Air Liberté

Compagnie Air Liberté S.A., later renamed Air Lib, was a French airline founded in July 1987. It was headquartered in Rungis.[1] Instead Air Lib was headquartered in Orly Airport Building 363 in Paray-Vieille-Poste.[2][3]

History

Air Liberté began charter operations in April 1988 with a leased McDonnell Douglas MD-80. It mainly operated to holiday destinations in Europe and Mediterranean basins, but it had also some intercontinental routes. In 1991, Air Liberté published a joint timetable with French air carrier Minerve which was operating flights to San Francisco and Papeete, Tahiti as well as to Pointe-à-Pitre and Fort-de-France in the Caribbeans.[4] A route to Montreal was inaugurated in 1992,[5] and to Réunion and the Caribbeans later on. Unsuccessful routes included one from Toulouse to Dakar and London, which were scrapped in a conflict over slot allocations at Orly Airport. 1996 saw the inauguration of a route to Nice, and in May the Euralair network was taken on. In mid-1990s, the airline had a fleet of five Boeing 737-200s, eight McDonnell Douglas MD-83s and five McDonnell Douglas DC-10s.

1996 also brought wfinancial distress. The airline lost 1 billion francs that year, and in early 1997 British Airways acquired a 67% shareholding.[6] British Airways unified Air Liberté together with TAT (a subsidiary from August 1996) under one management between the end of 1997 and the first months of the following year. On 5 May 2000, the British airline sold Air Liberté to a partnership between Taitbout Antibes and Swiss flag carrier Swissair.

On 25 March 2001 AOM French Airlines merged with Air Liberté, and this name was kept[7] until 22 September, when the airline was renamed Air Lib.[8] In October, Swissair went bankrupt, unable to make all scheduled payments. The French Government then granted a loan of €30.5 million to the battered company.

Despite government aid, the airline accumulated debts of €120 million and was forced to declare bankruptcy in August 2002. The government then ordered the implementation of a new restructuring plan before the end of the year. Several projects were considered but all without result. The air carrier halted all operations on 6 February 2003 was liquidated on 17 February.[9]

Destinations

Fleet

Air Liberté operated the following aircraft types:

Accidents & Incidents

• 25 May 2000: Air Liberté Flight 8807, a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 (F-GHED) collided on the runway with a Short 330 freighter aircraft operated by Streamline Aviation. The Short had been cleared to line up at an intermediate taxiway on the runway that the MD-83 was departing from. The wing of the MD-83 struck the cockpit of the Short, killing its first officer and injuring the captain. The MD-83 aborted takeoff with no casualties on board, and was repaired and returned to service.[10]

External links