- L'Avion
Infobox Airline
airline = L'Avion
logo_size = 175
fleet_size = 2
destinations = 2
IATA = A0
ICAO = AVI
callsign = ELYSAIR
Parent = Elysair SAS
founded = 2006
headquarters = Wissous, France
key_people =Marc Rochet (CEO ),Frantz Yvelin (Founder , Director of Strategy and Development)
hubs =Paris Orly Airport
focus_cities =Paris , Newark
parent=British Airways
frequent_flyer =
lounge =
alliance =
website = http://www.lavion.com/L'Avion is an
airline based inParis ,France . It operates business class only long-haul services between Orly Airport, Paris andNewark Liberty International Airport in the USA.cite news | title= Directory: World Airlines | work=Flight International | page= 105 | date= 2007-04-03] The airline is now owned byBritish Airways and through the next year will be merged with its subsidiaryOpenSkies .History
Founded by young French entrepreneur Frantz Yvelin and run by CEO Marc Rochet, L'Avion is a marketing name for Elysair. It has been created as Elysair but changed to use the marketing name in late autumn 2006 after market research showed the new name tested well in the US and in France. L'Avion kept Elysair as its call sign and corporate name. The first flight was on
January 3 ,2007 from Paris to Newark. Similar to the concept that was used bySilverjet , L'Avion offers premium-only service on TransAtlantic routes. It uses two Boeing 757-200 aircraft, modified by Lufthansa Technik, Gamco and H4 Aerospace, with only 90 seats in a 2x2 configuration. The seating and service level is considered to be Business class. It offers laptop power at every seat, French food and wine, and seats that recline by 140 degrees. [ [http://us.lavion.com/index.php/the_company/our_commitments/comfort_and_quality Comfort and quality / Our commitments / The company - L'Avion] ] L'Avion features digEplayer XT individual units with a 20" high-definition screen.Fares are generally much lower than that of
Air France and major airlines that fly from the United States to Paris.Fact|date=June 2008 US carriers have previously operated to Orly but were forced to move toCharles de Gaulle International Airport by the French government. Now, withOpen Skies , a bilateral agreement between the Unites States and the European Union,Delta Airlines is able to serve Paris-Orly as well.The airline has plans to expand to the
Middle East . [ [http://www.ameinfo.com/110575.html AMEInfo] ]L'Avion is wholly owned by Société de Participation Aérienne (SPA) and has 55 employees (at March 2007).
On
2 July 2008 British Airways announced that it had agreed to buy L'Avion for £54 million. The deal is expected to be completed during July 2008 and will result in full integration of L'Avion withOpenSkies . [ [http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jLYcFv5ruWSGX2PHvSFPFcy7WZjg BA buys French airline for £54m] ]Fleet
*2 Boeing 757-200
See also
*
Eos Airlines
*MAXjet Airways
*Silverjet
*XL Airways References
External links
* [http://www.lavion.com/ L'Avion]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.