two years of process testing, brought the aluminum domestic cylinder to Austria. Thanks to its low weight and high-quality material, the aluminum cylinder made a big contribution to the further success of the LPG Cylinder.
Working together with the regional government of Lower Austria, in 1984 FLAGA got approval for the use of plastic pipes for transporting LPG in the gas phase. FLAGA cut these corrosion-free pipes to the exact lengths required by each customer, tested them and supplied them in ready-to-use form. Because of this prefabricated pipe system, no welding or other work was now needed on site, as FLAGA's qualified partners could lay a ready-made system of plastic pipes from the tank to the building.
In 1984 FLAGA developed a new generation of modular tanks.
 The next step was the approval for a spherical tank for LPG. The first spherical tanks were designed for installation above ground. In a further development, the spherical tank was partially buried, so that it was only visible above ground from its equatorial seam upwards. After comprehensive tests had been carried out, it was then possible to apply green coating to this hemispherical tank.
And while we are talking about container coatings, the original bitumen coating was replaced by a modern, 2-component plastic coating. Extensive trials had shown us that this innovative technology was on the right track. The 2-component plastic coating, when combined with a cathodic corrosion protection system, is an extremely high-quality corrosion protection system. On July 25, 1990, FLAGA was awarded Austrian Patent No. 390969 for this system.
At the same time it could be seen that the trend was moving more and more towards underground tanks. FLAGA's response was to develop a vertical, cylindrical, underground tank (known within the company as the "PERMA-TANK"). This LPG tank was also patented in Austria and in the rest of Europe (Patent Nos. 389286 and 0312522).
Working together with the Austrian Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and TÜV (Technical Inspection Association), FLAGA had developed the modern acoustic emissions test method as a replacement for the water pressure test. This new testing method replaced the water pressure test that had until then been necessary. It was a significant and money-saving innovation.
Expansion
As Europe's Eastern borders opened up, a subsidiary company was founded in East Germany in 1990, followed in 1993 by one in the Czech Republic and one in Hungary.
On the basis of the positive development of its markets abroad, particularly in the Czech Republic, it was possible in 1994, within the framework of privatization, to acquire the second largest bottle-filling factory in the Czech Republic. Based in Hustopece, it finally became part of the FLAGA group of companies on September 1st, 1994.
UGI Corporation
In 1999 FLAGA GmbH got a multinational background, becoming a subsidiary of the UGI Corporation. UGI Corporation (NYSE:UGI) is a distributor and marketer of energy products and services including propane, butane, natural gas and electricity, having its headquarter close to Philadelphia/Pennsylvania.
Growing the Business
 FLAGA Suisse was founded in 2003. Another important expansion in the successful story of FLAGA. As an innovation in the Swiss market, FLAGA introduced the new, innovative, ultra-light plastic cylinder to private customers.
In 2004, by acquiring the LPG division of BP Gas in the Czech Republic, FLAGA raised its position in the local market again, becoming the clear leader of the Czech LPG market for tank gas, cylinder gas and autogas.
In 2006, a joint venture in CEE together with Progas Deutschland established. Together with Progas GmbH, the German LPG market leader, Zentraleuropa LPG Holding (ZLH) was founded as a joint venture company for the sale of LPG throughout Central Europe.
The new company, with headquarter at FLAGA's site in Leobendorf, had leading market representation through independent companies in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Poland. In the begin of 2009 FLAGA acquired the remaining shares of the joint-venture.
2010 the bulk gas business of Linde/Pangas in Switzerland was taken over, Flaga Suisse expanded its business operations to include tank gas, the sale and leasing of tanks, and all the associated servicing and assembly work.
In this year also BP Gas Denmark (LPG) had been taken over, and continued business with the very well established, old brand name Kosangas.
End of 2010 also the LPG business in Poland and Hungary was taken over from Shell. In Poland the new company is now trading as the Amerigas, while in Hungary the company continues to operate with the brand name FLAGA.
In the year 2011 Shell divested also the LPG business in whole Scandinavia and FLAGA could incorporate it into the group. It is also rebranded to Kosangas, in Scandinavia FLAGA group uses in future the Kosangas brand name only. UGI acquired at the same time from Shell the LPG business in UK and Benelux, which are now using the brand names Avantigas in UK and Antargaz, like in France, for Benelux.
With this acquisition the FLAGA group now employs about 1,000 employees, operates in 11 countries in CEE and Scandinavia and sells about 450,000 tons of LPG annually. FLAGA was the fastest growing LPG group in our region, we will do our utmost to grow the business further.
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About FLAGA