Star Airlines
Encyclopedia
XL Airways France is a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 airline with its head offices on the grounds of Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport and in Tremblay-en-France
Tremblay-en-France
Tremblay-en-France is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.More than one-quarter of Charles de Gaulle Airport lies on the territory of the commune of Tremblay-en-France, in particular terminals 2A, 2B, 2C, and 2D...

. It operates scheduled flights mainly to long-haul destinations in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

 and the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

 as well as charter flights to medium-haul destinations in the Mediterranean, usually out of Charles de Gaulle Airport.

History

Formed as Star Airlines (abrreviation for Société de Transport Aérien Régional) in 1995 by Cédric Pastour, the airline was previously owned by Transat A.T.
Transat A.T.
Transat A.T. Inc. is an international, vertically-integrated tour operator with nearly 20 business units in 8 countries. The company is headquartered in Montreal.-History:...

, before being sold to and taken over by XL Leisure Group
XL Leisure Group
The XL Leisure Group was a major tour operating company in the UK, consisting of charter and scheduled airlines, holiday companies and flight-only tour operators. It also has operations in France, Germany, Ireland, Australia and Cyprus...

. On 23 November 2006 the airline changed its name to XL Airways France. The owning group went bankrupt on 12 September 2008, but the airline was saved as it was acquired by Straumur-Burdaras Investment Bank
Straumur Investment Bank
Straumur-Burdaras Investment Bank hf. was a regional investment bank headquartered in Reykjavik, Iceland, that was closed by regulators in March 2009.The company was mainly owned by Björgólfur Guðmundsson and his son Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson...

 on the same day, along with its German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 sister company XL Airways Germany.

Fleet

As of May 2011, the XL Airways France fleet consists of the following aircraft with an average age of 9.6 years:

XL Airways France Fleet
Aircraft In Service (Business/Economy)
Airbus A320-200 2 180 (0/180)
Airbus A330-200 2 364 (21/343)
Boeing 737-800 3 189 (0/189)
Total 7


A: The business class
Business class
Business class is a travel class available on many commercial airlines and rail lines, known by brand names which vary by airline or rail company. In the airline industry, it was originally intended as an intermediate level of service between economy class and first class, but many airlines now...

 onboard some XL Airways France aircraft is dubbed "Galaxie Class".

Head office

XL Airways's head office is in the Bâtiment Mars in Continental Square II on the grounds of Charles de Gaulle Airport and in Tremblay-en-France
Tremblay-en-France
Tremblay-en-France is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.More than one-quarter of Charles de Gaulle Airport lies on the territory of the commune of Tremblay-en-France, in particular terminals 2A, 2B, 2C, and 2D...

, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

The airline's head office was originally in the Immeuble Horizon facility in Noisy-le-Grand
Noisy-le-Grand
Noisy-le-Grand is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.The commune of Noisy-le-Grand is part of the sector of Porte de Paris, one of the four sectors of the "new town" of Marne-la-Vallée.-Name:...

, in the Marne-la-Vallée
Marne-la-Vallée
Marne-la-Vallée is a new town located near Paris, France.Disneyland Paris, Val d'Europe,Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée,and École des Ponts ParisTech are located in Marne-la-Vallée.-Status:...

 development. Cédric Pastrour, the founder of the airline, said that the company chose the Noisy site because the airline did not yet know which airport, Charles de Gaulle Airport or Orly Airport, would serve as the airline's base, and that the Noisy site was equidistant to both airports. Pastour added that the Noisy site had access to the A4
A4 autoroute
The A4 Autoroute, also known as l'autoroute de l'Est is a French autoroute that travels between the cities of Paris and Strasbourg. It forms parts of European routes E25 and E50....

 and the A86
A86 autoroute
A86 is the second ring road around Paris. A86 follows an irregular path around Paris with the distance from the city centre varying from...

 autoroutes and was close to the Francilienne
Francilienne
The Francilienne is a partial ring road around Île-de-France , France, lying outside the A86.The planned ring is approximately in diameter, similar in size to London's M25 motorway....

, and that the costs in the Noisy area were lower than the costs in the airport area.

External links

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