Aigle Azur

Aigle Azur
IATA ICAO Callsign
ZI AAF AIGLE AZUR
Founded 1946
Hubs Orly Airport
Focus cities
Frequent-flyer program Azur Plus
Fleet size 12[1]
Destinations 19[1]
Parent company GoFast Group
Headquarters Paris, France
Key people
Website aigle-azur.com

Aigle Azur, legally Société Aigle Azur Transports Aériens, is a French airline with its head office in Tremblay-en-France near Paris. It operates domestic scheduled passenger services and international services to Western Europe and Northern Africa.[2] It also operates charter, cargo and wet lease services. Its main base is Orly Airport, Paris.[3]

History

An Aigle Azur Douglas DC-3 arriving Manchester (Ringway) Airport on 3 April 1953. It is fitted with a ventral Turbomeca Palas booster jet for use in "hot and high operations".
A former Aigle Azur Boeing 737-300
A former Aigle Azur Airbus A321-200 wearing the old livery

In April 1946, Sylvain Floirat established the original Aigle Azur as one of the first wholly privately owned, independent airlines in post-war France. Between 1946 and 1955, the airline operated a large fleet of Douglas DC-3s.[4]

During the early 1950s, Aigle Azur began operating long-haul scheduled routes linking metropolitan France with Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. France's Ministry of Public Works and Transport had transferred Air France's traffic rights for these routes to the country's newly created independent airlines, including Aigle Azur.[5]

In 1970, the airline was re-constituted as a regional airline named Lucas Aviation.[3] The re-formed airline's corporate and operational headquarters was at Paris Pontoise Airport,[6] located in Boissy l'Aillerie.[7][8] Lucas Aviation initially traded as Lucas Air Transport and operated regional scheduled services, including a year-round operation linking Deauville with London Gatwick.[6] The name subsequently changed once more to Lucas Aigle Azur.[3] Aircraft operated at this time in regional service included small Beecraft twin props as well as Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante and Saab 340 turboprops.[9]

In May 2001, Groupe GOFAST acquired Lucas Aigle Azur from its previous owners, and reinstated the original name, Aigle Azur. The new owner refocused the airline as a mainstream short- to medium-haul scheduled and charter carrier. Aigle Azur began replacing its Boeing 737s with Airbus A320 family aircraft. It has 450 employees as of May 2007.[3] A plane operated by Aigle Azur landed in Baghdad on 31-10-2010, becoming the first flight from a European airline to arrive in the city since the twenty-year-old international embargo began in 1990.

On 23 October 2012, HNA Group announced that it completed its acquisition of a 48 percent stake in Aigle Azur in Paris, becoming its second largest shareholder, after Group GOFAST.

In December 2012, Goldenflyer awarded the airline for "Best Cabin crew". Aigle Azur is also accredited by IATA with the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) for its safety practices.[10]

On 16 November 2017, David Neeleman acquired a 32% stake of the capital of Aigle Azur. Mr David Neeleman is already shareholder of other airlines with HNA Group as partner such as in the Portuguese flag carrier TAP Air Portugal or the Brazilian airline Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras.

Corporate affairs

The airline's administrative head office is in Tremblay-en-France, near Paris.[11][12] The airline's registered office is in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris.[12]

Destinations

The majority of Aigle Azur's international flights are to Africa and Europe (Algeria, France, Lebanon, Senegal, Mali, China and Portugal).

Codeshare agreements

Aigle Azur codeshares with the following airlines:[13]

Fleet

Current Fleet

Aigle Azur Airbus A320-200

As of June 2018, the Aigle Azur fleet consists of the following aircraft:[1][14]

Aigle Azur Fleet
Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers Notes
C Y Total
Airbus A319-100 1 — — 144 144
Airbus A320-200 9 — — 174 174 1 leased to TAP Air Portugal
36 138 174
Airbus A330-200 2 1 19 268 287 wearing the new livery[15]
Total 12 1

Former Fleet

The airline previously operated the following aircraft as of August 2016:[16]

  • 1 further Airbus A319-100

Incidents and accidents

There were several hull-loss accidents involving Aigle Azur aircraft between 1949 and 1954, most of which took place in French Indochina, today's Laos and Vietnam.

