- AOM French Airlines
Infobox_Airline
airline=AOM French Airlines
logo=aom logo.gif
logo_size=120IATA=IW
ICAO=AOM
callsign=French Lines
founded=1988
key_people=Marc Rochet
hubs=Orly Airport
frequent_flyer=Qualiflyer
fleet_size=34
destinations=24
headquarters=Orly Airport
website=AOM French Airlines (previously Air Outre-Mer) was the second largest airline in France from 1990 to 2003.
History
Air Outre Mer (AOM) was founded in 1988 on the island of
Réunion , and commenced scheduled passenger service in 1990 with aMcDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 and a Dornier Do 228. In October 1991 Air Outre Mer merged with "Minerve", a French airline which was based atOrly and had operated since 1975. The two companies began operating under the name "AOM French Airlines", although the administrative name was "AOM-Minerve S.A.". "Minerve" was the first airline to compete directly withAir Inter on the french domestic airline market by opening aParis (Orly) -Nice route in may of 1990. In February 1999Swissair acquired a 49% stake in the airline as a part of its "hunter strategy". For most of the decade, the airline fiercely competed withAir France on both the French domestic market and on the air routes to the French overseas territories. Due to inappropriate fleet management and overcapacity, the airline quickly accumulated huge debts and consequently ceased operating in 2001 (possibly as a result of the bursting of thedot-com bubble and theearly 2000s recession which followed). The airline's final bankruptcy was approved after several months of strikes and AOM's disappearance was followed by several other French airlines such asAeris ,Air Littoral andEuralair in the next several years, leavingAir France andCorsairfly as the only two remaining major airlines in France as of today.Destinations
France *
Marseille (Marseille Provence Airport )
*Nice (Côte d'Azur International Airport )
*Paris (Paris Orly Airport )
*Perpignan (Llabanère Airport )
*Toulon (Toulon Airport)French overseas departments and territories *
French Guiana
**Cayenne (Cayenne-Rochambeau Airport )
*Guadeloupe
**Pointe-à-Pitre (Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport )
**Saint Martin (Princess Juliana International Airport )
*Martinique
**Fort-de-France (Le Lamentin Airport )
*New Caledonia
**Nouméa (La Tontouta International Airport )
*Réunion
** Saint-Denis (Roland Garros Airport )
*Tahiti
**Papeete (Faa'a International Airport )International routes
*
Australia
**Sydney (Sydney Airport )
*Bahamas
** Nassau (Lynden Pindling International Airport )
*Cuba
**Havana (José Martí International Airport )
**Varadero (Juan Gualberto Gómez Airport )
*Dominican Republic
**Punta Cana (Punta Cana International Airport )
*Ecuador
**Quito (Mariscal Sucre International Airport )
*Japan
**Tokyo (Narita International Airport )
*Libya
**Tripoli (Tripoli International Airport )
*Maldives
**Malé (Malé International Airport )
*Sri Lanka
**Colombo (Bandaranaike International Airport )
*Switzerland
**Zurich (Zurich Airport )
*Thailand
**Bangkok (Bangkok International Airport )
*USA
**Los Angeles (Los Angeles International Airport )
*Vietnam
**Ho Chi Minh City (Tan Son Nhat International Airport )Fleet
The AOM French Airlines fleet has included:
*15 McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30
*12McDonnell Douglas MD-83 [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D01E6DA163BF933A2575AC0A962958260]
*2 Airbus A340-200
*2 Airbus A340-300
*2 Boeing 737-500External links
* [http://aviation-safety.net/database/operator/airline.php?var=4465 Air Outre-Mer] at the
Aviation Safety Network Database
* [http://www.aviationexplorer.com/defunct_airlines_worldwide.htm Defunct airlines] at http://www.aviationexplorer.com
* [http://www.rati.com/ALLANDING_366.htm AOM French Airlines] at http://www.rati.com
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