Union de Transports Aériens
Encyclopedia
Union de Transports Aériens (UTA) was the largest wholly privately owned, independentindependent from government-owned corporation
s airline in France
. It was also the second-largest international, as well as the second principal intercontinental, French
airlineafter Air France
and a full member of the International Air Transport Association
(IATA) since its inception.
UTA was formed in 1963 as a result of a merger between Union Aéromaritime de Transport
(UAT) and Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux
(TAI). The airline was a subsidiary of Compagnie Maritime des Chargeurs Réunis
, the French shipping line
founded and controlled by the Fabre family. During the post-World War II
era, Francis Cyprien Fabre was the President
of Chargeurs Réunis. Francis Fabre was also the founder of the original pre-war
Aéromaritime and UTA's chairman from 1969 until 1981. Chargeurs Réunis held a 62.5% stake in UTA.
UTA's corporate
head office was located in the 8th arrondissement of Paris
. The company's main operating and engineering base was originally located at Paris Le Bourget Airport. In 1974, the firm moved its main operating and engineering base to the then new Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) near the northern Paris suburb of Roissy-en-France
.
In 1966, UTA established a subsidiary company named Compagnie Aéromaritime d'Affrètement to give it a foothold in the rapidly growing passenger and cargo charter markets. UTA's charter subsidiary traded as Aéromaritime. Aéromaritime operated Airbus Industrie
's Super Guppies
(outsize Boeing Stratocruiser conversions) from 1971 until 1989 to airlift early-model Airbus airliner
sections from Airbus's and third-party supplier plants in Britain
, Germany
, the Netherlands
and Spain
to the consortium's main plant in Toulouse
, where final assembly took place.
UTA also had two sister companies. These were UT Hotels (UTH) and UTA Industrial Centre, respectively. The former owned and operated 17 hotels at the destinations served by UTA's worldwide scheduled network. The latter was the airline's maintenance arm. UTA Industrial Centre was located at its sister airline's original Paris Le Bourget base, where its headquarters remained when the airline shifted its operating and engineering base to Charles de Gaulle Airport.
UTA was an indirect shareholder
in Air Afrique
, the former multinational
airline for francophone
West Africa
, as well through its shareholding in Société pour le Développement du Transport Aérien en Afrique (SODETRAF).UTA held a 75% stake in SODETRAF while Air France owned the remaining 25% UTA furthermore held a significant minority stake in Air Inter
, the leading French domestic airline as well as the largest scheduled domestic carrier in Europe
at the time. UTA moreover provided technical assistance to Air Ceylon
, Sri Lanka
's erstwhile national carrier
when that country was still known as Ceylon.
UTA was absorbed into Air France between 1990 and 1992.
(UAT)based at Paris Le Bourget with Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux
(TAI)based at Paris Orly was taken in September 1961, building on a commercial relationship between the two airlines that had begun in the early 1950s. UTA, the new company that succeeded UAT and TAI, came into being on 1 October 1963 with a capital of £
2.6mn
. At the time of its inception, UTA employed 4,900 (including 630 aircrew
) and inherited a fleet of 35 aircraft from its predecessors, comprising six jet aircraft
and 29 piston airliners. These were progressively repainted in UTA's new livery
, a combination of UAT's blue and TAI's green colour schemes. The inherited 118000 mi (189,902.1 km) network spanned five continents. Most of these were intercontinental, long-haul routes connecting France with West
and Southern Africa
. From 1 November 1963, UTA introduced DC-8
jet aircraft on its regular services from Paris to Lagos
, Accra
, Monrovia
and Freetown
. UTA's creation coincided with a new French aviation policy that established exclusive spheres of influence for UTA and Air France. As a result, Air France withdrew from UTA's sphere of influence. However, UTA continued serving the Africa
n routes it inherited from UAT in association with Air Afrique. This included UTA taking the place of UAT in the joint revenue
sharing agreement with Air Afrique. In addition, UTA continued providing commercial and technical assistance to Air Afrique on the same terms as UAT.
UTA had the largest Africa
n network of any Europe
an airline, flying to up to 25 destinations in the region. Its busiest scheduled air route was Paris—Abidjan
, served on a daily basis in both directions. UTA primarily operated long-haul, intercontinental scheduled services linking metropolitan France
with most countries in francophone West and Central Africa
, a number of countries in anglophone
West and Southern Africa (including Ghana
, Nigeria
, Liberia
, Sierra Leone
, Malawi
, Zambia
and Zimbabwe
), as well as Angola
and Mozambique
in lusophone
Southern Africa, South Africa, Libya
in North Africa
, Malta
, the Middle East
(Bahrain
and Oman
), South Asia
(Sri Lanka), Southeast Asia
(Indonesia
, Malaysia, Singapore
), New Caledonia
, Australia
, New Zealand
, Tahiti
and Los Angeles
via the Asia-Pacific
route only. In addition, the airline used to have regional traffic rights between Japan
, New Caledonia and New Zealand, between South Africa and the French Réunion
island in the Indian Ocean
, as well as between Tahiti and the US West Coast
.
Throughout most of its existence, UTA was one of only three wholly privately owned, independent airlines outside of the US
with a major, long-haul scheduled presence.British United Airways
(BUA)/British Caledonian
(BCal) and Canadian Pacific Airlines
(CP Air)/Canadian Airlines International were the other two contemporary non-US independent, long-haul scheduled carriers Unlike its British
and Canadian
independent contemporaries, for most of its existence UTA neither operated a dedicated network of short-/medium-haul scheduled routes nor did it compete on any of its scheduled routes with Air France, the primary French flag carrier
at the time. This made it an almost exclusively long-haul, intercontinental scheduled airline. It also made its scheduled route network complementary to Air France and Air Inter. (UTA and Air France used to co-ordinate their schedules at Los Angeles to enable passengers to connect between Air France's transatlantic
and UTA's transpacific services.)
