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Air Austral

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Not to be confused with Austral Líneas Aéreas.
Air Austral
File:Air Austral logo (2015).png
IATA ICAO Call sign
UU REU REUNION
Founded1975
HubsRoland Garros Airport
Frequent-flyer program
  • Capricorn
  • Indigo Card
AllianceVanilla Alliance
SubsidiariesEwa Air
Fleet size8
Destinations17
HeadquartersRoland Garros Airport
Sainte-Marie, Réunion
Websiteair-austral.com

Air Austral is a French airline with its headquarters at Roland Garros Airport in Sainte-Marie, Réunion, France.[1][2] The airline's main base of flight operations is Roland Garros Airport. It operates scheduled services from Réunion to metropolitan France, South Africa, Thailand, India and a number of destinations in the Indian Ocean. The company has 900 employees.[3]

History

Air Austral was created in December 1974 by local businessman Gérard Ethève. It was Réunion's first commercial airline, known as Réunion Air Services (RAS).[4][5] By August 1977 RAS had started regional services from Sainte-Marie to Mayotte[5] with a 32-seat Hawker Siddeley HS 748 turboprop.[4] RAS became Air Réunion in December, 1986.[5]

In October 1990 Sematra, a company 46% owned by the local councils of Réunion with the remaining shares owned by banks and other private partners, purchased Air Réunion.[5] A month later, Air Réunion became Air Austral.[4] Two months later, Air Austral bought its first Boeing 737-500.[4] Another 737-300 was acquired in 1994, and in 1997 the airline purchased a 737-300QC, which enabled both passenger and cargo only traffic.[5] In 2000 the airline took delivery of an ATR 72-500, a short-haul turboprop.[5] By then, Air Austral operated from both Roland Garros Airport in Sainte-Marie and Pierrefonds Airport in Saint Pierre with scheduled services to Mayotte, Johannesburg, South Africa, Comoros, Mauritius, the Seychelles, and three destinations in Madagascar (Antananarivo, Tamatave, Nosy Be, Majunga).[4] In 2003, Air Austral launched its first long-haul service between Réunion and Paris, with two Boeing 777-200ERs.[5] The two Boeing 777s were joined by a third Boeing 777-200ER in 2005. A second long-haul route from Réunion to Marseille and Lyon was established.[5]

In 2007, a third long-haul service to Toulouse via Marseille started.[4] In 2008, the airline introduced new uniforms for staff and crew members, designed by Balenciaga. The second ATR 72-500 was added to the fleet, followed by a third a few months later.[4] In April 2009, Air Austral started a new service to Sydney and New Caledonia, thus opening up a new route between Paris and Sydney via Réunion. The airline also acquired two Boeing 777-300ERs.[4] In November, it placed a firm order for two all-economy class 840-seat Airbus A380s, for delivery in 2014. These are intended for Air Austral's Réunion-Paris flights.[6] In June 2010, it was announced that Air Austral would start scheduled flights from Réunion to Bordeaux and Nantes from February 2011.[3]

In August 2011, Air Austral received its first Boeing 777-200LR.[7] In April 2012, founder and chief executive Gérard Ethève was replaced by Marie-Joseph Malé following financial difficulties caused by risky business decisions made worse by high fuel prices.[8] Non-profitable lines to Nouméa, Sydney, Marseilles, Bordeaux, Nantes, Toulouse and Lyon were closed. The company has since returned to profit. Also in April 2012, Air Austral was unable to pay for a new 777-200LR awaiting delivery. The company is looking to sell on the plane instead of taking delivery. Following this development, Air Austral announced in May 2012 that it would defer or cancel its order for 2 Airbus A380s, with a decision to be made by the end of June 2012.[9]

In June 2013, Air Austral introduced direct flights to Chennai, India with its new Boeing 737-800s.[10] In February 2015, the company announced an order for two Boeing 787-8s, to be delivered in May and October 2016 respectively. In March 2015, it also announced the lease of 2 more B777-300ER from Air Lease Corporation (ALC). These aircraft, to be delivered in late 2016, will replace the oldest two models of the same type currently operated by Air Austral.

