La Compagnie

La Compagnie, legally incorporated as Dreamjet SAS, is a French boutique airline founded by Frantz Yvelin and based at Orly Airport in Paris, with headquarters in Le Bourget in the Paris metropolitan area.[1] It offers all-business class flights between France and Newark Liberty International Airport.

"Dreamjet" redirects here. For the Boeing jet, see Dreamliner.
Not to be confused with company.

La Compagnie
IATA ICAO Callsign
B0 DJT DREAMJET
Founded2013
Commenced operations21 July 2014
Operating basesParis–Orly
Frequent-flyer programMy Compagnie
Fleet size2
Destinations3
Parent companyDreamjet Participations
HeadquartersLe Bourget, France
Key people
  • Laurent Magnin
  • Christian Vernet
Websitelacompagnie.com

History

La Compagnie was founded as Dreamjet in 2013. It was created and run by French Airline Entrepreneur Frantz Yvelin, with the support of Peter Luethi, Yann Poudoulec, Francois Ledreux, Nicolas Jurczyk, and Pierre-Hugues Schmit among a few others, in the hopes of making an all-business class airline with a true low-cost structure, offering business class fares significantly cheaper than those of legacy carriers.

The airline's CEO for its first four years was its founder, Frantz Yvelin, until the very end of 2016. Prior to La Compagnie, Frantz Yvelin was also the founder of L'Avion, which was sold to British Airways and later became OpenSkies. Yvelin's deputy was Peter Luethi, the former COO of Indian airline Jet Airways.[2]

The first scheduled revenue flight, already under the new name La Compagnie (English: The Company), operated from Charles de Gaulle Airport to Newark Liberty International Airport on 21 July 2014 using a Boeing 757-200.[3] On 24 April 2015, the airline started a second scheduled route from London Luton Airport to Newark.[4]

In April 2016, Frantz Yvelin announced La Compagnie was considering a fleet renewal and expansion with Airbus A321neo aircraft,[5] which it had later confirmed with an order for two Airbus A321neos in September 2017.[6] In September 2016, the airline announced the suspension of its route from London Luton to Newark and its intention to instead launch a second daily frequency between Paris Charles de Gaulle and Newark, citing economic reasons linked to Brexit.[7] In December 2016, La Compagnie's sole holding, Dreamjet Participations, which was also founded and run by Frantz Yvelin, acquired 100% of XL Group Ltd., the holding company of XL Airways France, and the two airlines joined forces with the transaction completed by 12 September 2018.[8][9]

In September 2017, the airline announced that it was offering all-you-can-fly passes for its Newark to Paris route, costing $40,000 per year.[10]

In April 2018, La Compagnie relocated its Paris operations from Charles de Gaulle Airport to Orly Airport.[11] On 5 December 2018, the airline announced a new seasonal service to Nice Côte d'Azur Airport from Newark to begin on 6 May 2019.[12] Also in May 2019, the airline took delivery of its first Airbus A321neo.[13][14] In September 2019, the airline took delivery of its second Airbus A321neo, and subsequently retired both of its Boeing 757 aircraft by the end of October 2019.[15][16]

In March 2020, La Compagnie announced it will cease operations as of the 18th of that month, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Operations are expected to resume on June 1st.[17]

Destinations

Prior to the pause of operations due to Covid-19 restrictions on 18 March 2020, La Compagnie served the following destinations:[18][19]

Country City Airport Notes Refs
FranceNiceNice Côte d'Azur AirportSeasonal[12]
ParisCharles de Gaulle AirportTerminated[20]
Orly AirportBase
United KingdomLondonLuton AirportTerminated[21]
United StatesNewarkNewark Liberty International Airport

Fleet
La Compagnie Airbus A321neo
Former La Compagnie Boeing 757-200

Current fleet

As of October 2019, the La Compagnie fleet consists of the following aircraft:[22][23]

La Compagnie Fleet
Aircraft In
Service		 Orders Passengers Notes
C Total
Airbus A321neo 2 — 76 76
Total 2 —

Historical Fleet
  • Boeing 757-200 (2; entered service in 2014, retired in October 2019)

Service

La Compagnie's aircraft are equipped with an all-business class cabin arranged in a 2–2 configuration, consisting of 76 seats that convert to flat beds.[24] Inflight entertainment is provided on 15.7 inch (40 cm) seatback touchscreens, and inflight Wi-Fi access provided by Viasat is also available.[24] Food is served in a two-course meal. La Compagnie uses contracted lounges for its passengers.