In 1986, the French government unexpectedly decided to relax its policy of neatly dividing traffic rights for scheduled air services between Air France, Air Inter and UTA, without any route overlaps between them. The regulatory framework governing France's air transport sector at the time had been put in place in 1963. It had prevented the country's three main scheduled airlines from operating outside their respective spheres of influence. It had also prevented these airlines from competing with each other. The French government's decision to adopt a less rigid interpretation of its official aviation policy gradually reversed both of these rules. It therefore enabled UTA to launch scheduled services to new destinations within Air France's sphere of influence, in direct competition with that airline, for the first time in its history. Paris — San Francisco became the first route UTA served in competition with Air France non-stop from Paris. (Air France responded by extending some of its non-stop Paris — Los Angeles services to Papeete
, Tahiti, which competed with UTA on the Los Angeles — Papeete sector.) UTA's ability to secure traffic rights outside its traditional sphere of influence in competition with Air France was the result of a successful campaign it had mounted to lobby
its government to enable it to grow faster, thereby becoming a more dynamic and more profitable
business
. During that time, UTA also planned to launch a short-haul European feeder
network, which was to be operated by its Aéromaritime subsidiary. In the event, these plans were scuppered by a long-running, bitter industrial dispute between UTA's management and the union
s representing the majority of pilots at Aéromaritime as well as at UTA itself. The dispute was about the introduction of new, lower pay scales at Aéromaritime to prepare it for the competition it was likely to face at the hands of Europe's new breed of much lower cost
, aggressively expanding independent airlines, as exemplified by UK
-based Air Europe
at that time. It lasted for the better part of a year from the end of 1988 until October 1989 and resulted in the grounding of both Aéromaritime and UTA during that period. UTA's plans for a European feeder network were also overtaken by its subsequent merger with Air France.
Nineteen eighty-six was also the year UTA lost its monopoly
on the Paris—Papeete route to Minerve
, France's leading contemporary charter airline.
In 1988, French Transport Minister Michel Delebarre
partially reversed the French government's relaxed policy on allocating traffic rights to the country's three main contemporary scheduled airlines when he decided to deny UTA the right to fly non-stop from Paris to Newark
in direct competition with Air France. The aim was to protect Air France's position as the country's dominant scheduled carrier by making UTA a less attractive takeover target for its foreign rivals in the event of a merger. The French government feared that Air France's smaller size relative to British Airways
, Lufthansa
and the US giants as well as its fragmented long-haul network put it at a commercial disadvantage in a liberalise
d air transport market. Air France, Air Inter and UTA were therefore encouraged to co-operate rather than compete with each other.
On 12 January 1990, UTA, along with Air Inter and Air France itself, became part of an enlarged Air France group, which in turn became a wholly owned subsidiary of Groupe Air France
. On 18 December 1992, UTA ceased to exist as a legal entity within Groupe Air France.
Air France's acquisition of both UTA and Air Inter was part of an early 1990s French government plan to create a unified, national carrier with the economies of scale
and global reach to counter potential threats resulting from the liberalisation
of the air transport market in the European Union
(EU).
Throughout most of this time, UTA's "mainline" fleet strength stood at about ten to twelve aircraft only. The airline's small fleet size was conditioned by the nature of its operations, i.e. as a long-haul carrier serving most of its routes as multi-stop sectors at low frequencies of less than one flight per day.
Nineteen sixty-five marked the beginning of a re-engining programme that saw UTA's fleet of six DC-8 series 30 turbojets gradually converted to series 50 turbofan
standard.
In order to facilitate the smooth introduction of the DC-10
into its fleet, UTA joined the KSSUeach letter in the KSSU consortium's name represented the first letter of each of its members' names, in alphabetical order aircraft maintenance consortium
, whose founding members were KLM, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and Swissair
.
In August 1981, UTA became the second customer to order the Boeing 747
-300.after launch customer Swissair It took delivery of the first aircraft to roll off Boeing
's production line
on 2 March 1983. The airline also had two Boeing 747-200s converted to 747-200 SUDs,SUD stood for stretched upper deck thereby joining a select group of only three airlines that chose to have some of their 747-200s re-manufactured in this manner.KLM and Japan Air Lines (JAL) were the other two airlines in this group that had ten and two of their 747-200s converted to -200 SUDs, respectively
UTA placed its first-ever order for Airbus
aircraft in 1987. The order was for six four-engined Airbus A340
-300 long-haul widebodied jet
s. It included an option on a further six aircraft. The aircraft on firm order were to be delivered between 1992 and 1994, at a rate of two planes per year. It was intended that the newly ordered A340
s would replace the airline's ageing DC-10s as well as facilitate its future expansion into new long-haul markets from the early 1990s onwards.
In 1989, UTA also ordered Boeing's twin-engined 767
widebody on behalf of Aéromaritime. That order had a value of US$250mn. It was for three -300ER aircraft. Air France's acquisition of UTA in 1990 resulted in it inheriting two of Aéromaritime's three 767-300ERs,in addition to three of that carrier's subsequently acquired 767-200s thereby itself becoming a 767 operator by default.
UTA also had one Boeing 747-200 on order at this time.
The Fokker Friendships and Boeing 737
were based out of La Tontouta Airport
, New Caledonia and used on local Pacific
services.
In addition, UTA's then subsidiary company Air Polynésie, based at Faa'a International Airport
, Tahiti, had a fleet of three Fairchild F-27A Friendships, one Britten-Norman Islander
, one de Havilland Canada Twin Otter
series 200, and one de Havilland Twin Otter series 300.
(Source for the above fleet notes: UTA General Timetable 1/4/78 - 31/10/78)
UTA employed 6,569 people at this time.
On 2 October 1964, a UTA Douglas DC-6B inherited from predecessor UAT (registration F-BHMS) crashed into Mt. Alcazaba near Granada
, Andalusia
, in Southern Spain
. The doomed aircraft was operating the airline's scheduled sector from Palma de Mallorca
, Balearic Islands
, Spain
, to Port Étienne
(as Nouadhibou
was known then), Mauritania
. There were no survivors among the aircraft's 80 occupants (seven crew and 73 passengers).
On 12 July 1972, a scheduled UTA flight en route from Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
, to Paris was taken over by hijackers
. There were two fatalities as a result of this incident.
On 10 March 1984, a UTA DC-8-63PF (registration F-BOLL) flying from Brazzaville
, Republic of Congo to Paris CDG with an intermediate stop at N'Djamena
in Chad
was destroyed, following two consecutive bomb explosions on board the aircraft while it was on the ground at N'Djamena Airport. There were no fatalities since all passengers and crew managed to evacuate the aircraft before the second explosion in the central baggage compartment tore the aircraft apart.
