(France) Air Inter @·AIRCRAFTUBE

  • Airbus A300B4-2C Airbus A300B4-2C
    Airbus A300B4-2C
  • SE-210 Caravelle 12 SE-210 Caravelle 12
    SE-210 Caravelle 12
  • Fokker 70 Fokker 70
    Fokker 70
  • Dassault Mercure Dassault Mercure
    Dassault Mercure
  • Airbus A320 Airbus A320
    Airbus A320
  • Fokker 100 Fokker 100
    Fokker 100
  • Airbus A330-301 Airbus A330-301
    Airbus A330-301
  • Vickers 708 Viscount Vickers 708 Viscount
    Vickers 708 Viscount
  • Aerospatiale SE-210 Caravelle 12 Aerospatiale SE-210 Caravelle 12
    Aerospatiale SE-210 Caravelle 12
  • Fokker F-27-500 Friendship Fokker F-27-500 Friendship
    Fokker F-27-500 Friendship
  • Dassault Mercure 100 Dassault Mercure 100
    Dassault Mercure 100
  • Aerospatiale SE-210 Caravelle 12 Aerospatiale SE-210 Caravelle 12
    Aerospatiale SE-210 Caravelle 12
  • Airbus A300B4-2C Airbus A300B4-2C
    Airbus A300B4-2C
  • Vickers Viscount 724 (1973) Vickers Viscount 724 (1973)
    Vickers Viscount 724 (1973)

Air Inter

Air Inter (Lignes Aériennes Intérieures) was a semi-public French domestic airline. Before its merger with Air France, the airline was headquartered in Paray-Vieille-Poste, Essonne. Earlier in its life, it was headquartered in the 1st arrondissement of Paris.

Air Inter was incorporated on 12 November 1954. It operated its first commercial flight between Paris and Strasbourg on 16 March 1958. However, it was 1960 when the airline started regular commercial services.

The company established its operational and engineering base at Paris-Orly Airport, where its flights were concentrated at Orly Ouest, Orly Airport's West Terminal.

Air Inter was founded as a semi-public entity to provide efficient domestic air transport at the lowest cost. Its financial backers included French public and private sector transport businesses in road, rail and air transport, as well as banks.

Air France and Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (SNCF), the state railway company, were Air Inter's two largest public sector shareholders, each holding 25% in the airline. Union des Transports Aériens (UTA) was its largest private sector investor. UTA initially held a 15% minority stake in Air Inter. UTA subsequently increased its shareholding to 36%, becoming the largest single shareholder.

On 12 January 1990 Air Inter, with UTA and Air France, became part of an enlarged Air France group, which in turn became a subsidiary of Groupe Air France. Air Inter changed to Air France Europe following a merger with Air France and UTA. On 1 April 1997, it was absorbed into Air France. On that day, the firm ceased to exist as a legal entity within Groupe Air France.

History

On 23 February 1960, France's Ministry of Public Works and Transport decided to transfer Air France's domestic monopoly to Air Inter. This provided the impetus for Air Inter to start scheduled services within metropolitan France, as well as between the mainland and Corsica. Though a private sector company because of its limited liability status, Air Inter was compelled to operate unprofitable regional domestic routes to justify its domestic monopoly on profitable routes from Paris.

Air Inter primarily operated high-frequency scheduled internal flights from Paris Orly to cities in metropolitan France, principally Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Strasbourg and Mulhouse. Following the opening of Charles de Gaulle Airport near the northern Paris suburb of Roissy-en-France and the transfer of the bulk of Air France's international operations from Orly to Charles de Gaulle Airport from 1974, as well as the simultaneous transfer of UTA's Le Bourget-based operation to that airport, Air Inter began serving these routes from Charles de Gaulle as well (with the exception of Nice) to feed domestic passengers into those airlines' international networks.

Air Inter also linked Orly with additional second and third-tier provincial French towns as well as with all three commercial airports on Corsica (Ajaccio, Bastia, Calvi). The airline operated regional domestic scheduled routes between major French cities as well.

Many of Air Inter's routes serving smaller towns were contracted to TAT.

Prior to the liberalisation of the internal air market in the European Union (EU) during the early 1990s, Air Inter was a pillar of the French air transport industry with Air France, UTA and TAT.

