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Corsair International

IATA ICAO Call sign SS CRL CORSAIR
Founded	17 May 1981; 43 years ago (1981-05-17) (as Corse Air International)
Operating bases	Orly Airport
Frequent-flyer program	Club Corsair
Fleet size	9
Destinations	15
Parent company	Consortium of West Indian Investors
Headquarters	Rungis, France
Key people	Pascal de Izaguirre
Revenue	€470,582,300 (2018)
Website	www.flycorsair.com

Corsair International, legally Corsair S.A., previously Corsairfly and Corse Air International, is a French airline headquartered in Rungis and based at Orly Airport. It is a subsidiary of German investor Intro Aviation (53%) and TUI Group (27%). It operates scheduled long-haul services to leisure destinations in the French overseas territories, Africa and North America, as well as charter flights to other destinations.

History

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. In 1991, the airline obtained worldwide traffic rights. In 2000, the TUI Group, one of the world's leading tour-operator groups, took over Nouvelles Frontières.

In 2004, Corsair aircraft were repainted with the colours of TUI, a 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.

The airline held the record for most seats on a passenger aircraft, with 587 seats on its Boeing 747-400s, 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. 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

In May 2010 Corsairfly announced its "Takeoff 2012" modernisation plan, including a reduction of workforce by 25%, the replacement of three Boeing 747-400 aircraft by two Airbus A330-300 aircraft from TUI Group, the refurbishment of all aircraft cabins, leaving the charter flights market, and the termination of routes to Kenya, the Dominican Republic, Québec City, Moncton and Israel.

In March 2012 the airline announced it would change its name to Corsair International and unveiled a new corporate image corresponding to planned operational changes.

In 2015 Corsair's owner, German tourism company TUI Group, tried to sell the loss-making airline. After take-over negotiations with Air Caraïbes, the potential buyer walked away after advanced talks due to ongoing opposition from Corsair's staff unions regarding the proposed future developments and cost reductions. Also in 2015, TUI Group announced that all TUI companies and airlines except Corsair were to use the TUI name.

In late 2018 it was reported that the TUI Group had restarted talks to sell the loss-making airline. It was expected to be sold by the end of the year to German investment corporation Intro, which had owned several other airlines in the past. In May 2018, a Corsair shareholder announced that Corsair International would retire its three remaining Boeing 747-400s by September 2021 as part of fleet renewal and replacement plans. In March 2019, Corsair officially announced that it would lease three Airbus A330-900s to replace its three Boeing 747-400s.

In March 2019 TUI announced that it had agreed to sell 53% of Corsair to a German airline investor, Intro Aviation, for an undisclosed sum. TUI would retain 27% of the airline, while employees would hold the remaining 20%. In October 2019, Corsair ended its codeshare agreement with Air Caraïbes.

The company announced on 19 April 2020 that it would immediately retire its three Boeing 747-400s because of the COVID-19 crisis and grounding. The then mixed fleet would have been transitioned to an all-A330 fleet, expected to comprise 13 aircraft by 2023. On 17 August 2021, Corsair and Air Austral announced the formation of a joint venture between the two companies.

On 13 March 2024, Corsair received its first of four additional Airbus A330-900s as part of transitioning to a fleet composed entirely of A330-900s, thus retiring its remaining A330-300 aircraft by the end of the year.

In December 2024, the Company has become the first in France to accept cryptocurrency payments, partnering with BitPay. This initiative aims to enhance customer experience by offering innovative payment options, including Bitcoin and over 100 other cryptocurrencies.

Destinations

Corsair International operates to destinations in Africa, North America, and other French overseas territories from its base at Paris Orly Airport. As of August 2024, Corsair International flies (or has flown) to the following destinations:

Airline partnerships

Corsair International has an interlining agreement with Air Antilles. The airline also partners with easyJet through its Worldwide by easyJet program, and additionally has codeshare agreements with the SNCF, the French national railway operator.

