predecessors. These were progressively
repainted in UTA’s new colour scheme,
combining the UAT blue with the TAI green.
UAT’s association with Air Afrique was
inherited as well and it continued providing
commercial and technical assistance. UTA
was also an indirect shareholder in Air
Afrique through its stake in Société pour le
Dévelopement du Transport Aérien en Afrique
(SODETRAF).
Most ights to African destinations,
previously operated by UAT, continued to
be served by UTA in a joint revenue sharing
agreement with Air Afrique. The airline also
kept the previous TAI-relations with Air Ceylon
and continued to provide technical assistance
to the latter.
In 1963, UTA introduced Douglas DC-8
jets on its ights from Paris to Lagos (Nigeria),
Accra (now Ghana), Monrovia (Liberia) and
Freetown (Sierra Leone). This was a DC-
8-30 of which four in total were operated by
the carrier. It also ew 11 DC-8-50s and nine
DC-8-60/70s. The airline retired its last DC-8
in 1986.
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.
The two carriers even co-ordinated
schedules at Los Angeles airport to enable
passengers to connect between Air France’s
transatlantic and UTA’s transpaci c ights.
UTA had no short/medium-haul scheduled
network and relied on Air France for all feeder
services.CHARTERS
In 1966, UTA established a subsidiary,
Compagnie Aéromaritime d’Affrètement, to give
it a foothold in the rapidly growing passenger
and cargo charter markets. It went on to
operate Super Guppies to airlift early model
Airbus airliner sections from plants in Britain,
West Germany, the Netherlands and Spain to
the consortium’s main plant in Toulouse where
nal assembly took place.
Besides cargo, Aéromaritime also ran
passenger charter ights for different French
tour operators, including Nouvelles Frontières.
To modernise, UTA decided to join the
KSSU aircraft maintenance consortium, whose
founding members were KLM, SAS and
Swissair. This allowed a smooth introduction
of the McDonnell Douglas DC-10. The rst of
seven DC-10-30s arrived in February 1973.
The following year UTA switched its ights
from paris Le Bourget to the new Charles de
Gaulle Airport.
The French airline was also interested in
the Boeing 747. The rst exmple it received
was a 747-200 freighter in 1979, two more
of this variant were added later. Passenger
examples consisted of four 747-200s, one 747-
300, two 747-300M, a 747-400 and 747-400M,
plus a 747SP. With the 747s in the eet, UTAhoped to compete with other major airlines
around the world.
In 1987, the airline placed its initial order
for Airbus aircraft; six A340-300 long-haul
widebodies. At the same time, an option was
taken on a further six. They were intended to
replace the ageing DC-10s (the last example
was retired in 1992). In 1989, UTA also
ordered Boeing’s twin-engined 767 on behalf
of Aéromaritime.
Air France’s acquisition of UTA in 1990
resulted in Air France taking on two of
Aéromaritime’s three 767-300s (the third went
to Lauda Air), therefore making Air France a
767 operator by default.
UTA also ew smaller short-haul aircraft.
Two Caravelle jets were based in New
Caledonia in the South Paci c and were
used on scheduled ights between Nouméa
and Auckland, Sydney and Tokyo. Fokker
Friendships and Boeing 737-200s were
resident at La Tontouta Airport in French New
Caledonia for local services.
UTA estabished subsidiary Air Polynesia in
1970, which operated from Fa’a’ International
Airport in Tahiti, had a eet of three Fairchild
F-27A Friendships, one Britten-Norman
Islander, one de Havilland Canada Twin
Otter Series 200 and one Twin Otter Series- These aircraft were used on services,
connecting with UTA’s long-haul ights from
Los Angeles and Paris.
GOVERNMENT POLICY
In 1986 the French government unexpectedly
decided to relax its policy on dividing up
traffic rights between Air France, UTAhttp://www.aviation-news.co.uk 59Above: An Aéromaritime Douglas DC-6B
which was used on weekly long-haul services
from Paris to African destinations, including
Johannesburg. Wikimedia Commons/Ken
Fielding
Bottom: A UAT de Havilland DH-106 Comet.
Wikimedia Commons/Clinton Grove58-61_utaDC.mfDC.indd 59 05/01/2018 17:02