EUROPE AERO SERVICE, S. A. (EAS): France (1965-1995). Organized at Aerodrome de Perpignan-Riversaltes in July 1965, this privately owned charter carrier is a subsidiary of Societe Aero-Sahara. Revenue charters and contract service flights begin operation within Europe and to Africa and the Middle East.
Scheduled passenger services are inaugurated with Handley Page Heralds in 1966 between Perpignan and Palma de Mallorca and are continued throughout the remainder of the decade and into the next.
Upon its failure in September 1971, Trans Union Airlines, S. A. is purchased for its fleet of three former Sabena Belgian World Airlines, S. A. Douglas DC-6Bs, one of which is damaged beyond repair as the result of a bad landing at Nice on October 22.
By 1978-1979 , the company is linking Nimes to Carcassone, Perpignan, Ajaccio, Bastia, Palma, and Ibiza. Also flown are routes from Paris to Valence and Perpignan to Palma and Toulouse. On behalf of Air France, nightly newspaper and cargo flights are made from Paris to Marseilles and Toulouse.
General freight replacement flights are flown by EAS on behalf of the flag carrier from Paris to Milan, Zurich, Frankfurt, Casablanca, Tunis, Algiers, and Barcelona.
President Georges Masurel’s workforce totals 220 and his fleet comprises 8 Vickers Vanguard freighters, 2 Handley Page Heralds, 3 Dornier Do-28As, 1 Do-27, and 1Cessna 180. The first Sud-Est SE-210 Car-avelle is received during the latter year.
During the early 1980s, the mission of the carrier shifts away from heavy emphasis upon freight haulage and more toward the provision of passenger services (mostly charter) for Air Charter International, S. A. Later in the decade, replacement services will also be provided on behalf of Air France and Air Inter and significant emphasis will be placed upon aircraft leasing.
The fleet is changed in 1983-1984 to comprise a single Boeing 727-227A, once flown by Braniff International Airways, and 10 Sud-Est SE-210 Caravelle XRs. A single replacement route is now maintained for Air France linking Paris (ORY) with Valence.
In 1985-1986, four Caravelles are temporarily withdrawn and, in 1987 , two more Do-28s and a SAAB 340 are added to the fleet.
In March, the subsidiary Europair, S. A. is established to fly replacement services on behalf of Air France, including a new service to London (LGW).
Airline employment grows by 44.4% in 1988 to 481 and the fleet now includes 1 B-727-227A, 3 B-737-200s, and 8 Caravelle XRs.
Orders are now placed for two Airbus Industrie A310-304s and two B-737-53As, with options taken on two more of the latter. The opportunity to fly a new scheduled service between Paris and Bissau in cooperation with Air Bissau arises and second Boeing 727, a Dash-2H3A, formerly operated by Tunis Air, S. A., is acquired, allowing the international route to be initiated. Enplanements for the year surge 30.2% to 1,074,515.
Operations continue apace in 1989.
While on initial approach to Valence on an April 10 service from Paris, Flight 602, an FH-227B with 3 crew and 19 passengers, smashes into a mountain at Col de Tourniol; there are no survivors.
In 1990, the carrier contracts with the new French operator Jet Europe, S. A. for scheduled daily Caravelle XB return flights from Valence to Paris.
The leased fleet in 1991 includes five Caravelle XBs, three XBRs, and one each B-727-2H3A, B-727-227A, B-737-2A1A, B-737-2L9A, B-737-2Q8A, B-737-2S3, and B-737-53A. In 1992, one B-737-2A1A, one B-737-2L9A, one B-737-2S3A, and one B-737-53A are leased out to Air Charter International, S. A.
In 1993, Chairman/Managing Director Francis Lagarde oversees a workforce of 550. Two Caravelle XBs and all three Caravelle XBRs are withdrawn as operations continue apace and a new scheduled service is inaugurated from Paris (ORY) to Valencia. Fiscal difficulties force the carrier into bankruptcy at year’s end, but it continues flying nevertheless.
Renamed EAS Europe Airlines, S. A., the company possesses a fleet in 1994 that includes three Caravelle XBs, which are leased out to Air Toulouse International, S. A., along with the B-737-2A1A formerly leased to Air Charter International, S. A. The B-737-2S3A also comes off the Air Charter International, S. A. lease. Efforts are made to lower costs, with special attention paid to lower personnel expenses. When unions fail to assist, the carrier suspends operations on March 6, 1995. It is now liquidated.
EUROPE AIR POST, S. A.: BP 10454, Roissy-Charles de Gaulle International Airport, F-95700, France; Phone 33 (1) 43 62 1400; Fax 33 (1) 48 62 80; Code FPO; Year Founded 2000. This new carrier is established on December 1 when Air France relinquishes its 50% shareholding in Aeropostale (2) (L’Aeropostale/Societe de Exploitation Aeropostale, S. A.) to Sofipost, a subsidiary of the French state mail service, La Post.
