AIR AUSTRAL HISTORY

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.

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 joined the fleet. The second arrived in 1994 and the third 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.

June 2003: A new era for Air Austral. The Airline launched its first long haul flight from Réunion to Paris (Charles de Gaulle).

June 2005: The airline began to serve Lyon and Marseille from Réunion and operate 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 commenced flights from Noumea to Sydney to Réunion on to Paris.