The World Airline Awards ceremony, also known as the “Oscars of the aviation sector,” has been held annually since 1999 by Skytrax, an international rating organization for the aviation industry. Travelers worldwide cast votes for the award winners in a major airline passenger satisfaction survey. More than 14 million responses from respondents representing over 100 different nationalities were collected during the online survey, which was conducted from September 2021 to August 2022. More than 300 airlines were counted in the competition’s final standings.
Top 10 French Airlines
There are the best ten airlines in France which are described briefly below.
- Air France
- Chalair Aviation
- St Barth Commuter
- Air Corsica
- Air Guyane Express
- Twin Jet
- French Bee
- La Compagnie
- Corsair International
- Pan Européenne
Air France
The national airline of France, AIRFRANCE, has its headquarters in Tremblay-en-France. It is a SkyTeam international airline alliance member and a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group. As of 2013, Air France operated scheduled passenger and cargo services to 175 locations in 78 countries (93 of which included French overseas departments and territories), serving 36 destinations in France. In 2019, Air France carried 46,803,000 passengers. Charles de Gaulle Airport is the airline’s major domestic and worldwide hub. The corporate offices of Air France, formerly in Montparnasse, are now situated on the grounds of Charles de Gaulle Airport, which is north of Paris.
On October 7, 1933, Air Orient, Air Union, Compagnie Générale Aéroposttale, Compagnie Internationale de Navigation Aérienne (CIDNA), and Société Générale de Transport Aérien merged to create Air France (SGTA). It was one of the three primary Allied scheduled airlines operating in Germany at West Berlin’s Tempelhof and Tegel airports during the Cold War, from 1950 to 1990. In 1990, it bought the operations of rival international airline UTA and regional airline Air Inter in France. Before its 2003 merger with KLM, it operated as France’s main national flag airline for seven decades.
51.4 million passengers were carried by Air France and its regional subsidiary Hop in 2018. Air France uses Airbus A320 family aircraft for short-haul flights and a mixed fleet of Airbus and Boeing widebody jets for long-haul flights. On November 20, 2009, Air France launched the A380 with service from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris to JFK Airport in New York City. Air France Hop (formerly HOP!) uses a fleet of small jet aircraft to fly most of its scheduled regional domestic and European services.
Chalair Aviation
Philippe Lebaron launched the airline in October 1986 under the name Chalair, and then in 1997, it changed its name to Chalair Aviation. Starting in 1997, in addition to commercial and cargo flights, Chalair Aviation started flying an ATR 42 between Cherbourg and Orly and a Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner between Le Mans and Eindhoven. Between 1997 and 2004, Chalair Aviation flew 3 Cessna Citation II and CJ2 aircraft, 1 Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner, and 1 ATR 42-300.
The airline offers corporate shuttle services, freight (including toxic and corrosive material), business and sanitary flights, pilot certification and training, aircraft management and engineering, flights to nearby islands, and JAR Part 145 maintenance services, in addition to its regularly scheduled services. There are currently 42 people working with the airline, and 27 are pilots.
After ceasing operations between Lyon and Cologne in July 2016, Chalair Aviation took over the Antwerp to Hamburg route from bankrupt VLM Airlines and launched its first service to Germany. As of February 2021, German startup airline Green Airlines will use Chalair Aviation as their operating carrier for domestic flights within Germany.
St Barth Commuter
An airline based in Saint-Barthélemy, in the Caribbean, is called St. Barth Commuter. In 1995, the airline was established, and its first Britten-Norman BN2A Islander served Saint Maarten. The fleet was expanded in 2005, and new routes were added to San Juan in Puerto Rico and Marigot on the French side of Saint Martin. Bruno Magras is the sole owner of the airline.
Air Corsica
The flag carrier of the French overseas territory of Corsica is Compagnie Aérienne Corse Méditerranée S.A.E.M., doing business as Air Corsica. Its headquarters are on the grounds of Ajaccio Napoleon Bonaparte Airport in Ajaccio, Corsica. It runs passenger flights between Corsica and the rest of France. With hubs at Figari-Sud Corse, Bastia – Poretta, and Calvi – Sainte-Catherine, its primary base is Ajaccio Napoleon Bonaparte Airport.