On 16 March 1985, a UTA Boeing 747-3B3 (registration F-GDUA) was destroyed on the ground at Paris CDG when a fire was accidentally started while cleaning of the aircraft's cabin was in progress. (According to contemporary press
reports, the fire was allegedly started by a cleaner who carelessly dropped a burning cigarette in one of the toilets.) The fire rapidly spread, engulfing the entire cabin in flames. This resulted in the aircraft's total destruction, which was subsequently written off. There were no injuries as a result of this incident.
On 19 September 1989, UTA flight 772
, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 (registration N54629) operating the Brazzaville — N'Djamena — Paris CDG sector, was bombed 46 minutes after take-off from N'Djamena causing the aircraft to crash while flying over Niger
. All 156 passengers and 14 crew members on board perished. For nearly 20 years, this incident marked the deadliest air disaster involving a French-operated airliner
, in terms of loss of life. As of June 2009, it ranks as the second-deadliest (see Air France flight 447
).
Government-owned corporation
A government-owned corporation, state-owned company, state-owned entity, state enterprise, publicly owned corporation, government business enterprise, or parastatal is a legal entity created by a government to undertake commercial activities on behalf of an owner government...
s airline in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. It was also the second-largest international, as well as the second principal intercontinental, French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
airlineafter Air France
Air France
Air France , stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the French flag carrier headquartered in Tremblay-en-France, , and is one of the world's largest airlines. It is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance...
and a full member of the International Air Transport Association
International Air Transport Association
The International Air Transport Association is an international industry trade group of airlines headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where the International Civil Aviation Organization is also headquartered. The executive offices are at the Geneva Airport in SwitzerlandIATA's mission is to...
(IATA) since its inception.
UTA was formed in 1963 as a result of a merger between Union Aéromaritime de Transport
Union Aéromaritime de Transport
Union Aéromaritime de Transport was a French airline. It had its head office in the 8th arrondissement of Paris.In addition, on 26 December 1958 a DC-6 of UAT crashed in Salisbury, Rhodesia ....
(UAT) and Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux
Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux
Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux was a private French airline, based at Orly Airport, Paris. In 1963, it was merged with Union Aéromaritime de Transport to form UTA French Airlines....
(TAI). The airline was a subsidiary of Compagnie Maritime des Chargeurs Réunis
Chargeurs
Chargeurs Réunis was a major French company formed in 1872.-History:Chargeurs was a shareholder in British Satellite Broadcasting, the official UK satellite broadcaster. BSB was set up in 1986 in competition with Rupert Murdoch's Sky Television...
, the French shipping line
Shipping line
-History of shipping lines:Large-scale shipping lines became widespread in the nineteenth century, after the development of the steamship in 1783. At first, Great Britain was the centr of development; in 1819, the first steamship crossing of the Atlantic Ocean took place and by 1833, shipping lines...
founded and controlled by the Fabre family. During the post-World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
era, Francis Cyprien Fabre was the President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
of Chargeurs Réunis. Francis Fabre was also the founder of the original pre-war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Aéromaritime and UTA's chairman from 1969 until 1981. Chargeurs Réunis held a 62.5% stake in UTA.
UTA's corporate
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
head office was located in the 8th arrondissement of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. The company's main operating and engineering base was originally located at Paris Le Bourget Airport. In 1974, the firm moved its main operating and engineering base to the then new Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) near the northern Paris suburb of Roissy-en-France
Roissy-en-France
Roissy-en-France is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France, in the Val d'Oise department. It is located from the center of Paris....
.
In 1966, UTA established a subsidiary company named Compagnie Aéromaritime d'Affrètement to give it a foothold in the rapidly growing passenger and cargo charter markets. UTA's charter subsidiary traded as Aéromaritime. Aéromaritime operated Airbus Industrie
Airbus
Airbus SAS is an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace company. Based in Blagnac, France, surburb of Toulouse, and with significant activity across Europe, the company produces around half of the world's jet airliners....
's Super Guppies
Aero Spacelines Super Guppy
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography*Taylor, Michael J.H. . Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. Studio Editions. London. 1989. ISBN 0-517-69186-8-External links:* * *...
(outsize Boeing Stratocruiser conversions) from 1971 until 1989 to airlift early-model Airbus airliner
Airliner
An airliner is a large fixed-wing aircraft for transporting passengers and cargo. Such aircraft are operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an aircraft intended for carrying multiple passengers in commercial...
sections from Airbus's and third-party supplier plants in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
to the consortium's main plant in Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
, where final assembly took place.
UTA was an indirect shareholder
Shareholder
A shareholder or stockholder is an individual or institution that legally owns one or more shares of stock in a public or private corporation. Shareholders own the stock, but not the corporation itself ....
in Air Afrique
Air Afrique
Air Afrique was a Pan-African airline, that was mainly owned by many West African countries for most of its history. It was established as the official transnational carrier for francophone West and Central Africa, because many of these countries did not have the capability to create and maintain a...
, the former multinational
Multinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
airline for francophone
Francophone
The adjective francophone means French-speaking, typically as primary language, whether referring to individuals, groups, or places. Often, the word is used as a noun to describe a natively French-speaking person....
West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
, as well through its shareholding in Société pour le Développement du Transport Aérien en Afrique (SODETRAF).UTA held a 75% stake in SODETRAF while Air France owned the remaining 25% UTA furthermore held a significant minority stake in Air Inter
Air Inter
Air Inter was a semi-public French domestic airline. Before its merger with Air France, the airline was headquartered in Paray-Vieille-Poste, Essonne. Earlier in its life, it was headquartered in the 1st arrondissement of Paris.Air Inter was incorporated on 12 November 1954...
, the leading French domestic airline as well as the largest scheduled domestic carrier in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
at the time. UTA moreover provided technical assistance to Air Ceylon
Air Ceylon
Air Ceylon was the flag carrier airline of Sri Lanka from 1947 until 1978, when it was replaced by Air Lanka.- History :...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
's erstwhile national carrier
Flag carrier
A flag carrier is a transportation company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given country, enjoys preferential rights or privileges, accorded by the government, for international operations. It may be a state-run, state-owned or private but...
when that country was still known as Ceylon.
UTA was absorbed into Air France between 1990 and 1992.
