Julian Moxon/PARIS
French independent airlines AOM and Air Libert, are moving closer to an accord which may see the two carriers form an alliance to compete with the Air France Group. A deal could be signed by the end of June.
The two have been competing fiercely since France opened up its domestic routes to competition on 1 January, 1995. Now they are discussing a merger, which would initially take the form of a commercial alliance, but later could see AOM being absorbed by Air Libert,, creating an airline with 40 aircraft and a workforce of 3,400. The two had combined sales of Fr6 billion ($1.2 billion) in 1995. Air France Europe, newly formed from Air Inter's operation, has around 60 aircraft, although it will shortly be enlarged with the addition of Air France's European operation.
Air Libert, president Lotfi Belhassine has been trying to purchase a stake in AOM since October 1995, but met stiff resistance from AOM's owner, nationally owned bank Credit Lyonnais.
The recent appointment of Alexandre Couvelaire, former president of Euralair, (which sold its scheduled operations to Air Libert earlier this year) to head AOM, reflects a change of attitude by the Government, which wants a strong independent arm in the French airline industry before full European air-transport liberalisation occurs in April 1997.
AOM has recently signed a route-sharing deal with another French independent, TAT, and will not comment on reports that it will have to pull out of the agreement, which enables full-fare-paying passengers flying between Paris/Orly and Marseilles to fly with either airline, irrespective of which carrier issued the ticket.
Air Libert, announced in January that it would open 23 new domestic routes this year, but so far has managed only a fraction of that because of slot constraints at Orly and the shortage of resources at Paris/Charles de Gaulle.
Source: Flight International