During that period Air Inter had a large share of the domestic market. It was the only airline plying most of the domestic trunk routes within metropolitan France on a regular scheduled basis, especially from and to Paris. The exceptions were Paris-Nice and Paris-Basle/Mulhouse. Air Inter's flights between Paris Orly and Nice competed with Air France's Paris-Charles de Gaulle — Nice, and Orly—Nice flights. Air Inter competed head-on with Swissair, the former Swiss flag carrier, between Paris Charles de Gaulle and Basle/Mulhouse.

The difference between the competing Air Inter and Swissair services on this route was that the former's passengers had to use the terminal at Basle/Mulhouse airport through the domestic channel that connected the airport to the French city of Mulhouse, whereas the latter's used the international channel that linked the airport with the Swiss city of Basle. For this reason, Air Inter's flights were categorised as domestic while Swissair's were international.

In addition, UTA had limited rights to carry passengers, cargo and mail on the internal legs of its long-haul services, between Paris Charles de Gaulle and Lyon, Marseille, Nice as well as Bordeaux. However, flights were too infrequent to pose a threat to Air Inter.

SNCF, one of Air Inter's two largest public sector shareholders, was also the company's main competitor on domestic trunk routes inside France. This intensified when SNCF began high-speed, high-frequency Train à Grande Vitesse (TGV) services on purpose-built tracks from 1981. The launch of TGV services between Paris and Lyon, one of Air Inter's busiest as well as shortest routes, in 1981 led to a reduction in frequency and smaller aircraft on Air Inter's competing service.

The only other domestic air routes on which Air Inter competed with Air France in the pre-liberalisation era were routes linking the mainland with Corsica.

In 1977 Air Inter purchased a 20% stake from Air France in the latter's charter affiliate Air Charter International, in return for ceasing to be a rival supplier of charter airline seats in the French inclusive tour market.

Annual passenger numbers on Air Inter's domestic scheduled network grew steadily to 21 million, actually beating Air France one year. This established the firm as the largest scheduled domestic airline in Europe.

Air Inter was also one of the few European ultra short-haul, mainline scheduled operators to be profitable most of the time and was a forerunner of today's low-cost airlines in Europe. Fares were lower than domestic air fares elsewhere in Europe and competing rail fares, with short turnarounds (35 minutes for a full 314-seat A300 was common), no seat allocation, no frills service on board and minimum crews.

On 1 January 1995 Air Inter lost its monopoly on the domestic trunk routes from Paris Orly. From that day, any EU-based rival was free to compete on these routes, without restrictions on capacity, frequency or fares.

The sale of controlling stakes in Air Inter and UTA to Air France, as well as integration of both of the former into the latter, was part of a French government plan to create a unified, national carrier with the economies of scale and global reach to counter threats from the liberalisation of the EU's internal air transport market.

Fleet

Air Inter pioneered Category 3 all-weather landings and started operating Category 3 minima with Caravelles — upgrading with enhanced head-up displays on Mercure and A320s.

Listed below are the main aircraft types that were part of Air Inter's fleet at one point or another throughout its 37 years of continuous operations:

Air Inter entered the jet age with the Caravelle III.

Air Inter was an early operator of the Airbus A300, the European aircraft manufacturer's first commercial jetliner and the airline's first widebodied aircraft. The fleet reached 22 aircraft at its peak with aircraft being acquired second hand up to 1992.

Air Inter was also a launch customer for the Dassault Mercure, the French answer to the Boeing 737, as well as the Airbus A320 (eventually building a fleet of 33 of the 320 variant alone), the only airline customer in the world for the former and joint launch customer with Air France and British Caledonian for the latter.

The Mercure entered commercial airline service with Air Inter in 1975. Dassault Aviation's inability to find other customers for the Mercure resulted in the French government granting Air Inter a subsidy of £10,775,000. This helped the airline bear the financial burden of operating an "orphan fleet" of only ten aircraft. In addition to the ten aircraft that formed part of Air Inter's original order for the Mercure, the airline had the aircraft's prototype converted to airline standard as well. This subsequently joined the fleet, increasing the company's Mercure sub-fleet to eleven. It was withdrawn from service in 1995, after 20 years' uninterrupted service.

The A320 entered service with Air Inter in 1988.

The A330 was the last aircraft type to join the Air Inter fleet in 1994.