History
The decision to merge Union Aéromaritime de TransportUnion Aéromaritime de Transport
Union Aéromaritime de Transport was a French airline. It had its head office in the 8th arrondissement of Paris.In addition, on 26 December 1958 a DC-6 of UAT crashed in Salisbury, Rhodesia ....
(UAT)based at Paris Le Bourget with Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux
Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux
Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux was a private French airline, based at Orly Airport, Paris. In 1963, it was merged with Union Aéromaritime de Transport to form UTA French Airlines....
(TAI)based at Paris Orly was taken in September 1961, building on a commercial relationship between the two airlines that had begun in the early 1950s. UTA, the new company that succeeded UAT and TAI, came into being on 1 October 1963 with a capital of £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
2.6mn
Million
One million or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian millione , from mille, "thousand", plus the augmentative suffix -one.In scientific notation, it is written as or just 106...
. At the time of its inception, UTA employed 4,900 (including 630 aircrew
Aircrew
Aircrew are the personnel who operate an aircraft while in flight. The composition of the crew depends on the type of aircraft as well as the purpose of the flight.-Civilian:*Aviator** Pilot-in-command** First officer** Second officer** Third officer...
) and inherited a fleet of 35 aircraft from its predecessors, comprising six jet aircraft
Jet aircraft
A jet aircraft is an aircraft propelled by jet engines. Jet aircraft generally fly much faster than propeller-powered aircraft and at higher altitudes – as high as . At these altitudes, jet engines achieve maximum efficiency over long distances. The engines in propeller-powered aircraft...
and 29 piston airliners. These were progressively repainted in UTA's new livery
Aircraft livery
Aircraft livery is a paint scheme applied to an aircraft, generally to fuselage, wings, empennage , or jet engines. Most airlines have a standard paint scheme for their aircraft fleet, usually prominently displaying the airline logo or name. From time to time special liveries are introduced, for...
, a combination of UAT's blue and TAI's green colour schemes. The inherited 118000 mi (189,902.1 km) network spanned five continents. Most of these were intercontinental, long-haul routes connecting France with West
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
and Southern Africa
Southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. Within the region are numerous territories, including the Republic of South Africa ; nowadays, the simpler term South Africa is generally reserved for the country in English.-UN...
. From 1 November 1963, UTA introduced DC-8
Douglas DC-8
The Douglas DC-8 is a four-engined narrow-body passenger commercial jet airliner, manufactured from 1958 to 1972 by the Douglas Aircraft Company...
jet aircraft on its regular services from Paris to Lagos
Lagos
Lagos is a port and the most populous conurbation in Nigeria. With a population of 7,937,932, it is currently the third most populous city in Africa after Cairo and Kinshasa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa...
, Accra
Accra
Accra is the capital and largest city of Ghana, with an urban population of 1,658,937 according to the 2000 census. Accra is also the capital of the Greater Accra Region and of the Accra Metropolitan District, with which it is coterminous...
, Monrovia
Monrovia
Monrovia is the capital city of the West African nation of Liberia. Located on the Atlantic Coast at Cape Mesurado, it lies geographically within Montserrado County, but is administered separately...
and Freetown
Freetown
Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean located in the Western Area of the country, and had a city proper population of 772,873 at the 2004 census. The city is the economic, financial, and cultural center of...
. UTA's creation coincided with a new French aviation policy that established exclusive spheres of influence for UTA and Air France. As a result, Air France withdrew from UTA's sphere of influence. However, UTA continued serving the Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n routes it inherited from UAT in association with Air Afrique. This included UTA taking the place of UAT in the joint revenue
Revenue
In business, revenue is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. In many countries, such as the United Kingdom, revenue is referred to as turnover....
sharing agreement with Air Afrique. In addition, UTA continued providing commercial and technical assistance to Air Afrique on the same terms as UAT.
UTA had the largest Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n network of any Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an airline, flying to up to 25 destinations in the region. Its busiest scheduled air route was Paris—Abidjan
Abidjan
Abidjan is the economic and former official capital of Côte d'Ivoire, while the current capital is Yamoussoukro. it was the largest city in the nation and the third-largest French-speaking city in the world, after Paris, and Kinshasa but before Montreal...
, served on a daily basis in both directions. UTA primarily operated long-haul, intercontinental scheduled services linking metropolitan France
Metropolitan France
Metropolitan France is the part of France located in Europe. It can also be described as mainland France or as the French mainland and the island of Corsica...
with most countries in francophone West and Central Africa
Central Africa
Central Africa is a core region of the African continent which includes Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda....
, a number of countries in anglophone
English-speaking world
The English-speaking world consists of those countries or regions that use the English language to one degree or another. For more information, please see:Lists:* List of countries by English-speaking population...
West and Southern Africa (including Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
, Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
, Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
, Malawi
Malawi
The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Its size...
, Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
and Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
), as well as Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
and Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
in lusophone
Lusophone
A Lusophone is someone who speaks the Portuguese language, either as a native, as an additional language, or as a learner. As an adjective, it means "Portuguese-speaking"...
Southern Africa, South Africa, Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
in North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
, Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
(Bahrain
Bahrain
' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...
and Oman
Oman
Oman , officially called the Sultanate of Oman , is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the United Arab Emirates to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the...
), South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
(Sri Lanka), Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
(Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, Malaysia, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
), New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
via the Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific or Asia Pacific is the part of the world in or near the Western Pacific Ocean...
route only. In addition, the airline used to have regional traffic rights between Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, New Caledonia and New Zealand, between South Africa and the French Réunion
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
island in the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
, as well as between Tahiti and the US West Coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
.
Throughout most of its existence, UTA was one of only three wholly privately owned, independent airlines outside of the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with a major, long-haul scheduled presence.British United Airways
British United Airways
British United Airways was a private, independentindependent from government-owned corporations British airline formed as a result of the merger of Airwork Services and Hunting-Clan Air Transport in July 1960, making it the largest wholly private airline based in the United Kingdom at the time...
(BUA)/British Caledonian
British Caledonian
British Caledonian was a private, British independentindependent from government-owned corporations airline, operating out of Gatwick Airport in the 1970s and 1980s...
(BCal) and Canadian Pacific Airlines
Canadian Pacific Airlines
Canadian Pacific Air Lines was a Canadian airline that operated from 1942 to 1987. It operated under the name CP Air from 1968 to 1986...
