Julian Moxon/PARIS
French independent carrier Air Liberté has completed the absorption of TAT and has launched a strategy aimed at consolidating its place as France's second largest domestic airline.
Fifteen months after Air Liberté was rescued from bankruptcy by British Airways (which owns 70% of the airline), its president, Marc Rochet, says: "We will reach financial equilibrium within two years." Its fleet will also be rationalised, Rochet revealing that part of the forthcoming British Airways order for medium range aircraft (either Boeing Next Generation 737s or Airbus A320 family aircraft) will be destined for the French airline. "We'll need them to replace our Boeing MD-83s and Fokker 100s", he says.
The 40 aircraft in Air Liberté's fleet consist of nine types, adding to the cost burden that Rochet insists must be reduced further if the airline is to become profitable. In the long term, the fleet will be reduced to just three types, beginning with the return to Euralair of three leased Boeing 737-200s at the end of this month and two more ex-TAT aircraft at the end of the year. Its six Fokker F28s will also be progressively withdrawn, leaving the fleet in 2002/3 comprising three DC-10-30s, up to 30 of the new medium range aircraft and up to eight ATR 42/72s.
Rochet is pursuing a 27% cost reduction plan which he says will be completed by the start of the summer season. Flights to Canada, Africa and Asia will cease, and there will be a concentration on domestic and French overseas territories.
Source: Flight International