In October 2015, the company announced the sale of its single Boeing 777-200LR to Florida-based broker Atlas Aviation in November 2015. Air Austral simultaneously announced the lease, from November 2015 to May 2016 of a Boeing 737-300QC (QC for quick change) from ASL Airlines France (formerly Europe Airpost). The plane involved F-ODZZ, is a convertible version of the 737-300 (the cabin configuration can be changed from passengers to freight) that actually was in Air Austral service between 1997 and 2005. It will be used until the first of the two Boeing 787-8s ordered by the company is delivered in May 2015.[11]

Destinations

Current destinations

This is a list of destinations served by Air Austral as of April 2015:

[Hub] Hub
[Focus] Focus city
[Seasonal] Seasonal destination
[Future] Future destination
Country-City Airport Code Airport Name Refs
IATA ICAO
 Réunion
Saint Denis RUN FMEE Roland Garros Airport [Hub] [12]
Saint-Pierre ZSE FMEP Pierrefonds Airport [Focus City]
 Comoros
Moroni HAH FMCH Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport [13]
 France
Paris CDG LFPG Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport [14]
 India
Chennai MAA VOMM Chennai International Airport [15]
 Madagascar
Antananarivo TNR FMMI Ivato Airport [16]
Nosy Be NOS FMNN Fascene Airport
Toamasina TMM FMMT Toamasina Airport
 Mauritius
Mahébourg MRU FIMP Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport [17]
 Mayotte
Dzaoudzi DZA FMCZ Dzaoudzi Pamandzi International Airport [18]
 Rodrigues
Plaine Corail RRG FIMR Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport [19]
 Seychelles
Mahé SEZ FSIA Seychelles International Airport [20]
 South Africa
Johannesburg JNB FAOR O.R. Tambo International Airport [21]
 Thailand
Bangkok BKK VTBS Suvarnabhumi Airport [22]

Former destinations

(discontinued in 2012):[citation needed]

Fleet

Current fleet

Air Austral Boeing 737-800
Air Austral Boeing 777-300ER

The Air Austral fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of August 2016):[23]

Air Austral fleet
Aircraft Current Orders Passengers Notes
C Y+ Y Total
ATR 72-500 2 — 0 0 62 62 1 aircraft operated by Ewa Air
Boeing 737-800 2 — 0 18 144 162
Boeing 777-300ER 3 — 18 40 384 442
Boeing 787-8 2[24] — 18 0 244 262 First aircraft arrived at Réunion on 25 May 2016. Second one delivered in October 2016
Total 8 —

Former fleet

  • Former Air Austral liveries
  • Boeing 737-500
    Boeing 737-500
  • B737-33A F-ODZY
    B737-33A F-ODZY
  • Boeing 777-200ER F-OPAR
    Boeing 777-200ER F-OPAR
  • Boeing 777-300ER F-ONOU
    Boeing 777-300ER F-ONOU
Logo before 2014

References

  1. ^ "Géographie." Sainte-Marie. Retrieved on 7 October 2009.
  2. ^ "Legal notices." Air Austral. Retrieved on 7 9 September 2010. "Air Austral Anonymous company with executive board and supervisory board With a capital of 19 206 900€ Roland Garros Airport area 97438 Sainte Marie or BP 611 - 97472 Saint-Denis Cedex."
  3. ^ a b Air-Austral renfort de la flotte TourMag.com 2 June 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-04
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h "30 years of history in the Indian ocean sky". Air Austral. Retrieved 2011-06-16.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Air Austral brochure for Australian passengers, April 2009. Retrieved 2010-11-04 Archived October 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "Air Austral signs firm order for two single class A380s", Airbus press release 17 November 2009. Retrieved 2010-11-04
  7. ^ "F-OLRA Air Austral Boeing 777-29M(LR) - cn 40955 / ln 952 - Planespotters.net Just Aviation". Planespotters.net. Retrieved 2013-06-17.
  8. ^ Ethève's management style and difficult relations with unions was also in question and played a role in the decision.
  9. ^ "European woes force changes for the better at Indian Ocean carriers, with Air Austral the latest", CAPA article, 24 May 2012. Retrieved 2012-05-29
  10. ^ Around 120,000 (1.2 lakh) persons of Tamil origin are reported to live in Reunion. Air Austral links to Chennai
  11. ^ Posted (in French) on the information site Clicanoo.re on October 6, 2015. http://www.clicanoo.re/494106-air-austral-loue-un-b-737-pour-remplacer-le-b-777-200-lr-vendu-a-un-broker-americain.html
  12. ^ Saint Denis/Saint-Pierre. "Dzaoudzi". Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  13. ^ Air Austral. "Moroni". Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  14. ^ Air Austral. "Paris". Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  15. ^ Air Austral. "Chennai". Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  16. ^ Air Austral. "Antananarivo". Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  17. ^ Air Austral. "Port Louis". Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  18. ^ Air Austral. "Dzaoudzi". Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  19. ^ Air Austral. "Plaine Corail". Retrieved 2016-05-04.
  20. ^ Air Austral. "Mahé". Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  21. ^ Air Austral. "Johannesburg". Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  22. ^ Air Austral. "Bangkok". Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  23. ^ "Global Airline Guide 2016 (Part Two)". Airliner World (November 2016): 29. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  24. ^ Toh, Mavis (25 May 2016). "Air Austral takes first 787". Singapore: Flightglobal. Retrieved 25 May 2016.

Media related to Air Austral at Wikimedia Commons

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