  • On 27 November 1949, an Aigle Azur Douglas C-47 Skytrain (registered F-OABJ) was shot down in a criminal occurrence near Đông Khê,[17] where a major battle in the First Indochina War would take place 10 months later.
  • On 9 July 1950, an Aigle Azur Douglas C-47 Skytrain (registered F-BFGL) crashed shortly after take-off from Casablanca, resulting in the 18 passengers and 4 crew members on board being killed.[18]
  • On 12 February 1951, another Aigle Azur Skytrain (registered F-OABK) was damaged beyond repair in a crash landing at Luang Prabang Airport (in today's Laos, then French Indochina). There were no fatalities.[19]
  • On 17 March 1953, an Aigle Azur Douglas C-47 Skytrain (registered F-BEFG) crashed during a bad-weather landing attempt at Da Nang Airport following a flight from Hue-Phu Bai Airport, resulting in the death of the eight persons on board.[20]
  • On 16 April 1953, another Aigle Azur C-47 (registered F-BESS) lost one wing shortly after take-off from Hanoi on a military charter flight to Nà Sản Airport. The aircraft subsequently crashed, and the 27 passengers and 3 crew members on board died.[21]
  • On 19 June 1953 an Aigle Azur Douglas C-47 (registered F-BEST) crashed into a hill after a fire started on board, killing the 29 passengers and 5 crew members (which makes it the deadliest accident of the airline to date). The aircraft was en route from Vientiane Airport to Saigon Airport. The wreckage could only be found ten days later.[22]
  • On 31 January 1954, the pilots of an Aigle Azur Skytrain (registered F-BGXD) which was due to operate a flight out of Dien Bien Phu Airport accidentally retracted the landing gear when the aircraft had not taken off yet, resulting in the airframe being damaged beyond repair.[23]
  • On 4 March 1954, during the First Indochina War, at around 04:00 local time, an Aigle Azur Douglas DC-3 (registered F-OAPC) that was parked at Gia Lam Airport, Hanoi, was destroyed by Vietnamese rebels.[24]
  • On 30 August 1954, an Aigle Azur Sud-Ouest Bretagne (registered F-BEHS) was damaged beyond repair during an emergency landing at Hanoi.[25]

References

Citations
  1. 1 2 3 "Airline Insight: Aigle Azur – Blue Swan Daily". blueswandaily.com. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  2. ↑ http://www.aigle-azur.com/nos-destinations
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 2007-03-27. p. 51.
  4. ↑ Gradidge, 2006, p.183
  5. ↑ Air France History Archived 2011-06-29 at the Wayback Machine.
  6. 1 2 Timetable Images - Lucas Air Transport, Lucas Aigle Azur, Aigle Azur
  7. ↑ "Directory: World airlines." Flight International. 16–22 March 2004. 53.
  8. ↑ LFPT – Pontoise Cormeilles en Vexin. AIP from French Service d'information aéronautique, effective 11 October 2018.
  9. ↑ http://www.timetableimages.com, Aigle Azur timetables
  10. ↑ "Aigle Azur IOSA Operators Profile". Archived from the original on 2008-11-26. Retrieved 2008-09-15.
  11. ↑ "Contact us." Aigle Azur. Retrieved on 6 January 2011. "Headquarters 4 avenue Marcel Paul 93297 Tremblay en France – France"
  12. 1 2 "Contactez-nous." Aigle Azur. Retrieved on 6 January 2011. "Siège Social 36 rue des Jeûneurs 75002 – France" and "Services Administratifs 4 avenue Marcel Paul 93297 Tremblay en France – France"
  13. ↑ "OUR PARTNERS". Aigle Azur.
  14. ↑ "Aigle Azur Fleet Details and History". www.planespotters.net.
  15. ↑ https://www.planespotters.net/photo/824682/f-htac-aigle-azur-airbus-a330-223
  16. ↑ "Global Airline Guide 2016 (Part One)". Airliner World (October 2016): 14. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  17. ↑ Aigle Azur 1949 shoot-down at the Aviation Safety Network
  18. ↑ Aigle Azur 1950 crash at the Aviation Safety Network
  19. ↑ Aigle Azur 1951 crash landing at the Aviation safety Network
  20. ↑ 1953 Aigle Azur crash landing at the Aviation Safety Network
  21. ↑ Aigle Azur 1953 crash at the Aviation Safety Network
  22. ↑ Aigle Azur June 1953 crash at the Aviation Safety Network
  23. ↑ Aigle Azur 1954 take-off incident at the Aviation safety Network
  24. ↑ Aigle Azur 1954 aircraft destruction at the Aviation Safety Network
  25. ↑ Aigle Azur 1954 landing incident at the Aviation Safety Network
Bibliography
  • Gradidge J.M.G. DC-1 DC-2 DC-3 The First Seventy Years. Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. Tonbridge, Kent. 2006. ISBN 0-85130-332-3.

Media related to Aigle Azur at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.