Air Austral

Reunion airport

Air Austral is a French airline based in Saint- Denis, Réunion and hub on the local Aéroport de la Reunion Roland Garros.

History

The company was founded in 1974 under the original name Réunion Air Service by Gérard Ethève in Saint Denis. After a name change in 1987 in Réunion Air, the airline finally in 1990 got its present name Air Austral.

By 1990, the company introduced primarily regional flights in the Indian Ocean through, but since then continuously expanded the offer. Since 2003, Air Austral offers long-haul flights from Reunion to Paris. In 2005 the distance of Réunion via Marseilles was taken to Lyon.

Air Austral was the first airline in the world that in 2009 the Airbus A380 ordered in a single-class configuration with 840 seats. Currently, the Company monitors to change the order in a multi- class configuration or completely unsubscribe from the machines. The second planned Boeing 777- 200LR was also not accepted, they instead went in the winter of 2012 Iraqi Airways.

Owner of Air Austral currently Sematra to 46.59 %, French financial companies together with 14.44 %, 19.42 % private companies, employees of the airline to 12.80% as well as individuals to 6.75 %.

Destinations

From Réunion and Mayotte partly also from Air Austral operates several regional destinations in Madagascar, Mauritius, South Africa and the Seychelles, as well as various targets in France in continental Europe. The Overseas Territory is a popular destination of French tourists. Moreover, Bangkok, Sydney and Noumea are served.

In addition, there codeshare agreement with Lufthansa, Thai Airways and Virgin Australia.

Fleet

As of July 2013, the fleet of Air Austral consists of 9 planes with an average age of 4.5 years:

The Boeing 777- 200LR will enable Air Austral to offer direct flights from Mayotte to France in continental Europe without switching to Réunion. Because of only 1929 m long runway Mayotte this detour was previously necessary, but the more powerful engines of the - 200LR over the -200ER ( 489 kN compared to 401 kN thrust) allow a fully loaded start to the direct flight on the short track.