Uni-Air International, also known as Uni-Air, was a French regional airline based at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport in the Haute-Garonne department. The airline operated cargo and postal transport, on-demand passenger transport, international and domestic charters, medical transport, and chartered air services.
History.
The airline was founded in 1969 in Blagnac by several shareholders, including Bunnichelli, an industrialist from Toulouse, Jacques Pellegrin, a Toulouse-based architect, Laboratoires Pierre Fabre (Castres), and the oil company Stela (Société des Transports d'Essences et de Lubrifiants de l'Albigeois, based in Albi and acquired in 1975 by the TOTAL group).
Several other shareholders joined over the years, including Jean-Baptiste Doumeng (Nicknamed: The Red Billionaire) from the agricultural and agri-food equipment group Interagna (9% to 20%), the Andorran Social Security Fund (9% of the capital), Sofinair (37%), the Regional Institute of Industrial Development of Midi-Pyrénées (12%), Marc Henri, Klur Alain, Doliner Michel, Fano René, and Kulpa Pierre.
The airline began its activities with air taxi services and transport of cargo and passengers using Beechcraft 99 and Cessna 182 aircraft.
In 1971, it began a regular service between Toulouse and Peyragudes using a Cessna 172 every Saturday and Sunday for skiers. This route quickly appealed to executives at Sud-Aviation in Toulouse. The same route was then considered from Bordeaux and Limoges the following year. The company created a subsidiary, Uni-Air Transports Montagne, for this purpose.
The airline also operated the nighttime postal route with DC-3 aircraft between Rennes-Brest-Rennes, taken over from Air France/Centre d'exploitation Postale.
In 1976, Uni-Air acquired Douglas DC-3 aircraft from the defunct Vargas Aviation, including F-BCYV and F-BCYT.
The airline was chartered by Europ Assistance for medical transport and TAT European Airlines for regular domestic transport. In 1976, it provided a Douglas DC-3 to Elf Aquitaine, which converted it into a "sniffing plane".
In 1982, Uni-Air employed 75 people and had a turnover of 75 million francs across three sectors: joint ownership and maintenance of aircraft, trading, and provision of flight and ground personnel. The company logged 9,200 flight hours, including 3,350 on Fokker 27 aircraft.
On December 1, 1984, Uni-Air International created a helicopter division for public transport and aerial work by purchasing an Ecureuil AS-350B, based in Toulouse.
By 1989, the company operated in three sectors: a Fokker-27 sector with 2 F-27 and 2 FH-227 aircraft, a jet sector with 11 aircraft including Corvette, Falcon, and Learjet types, and a sector for aircraft under 5.7 tonnes, comprising 8 aircraft such as Beechcraft 99 and Twin Otter.
Sofinair filed for bankruptcy in 1991, leading to the bankruptcy of Uni Air International, of which it was the main shareholder with 51%.
Uni-Air was among the leaders in business aviation until 1988.
After several bankruptcies, the company was acquired in February 1990 by the Parisian group Hélipart and then by the Darta company (Darnaudet Transports Aériens SA) in 1991 (Uni-Air CEO Yves Darnaudet), before being taken over by the former owners of Air Sud in 1993.
Based in Toulouse and present at Le Bourget in 1993, Uni-Air operated a fleet of five Corvettes, two Falcon 20s, a Lear Jet, and an HS 25.
Finally, Air Entreprise took over the company in 1994, becoming Uni Air Entreprise, still based in Toulouse.
The Uni-Air International Flight 602 Accident.
On April 10, 1989, the Fairchild FH-227B registered F-GGDM, operated by Uni-Air International and chartered by Europe Aero Service for a regular route between Paris-Orly and Valence in the Drôme, crashed into the Pierre-Chauve cliff near the Col de Tourniol in the municipality of Léoncel, at an altitude of 1,260 meters, during its approach to Valence-Chabeuil Airport.
The crash resulted in 22 fatalities, including the two pilots aged 49 and 59, a 48-year-old flight attendant, and 19 passengers.
The Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety concluded that the accident was caused by a navigation error on the part of the Uni-Air International crew.
Notes and References.
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