(CP Air)/Canadian Airlines International were the other two contemporary non-US independent, long-haul scheduled carriers Unlike its British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
independent contemporaries, for most of its existence UTA neither operated a dedicated network of short-/medium-haul scheduled routes nor did it compete on any of its scheduled routes with Air France, the primary French flag carrier
Flag carrier
A flag carrier is a transportation company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given country, enjoys preferential rights or privileges, accorded by the government, for international operations. It may be a state-run, state-owned or private but...
at the time. This made it an almost exclusively long-haul, intercontinental scheduled airline. It also made its scheduled route network complementary to Air France and Air Inter. (UTA and Air France used to co-ordinate their schedules at Los Angeles to enable passengers to connect between Air France's transatlantic
Transatlantic flight
Transatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean. A transatlantic flight may proceed east-to-west, originating in Europe or Africa and terminating in North America or South America, or it may go in the reverse direction, west-to-east...
and UTA's transpacific services.)
In 1986, the French government unexpectedly decided to relax its policy of neatly dividing traffic rights for scheduled air services between Air France, Air Inter and UTA, without any route overlaps between them. The regulatory framework governing France's air transport sector at the time had been put in place in 1963. It had prevented the country's three main scheduled airlines from operating outside their respective spheres of influence. It had also prevented these airlines from competing with each other. The French government's decision to adopt a less rigid interpretation of its official aviation policy gradually reversed both of these rules. It therefore enabled UTA to launch scheduled services to new destinations within Air France's sphere of influence, in direct competition with that airline, for the first time in its history. Paris — San Francisco became the first route UTA served in competition with Air France non-stop from Paris. (Air France responded by extending some of its non-stop Paris — Los Angeles services to Papeete
Papeete
-Sights:* Interactive Google map of Papeete, to discover the 30 major tourist attractions in Papeete downtown.*The waterfront esplanade*Bougainville Park -Sights:* Interactive Google map of Papeete, to discover the 30 major tourist attractions in Papeete downtown.*The waterfront...
, Tahiti, which competed with UTA on the Los Angeles — Papeete sector.) UTA's ability to secure traffic rights outside its traditional sphere of influence in competition with Air France was the result of a successful campaign it had mounted to lobby
Lobbying
Lobbying is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in the government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying is done by various people or groups, from private-sector individuals or corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or...
its government to enable it to grow faster, thereby becoming a more dynamic and more profitable
Profit (economics)
In economics, the term profit has two related but distinct meanings. Normal profit represents the total opportunity costs of a venture to an entrepreneur or investor, whilst economic profit In economics, the term profit has two related but distinct meanings. Normal profit represents the total...
business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
. During that time, UTA also planned to launch a short-haul European feeder
Feeder
-Technology:* Feeder , any of several devices used in apiculture to supplement or replace natural food sources* Feeder , another name for a riser, a reservoir built into a metal casting mold to prevent cavities due to shrinkage...
network, which was to be operated by its Aéromaritime subsidiary. In the event, these plans were scuppered by a long-running, bitter industrial dispute between UTA's management and the union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
s representing the majority of pilots at Aéromaritime as well as at UTA itself. The dispute was about the introduction of new, lower pay scales at Aéromaritime to prepare it for the competition it was likely to face at the hands of Europe's new breed of much lower cost
Cost
In production, research, retail, and accounting, a cost is the value of money that has been used up to produce something, and hence is not available for use anymore. In business, the cost may be one of acquisition, in which case the amount of money expended to acquire it is counted as cost. In this...
, aggressively expanding independent airlines, as exemplified by UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-based Air Europe
Air Europe
Air Europe was a wholly privately owned, independentindependent from government-owned corporations British airline, established in 1978 under the working title Inter European Airways. It adopted the Air Europe name the following year...
at that time. It lasted for the better part of a year from the end of 1988 until October 1989 and resulted in the grounding of both Aéromaritime and UTA during that period. UTA's plans for a European feeder network were also overtaken by its subsequent merger with Air France.
Nineteen eighty-six was also the year UTA lost its monopoly
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
on the Paris—Papeete route to Minerve
Minerve (airline)
Minerve was a French airline, headquartered in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, that operated from 1975 until it merged with AOM to form AOM French Airlines in 1992.-Company history:...
, France's leading contemporary charter airline.
In 1988, French Transport Minister Michel Delebarre
Michel Delebarre
Michel Delebarre is a member of the National Assembly of France. He represents the Nord department, and is a member of the Socialiste, radical, citoyen et divers gauche. He is also mayor of Dunkirk ....
partially reversed the French government's relaxed policy on allocating traffic rights to the country's three main contemporary scheduled airlines when he decided to deny UTA the right to fly non-stop from Paris to Newark
Newark Liberty International Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport , first named Newark Metropolitan Airport and later Newark International Airport, is an international airport within the city limits of both Newark and Elizabeth, New Jersey, United States...
in direct competition with Air France. The aim was to protect Air France's position as the country's dominant scheduled carrier by making UTA a less attractive takeover target for its foreign rivals in the event of a merger. The French government feared that Air France's smaller size relative to British Airways
British Airways
British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...
, Lufthansa
Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG is the flag carrier of Germany and the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried. The name of the company is derived from Luft , and Hansa .The airline is the world's fourth-largest airline in terms of overall passengers carried, operating...
and the US giants as well as its fragmented long-haul network put it at a commercial disadvantage in a liberalise
Liberalization
In general, liberalization refers to a relaxation of previous government restrictions, usually in areas of social or economic policy. In some contexts this process or concept is often, but not always, referred to as deregulation...
d air transport market. Air France, Air Inter and UTA were therefore encouraged to co-operate rather than compete with each other.
On 12 January 1990, UTA, along with Air Inter and Air France itself, became part of an enlarged Air France group, which in turn became a wholly owned subsidiary of Groupe Air France
Air France
Air France , stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the French flag carrier headquartered in Tremblay-en-France, , and is one of the world's largest airlines. It is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance...
. On 18 December 1992, UTA ceased to exist as a legal entity within Groupe Air France.