Air Corsica runs certain flights as a franchise for I.T.A. Airways and Air France. Air Corsica uses the Altéa system to outsource its passenger service system to Amadeus, which manages reservations, inventory, and pricing.
Air Guyane Express
French airline Air Guyane SP is based in Matoury, French Guiana, and has its main office on the grounds of Cayenne-Rochambeau Airport. It runs regularly scheduled regional flights. Cayenne-Rochambeau Airport serves as its primary base.
The former Air Guyane’s operations were taken over by Air Guyane Express on June 1st, 2002. Under the name, Air Antilles Express also runs flights between Fort-de-France, Pointe-à-Pitre, Saint Martin, and Sainte Lucie using 2 ATR 42 aircraft in the French Antilles.
Twin Jet
Twin Jet was established in May 2001, and its first scheduled flight was carried out in March 2002. The company runs 250 flights a week, most of which are internal within France; its sole international destinations are Milan, Italy; Stuttgart, Germany; and Zurich, Switzerland. Business aviation and charter flights add to its operations. Early in January 2017, rival French airline Hex’Air and Twin Jet combined, integrating their routes and fleets.
French Bee
Jean-Paul Dubreuil, the chairman of Groupe Dubreuil [fr], the holding and parent company of Air Carabes, and Marc Rochet, an airline executive at French Caribbean airline Air Carabes, discussed ways to grow Groupe Dubreuil’s aviation businesses in 2014. Marc Rochet has previously held executive positions at airlines such as AOM and L’Avion. One option was to purchase Corsair International from TUI Group; however, as the purchase fell through in March 2015, the decision was made to create a brand-new French airline. A new low-cost, long-haul airline located in France was going to be created, according to a concept known as “Sunline” that Groupe Dubreuil unveiled in June 2015. French Blue, the airline’s name, was revealed to the public in March 2016.
The airline was expected to begin service from Paris to Punta Cana in September 2016, travel to the islands of Réunion and Mauritius in the summer of 2017, and operate a fleet of two Airbus A330-300 and two Airbus A350-900 aircraft by March 2018 in its first two years of operation. The airline also intended to hire 400 people in the next two years.
La Compagnie
In 2013, La Compagnie was established as DreamJet. With the help of a few others, including Peter Luethi, Yann Poudoulec, Francois Ledreux, Nicolas Jurczyk, and Pierre-Hugues Schmit, it was founded and is currently operated by French airline entrepreneur Frantz Yvelin to create an all-business class airline with a true low-cost structure that offers business class fares that are significantly less expensive than those of legacy carriers. For the first four years of the airline’s existence, up until the end of 2016, Frantz Yvelin served as CEO. Frantz Yvelin was also the creator of L’Avion, which was acquired by British Airways and eventually changed its name to OpenSkies, before La Compagnie. Peter Luethi, a former COO of the Indian carrier Jet Airways, served as Yvelin’s deputy.
Corsair International
The airline was founded in 1981 and opened for business as Corse Air International on May 17, 1981. The Corsican Rossi family founded it. It was purchased by the French tour company Nouvelles Frontières in 1990, and the name was changed to Corsair. The airline acquired global transportation rights in 1991. Nouvelles Frontières was developed by the TUI Group, one of the most prominent travel operator organizations in the world, in 2000.
Pan Européenne
French charter airline Pan Européenne Air Service is based in Chambéry, France. The oldest French air-taxi company still in business, it was founded and began operations in 1977. Lyon’s Lyon-Bron Airport and Chambéry Airport serve as their primary bases. Pan-Européenne Air Service, which specializes in business charter and VIP air taxi flights, manages a fleet of 5 aircraft. At the Chambéry-Savoie Airport, the business also operates a repair facility licensed by Embraer.