Incidents and Accidents

There were 12 recorded incidents/accidents involving Air Inter aircraft throughout 37 years of uninterrupted commercial operations, three of which were fatal. One of the other nine reported incidents included an aircraft hijacking, resulting in the loss of one life.

The airline's three fatal accidents were:

On 12 August 1963, a Vickers Viscount 708 (registration F-BGNV) operating a scheduled flight from Lille to Lyon crashed while holding over Tramoyes at FL30 on the instructions of Lyon ATC, resulting in the deaths of the aircraft's 20 occupants (four crew members and 16 passengers) as well as one person on the ground. A storm forced the flight crew to request ATC permission to descend to FL25. In response, the crew received clearance for a straight-in approach to Lyon Bron Airport's runway 17. Eyewitnesses reported the aircraft flying low in an easterly direction in the heart of the storm. The aircraft struck trees, the roof of a farmhouse and a telephone pole before coming to rest in a field. The investigation board cited exceptionally bad weather where the aircraft was instructed to hold, as well as a possibility of lightning dazzling the crew and causing temporary blindness or appreciably incapacitating both pilots.

On 27 October 1972, a Vickers Viscount 724 (registration F-BMCH) operating a scheduled night flight from Lyon to Clermont-Ferrand crashed into the Pic du Picon mountain 44 km east of Clermont-Ferrand airport at 1,000 ft killing 60 of the aircraft's 68 occupants, including all five crew and 55 of the 63 passengers. The accident was caused by the flight deck crew's failure to notice their plane's radio compass had shifted 180 degrees, most likely as a result of electrical discharges in rainfall blocking the signals emitted by Clermont-Ferrand's non-directional beacon (NDB), while being instructed to fly a holding pattern prior to receiving clearance to descend to 3,600 ft. This resulted in the crew's initiating their descent too early, which set the aircraft on a collision course with the mountain.

On 20 January 1992, Air Inter Flight 148, operated by an Airbus A320-111 (registration F-GGED), crashed into a ridge near Mount Sainte-Odile in the Vosges mountains while on final approach to Strasbourg at the end of a scheduled flight from Lyon. This resulted in the deaths of 87 of the aircraft's occupants (five crew members, 82 passengers), the worst accident in company history. There were nine survivors (one crew member, eight passengers). The accident was caused by the aircraft's wrongly programmed Flight Control Unit (FCU), a consequence of the crew's failure to notice that the FCU was in [incorrect] vertical speed mode when programming the angle of descent (-3.3 [3.3 degrees]). The excessive descent (3,300 ft./minute instead of 800 ft./minute) took the aircraft below its minimum safe altitude. This resulted in the aircraft's striking trees and a 2,710 ft high ridge in the cloud-covered mountains.

The following was a notable, non-fatal incident:

On 28 December 1971, Vickers Viscount (registration: F-BOEA) was damaged beyond economic repair at Clermont-Ferrand Aulnat Airport when it departed the runway on a training flight during a simulated failure of number 4 engine.

— — — = = — — —

This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Source : Article Air Inter of Wikipedia ( authors )
Air Inter : Your comments on this subject
Powered by Disqus
Top
Legal Credits FAQ Help Site Map

Terms of use for the services available on this site

By using this Website, Users agree to the following terms of use and rules :

Definitions

  • Webmaster : Head Administrator with all authority over the management and development of the Website.
  • Administrator : Anyone that was given by the Webmaster full or partial access to the Website's structure or with moderation rights on messages posted by Users.
  • User or Visitor : Any person visiting the Website pages.
  • Website : The following provisions apply to a single Website accessible via the www.aircraftube.com, www.aircraftube.org, www.aircraftube.net and www.all-aircraft.com. URL's
  • Service : All free informations and tools contained on the Website.
  • Comments : All text written by users on Blogs and comment pages available on the Website.
  • Media : All media available on or through the Website. One must distinguish the local media (photos, curves, drawings) and the external media (videos) which the Website refers.

    • Purpose of this site

    The purpose of this non-commercial site is purely educational. Reflecting a passion, it is also there to preserve the memory of all those who gave their lives, their health or energy in the name of freedom, aviation safety or simply our passenger comfort.

