Int'Air Îles is a regional airline based at Ouani Airport, Anjouan in the

Comoros The Comoros,, ' officially the Union of the Comoros,; ar, الاتحاد القمري ' is an independent country made up of three islands in southeastern Africa, located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. It ...

. It was founded in 2007 as ''Inter Îles Air'' and rebranded to its current name in March 2015. Using a fleet of six

turboprop A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. ...

aircraft, the airline serves all three islands of the Comoros, the French territory of

Mayotte Mayotte (; french: Mayotte, ; Shimaore: ''Maore'', ; Kibushi: ''Maori'', ), officially the Department of Mayotte (french: Département de Mayotte), is an overseas department and region and single territorial collectivity of France. It is loca ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

, and

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Afric ...

. Int'Air Îles is a founding member of the

Vanilla Alliance The Vanilla Alliance (french: Alliance Vanille) is an airline alliance formed in September 2015. The alliance is the 4th largest in the world as of 2018, trailing Oneworld, Star Alliance, and SkyTeam. All of the airlines within the alliance oper ...

, formed in September 2015 between several airlines based in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

Inter Îles Air Saab 340 at Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport

History

Int'Air Îles was founded in 2007 as ''Inter Îles Air''. On 27 November 2012, the airline's sole Embraer 120 made a

water landing In aviation, a water landing is, in the broadest sense, an aircraft landing on a body of water. Seaplanes, such as floatplanes and flying boats, land on water as a normal operation. Ditching is a controlled emergency landing on the water s ...

shortly after takeoff from Moroni Airport; all 29 occupants of the aircraft were rescued. Inter Îles Air suspended operations until 18 May 2013, resuming flights with a new

Saab 340 The Saab 340 is a Swedish twin-engine turboprop aircraft designed and initially produced by Saab AB and Fairchild Aircraft. It is designed to seat 30-36 passengers and, as of July 2018, there were 240 operational aircraft used by 34 different o ...

. In early November 2013, Inter Îles Air sided with Mahoran airline

Ewa Air Ewa Air is a French airline with its corporate head office on the property of Dzaoudzi Pamandzi International Airport in Pamandzi, Mayotte, near Dzaoudzi Dzaoudzi is a commune in the French overseas department of Mayotte, in the Indian Oce ...

when the Comorian Government revoked the latter airline's traffic rights to Moroni. The two airlines jointly wrote a letter to the Comorian Ministry of Transport, urging it to return the rights. The dispute was resolved toward the end of the month. Traffic rights were returned to Ewa Air, and Inter Îles Air was permitted to resume flights to

Dzaoudzi Dzaoudzi is a commune in the French overseas department of Mayotte, in the Indian Ocean. The commune of Dzaoudzi (sometimes called Dzaoudzi-Labattoir), made up of the twin towns of Dzaoudzi and Labattoir, is located on the small island of Petite ...

. On 13 March 2015, the airline rebranded as ''Int'Air Îles'' and unveiled a new livery. On 22 June 2015, Ouani Airport in

Anjouan Anjouan (; also known as Ndzuwani or Nzwani, and historically as Johanna or Hinzuan) is an autonomous high island in the Indian Ocean that forms part of the Union of the Comoros. Its chief town is Mutsamudu and, , its population is around 277,500 ...

required Int'Air Îles to pay an international tax on its flights from the airport to the French island of Mayotte, including 4 million

Comorian franc The franc (french: link=no, franc comorien; ar, فرنك قمري; sign: FC; ISO 4217 code: KMF) is the official currency of Comoros. It is nominally subdivided into 100 ''centimes'', although no centime denominations have ever been issued. His ...

