Air Alsace
French regional airline (1962–1981)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Société Air Alsace S.A. was a regional airline with headquarters at Colmar-Houssen Aerodrome, close to Colmar city, France.[2]
| |
Commenced operations | 1962 |
|---|---|
Ceased operations | 1981 |
Operating bases | Colmar-Houssen Aerodrome |
| Headquarters | Colmar, France |
| Key people | Jean Risser (CEO) |
| Employees | 220 (1982) [1] |
History
Air Alsace was established in August 1962 and began air taxi operations from Colmar-Houssen Aerodrome airport later on in that same year using two Piper Navajo light aircraft. From June 1974 it began to operate passenger scheduled routes. In March 1975 it took over small air carrier Air Vosges and its fleet of Cessna 401 and Cessna 402 twin engine prop aircraft.[citation needed]
The growth in traffic and destinations required the adoption of larger and longer-range aircraft such as the Nord 262 and the Fokker F.27 Friendship twin turboprops. The next step was the adoption of jetliners, starting from the small Aérospatiale Corvette to the more capacious VFW-Fokker 614 in April 1976 and the even the larger Fokker F.28 Fellowship.[3]
The growth of the airline attracted the attention of Air France on whose behalf services to Amsterdam, Brussels, Cologne, Rome and Strasbourg were started. Flights to London Gatwick and Milan were later added. However, the financial results were not positive and the airline decided to rely on a more solid partner - TAT - Touraine Air Transport - which acquired the majority shareholding at the beginning of 1981.[4] Despite this, Air Alsace ceased operations during the following year.
