Corsair International

This article is about the French airline. For the American computer company, see Corsair Components.
Corsair International
IATA ICAO Callsign
SS CRL CORSAIR
Founded 17 May 1981
(as Corse Air International)
Operating bases Orly Airport
Alliance TUI Airlines
Fleet size 7
Destinations 9 scheduled
Company slogan Corsair, ouvrons d'autres horizons
(Corsair , open new horizons)
Parent company TUI Group
Headquarters Rungis, France
Key people Pascal de Izaguirre
Website corsair.fr

Corsair International, legally Corsair S.A., is a French airline headquartered in Rungis[1][2] and based at Paris-Orly Airport.[3] It is a subsidiary of German TUI Group, part of TUI Airlines.It operates scheduled long-haul services to 9 leisure destinations[4] in the French overseas territories, Africa and North America as well as charter flights to further destinations.

History

Former Corsair Boeing 747-300 landing at Princess Juliana Airport
Boeing 747-400 wearing the former Corsairfly livery

Early years

The airline was established in 1981 and started operations on 17 May 1981 as Corse Air International. It was founded by the Corsican Rossi family; in 1990 it was acquired by Nouvelles Frontières, a French tour operator, and the name was changed to "Corsair". Worldwide traffic rights were obtained in 1991. In 2000 TUI AG, one of the world's leading tour operator groups, took over Nouvelles Frontières.

In 2004, Corsair aircraft were repainted with the colours of TUI, blue fuselage with the TUI-logo, like its sister airlines. At the end of 2005 the TUI Group, decided to rename all its affiliated airlines TUIfly. As an interim step Corsair aircraft were repainted with Corsairfly markings, although all airlines in the group were expected to have adopted the common TUIfly brand by 2008.[3]

The airline held the record for most seats on a passenger aircraft with 587 seats on its Boeing 747-400s[5] until they received a new interior which led to a new lower capacity of 533 passengers.

In 2008, the airline announced its intention to expand its medium-haul network to the Mediterranean and its long-haul network to Canada and the United States (where it regularly flew in the 1990s), including the establishment of codeshare agreements with Air Canada.[6] The first destination in this expansion was Miami in June 2010, but the rest of the plan was later abandoned due to a change in the airline's strategy.

Development since 2010

On 27 May 2010, Corsairfly announced a plan called "Takeoff 2012", aimed to modernise the airline. This plan includes a reduction of workforce by 25%, the replacement of 3 Boeing 747-400 by 2 Airbus A330-300 from TUI Group, the refurbishment of all aircraft cabins, leaving the charter flights market, and consolidation of routes (including dropping Kenya, Dominican Republic, Québec City, Moncton and Israel).[7][8] As of October 2010, the plan was pending union approval.[9]

On 22 March 2012, the airline announced it would be changing its name to Corsair International and unveiled the new corporate image inline with the planned operational changes.[10]

In 2015, Corsair's owner, German tourism company TUI Group, tried to sell the loss-making airline. There were talks with Air Caraïbes regarding this matter, however the potential buyer ended negotiations after advanced talks due to ongoing opposition from Corsair's staff unions regarding the proposed future developments and cost reductions.[11]

Destinations

Fleet

Corsair International Airbus A330-200

The Corsair International fleet consists of the following aircraft as of June 2016:[12]

Corsair International Fleet
Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers Notes
C Y Total
Airbus A330-200 2 — 26 278 304
Airbus A330-300 2 — 26 334 360
Boeing 747-400 3 — 36 497 533
Total 7 —

References

  1. ↑ "Historique de Corsairfly." Corsairfly. Retrieved on 2 June 2009.
  2. ↑ "Nos métiers." Corsairfly. Retrieved on 23 September 2009. "CORSAIRFLY - DRH 2 avenue Charles Lindbergh 94636 RUNGIS Cedex "
  3. 1 2 "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 2007-04-03. p. 69.
  4. ↑ "Contenu de la balise "Title"". Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  5. ↑ "Corsair.fr". Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  6. ↑ Corsair : Etats-Unis, Québec et Israël en ligne de mire
  7. ↑ Corsairfly: plan de 380 départs volontaires sur deux ans
  8. ↑ "Corsair.fr". Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  9. ↑ "Corsair restructuring decision expected this week". Retrieved 2010-10-18.
  10. ↑ Corsair unveil new image
  11. ↑ "Gespräche in letzter Minute gescheitert: Tui wird Corsair doch nicht los - aeroTELEGRAPH". aeroTELEGRAPH. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  12. ↑ "Corsair International". ch-aviation.com. Retrieved 30 September 2015.

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