Frequent flyer program

My Compagnie is La Compagnie's frequent-flyer program, through which passengers can earn points on flights, as well as by referring others to register for the program. Points accrued can be redeemed towards award flights on La Compagnie and towards itinerary changes for flights that have already been booked, avoiding the monetary fees for changes in the process.[25]

References
  1. "General Conditions of Carriage for Passengers Archived 29 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine." La Compagnie. Retrieved on April 15, 2015. "53, avenue Jean Jaurès, 93350 Le Bourget"
  2. "Our Team". La Compagnie.
  3. "La Compagnie starts CDG-Newark with 74-seat all-business 757". anna.aero. PPS Publications. 23 July 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
  4. Davidson, Lauren (4 February 2015). "Start-up airline will fly business class to New York for £1,500". The Daily Telegraph. London.
  5. Frommberg, Laura (12 April 2016). "Business-Airline La Compagnie baut Flotte aus" [Business airline La Compagnie is expanding its fleet]. Aero Telegraph (in French). aeroTELEGRAPH · AGB.
  6. "France's La Compagnie orders two A321neo for TATL ops". ch-aviation. ch-aviation GmbH. 22 September 2017.
  7. Caswell, Mark (5 September 2016). "La Compagnie to suspend Luton-New York service". Business Traveller.
  8. Zhang, Benjamin (2 December 2016). "Air France should be worried — its competition just got stronger". Business Insider. Insider Inc. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  9. "AXA : acquisition de XL Group finalisée le 12 septembre" [AXA: acquisition of XL Group finalised on September 12]. Zone bourse. 11 September 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  10. A. W. (10 October 2017). "All-you-can-fly membership models are slowly catching on". The Economist.
  11. "La Compagnie switches Paris airports". anna.aero. PPS Publications. 25 April 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  12. Liu, Jim (5 December 2018). "La Compagnie adds Nice – Newark service from May 2019". Routesonline. UBM (UK) Ltd.
  13. "La Compagnie reçoit son 1er A321neo et fait gagner une place à bord du 1er vol" [La Compagnie receives its first A321neo and holds a contest to win a seat on the first flight]. AAF - Acualité Aéronautique Francophone (in French). 18 May 2019. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  14. Caswell, Mark (23 May 2019). "La Compagnie gears up for launch of A321 neo transatlantic flights". Business Traveller. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  15. @_LaCompagnie (25 September 2019). "Lastest born in the blue bird family, we are proud and happy to welcome HNCO! The @Airbus A321neo allow us to have more efficient, quiet and relaxing flights over the Atlantic Ocean" (Tweet). Retrieved 31 October 2019 – via Twitter.
  16. @_LaCompagnie (29 October 2019). "Il est temps de dire adieu à notre dernier Boeing, depuis hier notre est 100% connectée, toujours 100% classe affaires, avez vous déjà volé à bord de nos nouveaux oiseaux?" [It's time to say goodbye to our last Boeing, since yesterday we are 100% connected, always 100% business class, have you ever flown aboard our new birds?] (Tweet) (in French). Retrieved 30 October 2019 – via Twitter.
  17. "Health Situation (Coronavirus)". La Compagnie. 14 April 2020. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  18. "Airport info". La Compagnie. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  19. "Health Measures". La Compagnie. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  20. Liu, Jim (15 March 2018). "La Compagnie Paris service changes from late-April 2018". Routesonline. UBM (UK) Ltd.
  21. Liu, Jim (9 September 2016). "La Compagnie ends London – New York route in late-Sep 2016". Routesonline. UBM (UK) Ltd.
  22. "Global Airline Guide 2017 (Part One)". Airliner World (October 2017): 14.
  23. "La Compagnie Fleet Details and History". Planespotters.net. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  24. Hemmerdinger, Jon (26 September 2018). "La Compagnie details A321neo cabin plans". FlightGlobal. Reed Business Information Limited. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  25. "My Compagnie". La Compagnie. Retrieved 29 May 2019.

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