Chalair Aviation

Chalair Aviation is a French regional airline with its head office and base on the grounds of Caen – Carpiquet Airport in Carpiquet.^[2] It operates scheduled regional services as well as charter flights for various occasions.

Chalair Aviation

IATA ICAO Call sign CE CLG[1] CHALLAIR
Founded	1986
Hubs	Caen - Carpiquet Airport
Focus cities	Bordeaux–Mérignac Airport
Frequent-flyer program	Flying Blue
Fleet size	8
Destinations	17
Headquarters	Carpiquet, France
Key people	Alain Battisti
Website	chalair.eu

History

The airline was founded in October 1986 as Chalair by Philippe Lebaron and renamed to Chalair Aviation in 1997.^[3][4] Starting 1997, besides business and freight flights, Chalair Aviation began operating a Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner for scheduled flights between Le Mans and Eindhoven and an ATR 42 between Cherbourg and Orly. Between 1997 and 2004, Chalair Aviation operated 1 Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner, 1 ATR 42-300^[5] and 3 Cessna Citation II and CJ2 jets.

The airline provides scheduled services as well as corporate shuttle services, freight (including toxic and corrosive material), business and sanitary flights, pilot certification and training, aircraft management and engineering and neighboring islands and JAR Part 145 maintenance services.^[6] The airline now employs a total 42 persons, among them 27 are pilots.

In July 2016, Chalair Aviation took over the Antwerp to Hamburg route from bankrupt VLM Airlines, inaugurating its first service to Germany after stopping flights between Lyon and Cologne.^[7]

German startup airline brand Green Airlines selected Chalair Aviation as their operating carrier for German domestic services from February 2021.^[8][9]

Destinations

Former Chalair Aviation ATR 42-300

Chalair Aviation Beechcraft 1900D

Chalair Aviation operates to the following destinations under their own brand as of July 2019:

France

• Agen – Agen La Garenne Airport Terminated
• Ajaccio – Ajaccio Napoleon Bonaparte Airport (Summer Seasonal)
• Aurillac – Aurillac – Tronquières Airport^[10]
• Bastia – Bastia – Poretta Airport (Summer Seasonal)
• Bordeaux – Bordeaux–Mérignac Airport base
• Brest – Brest Bretagne Airport
• Carpiquet - Caen - Carpiquet Airport base
• Castres - Castres–Mazamet Airport^[11]
• Limoges – Limoges – Bellegarde Airport
• Lyon – Lyon–Saint Exupéry Airport
• Montpellier – Montpellier–Méditerranée Airport
• Nantes – Nantes Atlantique Airport
• Paris – Orly Airport
• Pau – Pau Airport
• Quimper - Quimper–Cornouaille Airport
• Rennes – Rennes–Saint-Jacques Airport

United Kingdom

• Southampton - Southampton Airport (Summer Seasonal)

Ireland

• Kerry - Kerry Airport (Summer Seasonal)^[12]

Belgium

• Brussels - Brussels Airport (Summer Seasonal)

Airline partnerships

Chalair Aviation currently has a codeshare partnership with Air Caraibes^[13]

Fleet

As of July 2025, the Chalair Aviation consists of the following aircraft:^{[citation needed]}

Aircraft	In service	Orders	Passengers	Notes
ATR 42-500	3	—	48	1 parked
ATR 72-500	2	—	70	F-HAPL
BEECH 1900D	3	—	19	1 parked
Total	8	—