Tunisair

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Tunisair
250px
IATA ICAO Callsign
TU TAR TUNAIR
Founded 1948 (1948)
Commenced operations 1 April 1949 (1949-04-01)
Hubs Tunis-Carthage International Airport
Frequent-flyer program Fidelys
Airport lounge Espace Previlige
Fleet size 34
Destinations 101
Headquarters Tunis, Tunisia
Key people Sarra Rejeb (CEO)[1]
Website www.tunisair.com

Société Tunisienne de l'Air, or Tunisair (Arabic: الخطوط التونسية‎‎) is the flag carrier airline of Tunisia.[2] Formed in 1948, it operates scheduled international services to European, African and Middle Eastern destinations. Its main base is Tunis-Carthage International Airport. The airline's head office is in Tunis, near Tunis Airport.[3] Tunisair is a member of the Arab Air Carriers Organization.[4]

History

Tunis Air Douglas DC-4 at Paris (Orly) Airport in 1957

The carrier was formed by the government of Tunisia as Société Tunisienne de l'Air in late 1948. The initial investment was FRF 60 million, with shareholding split between the government (35%), Air France (35%) and another interests (30%).[5] Air France transferred some of its DC-3s and routes (which included Tunis–Bone–Algiers, Tunis–Ajaccio–Nice, Tunis–Bastia–Nice, Tunis–Rome and a cargo flight between Tunis and Marseilles)[6] to the new airline for it to start operations;[5] these commenced on 1 April 1949 (1949-04-01).[7] The first managing director of the company was Rene Lefevre.[8]

The route network was expanded along the coast during the early 1950s. In 1951, Casablanca, Ghudamis and Tripoli were incorporated as destinations. In May that year, a Tunis–Tripoli–Sabhah service was launched; it was routed via Sfax and Djerba in September. The Ghudamis route was terminated in 1952, and the Casablanca run was taken over by Air France the same year. In 1953, the service to Marseilles was extended to Paris. In 1954, a Douglas DC-4 was leased from Air France and used on the route to Paris.[8] At March 1955 (1955-03), the fleet comprised three Douglas DC-3s, one Douglas DC-4 and a SNCASE Languedoc.[9] During 1955, the carrier transported 92,344 passengers. At year end, the number of employees was 140. The airline had a revenue of £620,000 for 1955, and costs totalled to £550,000.[10] In 1957 the Tunisian government became the largest shareholder (51%) and the stake held by Air France was reduced to 15%.[8]

File:Tunisair Caravelle III TS-TAR LFSB 1977-03-05.png
A Tunis Air Caravelle III at Euroairport in 1977. The carrier took delivery of the first aircraft of the type in 1961.[8]

The carrier took delivery of its first jet-powered aircraft, a Sud Caravelle III, on 31 August 1961. A new service to Frankfurt was inaugurated in October but it was terminated in March the following year due to poor economical performance. A second Caravelle was ordered in 1963 and entered service in March 1964 (1964-03). In cooperation with Lufthansa, flights to Frankfurt were restarted in April 1966 (1966-04) using Caravelle equipment.[8] The Nord 262 was first put into service in 1969.[11] The entrance of this aircraft into the fleet along with the airline already having two Caravelles in operation allowed the carrier to phase out a DC-3 and two DC-4s.[12]

The number of employees had grown to 888 by March 1970 (1970-03). At this time, they had four Caravelles, two Cessna 402s, a DC-3 and a Nord 262, which were used on domestic services and international routes to Algeria, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands,[nb 1] Italy, Libya, Morocco and Switzerland.[13] Tunis Air took delivery of its first Boeing aircraft, a Boeing 727-200, on 12 March 1972;[14] it was put on service on the Tunis–Paris run.[15] On 1 April 1972 (1972-04-01), a Boeing 707 that was leased from Sabena inaugurated the Tunis–London link.[16] The same day, new services to Luxembourg and Jeddah were launched.[17] Late in the year, a second Boeing 727s was ordered for delivery in July 1973 (1973-07).[15] In 1973, a third Boeing 727 was ordered for handover in December that year.[18] A fourth and fifth 727 were ordered in 1974 and 1975.[19][20][21][22] The gradual incorporation of the Boeing 727s permitted Tunisair to replace the Caravelles and to retire the remaining DC-3s.[12]

File:Tunisair A320-200 TS-IMM ZRH 2011-07-16.png
A Tunisair Airbus A320-200 on short final to Zurich Airport in 2011.

