Air Turquoise
ATR 42-500
IATA ICAO Call sign
— RTQ —
FoundedJune 2005
Ceased operations
August 2006
Operating bases
Vatry International Airport
Fleet size1
DestinationsLondon, Bordeaux, Marseille
Websiteairturquoise.com[dead link]

Air Turquoise was a low-cost airline based in France. It operated services to Marseille, Nice and Bordeaux from Reims Champagne Airport. The airline was liquidated on 2 August 2006.[1]

History

The airline was founded on 21 June 2005 by some ex Air Littoral employees who believed there were promising conditions to reactivate an airline, no longer in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region but in that of Reims, with an estimated population of 1 million inhabitants. It began daily flights on June 24, 2005 from Reims-Béthény airport to Bordeaux, Marseille and Nice with a 5-year-old ATR 42-500. The flight between Reims and Bordeaux was opened in view of the numerous business links between the two capitals of the French wine industry. From April 2006, Air Turquoise operated daily flights between Reims and London Luton airport and operated the Bordeaux route alternately with Toulouse. The routes between Nice and Marseille were daily.

On 28 June, the company relocated from Reims due to the airport's closure and began operating flights from Vatry International Airport (70 kilometers far from Reims) but had overlooked the fact that the airport's runway lacked the infrastructure necessary for landings in adverse weather conditions.[2] On July 19, the Reims Commercial Court ordered the judicial liquidation of the young low-cost airline, which employed twenty-nine people, and cancelled all its flights.[3][4][5] However, it had authorization to continue operating until July 31st in order to facilitate a possible resumption of activity.[6] On August 2, lacking a buyer, the company ceased operations, leaving all employees without work, with a debt of nearly €uros 400,000.[7]

Destinations

Air Turquoise flew to the following destinations:[8]

References

  1. ^ Flight International 27 March 2007
  2. ^ "Champagne-Ardenne. L'aéroport de Reims-Champagne ferme après le départ d'Air Turquoise". La Gazette des Communes (in French). Retrieved 2024-11-01.
  3. ^ "Air Turquoise". journal-aviation.com. 2006-07-19. Retrieved 2024-11-01.
  4. ^ "Jugement TC Reims Air Turquoise 19-07-2006 (n° 2006/00586-4)". tourmag.com. 2006-07-19. Retrieved 2024-11-01.
  5. ^ "Air Turquoise arrête les frais". L'Echo Touristique (in French). 2006-08-22. Retrieved 2024-11-01.
  6. ^ "Air Turquoise : liquidation judiciaire avec poursuite d'activité jusqu'au 31 juillet". TourMaG.com, le média spécialiste du tourisme francophone (in French). Retrieved 2024-11-01.
  7. ^ "Aéroport : fin de vol pour Air Turquoise (Nice-Reims)". WebtimeMedias (in French). 2006-08-18. Retrieved 2024-11-01.
  8. ^ "airlineroutemaps.com". Archived from the original on 2011-09-30. Retrieved 2011-07-21.


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