s in debt. The airline had previously been paying a domestic tax, eight times lower than the international tax. Ouani Airport said that if Int'Air Îles did not pay off the debt before 29 June, it would be banned from the airport. The airline refused to pay, citing the fact that the Comorian government considers Mayotte an island of the

and thus a domestic destination; Int'Air Îles then suspended all operations. On 1 July the Ministry of Transport announced that Int'Air Îles had been charging higher prices for tickets to Mayotte than to the Comoros; thus they had to make up for it. An agreement was soon reached, with Int'Air Îles settling to pay its debts for April and May and agreeing to start paying the international tax. The airline resumed all flights on 14 July. On 21 September 2015, Int'Air Îles became a founding member of the

, designed to foster cooperation between the airlines of the

and to improve air service in the region. The other founding airlines are Air Austral,

Air Madagascar ''Société Nationale Malgache de Transports Aériens S.A.'',REGLEMENT ...

Air Mauritius Air Mauritius is the flag carrier airline of Mauritius. The airline is headquartered in Port Louis, Mauritius, with its hub based at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport. The company was placed in voluntary administration on 22 Apr ...

, and

Air Seychelles Air Seychelles is the national airline of the Republic of Seychelles. Its head office is located at Seychelles International Airport on the island of Mahé and it operates inter-island and international flights and charter flights. History Es ...

. In December 2016, the French DGCA banned Int'Air Îles from serving Saint-Pierre in Réunion, a French

overseas region The overseas departments and regions of France (french: départements et régions d'outre-mer, ; ''DROM'') are departments of France that are outside metropolitan France, the European part of France. They have exactly the same status as mainla ...

, because of its security concerns about the Moroni airport. French authorities stated that they would reconsider the ban after visiting the airport in January 2017 to assess the situation. The Comorian transport ministry responded with a ban on French airlines Air Austral and Ewa Air; however, it was rescinded following talks with French officials.

Destinations

Int'Air Île's website, accessed in January 2017, states that the airline flies to the following destinations:

Fleet

, Int'Air Îles operated two

Cessna 208 Caravan The Cessna 208 Caravan is a utility aircraft produced by Cessna. The project was commenced on November 20, 1981, and the prototype first flew on December 9, 1982. The production model was certified by the FAA in October 1984 and its Cargo ...

s, two

Cessna 404 Titan The Cessna Model 404 Titan is an American twin-engined, light aircraft built by Cessna Aircraft. It was that company's largest twin piston-engined aircraft at the time of its development in the 1970s. Its US military designation is C-28, and ...

s and one

Let L-410 Turbolet The Let L-410 Turbolet is a twin-engine short-range transport aircraft, manufactured by the Czech aircraft manufacturer Let Kunovice (named Aircraft Industries since 2005), often used as an airliner. The aircraft is capable of landing on short a ...

. In addition, ch-aviation reported in December 2016 that the airline had acquired a single

Airbus A320-200 Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...

. the airline was operating a

Saab 340B The Saab 340 is a Swedish twin-engine turboprop aircraft designed and initially produced by Saab AB and Fairchild Aircraft. It is designed to seat 30-36 passengers and, as of July 2018, there were 240 operational aircraft used by 34 different op ...

aircraft.

Accidents and incidents

* On 27 November 2012, an Int'Air Îles Embraer 120 registered D6-HUA was forced to make a

five minutes after takeoff from

Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport (french: Aéroport international Moroni Prince Saïd Ibrahim, ar, مطار الأمير سعيد إبراهيم الدولي, AIMPSI) is an international airport serving Moroni in Comoros. It is named ...

in Moroni. Destined for Ouani Airport in

, the aircraft suffered a fuel leak on takeoff and failed to return to Moroni. All 25 passengers and 4 crew members on board were rescued by local fishermen, and only the pilot suffered minor injuries. The aircraft was then written off, and Int'Air Îles suspended operations for over five months."Crash au large de Moroni : tous les passagers ont survécu"
''Imaz Press Réunion''. 27 November 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2016.

Notes

References

External links

*
Int'Air Îles at ''CAPA - Centre for Aviation''

Int'Air Îles at ''Ch-aviation''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Int'Air Iles Airlines of the Comoros Vanilla Alliance Airlines established in 2007 2007 establishments in the Comoros