The major milestones

THE FIRST STEPS

December 1974: birth of the airline
Commercial aviation in Réunion Island was born with the creation of a new airline: Réunion Air Services (RAS).

August 1977: The first steps of regional air transport
Réunion Air Services’ first scheduled service between Réunion and Mayotte.

December 1986
Réunion Air Services became Air Réunion.

REGIONAL AIR TRANSPORT TAKES OFF

October 1990: Air Réunion is renamed Air Austral
Air Réunion / Air Austral was bought by Sematra (a company owned by the local councils of Réunion) and several financial partners. Air France became a shareholder of the airline.

The first Boeing 737-500 joined the fleet. The second arrived in 1994 and the third Boeing 737 (a –300QC) in 1997.

2000: Air Austral took delivery of its ATR 72-500. At this point, the airline’s operations included Réunion (Saint-Denis and Saint Pierre airports) to South Africa, the Comores, Mauritius, Madagascar, Mayotte, and the Seychelles.

AIR AUSTRAL GOES LONG HAUL

June 2003: A new era for Air Austral. The Airline launched its first long haul flight from Réunion to Paris (Charles de Gaulle) with two Boeing 777-200ERs.

June 2005: The third Boeing 777-200ER joined the fleet. The airline began to serve Lyon and Marseille from Réunion and operate a Boeing 777-200ER daily to Mayotte.

October 2006: Air Austral commenced a twice weekly flight between Réunion and Bangkok, the gateway to Asia, in association with Air Madagascar.

April 2009: Air Austral will commence flights from Noumea to Sydney to Réunion on to Paris.