For the first time in its history, in 1995 the carrier started trading its shares at the Tunis stock exchange when 20% of the stake was floated.[23] Ahmed Smaoui took over as president and director general of the company in March 1997 (1997-03).[24] In January 1999 (1999-01), Abdelmalek Larifthe became the new president. Also in 1999, flights to Amman and Beirut were.[23] At April 2000 (2000-04) the airline had 7259 employees. At this time the fleet comprised one Airbus A300B4-200, two Airbus A319-100s, ten Airbus A320-200s, four Boeing 727-200 Advanced, three Boeing 737-200 Advanced, four Boeing 737-500s and three Boeing 737-600s that served the following destinations: Abu Dhabi, Algiers, Amman, Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Beirut, Berlin, Bilbao, Bordeaux, Bratislava, Brussels, Budapest, Cairo, Casablanca, Copenhagen, Dakar, Damascus, Djerba, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Gafsa, Geneva, Graz, Hamburg, Istanbul, Jeddah, Lille, Linz, Lisbon, London, Luxembourg, Lyon, Madrid, Malta, Marseille, Milan, Monastir, Munich, Nice, Nouakchott, Palermo, Paris, Prague, Rome, Salzburg, Sfax, Stockholm, Strasbourg, Tabarka, Toulouse, Tozeur, Tunis, Vienna, Warsaw and Zurich.[7]

In 2007, Nabil Chettaoui was appointed as chief executive officer (CEO).[25] In June 2011, Hamadi Thamri replaced Chettaoui as president and CEO of the company.[26] In July the same year, Moscow was first served by the carrier with flights to Domodedovo Airport.[27]

Corporate affairs

Ownership

The company is 74% owned by the Tunisian government.[28]

Business trends

Annual reports for Tunisair do not appear to be regularly published; figures can also appear to be inconsistent in industry and press reports. Figures for the Airline (as opposed to the Group) seem to be as shown below (as at year ending 31 December):

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Turnover (DT m) 1,130 1,147 1,114 857
Net Profits (DT m) 125.8 205.3
Number of employees 3,709 3,747
Number of passengers (m) 3.2 3.8 3.7 3.5 2.8
Passenger load factor (%) 70.5 71.8
Number of aircraft (at year end) 29
Notes/sources [29] [29][30] [28][30][31] [32][31] [32]

Key people

As of April 2015 the CEO position was held by Mrs Sarra Rejeb, who was appointed by the Ministry of Transport. She replaced Mrs Saloua Sghair who had been CEO since May 2012.[33]

Head office

Tunisair's head office is located on Route X near Tunis-Carthage Airport in Tunis.[34]

Destinations

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Main article: Tunisair destinations

Tunisair flies to destinations across Africa, Asia, Europe and soon North America. [35] Its main base is Tunis-Carthage International Airport.

Fleet

Recent developments

File:Tunisair A300 TS-IPC.jpg
Tunisair Airbus A300-600 at Paris-Orly

Tunisair became the first Airbus A319 customer in both the Arab World and Africa when it ordered three aircraft in October 1997, along with four Airbus A320s.[36] Another order followed the same year when the carrier acquired four Boeing 737-600s that were initially slated for delivery starting in May 1999 (1999-05).[37] The airline took options on three more aircraft but the specific variants were not informed at that time.[37][38] The aircraft included in both orders were aimed at replacing the ageing Boeing 727s and 737s in the airline's fleet.[37] The company took delivery of its first A319 in August 1998 (1998-08).[39] Tunisair subsequently added three more Boeing 737-600s, taking delivery of the seventh one in April 2001 (2001-04).[40]

Two second-hand General Electric CF6-powered Airbus A300-600R were purchased in 2000;[41] A third aircraft of the type joined the fleet in 2001.[42] An extended range A319 was ordered in 2006.[43] In July 2008 (2008-07), Tunisair ordered three Airbus A350 XWBs, along with three Airbus A330-200s and ten Airbus A320s.[44][45] The order was partially amended in mid-2013, when the airline cancelled the order for the A350.[2] The airline took delivery of its first Airbus A330-200 in June 2015 (2015-06).[44]

Current

File:Tunisair A319-100 TS-IMO ZRH 2011-04-02.png
A Tunisair Airbus A319-100 at Zurich Airport in 2011.

The Tunisair fleet consists of the following aircraft, as of March 2016:[46]

Tunisair Fleet
Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers Notes
C Y Total
Airbus A300-600 3 — 28 235 263
Airbus A319-100 4 — 16 90 106
0 144 144
Airbus A320-200 17[nb 2] 4[47] 25 120 145
0 162 162
Airbus A330-200 2[44] 1[44] 24 242 266[44]
Boeing 737-500 2 — 0 126 126
Boeing 737-600 7 — 0 126 126
Total 35 5

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ ″Holland″ is the name of the country served included in supporting source.[13]
  2. ↑ Official information shows 16 aircraft in fleet;[46] these figures also include one sharkleted aircraft of the type that was delivered in November 2014 (2014-11).[47]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.leaders.com.tn/article/16737-sarra-rejeb-nouvelle-pdg-de-tunisair
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ "Tunisair Tunis." Tunisair. Retrieved on 21 June 2010. "Head Office Agency Tunisair BD du 7 Novembre 1987 2035 Tunis Carthage"
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Archived 26 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Guttery 1998, p. 210.
  6. ↑ Guttery 1998, p. 210–211.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Guttery 1998, p. 211.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Guttery 1998, p. 212.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ "Tunis." Tunisair. Retrieved on 16 March 2010.
  35. ↑ http://airlineroute.net/2016/04/07/tu-yul-jun16update2/
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 37.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  42. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  43. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 44.2 44.3 44.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Archived 10 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  45. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  46. ↑ 46.0 46.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  47. ↑ 47.0 47.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Archived 9 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine

Bibliography

  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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