Slots Aigle Azur
Aigle Azur bankruptcy in September 2019 left a pool of over 12,000 flight slots up for grabs. The winners and losers of this fight for slots were revealed. While Air France-KLM, Wizz Air and Lufthansa (LHAB) (LHA) took the best bites, Ryanair was left empty-handed.
The French airline Aigle Azur announced its bankruptcy and has decided to suspend all flights effective tomorrow, September 7th. In their statement, they based this decision on their financial situation and operational difficulties.
- Aigle Azur bankruptcy in September 2019 left a pool of over 12,000 flight slots up for grabs. The winners and losers of this fight for slots were revealed. While Air France-KLM, Wizz Air and Lufthansa (LHAB) (LHA) took the best bites, Ryanair was left empty-handed.
- French airport slot coordinator COHOR has redistributed 9,868 Paris Orly slots formerly belonging to Aigle Azur, which collapsed in September after encountering operational and management issues.
- The main selling point of Aigle Azur is the 10,000 slots it has in Paris Orly (ORY), the second biggest French airport after Charles de Gaulle. 'Air France has expressed interest in Aigle Azur and would be ready to make a takeover bid,” Martin Surzur, president of Aigle Azur office at the National Union of airline pilots (SNPL) told Le Monde.
- 9868 slots allocated today Lufthansa (1460): 2 daily flights to Munich article 2b i) and ii) of the Slot Regulation HOP! (1460): 2 daily flights to Frankfurt article 2b i) and ii) of the Slot Regulation.
Aigle Azur, France’s second-biggest airline, flew to many African destinations, but also their deals to Sao Paulo, which used to include 2 pieces of luggage, were quite popular. But since 2012, the airline had been losing money and was part of many failed takeover attempts.
Apparently, Air France and IAG are interested in buying Aigle Azur, as the airline owns 10,000 slots at Paris Orly, which Air France could use for their low-cost airline Transavia, and IAG could use for Vueling.
What to do if you’re affected by the cancelations
Aigle Azur states that their financial situation does not allow them to quickly compensate their passengers. If you’ve booked through a travel agency, you are to contact the travel agency for reimbursement or an alternative flight. If you bought your ticket using a credit card, you may ask your credit card company for reimbursement. Otherwise, you may contact Aigle Azur, but don’t expect to get any great news from them anytime soon.
If you’ve already flown your outbound flight and your return flight has now been canceled, you’ll have to buy a ticket with another airline. Mostly in these situations, the other airlines will try to give you a special rate to help you out. You’ll have to ask around a bit and try to fix the situation as well as possible.
Sources: Simple Flying, Aigle Azur’s statement, French Foreign Ministry
French airport slot coordinator COHOR has reallocated slots at Paris Orly vacated by bankrupt Aigle Azur (ZI, Paris Orly), granting rights to, among others, Wizz Air (W6, Budapest) and Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt Int'l).
Lufthansa will use the slots for 2x daily flights from Munich, while Wizz Air (W6, Budapest) will operate daily from each Budapest and Sofia. Neither of the carriers currently operates from Orly - Lufthansa serves the French capital via Paris CDG and Wizz Air via Paris Beauvais.
COHOR also allocated 'new entrant' slots to easyJet (U2, London Luton) for daily services from Glasgow Int'l and to HOP! (A5, Paris Orly) for 2x daily flights to Frankfurt Int'l. easyJet currently operates 189 weekly flights to Orly but all of them are operated by either easyJet Europe (169 weekly flights) or easyJet Switzerland (20). HOP! operates services to Orly on behalf of Air France but does not market any flights under its own code.
Slots were also allocated to:
- Air Caraibes Atlantique (CAJ, Paris Orly) (2x daily),
- Corsair International (SS, Paris Orly) (2x daily),
- Transavia France (TO, Paris Orly) (2x daily),
- La Compagnie (B0, Paris Orly) (3x daily),
- TAP Air Portugal (TP, Lisbon) (66 slots in total for summer seasons only).
The new allocations will become effective with the start of the Summer 2020 season.
According to COHOR's statement, 12,335 annual slots were left unused after the demise of Aigle Azur. The French authorities decided to reserve 20% of these for Public Service Obligation (PSO) routes, leaving 9,868 slots for reallocation.
Other carriers which submitted applications for slots but failed to receive any were, among others, Ryanair, Vueling Airlines, Ukraine International Airlines, Tassili Airlines, and Volotea.
About Aigle Azur
Slot Aigle Azur Marseille
| Type | Scheduled Carrier |
|---|---|
| Base | Paris Orly |