Air Inter
| Air Inter | |
|---|---|
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| IATA code : | IT |
| ICAO code : | ITF |
| Call sign : | AIR INTER |
| Founding: | 1954 |
| Operation stopped: | 1997 |
| Merged with: | Air France |
| Seat: |
Paray-Vieille-Poste , France
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| Frequent Flyer Program : | Frequence Plus |
| Fleet size: | 76 |
| Aims: | national |
| Air Inter merged with Air France in 1997 . The information in italics relates to the last status before the takeover. | |
Air Inter was a French airline based in Paray-Vieille-Poste , which was taken over by Air France in 1997 and merged with it.
history
First years
Air Inter was founded on November 12, 1954 on the initiative of various companies in the transport and banking sector in order to establish a reliable network of flight connections between the French regions. The partners included Air France (24%) and the national railway SNCF . The first flight took place on March 16, 1958 from Paris to Strasbourg ; of scheduled air services began in 1962 with Vickers Viscount - aircraft .
Air Inter introduced new tariff systems, including the first annual ticket with which you could fly 30% cheaper for a year, as well as the "Tarification tricolore", in which the flight numbers in red, blue or black letters in the flight plan together with the corresponding prices were printed.
1970s to 1990s
After the introduction of the TGV , the SNCF competed with the airline, especially on short routes such as Paris- Lyon ; the SNCF subsequently sold its shares in Air Inter.
In 1974 Air Inter was the only operator to take over the first of 11 Dassault Mercure , an unsuccessful French competitor to the Boeing 737 .
In the early 1990s, the European Union made the separation of the links between Air Inter and Air France a condition for agreeing to subsidies that the French state wanted to provide for the reorganization of Air France. From 1990 Air France, UTA and Air Inter formed the Groupe Air France . The merger of Air France and UTA, which owned 35% and 37% of Air Inter, gave the company control over Air Inter. The aircraft were repainted in the style of Air France and carried the lettering Air Inter Europe , although the company itself changed its name to Air France Europe. The A330 became a first customer.
After the liberalization of air traffic in the 1990s, Air Inter competed for a short time with the British Airways- controlled TAT ( Transport Aérien Transregional ) and the French companies AOM and Air Liberté , which merged gradually to form the "new" Air Liberté controlled by Swissair before the company had to file for bankruptcy after Swissair's financial problems. The company reappeared briefly on the market as the low-cost airline AirLib, but disappeared after another bankruptcy. The southern French regional airline Air Littoral cooperated with Air Inter for a while, but has also had to file for bankruptcy. The bankruptcy of its competitors enabled Air Inter and its successor Air France to retain a dominant position on the French market.
In April 1997, Air Inter was merged with Air France after resistance from the French trade unions .
Air Inter recently offered a wide range of customer and discount cards, including its own frequent flyer program "Frequence Plus" . It was separate from the Air France program of the same name, but the points could be transferred from one to the other under certain conditions. There was also a dedicated frequent flyer program for young people, "Frequence Jeune" , which Air France is now continuing on the French market. Also from Air Inter comes La Navette , regular, sometimes even hourly flight connections between Paris-Orly and the French metropolises similar to the InterCity concept of the railways.
Destinations
Air Inter's seat and home airport was Paris-Orly ; very few flights were made to Charles-de-Gaulle Airport . As a result, passengers from abroad, who usually arrived in Charles-de-Gaulle, often had to change airports in Paris when they traveled on within France. Although this situation has improved after the merger, domestic flights are still mainly handled in Orly.
fleet
From the start of flight operations to the takeover by Air France, Air Inter used the following types of aircraft:
Fleet at the end of operations
Previously deployed aircraft
- Dassault Mercure
- Douglas DC-3
- Fokker F-27 Friendship
- Max Holste Super Broussard (North 260)
- North 262
- Sud Aviation Caravelle
- Vickers Viscount
Incidents
From 1963 to the end of operations in 1997, Air Inter suffered eight total write-offs of aircraft. 163 people were killed in three of them. Extracts:
- On August 12, 1963, an Air Inter Vickers Viscount 708 ( aircraft registration F-BGNV ) coming from Lille collided with trees while approaching Lyon-Bron airport during a thunderstorm. The plane struck a farmhouse 15 miles north of the destination airport and eventually crashed into a field. Of the 16 occupants, 15 were killed, as well as one person on the ground, only one passenger survived.
- On December 28, 1971, the failure of engine number 4 (far right) was simulated in a Vickers Viscount 708 of Air Inter (F-BOEA) when starting a training flight from Clermont-Ferrand airport . There was a loss of control, the machine went off the runway and was irreparably damaged. The two pilots (only occupants) survived the accident.
- On October 27, 1972, a Vickers Viscount 724 of Air Inter (F-BMCH) collided on the flight from Lyon-Bron to Clermont-Ferrand with the Pic du Picon mountain, about 44 kilometers east of the destination airport. Probably due to incorrect readings in the radio compass (ADF) as a result of atmospheric electrical discharges, the pilots lost their orientation and had to fly into the mountain. Of the 68 occupants, 60 were killed, only 8 passengers survived.
- On 20 January 1992 at 19:20 a collided Airbus A320 -111 Air Inter (F-GGED) in the final approach to the airport Strasbourg with the Odilienberg ( Vosges ) in Alsace. Of the 96 occupants, only 9 survived. Reasons were the cockpit design, incorrect displays of the VOR antenna, a navigation error by the pilots, the lack of a ground proximity warning system (for cost reasons) and several hours of delays in the rescue measures (see also Air-Inter- Flight 148 ) .
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ulrich Klee, Frank Bucher et al .: jp airline-fleets international 1996/97 . Zurich Airport 1996, p. 146f.
- ↑ Ulrich Klee, Frank Bucher and others: jp airline-fleets international . Zurich Airport 1967–1997.
- ↑ Fokker 100 fleet list - Former operators http://www.fokker-aircraft.info/fleetlist-previousf100.htm ( Memento from April 5, 2017 in the web archive archive.today )
- ^ Accident statistics Air Inter , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 2, 2019.
- ↑ Accident report Viscount 708 F-BGNV , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 2, 2019.
- ↑ Accident report Viscount 708 F-BOEA , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 10, 2019.
- ↑ Accident report Viscount 724 F-BMCH , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 2, 2019.
- ↑ Report de la commission d'enquête sur l'accident survenu le 20 janvier 1992 près du Mont Sainte-Odile (Bas Rhin) à l'Airbus A 320 immatriculé F-GGED exploité par la compagnie Air Inter. Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la sécurité de l'aviation civile , accessed April 14, 2010 .