    Copyright

    Some media may have escaped the vigilance of Administrators with regard to copyrights. If a user reports copyright infringement, he will be asked to prove that he is indeed the rights's owner for the concerned media. If so, his decision on the Administrator's next action will be respected: A total suppression of the Media on the Website, or the addition of some owner's reference. The publication of a media on the internet normally having as a goal to make it visible to many people, the Administrators expect in any case that the second option will be most often chosen.

    Pursuant to the Law on copyright and related rights, the user has the right to download and reproduce information on the Website for personal use and provided that the source is mentionned. They cannot however be used for commercial or advertising purposes.

    Using Blogs and filing comments

  • Moderator : The Administrator reserves the right to prevent the publication of comments that are not directly related to the Service without providing any explanation. Similarly, all insults, out of scope or unethical material will be banned.
  • Identification : Persons wishing to post a comment or use any form of contact are required to provide identification by the means of a valid e-mail address.
  • Responsibilities : Comments are posted on the Website under the unique responsability of their authors and the Administrators may in no case be liable for any statements or claims that the users might have issued.

    • As the comment system is hosted and maintained on servers external to the Website, the Administrators may in no circumstances be held responsible for the use that administrators of these servers or other third parties may have with those comments or filed data.

    Content Liability

    The Administrators carefully check the reliability of the sources used. They cannot, however, guarantee the accuracy of any information contained on the Website, partly because of the multiple sources from which they come.

    JavaScript and cookies - Storing information

    This Website imperatively uses JavaScript and cookies to function properly. Neither of these technologies, or other means shall in no case be used on the Website for the retention or disclosure of personal information about Visitors. Exceptions to this rule will involve storing the Users banned for inappropriate comments they might have given as well as contact information for Users wishing to subscribe to future newsletters.

    When a user accesses the Website, the corresponding servers may automatically collect certain data, such as IP address, date and time of Website access, viewed pages and the type of browser used. This information is kept only for the purpose of measuring the number of visitors to the different sections of the site and make improvements.

    Donations - Advertising

    To continue providing the Service for free, the Webmaster reserves the right to insert advertising or promotional messages on any page of the Site. In the same idea, any donations will only by used to cover the running costs of the site, such as hosting, connection fees, hardware and software necessary for the development and maintenance of the Website.

    Links and other websites

    Administrators shall in no case be liable for the non-availability of websites operated by third parties to which users would access through the Website.

    Administrators assume no liability for any content, advertising, products and/or services available on such third party websites. It is reminded that those sites are governed by their own terms of use.

    Placing a link to third party sites or authorize a third party to include a link on their website refering to this Website does not mean that the Administrators recommend in any way the products or services offered by these websites.

    Modifications

    The Webmaster reserves the right to modify at any time without notification the present terms of use as well as all content or specific functionality that the Website offers.

    The modified terms and conditions immediately apply to the using Visitor when changes come online. Visitors are invited to consult the site regularly on the most current version of the terms and conditions

    Governing Law and Jurisdiction

    These general conditions are governed by Belgian law.

    In case of dispute regarding the interpretation and/or execution of the above terms, the parties agree that the courts of the district of Nivelles, Belgium shall have exclusive jurisdiction power.

    Credits page

    Wikipedia.org

    Wikipedia is a collaboratively edited, multilingual, free Internet encyclopedia.

    Youtube

    YouTube is a video-sharing website on which users can upload, view and share videos.

    Special thanks to all Youtube quality aviation vids providers, specially (Those I forgot, please excuse me or report) :

    Airboyd
    Andys Video
    Aviation videos archives
    Bomberguy
    Classic Aviation TV
    Historical Aviation Film Unit
    Horsemoney
    Jaglavaksoldier
    Joluqa Malta
    Just Planes
    Koksy
    Classic Airliners & Vintage Pop Culture
    Memorial Flight
    Octane130
    Okrajoe
    SDASM archives
    Spottydog4477
    The Aviators TV
    Valentin Izagirre Bengoetxea
    Vexed123
    VonBerlich
    Zenos Warbirds

    Bundesarchiv

    The German Federal Archives or Bundesarchiv are the National Archives of Germany.

    FAQ

    I don't see my comments any more!

    Please note that each page has it's own comment entry. So, if you enter a comment i.e. on the B-747, you will only see it on that related page.

