Proteus Airlines has completed its purchase of Flandre Air, creating one of France's largest independent airlines.
The deal, revealed last October, makes Saint Etienne-based Proteus the 100% owner of family-owned Flandre Air, which has its headquarters at Lille, northern France.
Twenty-three-year-old Flandre Air operates nine Embraer EMB-120 Brasilias and nine Beech 1900s. It has firm orders for 10 Embraer RJ-135 regional jets, with options for 12 more, convertible to the ERJ-145.
Founded in 1986, Proteus Airlines operates 10 Beech 1900Ds, five Fairchild Dornier 328 turboprops and a Fokker 100. Last year the airline abandoned plans to be a launch customer for the 328JET and 728JET and switched to Embraer.
It has five ERJ-135s and eight ERJ-145s on order, as well as five 70-seat ERJ-170s. Proteus is linked to Air France by a global franchise agreement and carried 198,000 passengers in 1999. Its turnover has quadrupled in the last four years.
Meanwhile, the airline's Proteus Hélicoptères subsidiary, which operates 10 helicopters, is seeking to become the French-designated carrier on the lucrative Nice-Monaco route.
Source: Flight International
