U
nion de Transports Aériens (UTA)
was for a long time the largest
wholly privately owned airline in
France. It was respected all over
Europe for outstanding service. In contrast to
many other European carriers, including Air
France, UTA made pro ts year after year.
Although the company was formed in 1963,
its origins date back to before World War Two.
In 1934, the French shipping line Chargeurs
Réunis set up Aéromaritime to supplement its
operations in West Africa.
In 1949, the same Chargeurs Réunius
established Union Aéromaritime de Transports
(UAT). From then, Aéromaritime operated
under the wings of UAT and often the two
names (Aéromaritime and UAT) were used for
marketing reasons. UAT continued the African
operations until a surge of African nationalism
resulted in the creation of a new Air Afrique, as
well as other local companies.
In the 1950s, UAT operated scheduled
services from Paris to Dakar, Pointe Noire
and Saigon, using Douglas DC-4 Skymasters.
In 1951, the Dakar service was extended toAbidjan. In February 1953, Aéromaritime
started using a new de Havilland Comet 1A
on certain West African routes (two more were
later added). By 1953, these aircraft were also
used on a route to Johannesburg. Comets
would remain in the eet until 1955 when
they were replaced by Douglas DC-6s (after
problems with the Comet in service with other
airlines had resulted in crashes).
One Boeing 307 Stratoliner, F-BELX, was
leased by UAT/Aeromaritime from Aigle Azur in- Another four aircraft joined the eet the
following year (F-BELZ, F-BELY, F-BELV and
F-BELM). They were mainly used on ights in
West Africa. The Stratoliners were replaced by
more DC-6s between 1955 and 1957.
In 1959, 14 DC-6 services were leaving
Paris every week for African destinations.
In 1963, UAT with Aéromaritime still under
its wing, merged with Transports Aériens
Intercontinentaux (TAI) to form Union de
Transports Aériens (UTA). TAI had been
founded in 1946 by Paul Bernard. His airline
operated – besides ights to Africa – a series
of regular services to Asia (mainly Indochina
under French control) and the Paci c
(mostly Tahiti). However, once again, the
Aéromaritime name continued to be used on
some aircraft until the late 1960s.GOLDEN YEARS
The newly formed UTA started operations with
a capital of £2.6m and a network of routes
extending to ve continents. The heaviest
concentration was obviously on services
between Europe and west and southern
Africa. Francis Cyprien Fabre, the founder of
the original pre-war Aéromaritime, remained in
charge as UTA’s chairman.
Chargeurs Réunis still held a 62.5% stake
in UTA, which started out with a workforce
of 4,900 (including 630 crew members)
and inherited a eet of 35 aircraft from itsUTA
SUCCESS AGAINST THE ODDS
Jozef Mols traces the origins and
operations of French carrier UTA.
58 Aviation News incorporating Jets February 2018Above: The DC-10-30’s smooth introduction
to the UTA eet in the early 1970s was partly
due to the airline joining the KSSU aircraft
maintenance consortium. Manuel Negrerie
Bottom: A UAT/Aéromaritime Boeing 307
Stratoliner. San Diego Air and Space Museum58-61_utaDC.mfDC.indd 58 05/01/2018 17:02