and domestic/regional carrier Air Inter. The
rules, in place since 1963, had prevented the
three main scheduled carriers from operating
outside their assigned spheres of influence.
UTA started competing with Air France and
launched scheduled flights to destinations that
had been Air France ‘territory’.
It began with the US west coast, making
UTA the first French airline to offer direct flights
between Paris and San Francisco. Air France
immediately responded by extending some
of its non-stop Paris to Los Angeles services
to Papeete in Tahiti, thus competing with the
UTA.
UTA didn’t just experience competition
from Air France. The wind of change that
had been blowing through the offices of the
French government, also authorised charter
airlines to offer direct Paris to Tahiti services.
Privately owned Minerve
had previously transported
clients by road to Brussels
and flown them from
the Belgian capital to
Reunion, Guadeloupe,
Martinique, Canada, India
and the USA, in order
to circumvent French
restrictions. The airline
was now able to acquire a330-seat DC-10 to run services from Paris to
Papeete, breaking UTA’s monopoly.
Soon after the introduction of this service,
the carrier upped the ante with René Fernand
Meyer (chairman of Minerve) deciding to
operate direct flights from Paris to the French
islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, halving
Air France’s fares.LIBERALISARTION
UTA attempted to overcome its lack of a
European feeder network by increasing its
stake in Air Inter, sparking another battle
with Air France, which also had a substantial
shareholding in Air Inter.
UTA managed to double its shareholding
in the domestic carrier to 28% and indicated it
was willing to raise this to 37%. In response,
Air France confirmed plans to increase itsown investment from 24% to 36% by buying
additional shares from the French National
Railroads, which was also a big shareholder in
Air Inter.
Pierre Eelsen, the Chairman of Air Inter,
clearly favoured Air France, convinced it was a
natural partner, especially since the domestic
airline was planning to expand its network
to the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and
Spain.
Air Inter, the largest domestic airline
in Europe, was bracing itself to meet the
challenges of the liberalisation of air transport
in the European Community.
During this period of turmoil, UTA
considered launching a short-haul European
feeder network operated by its subsidiary,
however it failed to get off the ground because
of an industrial dispute involving most of the
pilots at Aéromaritime.
The carrier wanted
to introduce lower pay-
scales to prepare for
the competition it was
likely to face due to the
emerging European
low-cost airlines. Both
carriers were grounded
from late 1988 until
October 1989.60 Aviation News incorporating Jets February 2018Above: The Douglas DC-8 was a mainstay of fledgling UTA’s services from Paris to West Africa. The UTA start-up more or less coincided with a new
marketing approach from Air France and the French government, which established exclusive spheres of interest, eliminating competition between
the two major airlines. Bob O’Brien Collection
Bottom: Aéromaritime Boeing 737-33A at Manchester Airport. This aircraft was originally ordered through Ansett Worldwide Leasing by British Midland
but sub-leased to Aéromaritime in 1988. The lease was eventually taken over by Aéromaritime in June 1988. Wikimedia Commons/Aero IcarusTwo UTA Caravelle jets were based in New Caledonia in the South
Pacific and used on scheduled flights between Nouméa and
Auckland, Sydney and Tokyo. Thijs Postma Collection58-61_utaDC.mfDC.indd 60 05/01/2018 17:02