Air France's acquisition of both UTA and Air Inter was part of an early 1990s French government plan to create a unified, national carrier with the economies of scale
Economies of scale
Economies of scale, in microeconomics, refers to the cost advantages that an enterprise obtains due to expansion. There are factors that cause a producer’s average cost per unit to fall as the scale of output is increased. "Economies of scale" is a long run concept and refers to reductions in unit...
and global reach to counter potential threats resulting from the liberalisation
Liberalization
In general, liberalization refers to a relaxation of previous government restrictions, usually in areas of social or economic policy. In some contexts this process or concept is often, but not always, referred to as deregulation...
of the air transport market in the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
(EU).
Aircraft operated
UTA and its subsidiaries operated the following aircraft types and sub-types throughout its 29-year existence:- Beech 18
- Douglas DC-4Douglas DC-4The Douglas DC-4 is a four-engined propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s in a military role...
- Douglas DC-6Douglas DC-6The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with the Lockheed Constellation in the long-range...
- Douglas DC-7Douglas DC-7The Douglas DC-7 is an American transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1953 to 1958. It was the last major piston engine powered transport made by Douglas, coming just a few years before the advent of jet aircraft such as the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8.-Design and...
- Fokker F-27
- Sud-Aviation SE-210 Caravelle 10R
- Boeing 737Boeing 737The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...
200 series - Douglas DC-8-30/50 seriesDouglas DC-8The Douglas DC-8 is a four-engined narrow-body passenger commercial jet airliner, manufactured from 1958 to 1972 by the Douglas Aircraft Company...
- Douglas DC-8-62/63 "Super Sixty" seriesDouglas DC-8The Douglas DC-8 is a four-engined narrow-body passenger commercial jet airliner, manufactured from 1958 to 1972 by the Douglas Aircraft Company...
- McDonnell Douglas DC-10McDonnell Douglas DC-10The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is a three-engine widebody jet airliner manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 has range for medium- to long-haul flights, capable of carrying a maximum 380 passengers. Its most distinguishing feature is the two turbofan engines mounted on underwing pylons and a...
30 series - Boeing 747Boeing 747The Boeing 747 is a wide-body commercial airliner and cargo transport, often referred to by its original nickname, Jumbo Jet, or Queen of the Skies. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first wide-body ever produced...
200/200F/200 SUD/300/400 "Combi" series.
Throughout most of this time, UTA's "mainline" fleet strength stood at about ten to twelve aircraft only. The airline's small fleet size was conditioned by the nature of its operations, i.e. as a long-haul carrier serving most of its routes as multi-stop sectors at low frequencies of less than one flight per day.
Nineteen sixty-five marked the beginning of a re-engining programme that saw UTA's fleet of six DC-8 series 30 turbojets gradually converted to series 50 turbofan
Turbofan
The turbofan is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used for aircraft propulsion. A turbofan combines two types of engines, the turbo portion which is a conventional gas turbine engine, and the fan, a propeller-like ducted fan...
standard.
In order to facilitate the smooth introduction of the DC-10
McDonnell Douglas DC-10
The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is a three-engine widebody jet airliner manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 has range for medium- to long-haul flights, capable of carrying a maximum 380 passengers. Its most distinguishing feature is the two turbofan engines mounted on underwing pylons and a...
into its fleet, UTA joined the KSSUeach letter in the KSSU consortium's name represented the first letter of each of its members' names, in alphabetical order aircraft maintenance consortium
Consortium
A consortium is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a common goal....
, whose founding members were KLM, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and Swissair
Swissair
Swissair AG was the former national airline of Switzerland.It was formed from a merger between Balair and Ad Astra Aero , in 1931...
.
In August 1981, UTA became the second customer to order the Boeing 747
Boeing 747
The Boeing 747 is a wide-body commercial airliner and cargo transport, often referred to by its original nickname, Jumbo Jet, or Queen of the Skies. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first wide-body ever produced...
-300.after launch customer Swissair It took delivery of the first aircraft to roll off Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
's production line
Assembly line
An assembly line is a manufacturing process in which parts are added to a product in a sequential manner using optimally planned logistics to create a finished product much faster than with handcrafting-type methods...
on 2 March 1983. The airline also had two Boeing 747-200s converted to 747-200 SUDs,SUD stood for stretched upper deck thereby joining a select group of only three airlines that chose to have some of their 747-200s re-manufactured in this manner.KLM and Japan Air Lines (JAL) were the other two airlines in this group that had ten and two of their 747-200s converted to -200 SUDs, respectively
UTA placed its first-ever order for Airbus
Airbus
Airbus SAS is an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace company. Based in Blagnac, France, surburb of Toulouse, and with significant activity across Europe, the company produces around half of the world's jet airliners....
aircraft in 1987. The order was for six four-engined Airbus A340
Airbus A340
The Airbus A340 is a long-range four-engine wide-body commercial passenger jet airliner. Developed by Airbus Industrie,A consortium of European aerospace companies, Airbus is now fully owned by EADS and since 2001 has been known as Airbus SAS. a consortium of European aerospace companies, which is...
-300 long-haul widebodied jet
Jet aircraft
A jet aircraft is an aircraft propelled by jet engines. Jet aircraft generally fly much faster than propeller-powered aircraft and at higher altitudes – as high as . At these altitudes, jet engines achieve maximum efficiency over long distances. The engines in propeller-powered aircraft...
s. It included an option on a further six aircraft. The aircraft on firm order were to be delivered between 1992 and 1994, at a rate of two planes per year. It was intended that the newly ordered A340
Airbus A340
The Airbus A340 is a long-range four-engine wide-body commercial passenger jet airliner. Developed by Airbus Industrie,A consortium of European aerospace companies, Airbus is now fully owned by EADS and since 2001 has been known as Airbus SAS. a consortium of European aerospace companies, which is...
s would replace the airline's ageing DC-10s as well as facilitate its future expansion into new long-haul markets from the early 1990s onwards.
In 1989, UTA also ordered Boeing's twin-engined 767
Boeing 767
The Boeing 767 is a mid-size, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It was the manufacturer's first wide-body twinjet and its first airliner with a two-crew glass cockpit. The aircraft features two turbofan engines, a supercritical wing, and a conventional tail...
widebody on behalf of Aéromaritime. That order had a value of US$250mn. It was for three -300ER aircraft. Air France's acquisition of UTA in 1990 resulted in it inheriting two of Aéromaritime's three 767-300ERs,in addition to three of that carrier's subsequently acquired 767-200s thereby itself becoming a 767 operator by default.
