AOM French Airlines
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Founded | 1988 | ||||||
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Commenced operations | 1990 | ||||||
Ceased operations | 25 March 2001Air Liberté) | (merged into||||||
Hubs | Paris Orly Airport | ||||||
Frequent-flyer program | Qualiflyer | ||||||
Fleet size | 45 | ||||||
Destinations | 24 | ||||||
Headquarters | Building 363 Orly Airport Paray-Vieille-Poste | ||||||
Key people | Marc Rochet |
AOM French Airlines (previously Air Outre-Mer) was the second-largest airline in France from 1990 until 2001. Its head office was in Building 363 at Orly Airport, Paray-Vieille-Poste.[1]
History[]
![]() | This section does not cite any sources. (May 2010) |
Air Outre Mer (AOM) was founded in 1988 in the French overseas département of the island of Réunion and began scheduled passenger service in 1990 with a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 and a Dornier Dornier 228. In October 1991, Air Outre Mer merged with Air Minerve, a French airline which was based at Orly and had operated since 1975. The two companies began operating under the name AOM French Airlines although the administrative name was "AOM-Minerve S.A.". Air Minerve was the first airline to compete directly with Air Inter on the French domestic airline market by opening a Paris (Orly) - Nice route in May 1990. In February 1999, Swissair acquired a 49% stake in the airline as a part of its "hunter strategy". For most of the decade, the airline fiercely competed with Air France on both the French domestic market and on the air routes to the French overseas territories. Due to inappropriate fleet management and overcapacity, the airline quickly accumulated huge debts and consequently ceased operations in 2001 (possibly as a result of the bursting of the dot-com bubble and the early 2000s recession which followed)[citation needed]. The airline's final bankruptcy was approved after several months of strikes.[citation needed]
On 25 March 2001 AOM French Airlines merged with Air Liberté, the airline retaining the name "Air Liberté".[2] On 22 September 2001 the airline was renamed "Air Lib".{Wikipedia French article}.[3]
AOM's disappearance was followed by several other French airlines such as Aeris, Air Littoral, Euralair and Star Airlines (later XL Airways France) in the next several years, leaving Air France and Corsair International as the two largest remaining airlines in France at the time.
Destinations[]
France[]
- Marseille (Marseille Provence Airport)
- Nice (Côte d'Azur International Airport)
- Paris (Paris Orly Airport)
- Perpignan (Llabanère Airport)
- Toulon (Toulon-Hyères Airport)
French overseas departments and territories[]
- French Guiana
- Cayenne (Cayenne-Rochambeau Airport)
- Guadeloupe
- Martinique
- Fort-de-France (Le Lamentin Airport)
- New Caledonia
- Réunion
- Tahiti
International routes[]
- Sydney (Sydney Airport) (Paris-Colombo-Sydney-Nouméa from November 1995, ceased 2001.)[4]
- Colombo (Bandaranaike International Airport) (Paris-Colombo-Sydney-Nouméa from November 1995, ceased 2001.)[4]
- Zurich (Zurich Airport)
- Bangkok (Don Mueang International Airport) (Paris-Bangkok-Nouméa, until November 1995.)[4]
Fleet[]
The AOM French Airlines fleet included the following equipment:[5]
Aircraft | Total | Introduced | Retired | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Airbus A300B4 | 1 | 1999 | 2000 | Leased from TransAer International Airlines |
Airbus A340-200 | 3 | 1999 | 2001 | |
Airbus A340-300 | 2 | 2000 | 2001 | |
Boeing 737-200 | 1 | 1996 | 1996 | Leased from Air Toulouse |
Boeing 737-500 | 3 | 1998 | 2000 | Leased from LOT Polish Airlines |
Boeing 747-200B | 1 | 1992 | 1993 | |
Douglas DC-8-62CF | 1 | 1992 | 1992 | |
Douglas DC-8-73 | 1 | 1992 | 1992 | Leased to Air Sweden |
Fokker 100 | 1 | 1996 | 1996 | Leased from Transwede Airways |
McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 | 15 | 1990 | 2001 | |
McDonnell Douglas MD-82 | 1 | 1994 | 1994 | Leased from Meridiana |
McDonnell Douglas MD-83 | 14 | 1992 | 2001 | |
McDonnell Douglas MD-87 | 1 | 1995 | 1996 | Leased from Transwede Airways |
Accidents and incidents[]
![]() | This section needs additional citations for verification. (June 2011) |
- Cubana de Aviación Flight 1216: On December 21, 1999, a Cubana de Aviación McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 (F-GTDI) on lease from AOM on an international non-scheduled passenger flight from Havana (José Martí International Airport) suffered a landing accident at Guatemala City (La Aurora Airport), Guatemala. The aircraft overran runway 19 and continued down a steep slope before coming to rest in a residential area. 8 of the 296 passengers and 8 of the 18 crew as well as 2 people on the ground were killed and the aircraft written off.[citation needed] The Guatemalan Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil investigated the accident.[6]
References[]
- ^ "World Airline Directory 1999." Flight International. 2000. 363.; "Nos coordonnées agences en "France Métropolitaine "." AOM French Airlines. Retrieved on 15 May 2010. "SIEGE Bâtiment 363 B.P. 854 94 551 ORLY AEROGARE CEDEX"; "Résultat de votre recherche." Le Journal officiel électronique authentifié. Retrieved on 15 May 2010. "Siège social : compagnie Air Lib, bâtiment 363, zone centrale à l’aéroport d’Orly, 91550 Paray-Vieille-Poste."
- ^ "Home." AOM French Airlines. 6 May 2001. Retrieved on 15 May 2010. "Le 25 Mars 2001 AOM change de nom et devient Air Liberté."
- ^ "Découvrir Air Liberté." Air Liberté. 23 February 2002. Retrieved on 15 May 2010. "Le 22 Septembre 2001, AOM et AIR LIBERTE ont donné naissance à une nouvelle compagnie aérienne qui porte désormais le nom AIR LIB."
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Flight Global News, 20 September 1995 [1]
- ^ "AOM French Airlines Fleet Details and History". Planespotters.net. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
- ^ "INFORME FINAL ACCIDENTE AEROPUERTO LA AURORA, PISTA 19 CIUDAD DE GUATEMALA, GUATEMALA." (Archive) Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil. Retrieved on 13 June 2011.
External links[]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to AOM. |
- AOM French Airlines (Archive) (in French)
- Air Outre-Mer at the Aviation Safety Network Database
- Defunct airlines at http://www.aviationexplorer.com
- AOM French Airlines at https://web.archive.org/web/20120412013004/http://www.rati.com/
- Defunct airlines of France
- Airlines established in 1988
- Airlines disestablished in 2001