    General comments are accessed via the "BLOG En" button.

    Comments are moderated, so please allow some delay before they appear, specially if you are outside Europe.

    Menus are developing below the page, because they are too long!

    But they remain accessible, for example by scrolling the mouse wheel, or with your finger (on the menu) on a smartphone or tablet.

    I see adds on all videos.

    Use a good free add remover software.

    The site is loading random pages at startup.

    We think it is a good way to bring back the memory of aircraft, persons or events sometimes quite forgotten.

    HELP PAGE

    Why this site?

    Discovery

    This website is dedicated to one's aeronautical passion (which I hope we share) and was realised mainly as an educationnal tool. Knowing that, you'll notice that each new visit brings random topics for the purpose of making new discoveries, some achievements or characters certainly not deserving the oblivion into which they have sometimes fallen.

    By these pages, we also want to pay tribute to all those who gave at one time or another, their lives or health in the name of freedom, aeronautical security or simply our comfort.

    Centralisation

    Internet is full of websites dedicated to aviation, but most are dedicated to subjects or periods that are very limited in space or time. The purpose of this site is to be as general as possible and thus treats all events as well as characters of all stripes and times while putting much emphasis on the most significant achievements.

    The same years saw birth of technologies like photography and cinema, thus permitting illustration of a large part of important aeronautical events from the start. Countless (and sometimes rare) media recently put online by enthousiasts finally give us access to these treasures, but the huge amount of information often makes things a little messy. A centralization effort is obviously most needed at this level.

    All persons who directly or indirectly contributed to the achievement or posting of such documents are here gratefully acknowledged.

    General

    Fluid website

    This site automatically fits the dimensions of your screen, whether you are on a desktop computer, a tablet or a smartphone.

    Bilingual website

    You can change the language by clicking on the flag in the upper left or via "Options" in the central menu. Of course, the videos remain in the language in which they were posted ...

    Browser compatibility

    The site is not optimized, or even designed to run on older browsers or those deliberately deviating from standards. You will most probably encounter display issues with Internet Explorer. In this case, it is strongly recommended installing a modern (and free!) browser that's respecting the standards, like Firefox, Opera, Chrome or Safari.

    Cookies and Javascript

    This site uses cookies and JavaScript to function properly. Please ensure that your browser is configured accordingly. Neither of these technologies, or other means shall in no case be used on the Site for the retention or disclosure of personal information about its Visitors. See the "Legal" page for more on this subject.

    Website layout

    Left menus

    Because of the lack of space on smartphones and small tablets, these menus are hidden. Everything is nevertheless accessible via the main menu option, located between the video and photo sections. This menu is placed there for compatibility reasons with some browsers, which play the videos over the menus.

    "Search" and "Latest" :
    The link "In Titles" restricts the search to the titles of different forms. Use this option if you are looking for a plane, a constructor, a pilot or a particular event that could have been treated as a subject.

    The link "In Stories" will bring you to a search in all texts (the "Story" tab) and will take more time. The search term will appear highlighted in green when opening the corresponding story.

    Would you believe, "Timeline" will show all subjects in chronological order.

    "Random" will reload the entire page with a new random topic.

    The bottom section keeps you abreast of the latest five entries. New topics are added regularly. Don't hesitate to come visit us often : add bookmark.

    Blogs and Comments central section

    Under the photos section comes the comments tabs window :

    You can enter general comments in your own language via one of the two buttons on the left (BLOG EN and BLOG FR). Note that these buttons are accessible regardless of the language to allow some participation in the other language.

    All comments are subject to moderation and will be published only if they comply with the basic rules of decorum, while remaining relevant to the purpose of this site.

    The third tab allows you to enter comments on the shown topic and is bilingual. Personal anecdotes, supplements and other information questions will take place here.

    The "Story" tab shows the explanatory texts. They are most often taken from Wikipedia, a site where we participate regularly.

    The "Data" tab is reserved for list of features and specifications.

    Right menus

    On a smartphone, the lack of space is growing and this menu is moved to the bottom of the page to give priority to videos and pictures.

    The top right icons are links to videos posted by third parties (on their own responsabilities) or by ourselves. The link below these icons will take you to the channel of the one who posted the video. Feel free to suggest other videos if you think they are of some interest (Use the BLOG button or the "Contact" link).