Although for historic reasons if no other the major retains rights to the old Aeropostale brand, it turns over the company headquarters in Paris (CDG). Also provided is a fleet of 4 Boeing 737-3B3QCs, 3 B-737-33AQCs, 2 each B-737-348QCs and Dash-3H6QCs, and 1 each B-737-3B8QC, -382QC, B-737-3S3QC, B-737-3Q8QC, B-737-3Y0QC, and B-737-3M8QC, 3 Airbus Industrie A300B4-103Fs, 4 Avions de Transport Aerien ATR72-210Fs, and 8 Fokker F.27-500Fs.
The renamed carrier continues to operate nightly mail and express flights to mail depots at Toulouse, Marseilles, Bourdeaux, Mulhouse, Lyon, Nantes, and Strasbourg, while indicating that it may also outsource a portion of its fleet.
EUROPEAN AIR CARGO, S. A.: Apldo 197, C/Calatrava 18, Palma de Mallorca, 070001, Spain; Phone 34 (71) 171 251; Fax 34 (71) 717 251; Code EAC2; Year Founded 1992. EAC is established at Palma de Mallorca in January 1992 to offer charter all-cargo services to the Spanish mainland, regional European destinations, and the Balearic and Canary Islands. Shareholding is divided between Capts. Bernardo
G. Lwowski Hofmann and Antonio Casas Saavedra, plus M. Salva Buyosa, N. Backet, and H. Klodt. Hofman becomes chairman/president, with Saavedra as assistant CEO and head sales officer. Revenue services are launched during the summer with a pair of Convair CV-580s.
Operations continue apace in 1993-1995 as plans are made to lease two additional Convairs plus larger aircraft, either Canadair CL-44Ds or Lockheed L-188AF Electras. Scheduled flights are started in January 1996 and destinations visited include Africa, Europe, and the Balearic and Canary Islands.
Service is maintained and at the beginning of 2000 airline employment totals 16.
EUROPEAN AIR EXPRESS, GmbH.: Flughafenstrasse 95, Moenchengladbach, 41066, Germany; Phone 49 (2161) 66 990; Fax 49 (2161) 669 9111; Http://www. european-air-express. de; Year Founded 1999. With shareholding divided between Peter Hautvogel, the German general manager of Debonair Airways, Ltd., former Austrian Airlines, A. G. Operations Director Christian Weissgerber, and the Vibrogruppe, EAE is incorporated in December 1998. Plans are in place to offer scheduled service for business travelers along the German border, in the greater Aachen and lower Rhine regions. It is believed that the new airline will greatly benefit its base, Dusseldorf Express Airport (Moenchengladbach).
Employing the first of three Fokker 50s leased from Denim Air, B. V., twice-daily return service to Munich is inaugurated on February 1, 1999. Beginning in April, the company adds flights from Moenchengladbach to Sylt and Nice.
It is reported on October 13 that European Air Express has purchased a portion of the recently failed Debonair Airways, Ltd. and will use the assets to inaugurate weekday roundtrips between London (LTN) and Dusseldorf Express Airport. These flights commence in November.
At the beginning of 2000, 40 people are employed by CEO Hautvo-gel’s small regional. On March 31, Nuremberg-based Filder Air Service, GmbH. is taken over, along with its two British Aerospace BAe Jetstream 31s and two Avions de Transport Aerien ATR42-320s, which latter are purchased from the manufacturer and pressed into service wearing Filder colors and 3D titles.
On April 1, Wolf Jaura becomes general manager and the ex-Filder ATR42-320s begin flying thrice-weekday roundtrips from Dusseldorf Express Airport to London (LTN). Sunday return flights are also operated.
Malcolm Ginsberg reports in the April 16 issue of his informative Air & Business Travel News that EAE has found a unique way to crack down on in-flight rowdiness. If a passenger misbehaves, he or she is shown a yellow card and the name is taken for entry in the aircraft log. If a second instance occurs, the passenger is “red carded” and blacklisted in the company’s reservations system. Although the airline promises to circulate names to other airlines, the legality of such an approach to air rage control is questioned.
An ATR42-320 is leased from Air Open Sky, S. A. and enters service on April 26 over a route from Moenchengladbach to Munich.
Beginning in August, a new full-meal product is offered to business-class customers on every flight, with different choices served depending upon the time of day. During the first six months of ATR operations, 96% of all EAD flights have arrived on time.
Daily (except Saturdays) ATR42-320 return service starts on September 4 between Munich and London (LTN).
During December, the ATR42-320s must be grounded at Moenchengladbach owing to incomplete maintenance records dating back to the time when they were operated with Zambia Airways Corporation. In the interim, the company leases a Fokker 50 from VLM V(laamse Luchttransportsmaatschappij, N. V.) and a de Hav-illand Canada DHC-8 from Cirrus Luftfahrtgesellschaft, mbH. Orders are simultaneously placed for a pair of ex-Continental Airlines ATR72s.
