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Air Liberté
Founded	July 1987
Commenced operations	April 1988
Ceased operations	17 February 2003
Hubs	Orly Airport
Frequent-flyer program	Executive Club (1997–2000); Qualiflyer (2000–2001);
Alliance	Oneworld (affiliate; 1999–2000)
Parent company	British Airways (70%) (1997–2000)
Headquarters	Air Liberté: Rungis, France; Air Lib: Building 363, Orly Airport, Paray-Vieille-Poste;
Key people	Eric Schulz (CEO); Jean-Charles Corbet (former CEO of Air Lib);

Air Liberté (later known as Air Lib) was a French airline founded in July 1987. It was headquartered in Rungis.^[1] Air Lib was headquartered in Orly Airport Building 363 in Paray-Vieille-Poste.^[2]^[3]

History

Air Liberté began operations in April 1988 with a leased MD-83. It mainly operated to destinations in European and Mediterranean holiday resorts, however it had some intercontinental routes. In 1991, Air Liberte published a joint timetable with French air carrier Minerve which was operating flights to San Francisco and Papeete, Tahiti as well as to Pointe-à-Pitre and Fort-de-France in the Caribbean at the time.^[4] A route to Montreal was inaugurated in 1992,^[5] and Réunion and the Caribbean were also served by the airline. Unsuccessful routes included one from Toulouse to Dakar and London, which were scrapped in a conflict over slot allocations at Orly Airport. 1996 saw a new route to Nice, and in May the route network of Euralair was taken on. Around 1996, the airline had a fleet of 5 Boeing 737-200 airplanes, 8 McDonnell Douglas MD-83 planes and 5 McDonnell Douglas DC-10 planes.

1996 also brought with it financial distress. The airline lost 1 billion francs ($181 million) that year, and in 1997 British Airways acquired 70% of the shareholding. At this time, British Airways brought Air Liberté together with TAT and inaugurated them under one management. Nouvelair was born out of Air Liberté's subsidiary in Tunisia, Air Liberté Tunisie.^{[citation needed]} On 5 May 2000, BA sold Air Liberté to a partnership between Taitbout Antibes and Swissair.

On 25 March 2001 AOM French Airlines merged with Air Liberté, the airline retaining the name "Air Liberté".^[6] On 22 September 2001 the airline was renamed Air Lib^[7] But in October, Swissair went bankrupt, unable to make all scheduled payments. The French Government then granted a loan of €30.5 million to the company.

Despite government aid, the airline accumulated debts of €120 million and was forced to declare bankruptcy in August 2002. The government then ordered the implementation of a new restructuring plan before the end of the year. Several projects were considered without result, and the company was liquidated on 17 February 2003. As a result, no other competing international-level full-service French airline had appeared, leaving only Air France (now controlled by Air France–KLM) as a de facto monopoly until French Bee was founded in 2016.

Destinations

France

Agen – Agen La Garenne Airport
Annecy – Annecy – Haute-Savoie – Mont Blanc Airport
Aurillac – Aurillac – Tronquières Airport
Bergerac – Bergerac Dordogne Périgord Airport
Bordeaux – Bordeaux–Mérignac Airport
Brive-la-Gaillarde – Brive–La Roche Airport
Carcassonne – Carcassonne Airport
Cherbourg-Octeville – Cherbourg – Maupertus Airport
Épinal – Épinal – Mirecourt Airport
Figari – Figari–Sud Corse Airport
Lannion – Lannion – Côte de Granit Airport
La Rochelle – La Rochelle – Île de Ré Airport
Metz/Nancy – Metz–Nancy–Lorraine Airport
Montpellier – Montpellier–Méditerranée Airport
Nice – Nice Côte d'Azur Airport
Paris – Orly Airport (hub)
Perpignan – Perpignan–Rivesaltes Airport
Roanne – Roanne-Renaison Airport
Rodez – Rodez–Aveyron Airport
Strasbourg – Strasbourg Airport
Toulon – Toulon–Hyères Airport
Toulouse – Toulouse–Blagnac Airport

French overseas departments and territories

International routes

Canada
- Montréal
  - Montréal–Dorval International Airport
  - Montréal–Mirabel International Airport
- Toronto – Toronto Pearson International Airport
Italy
- Rome – Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport
Malta
- Valletta – Malta International Airport
Morocco
- Casablanca – Mohammed V International Airport
Pakistan
- Karachi – Jinnah International Airport
Portugal
- Faro – Faro Airport
- Lisbon – Humberto Delgado Airport
- Porto – Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport
Saint Lucia
- Castries – Hewanorra International Airport
Sint Maarten
- Princess Juliana International Airport
Spain
- Alicante – Alicante–Elche Miguel Hernández Airport
- Malaga – Malaga Airport
Sri Lanka
- Colombo – Bandaranaike International Airport
Thailand
- Bangkok – Don Mueang International Airport
Tunisia
- Djerba – Djerba–Zarzis International Airport
- Tunis – Tunis–Carthage International Airport
United Kingdom
- London – Heathrow Airport

Fleet

Air Liberté operated the following aircraft during operations:^[8]

Image	Aircraft	Total	Notes
	Airbus A300-600R	2
	Airbus A310-200	2
	Airbus A310-300	1	Owned by ILFC; later crashed operating Yemenia Flight 626
	ATR 42-300	7
	ATR 72-202	3
	Boeing 737-200	3
	Fokker 100	12
	McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30	5
	McDonnell Douglas MD-82	5
	McDonnell Douglas MD-83	13
Total	53

References

^ World Airline Directory. Flight International. 26 March-1 April 1997. "44.
^ "World Airline Directory." Flight International. 12–18 March 2002. 57.
^ "Résultat de votre recherche." Le Journal officiel électronique authentifié. Retrieved on 15 May 2010. "Siège social : compagnie Air Lib, bâtiment 363, zone centrale à l’aéroport d’Orly, 91550 Paray-Vieille-Poste."
^ http://www.timetableimages.com, June 1, 1991 Air Liberte/Minerve combined timetable
^ "OAG Desktop Flight Guide: Worldwide Edition". Official Airline Guides. August 1992. p. 842.
^ "Home." AOM French Airlines. 6 May 2001. Retrieved on 15 May 2010. "Le 25 Mars 2001 AOM change de nom et devient Air Liberté."
^ "Découvrir Air Liberté." Air Liberté. 23 February 2002. Retrieved on 15 May 2010. "Le 22 Septembre 2001, AOM et AIR LIBERTE ont donné naissance à une nouvelle compagnie aérienne qui porte désormais le nom AIR LIB."
^ Air Liberté past fleet

Hengi, BI. Airlines Worldwide. Leicester: Midland Publishing, 1997.
Donald, David. The Encyclopedia of Civil Aircraft Etobicoke: Prospero Books, 1999.