Aeris (airline)

Aeris was an airline company based in Toulouse, France. It was founded in 1999 and was defunct in 2003 after being unable to raise additional capital.

Aeris

IATA ICAO Callsign SH AIS FRANCE CHARTER
Founded	1999
Ceased operations	2003
Hubs	Toulouse-Blagnac Airport
Fleet size	7
Headquarters	Toulouse, France
Website	http://www.aeris.fr

An Aeris Boeing 737-300

Aeris could be viewed as a low-cost carrier. According to Aeris' marketing director A. Scherer, the aim was to lure business travellers from small-and-medium-sized companies away from the national giant. Perpignan was one of these battlegrounds, with Air France operating four daily round-trips from Paris, and Aeris three.

The BBC reported on the apparent success of Aeris in 2003: "Waiting in the departure lounge for the 13:25 Aeris flight to Orly, Hadji Farida, 25, from Lille, suggests that the low-cost company's tactics may be working. Her employer, TV channel France 3, decided to send her to Perpignan on Aeris to save money. 'My Aeris flights were 200 euros cheaper than if I'd gone with Air France. So it's not just smaller companies that want to take advantage of this.'"

Air Tolouse International Sud Aviation Caravelle

Air Toulouse International Sud Aviation Caravelle at Dublin Airport in 1993

Air Toulouse International Boeing 737-200 in 1997

Despite managing to fill 60% of its seats on average during the first six months of operation, the low-cost domestic services did not have enough time and capital to truly take off. In 2003 the company was improving but it missed a government deadline to raise extra capital. This was extended in August 2003, with the airline hoping to raise 15m euros in the following weeks from a mixture of foreign and domestic investors.

Aeris began operation with a small fleet of Boeing 737-300 aircraft and 767-300 aircraft. These were generally operated in an all-economy configuration.

Aeris operated many scheduled services with fixed timetables. However, the airline soon branched out into charter services.