Fleet

Current fleet

As of October 2024, Corsair International operates an all-Airbus A330 fleet composed of the following aircraft:

Former fleet

While the company started in business as an operator of short- and medium range aircraft such as the Sud Aviation Caravelle and various versions of the Boeing 737, beginning in the 1990s, it progressively shifted its operations to long-range only. As a long-range airline, Corsair has operated the following jet aircraft types:

See also

• List of airlines of France

References

1. "CORSAIR Company website consulted on 10/19/20".
2. "Historique de Corsairfly Archived 2009-08-05 at the Wayback Machine." Corsairfly. Retrieved on 2 June 2009.
3. "Nos métiers Archived 2009-08-30 at the Wayback Machine." Corsairfly. Retrieved on 23 September 2009. "CORSAIRFLY – DRH 2 avenue Charles Lindbergh 94636 RUNGIS Cedex "
4. ^ "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 2007-04-03. p. 69.
5. "Contenu de la balise "Title"". Retrieved 10 July 2015.
6. "Corsair.fr". Archived from the original on 7 October 2008. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
7. "Corsair : Etats-Unis, Québec et Israël en ligne de mire". Archived from the original on April 14, 2008.
8. "Corsairfly: plan de 380 départs volontaires sur deux ans". Archived from the original on January 24, 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
9. "Corsair.fr". Retrieved 10 July 2015.
10. "Corsair restructuring decision expected this week". Retrieved 2010-10-18.
11. "Gespräche in letzter Minute gescheitert: Tui wird Corsair doch nicht los" [Discussions failed at the last minute: TUI can't get rid of Corsair]. aeroTELEGRAPH. 8 March 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
12. "Arke Fly kicks off TUI Group rebranding exercise". ch-aviation. Retrieved 2017-03-01.
13. "Tui verkauft französische Corsair an Intro" [TUI sells French Corsair to Intro]. airliners.de. 18 October 2018.
14. "Corsair International - Book Flights and Save". www.alternativeairlines.com. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
15. Clark, Oliver (19 March 2019). "Corsair to lease A330neos and go all-Airbus under new owner Intro". Flightglobal.com. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
16. Clark, Oliver (18 March 2019). "TUI confirms sale of majority stake in Corsair to Intro". Flightglobal.com. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
17. "Partenariat aérien" [Airline partnership]. Air Caraïbes (in French). Archived from the original on 14 September 2020. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
18. Fabi, Serge (27 July 2019). "Air Caraïbes et Corsair arrêtent leur partage de codes sur les Antilles" [Air Caraïbes and Corsair end their codesharing to the Antilles] (in French). Retrieved 14 September 2020.
19. Clark, Oliver (19 March 2019). "Corsair to lease A330neos and go all-Airbus under new owner Intro".
20. Duclos, François (17 August 2021). "Un projet d'alliance entre Air Austral et Corsair" [An alliance project between Air Austral and Corsair]. Air Journal (in French).
21. ^ "AerCap Delivers First of Four New Airbus A330neo Aircraft to Corsair". AerCap (Press release). PRNewsWire. 13 March 2024. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
22. https://cryptoast.fr/corsair-devient-premiere-compagnie-francaise-adopter-cryptomonnaies/
23. "Passenger information". Corsair. Archived from the original on 28 December 2021. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
24. "Routes In Brief: Rolling Daily Updates (W/C July 25, 2022)". RoutesOnline. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
25. ^ Blancmont, Thierry (29 July 2021). "Corsair reliera Bordeaux à la Guadeloupe, Lyon et Marseille à l'île Maurice" [Corsair will connect Bordeaux to Guadeloupe, Lyon and Marseille to Mauritius]. Air-Journal (in French).
26. Ricci, Joël (10 July 2021). "Corsair renforce sa ligne Nantes / Fort de France" [Corsair strengthens its Nantes / Fort de France route]. Air-Journal (in French). Retrieved 12 January 2022.
27. "France's Corsair returns to Mali despite political standoff". Ch-Aviation. 15 April 2022.
28. Liu, Jim (2 October 2018). "Corsairfly ends Dakar service in Jan 2019". Routesonline. Informa Markets.
29. Liu, Jim (14 November 2018). "Corsair resumes Miami service from June 2019". Routesonline. Informa Markets.
30. ^ Rokou, Tatiana (8 October 2021). "Corsair services to the USA suspended indefinitely". TravelDailyNews International. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
31. "New York service changes from June 2020". Airlineroute. 16 January 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
32. Orban, André (30 September 2017). "easyJet adds four new partner airlines (Neos, Aurigny, La Compagnie, Corsair) to 'Worldwide by easyJet' distribution service". Aviation24.be. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
33. "Train + Air service". Corsair. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
34. ^ "Fleet". Corsair. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
35. https://www.airliners.net, photos of Corsair aircraft

External links

Media related to Corsair International at Wikimedia Commons

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