Fleet in 1970
| Aircraft | Number | Orders |
|---|---|---|
| Beech 18 | 1 | 0 |
| Douglas DC-4 Douglas DC-4 The Douglas DC-4 is a four-engined propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s in a military role... |
1 | 0 |
| Douglas DC-8-30/50 Douglas DC-8 The Douglas DC-8 is a four-engined narrow-body passenger commercial jet airliner, manufactured from 1958 to 1972 by the Douglas Aircraft Company... |
6 | 0 |
| Douglas DC-8-62 Douglas DC-8 The Douglas DC-8 is a four-engined narrow-body passenger commercial jet airliner, manufactured from 1958 to 1972 by the Douglas Aircraft Company... |
1 | 0 |
| Douglas DC-8F Douglas DC-8 The Douglas DC-8 is a four-engined narrow-body passenger commercial jet airliner, manufactured from 1958 to 1972 by the Douglas Aircraft Company... |
1 | 0 |
| McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 McDonnell Douglas DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is a three-engine widebody jet airliner manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 has range for medium- to long-haul flights, capable of carrying a maximum 380 passengers. Its most distinguishing feature is the two turbofan engines mounted on underwing pylons and a... |
0 | 2 |
| Sud Aviation Caravelle Sud Aviation Caravelle The Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle was the first short/medium-range jet airliner produced by the French Sud Aviation firm starting in 1955 . The Caravelle was one of the more successful European first generation jetliners, selling throughout Europe and even penetrating the United States market, with... |
2 | 0 |
| Total | 12 | 2 |
| Aircraft | Number |
|---|---|
| Douglas DC-6A Douglas DC-6 The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with the Lockheed Constellation in the long-range... |
1 |
| Douglas DC-6B Douglas DC-6 The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with the Lockheed Constellation in the long-range... |
1 |
| Total | 2 |
Fleet in 1978
| Aircraft | Number |
|---|---|
| Boeing 737-200 Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers... |
1 |
| Douglas DC-8-53F Douglas DC-8 The Douglas DC-8 is a four-engined narrow-body passenger commercial jet airliner, manufactured from 1958 to 1972 by the Douglas Aircraft Company... |
1 |
| Douglas DC-8-55F Douglas DC-8 The Douglas DC-8 is a four-engined narrow-body passenger commercial jet airliner, manufactured from 1958 to 1972 by the Douglas Aircraft Company... |
3 |
| Douglas DC-8-62 Douglas DC-8 The Douglas DC-8 is a four-engined narrow-body passenger commercial jet airliner, manufactured from 1958 to 1972 by the Douglas Aircraft Company... |
3 |
| Douglas DC-8-63 Douglas DC-8 The Douglas DC-8 is a four-engined narrow-body passenger commercial jet airliner, manufactured from 1958 to 1972 by the Douglas Aircraft Company... |
2 |
| McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 McDonnell Douglas DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is a three-engine widebody jet airliner manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 has range for medium- to long-haul flights, capable of carrying a maximum 380 passengers. Its most distinguishing feature is the two turbofan engines mounted on underwing pylons and a... |
6 |
| Fokker F-27 Friendship | 2 |
| Total | 18 |
UTA also had one Boeing 747-200 on order at this time.
The Fokker Friendships and Boeing 737
Boeing 737
The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...
were based out of La Tontouta Airport
La Tontouta International Airport
La Tontouta International Airport or Nouméa - La Tontouta International Airport is the main international airport on New Caledonia. The airport is in the municipality of Païta, approximately 52 km northwest of Nouméa. In 2006, 415,813 passengers used the airport...
, New Caledonia and used on local Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
services.
In addition, UTA's then subsidiary company Air Polynésie, based at Faa'a International Airport
Faa'a International Airport
- Overview :The Faaa International Airport is a relatively small airport. Air Tahiti has flights every day going to all the other islands in French Polynesia while international flights go to different countries such as the United States or New Zealand. The airport is on Tahiti which is an island...
, Tahiti, had a fleet of three Fairchild F-27A Friendships, one Britten-Norman Islander
Britten-Norman Islander
The Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander is a 1960s British light utility aircraft, regional airliner and cargo aircraft designed and originally manufactured by Britten-Norman of the United Kingdom. The Islander is one of the best-selling commercial aircraft types produced in Europe. Although designed in...
, one de Havilland Canada Twin Otter
De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter
The DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian 19-passenger STOL utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada and currently produced by Viking Air. The aircraft's fixed tricycle undercarriage, STOL abilities and high rate of climb have made it a successful cargo, regional passenger airliner and MEDEVAC...
series 200, and one de Havilland Twin Otter series 300.
(Source for the above fleet notes: UTA General Timetable 1/4/78 - 31/10/78)
Fleet in 1986
| Aircraft | Number |
|---|---|
| Boeing 747-300 Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a wide-body commercial airliner and cargo transport, often referred to by its original nickname, Jumbo Jet, or Queen of the Skies. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first wide-body ever produced... |
3 |
| Boeing 747-200B Combi Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a wide-body commercial airliner and cargo transport, often referred to by its original nickname, Jumbo Jet, or Queen of the Skies. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first wide-body ever produced... |
2 |
| Boeing 747-200F Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a wide-body commercial airliner and cargo transport, often referred to by its original nickname, Jumbo Jet, or Queen of the Skies. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first wide-body ever produced... |
2 |
| McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 McDonnell Douglas DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is a three-engine widebody jet airliner manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 has range for medium- to long-haul flights, capable of carrying a maximum 380 passengers. Its most distinguishing feature is the two turbofan engines mounted on underwing pylons and a... |
6 |
| Total | 13 |
UTA employed 6,569 people at this time.
Incidents and accidents
There were five recorded incidents/accidents involving UTA aircraft. Four of these involved the loss of aircraft and three the loss of lives.On 2 October 1964, a UTA Douglas DC-6B inherited from predecessor UAT (registration F-BHMS) crashed into Mt. Alcazaba near Granada
Granada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...
, Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
, in Southern Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. The doomed aircraft was operating the airline's scheduled sector from Palma de Mallorca
Palma de Mallorca
Palma is the major city and port on the island of Majorca and capital city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. The names Ciutat de Mallorca and Ciutat were used before the War of the Spanish Succession and are still used by people in Majorca. However, the official name...
