Air Calédonie
: Air Calédonie is the domestic airline for New Caledonia, based in Nouméa. It operates scheduled passenger and cargo flights from Nouméa to 10 destinations in New Caledonia. Its main base is Magenta Airport (GEA), Nouméa. Aircalin operates international flights from New Caledonia.
The airline was established in 1954 and started operations on 25 September 1955 as Transpac. It changed its name to Air Caledonie in 1968. The New Caledonian Territorial government became the majority shareholder during a major refinancing operation in 1969. The airline is owned by New Caledonia government (50.28%), Islands Provinces (43.31%), private investors (4.32%) and Air France (2.09%). It has 225 employees (at March 2007).
Air Caledonie uses Aeropack as their airline management system, developed by Travel Technology Interactive, a European company based in Paris, France.
Aircalin : Aircalin (Air Caledonie International) is the international airline of New Caledonia and is based at Nouméa. It operates scheduled services to 10 regional destinations, including Japan. Its main base is La Tontouta International Airport, Nouméa. Air Calédonie is the domestic airline for New Caledonia.
Aircalin was established in September 1983 and started operations on 2 December 1983 with a Nouméa to Melbourne service in partnership with Qantas using a Boeing 747. This service later became known as le Caledonian Express. A service also began to Brisbane, Port Vila, Wallis and Futuna and Nadi with a Boeing 737-200 leased from Air Nauru. In 1985, a Caravelle 10B3 was purchased and in 1987 a Twin Otter was based in Wallis for the Wallis and Futuna service. The Caravelle was removed from service in 1988 and a Boeing 737 acquired. During 1995-96, a Douglas DC-10-30 was used on Nouméa, Brisbane and Papeete services. In 1996, the new Aircalin logo was made public. A memorandum of understanding for alliance was signed with Qantas on 11 July 1996, leading to the establishment of joint services. A chartered Boeing 767 was used from 1997. In March 2000 an Airbus A310 began service on new flights to Osaka. Two Airbus A330-200 were ordered in 2001 and entered service in early 2003. In February 2004, the Airbus A320 was delivered and entered service between Nouméa and Sydney.
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