France's scheduled operators are heading for consolidation in a fight for slots as they prepare for the opening of the French market to foreign airlines in 1997.
Air Liberté has taken over Euralair's scheduled operations on Paris/Orly-Toulouse and Paris-Madrid, receiving three B737-200s, 100 employees and 5,000 slots at Paris/Orly in return for 10 per cent of its stock.
This boosts the carrier's slots by 25 per cent at slot constrained Orly and president Lofti Belhassine says the slots will be used for new services, such as Paris-Nice and Paris-Montpellier, as well as for the old Euralair routes.
Belhassine has also been very public over his interest in buying AOM through financing vehicle Air Invest, despite AOM's loud rebuttal.
Orly-based AOM is currently controlled by the Consortium de Réalisation which is managing the assets of Credit Lyonnais, and Belhassine says that regardless of what AOM's management says, the CDR will want to recoup its money eventually. However, he says that 'they do not have to sell when we want to buy'.
There have also been reports that Air Littoral, whose shares are controlled by Euralair, is being bought by Air Inter. Air Inter needs to develop its operations at Charles de Gaulle to feed Air France's long-haul operations once it merges with Air France's European division in 1997, and Air Littoral would provide a useful source of feed, says a Paris consultant. Another motive could be to prevent a foreign carrier from gaining a foothold. 'Air Littoral is of sufficient size that Air France Group do not want to see it become another TAT,' he says.
Sara Guild
Source: Airline Business