, Balearic Islands
Balearic Islands
The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, to Port Étienne
Nouadhibou
Nouadhibou is the second largest city in Mauritania and serves as a major commercial centre. The city itself has about 75,000 inhabitants expanding to over 90,000 in the larger metropolitan area. It is situated on a 40-mile peninsula or headland called Ras Nouadhibou, Cap Blanc, or Cabo Blanco, of...
(as Nouadhibou
Nouadhibou
Nouadhibou is the second largest city in Mauritania and serves as a major commercial centre. The city itself has about 75,000 inhabitants expanding to over 90,000 in the larger metropolitan area. It is situated on a 40-mile peninsula or headland called Ras Nouadhibou, Cap Blanc, or Cabo Blanco, of...
was known then), Mauritania
Mauritania
Mauritania is a country in the Maghreb and West Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest...
. There were no survivors among the aircraft's 80 occupants (seven crew and 73 passengers).
On 12 July 1972, a scheduled UTA flight en route from Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
Côte d'Ivoire
The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa. It has an area of , and borders the countries Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana; its southern boundary is along the Gulf of Guinea. The country's population was 15,366,672 in 1998 and was estimated to be...
, to Paris was taken over by hijackers
Aircraft hijacking
Aircraft hijacking is the unlawful seizure of an aircraft by an individual or a group. In most cases, the pilot is forced to fly according to the orders of the hijackers. Occasionally, however, the hijackers have flown the aircraft themselves, such as the September 11 attacks of 2001...
. There were two fatalities as a result of this incident.
On 10 March 1984, a UTA DC-8-63PF (registration F-BOLL) flying from Brazzaville
Brazzaville
-Transport:The city is home to Maya-Maya Airport and a railway station on the Congo-Ocean Railway. It is also an important river port, with ferries sailing to Kinshasa and to Bangui via Impfondo...
, Republic of Congo to Paris CDG with an intermediate stop at N'Djamena
N'Djamena
N'Djamena is the capital and largest city of Chad. A port on the Chari River, near the confluence with the Logone River, it directly faces the Cameroonian town of Kousséri, to which the city is connected by a bridge. It is also a special statute region, divided in 10 arrondissements. It is a...
in Chad
Chad
Chad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
was destroyed, following two consecutive bomb explosions on board the aircraft while it was on the ground at N'Djamena Airport. There were no fatalities since all passengers and crew managed to evacuate the aircraft before the second explosion in the central baggage compartment tore the aircraft apart.
On 16 March 1985, a UTA Boeing 747-3B3 (registration F-GDUA) was destroyed on the ground at Paris CDG when a fire was accidentally started while cleaning of the aircraft's cabin was in progress. (According to contemporary press
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
reports, the fire was allegedly started by a cleaner who carelessly dropped a burning cigarette in one of the toilets.) The fire rapidly spread, engulfing the entire cabin in flames. This resulted in the aircraft's total destruction, which was subsequently written off. There were no injuries as a result of this incident.
On 19 September 1989, UTA flight 772
UTA Flight 772
UTA Flight 772 of the French airline Union des Transports Aériens was a scheduled flight operating from Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo, via N'Djamena in Chad, to Paris CDG airport in France....
, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 (registration N54629) operating the Brazzaville — N'Djamena — Paris CDG sector, was bombed 46 minutes after take-off from N'Djamena causing the aircraft to crash while flying over Niger
Niger
Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
. All 156 passengers and 14 crew members on board perished. For nearly 20 years, this incident marked the deadliest air disaster involving a French-operated airliner
Airliner
An airliner is a large fixed-wing aircraft for transporting passengers and cargo. Such aircraft are operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an aircraft intended for carrying multiple passengers in commercial...
, in terms of loss of life. As of June 2009, it ranks as the second-deadliest (see Air France flight 447
Air France Flight 447
Air France Flight 447 was a scheduled airline flight from Rio de Janeiro-Galeão to Paris-Roissy involving an Airbus A330-200 aircraft that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on 1 June 2009, killing all 216 passengers and 12 aircrew. The investigation is still ongoing, and the cause of the...
).
External links
- UTA — In Memoriam http://www.al-airliners.be/t-z/uta/uta.htm
- Aéromaritime (Compagnie Aéromaritime d'Affrètement) — In Memoriam http://www.al-airliners.be/a/aeromaritime/aeromaritime.htm
- France's independent flag carrier, Flight International, 24 June 1971, p. 945 http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1971/1971%20-%201062.html
- France's independent flag carrier ..., Flight International, 24 June 1971, p. 946 http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1971/1971%20-%201063.html
- France's independent flag carrier ..., Flight International, 24 June 1971, p. 947 http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1971/1971%20-%201064.html
- Union de Transports Aériens (UTA) at the Aviation Safety Network Database http://aviation-safety.net/database/operator/airline.php?var=4692
- Union de Transports Aériens (UTA) timetable images http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/ut2.htm
- UTA French airlines uniforms 1987–1992 http://www.uniformfreak.com/1uta.html
- BBC news, 19 September 2003 - UTA 772: The forgotten flight (19 September 1989) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3163621.stm
- The New York Times, 18 June 1987, COMPANY NEWS — Order for Airbus http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE2DB1E3BF93BA25755C0A961948260
- The New York Times, 19 January 1989, BRIEFS http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DEFDF1F3DF93AA25752C0A96F948260
- M.R. Golder, The Changing Nature of French Dirigisme — A Case Study of Air France, St. Edmund Hall, Oxford. Thesis, submitted Trinity term, 1997 http://homepages.nyu.edu/~mrg217/MA.pdf
- FT.com/Business Life, The Monday Interview, 30 September 2007 — Pilot who found the right trajectory (Financial Times interview with Jean-Cyril Spinetta, chairman of Air France-KLM group) http://www.ft.com/cms/s/e6c07ce8-6de8-11dc-b8ab-0000779fd2ac,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2Fe6c07ce8-6de8-11dc-b8ab-0000779fd2ac.html&_i_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.uk%2Fsearch%3Fhl%3Den
- FOTW Flags Of The World — Chargeurs Réunis (Shipping company, France) http://fotw.fivestarflags.com/fr~hfcha.html
- Answers.com (Business and Finance) — Chargeurs International http://www.answers.com/topic/chargeurs-international?cat=biz-fin
- Air France (Airline, France) http://www.fotw.net/flags/fr$hfair.html