Aircalin

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Aircalin
IATA SB	ICAO ACI	Callsign AIRCALIN
Founded		1983
Hubs		La Tontouta International Airport
Frequent flyer program		Flying Blue
Alliance		Interline agreements
Fleet size		4
Destinations		10
Parent company		Caisse d'Epargne Group
Headquarters		Nouméa, New Caledonia
Key people
Website: http://www.aircalin.com

Aircalin (Air Caledonie International) is the international airline of New Caledonia and is based at Nouméa. It operates scheduled services to 10 regional destinations, reaching as far as Japan. Its main base is La Tontouta International Airport, Nouméa. Air Caledonie is the domestic airline for New Caledonia.

Contents 1 History 2 Services 3 Fleet 4 External links 5 References

[edit] History

Aircalin was established in September 1983 and started operations on 2 December 1983 with a Nouméa to Melbourne service in partnership with Qantas using a Boeing 747. This service later became known as le Caledonian Express. A service also began to Brisbane, Port Vila, Wallis and Futuna and Nadi with a Boeing 737-200 leased from Air Nauru. In 1985 a Caravelle 10B3 was purchased and in 1987 a Twin Otter was based in Wallis for the Wallis and Futuna service. The Caravelle was removed from service in 1988 and a Boeing 737 acquired. During 1995-96 a Douglas DC-10-30 was used on Nouméa, Brisbane and Papeete services. In 1996 the new Aircalin logo was made public. A memorandum of understanding for alliance was signed with Qantas on 11 July 1996, leading to the establishment of joint services. A chartered Boeing 767 was used from 1997. In March 2000 an Airbus A310 began service on new flights to Osaka. Two Airbus A330-200 were ordered in 2001 and entered service in early 2003. In February 2004 the Airbus A320 was delivered and entered service between Nouméa and Sydney.

The airline is owned by Caisse d'Epargne Group (72%), Agence pour la Desserte aerienne de Nouvelle Caledonie (27%) and others, including staff (1%).

[edit] Services

Aircalin operates services to the following destinations (at March 2005):

• Nouméa to Auckland, Brisbane, Nadi, Osaka, Papeete, Port Vila, Sydney, Tokyo and Wallis and Futuna

[edit] Fleet

The Aircalin fleet includes the following aircraft (at August 2006) ^[1] :

• 2 Airbus A330-200
• 1 Airbus A320-200
• 1 De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter Series 300

[edit] External links

• Aircalin
• Aircalin Passenger Opinions

[edit] References

1. ^ Flight International, 3-9 October 2006