French carriers are lining up to follow the lead taken by startups Virgin Express and EasyJet, with the first no-frills operator due to enter the market by the end of March 1998.
A former EuroBelgian Airlines commercial director, Bernard Brejoux, is working on plans to launch a low-cost operation, Continent Air Paris, targeting international leisure traffic to southern Europe from a base at Beauvais, 60km from Paris. Meanwhile established French players like Air Liberté and Brit Air are studying proposals for independent domestic low-cost operations.
Continent Air Paris, launched in 1995 as an ATR42 cargo operation, has leased a Boeing 737-200 to launch daily services from Beauvais to Lisbon, Porto and Milan next April.
The carrier has received its operating licence but its owners still need to find FFr10 million (US$1.8 million) in extra startup capital. 'Beauvais can be sold on the same basis as Brussels,' says Brejoux, CAP's commercial director.
Brejoux says the carrier has avoided domestic routes because of rival low-cost plans by established scheduled players, 'There are a lot of regional airlines investigating the domestic low-cost market,' he says.
CAPpresident Eric Chambert says the switch to passenger services was inspired by Ryanair's launch of a daily Dublin-Beauvais service earlier this year. Chambert is seeking to boost CAP's existing FFr4 million capital by FFr10 million by the end of 1997 and wants to raise another FFr50 million via a small companies stock market listing in Paris by the end of 1998. CAP's business plan envisages increased services to destinations in Spain and Italy.
Doug Cameron
Source: Airline Business
