Air Liberté

Air Liberté (later known as Air Lib) was a French airline founded in July 1987. It was headquartered in Rungis.^[1] Air Lib was headquartered in Orly Airport Building 363 in Paray-Vieille-Poste.^[2][3]

Air Liberté

IATA ICAO Call sign IJ LIB LIBERTE
Founded	July 1987 (1987-07)
Commenced operations	April 1988 (1988-04)
Ceased operations	17 February 2003 (2003-02-17)
Hubs	Orly Airport
Frequent-flyer program	Executive Club (1997–2000) Qualiflyer (2000–2001)
Alliance	Oneworld (affiliate; 1999–2000)
Headquarters	Air Liberté: Rungis, France Air Lib: Building 363, Orly Airport, Paray-Vieille-Poste
Key people	Eric Schulz (CEO) Jean-Charles Corbet (former CEO of Air Lib)

History

Air Liberté began operations in April 1988 with a leased McDonnell Douglas MD-80. It mainly operated to destinations in European and Mediterranean holiday resorts, however it had some intercontinental routes. In 1991, Air Liberte 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 Caribbean at the time.^[4] A route to Montreal was inaugurated in 1992,^[5] and Réunion and the Caribbean were also served by the airline. Unsuccessful routes included one from Toulouse to Dakar and London, which were scrapped in a conflict over slot allocations at Orly Airport. 1996 saw a new route to Nice, and in May the route network of Euralair was taken on. Around 1996, the airline had a fleet of five Boeing 737-200s, eight McDonnell Douglas MD-83s and five McDonnell Douglas DC-10s.

1996 also brought with it financial distress. The airline lost 1 billion francs that year, and in 1997 British Airways acquired a 67% shareholding.^[6] At this time, British Airways brought Air Liberté together with TAT and inaugurated them under one management. Nouvelair was born out of Air Liberté's subsidiary in Tunisia, Air Liberté Tunisie.^{[citation needed]} On 5 May 2000, BA sold Air Liberté to a partnership between Taitbout Antibes and Swissair.

On 25 March 2001 AOM French Airlines merged with Air Liberté, the airline retaining the name "Air Liberté".^[7] On 22 September 2001 the airline was renamed Air Lib^[8] But in October, Swissair went bankrupt, unable to make all scheduled payments. The French Government then granted a loan of €30.5 million to the 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 without result, and the company was liquidated on 17 February 2003. As a result, no other competing international-level full-service French airline had appeared, leaving only Air France (now controlled by Air France–KLM) as a de facto monopoly until French Bee was founded in 2016.

Destinations

France

• Agen – Agen La Garenne Airport
• Annecy – Annecy – Haute-Savoie – Mont Blanc Airport
• Aurillac – Aurillac – Tronquières Airport
• Bergerac – Bergerac Dordogne Périgord Airport
• Bordeaux – Bordeaux–Mérignac Airport
• Brive-la-Gaillarde – Brive–La Roche Airport
• Carcassonne – Carcassonne Airport
• Cherbourg-Octeville – Cherbourg – Maupertus Airport
• Épinal – Épinal – Mirecourt Airport
• Figari – Figari–Sud Corse Airport
• Lannion – Lannion – Côte de Granit Airport
• La Rochelle – La Rochelle – Île de Ré Airport
• Metz/Nancy – Metz–Nancy–Lorraine Airport
• Montpellier – Montpellier–Méditerranée Airport
• Nice – Nice Côte d'Azur Airport
• Paris – Orly Airport (hub)
• Perpignan – Perpignan–Rivesaltes Airport
• Roanne – Roanne-Renaison Airport
• Rodez – Rodez–Aveyron Airport
• Strasbourg – Strasbourg Airport
• Toulon – Toulon–Hyères Airport
• Toulouse – Toulouse–Blagnac Airport

French overseas departments and territories

• Guadeloupe
  • Pointe-à-Pitre – Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport
• Martinique
  • Fort-de-France – Martinique Aimé Césaire International Airport
• Réunion
  • Saint-Denis – Roland Garros Airport

International routes

•  Canada
  • Montréal
    • Montréal–Dorval International Airport
    • Montréal–Mirabel International Airport
  • Toronto – Toronto Pearson International Airport
•  Italy
  • Rome – Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport
•  Malta
  • Valletta – Malta International Airport
•  Morocco
  • Casablanca – Mohammed V International Airport
•  Pakistan
  • Karachi – Jinnah International Airport
•  Portugal
  • Faro – Faro Airport
  • Lisbon – Humberto Delgado Airport
  • Porto – Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport
•  Saint Lucia
  • Castries – Hewanorra International Airport
•  Sint Maarten
  • Princess Juliana International Airport
•  Spain
  • Alicante – Alicante–Elche Miguel Hernández Airport
  • Malaga – Malaga Airport
•  Sri Lanka
  • Colombo – Bandaranaike International Airport
•  Thailand
  • Bangkok – Don Mueang International Airport
•  Tunisia
  • Djerba – Djerba–Zarzis International Airport
  • Tunis – Tunis–Carthage International Airport
•  United Kingdom
  • London – Heathrow Airport

Fleet

Air Liberté operated the following aircraft during operations:^{[citation needed]}

Image	Aircraft	Total	Notes
	Airbus A300-600R	2
	Airbus A310-200	2
	Airbus A310-300	1	Owned by ILFC; later crashed operating Yemenia Flight 626
	ATR 42-300	7
	ATR 72-202	3
	Boeing 737-200	3
	Fokker 100	12
	McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30	5
	McDonnell Douglas MD-82	5
	McDonnell Douglas MD-83	13
Total		53

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.^[9]