EUROPEAN AIR TRANSPORT, S. A. Building 4-5, Brussels National Airport, Zaventem, B-1930, Belgium; Phone 32 (2) 718-1414; Fax 32 (2) 718-1555; Code QY; Year Founded 1971. EAT is organized by Iwein Van Caelenberg and three associates at Brussels in December 1971 to provide international charter and contract service flights as well as replacement services for Sabena Belgian World Airlines, S. A. Employing aircraft provided by the state carrier, revenue flight activities begin in April 1972.
In 1976, a code-sharing agreement is signed with Sabena Belgian World Airlines, S. A. for the provision of feeder services linking Brussels with Dusseldorf and Luxembourg. These roundtrip scheduled passenger services are conducted daily with a pair of Fairchild-Swearingen Metro IIs—for which EAT is European launch customer—and a Piper PA-23 Aztec.
President Paul Pirlot de Corbion’s company continues air ambulance, air taxi, charter, cargo, contract service flights and the Sabena replacement services throughout the remainder of the decade and into the early 1980s. During these years, the airline employs 15 (later 17) workers and owns a fleet that includes the 1 Aztec and 4 Metro IIs.
In order to provide feed to its Brussels hub, the DHL Corporation, in early 1985, elects to purchase an established airline rather than form its own. Late in the year, corporation officials approach Sabena Belgian World Airlines, S. A., which agrees to sell EAT to the American air express concern in the spring of 1986.
A Fairchild Merlin IV is acquired in 1987. EAT’s transition from a commuter airline to a participant in the first integrated express freight system in Europe actually begins in August when the first Convair CV-580 freighter arrives at Brussels National Airport in DHL colors. It inaugurates cargo flights to Lyon, Stuttgart, and Munich.
To handle the traffic the new routes generate, the fleet is significantly upgraded in 1988 as three more Metroliners, a CASA C-212 Aviocar, and six Convair CV-580s are obtained, including four previously operated by Metroflight and two by Summit Airlines.
The workforce is increased to 200 and Gordon Olafson is appointed managing director in September replacing Freddy Van Gaever. The company now abandons passenger services. Four more CV-580s are in business by the end of October.
Additional destinations are added in 1989-1990 and the company expands its express parcel services around the Continent on behalf of DHL Corporation. Again, the fleet is upgraded as six additional CV-580s, including three from Air Ontario, Inc. and three Boeing 727-51Fs are leased; four Metroliners are withdrawn.
In 1991, another Metroliner is withdrawn. The fleet now includes the 3 leased Boeings, 11 Convairs, 1 Metro II, and 1 Merlin IV.
On May 29, 1992, EAT is granted scheduled cargo authorization and destinations now served daily include Athens, Barcelona, Basel, Budapest, Cologne, Copenhagen, Dublin, East Midlands, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hamburg, Lisbon, London (CTN), Lyon, Madrid, Malta, Milan, Nuremberg, Paris, Stockholm, Toulouse, and Vienna.
The fleet now comprises 3 B-727-31Fs, 2 B-727-35Fs, 12 CV-580s, and 3 Metro IIs. Airline employment in 1993 stands at 250.
DHL’s primary European carrier, EAT increases its fleet in 1994, adding two B-727-223Fs, originally flown as passenger planes by American Airlines, and establishes a Madrid-based subsidiary, European Air Transport Spain, S. A.
Operations continue apace in 1995 and another B-727-223F is acquired.
In 1996, airline employment stands at 320. The fleet is increased by the addition of three more B-727-223Fs. The company hauls a total of 298.1 million tons of freight and generates revenues of $309 million.
Flights continue in 1997 and cargo traffic accelerates to 390.3 million tons of goods delivered.
Managing Director Olafson’s fleet during this year and in 1998 comprises 6 B-727-100Fs, 19 B-727-200Fs, and 4 DC-8-73Fs. Arrangements are made for the acquisition of seven A300B4-203s, which will be converted into freighters by British Aerospace Aviation Services. Wearing full DHL Worldwide Express livery, the first A300B4-203F is rolled out at Hamburg on March 25, 1999. It is ferried to Brussels five days later and enters revenue service.
As the number of Airbus freighters is increased, the company’s narrow-body fleet is reduced by the end of 2000 to 4 DC-8-73s and 16 B-727Fs, including 3 Dash-31Fs, 2 each Dash-35Fs and Dash-277Fs, 6 Dash-223Fs, and 1 each Dash-230AF, Dash -2Q4AF, and Dash -2J4AF. The company now operates six leased A300B4-203Fs, including two operated on behalf of DHL Worldwide Express in that firm’s color scheme.
World History
