Brit Air


Brit Air was a regional airline based at Morlaix Airport in Ploujean, Morlaix, Brittany, France, operating scheduled services as an Air France franchise from Lyon-Saint Exupéry Airport, Paris-Orly Airport and Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport.
The airline, along with Régional and Airlinair, was fully merged in HOP! since 2017 after a year of negotiation process.

History

The airline was established in 1973 and started operations in 1975. It was founded to provide services for business executives from western France, and introduced regular flights to London Gatwick in 1979. On 1 December 1995, Brit Air signed a franchising agreement with Air France Europe. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of Air France in October 2000. It employs 1,260 staff.
Since 31 March 2013, all Brit Air flights are operated under HOP! name, Air France's new regional brand name.
Brit Air ceased all flight operations in March 2017 after its merger in HOP!.

Destinations

Brit Air operated the following services :
CountryCityIATAICAOAirportNotes
CroatiaZagrebZAGLDZAZagreb Airport
Czech RepublicPraguePRGLKPRVáclav Havel Airport Prague
DenmarkCopenhagenCPHEKCHCopenhagen Airport
FranceBrestBESLFRBBrest Bretagne Airport
FranceCaenCFRLFRKCaen - Carpiquet Airport
FranceLimogesLIGLFBLLimoges - Bellegarde Airport
FranceLorientLRTLFRHLorient South Brittany Airport
FranceLyonLYSLFLLLyon–Saint-Exupéry AirportHub
FranceMarseilleMRSLFMLMarseille Provence Airport
FranceMontpellierMPLLFMTMontpellier–Méditerranée Airport
FranceNantesNTELFRSNantes Atlantique Airport
FranceNiceNCELFMNNice Côte d'Azur Airport
FranceParisCDGLFPGCharles de Gaulle AirportHub
FranceParisORYLFPOOrly AirportHub
FranceQuimperUIPLFRQQuimper–Cornouaille Airport
FranceRennesRNSLFRNRennes–Saint-Jacques Airport
FranceRodezRDZLFCRRodez–Aveyron Airport
FranceStrasbourgSXBLFSTStrasbourg Airport
FranceToulouseTLSLFBOToulouse–Blagnac Airport
FranceTarbesLDELFBTTarbes–Lourdes–Pyrénées Airport
GermanyDüsseldorfDUSEDDLDüsseldorf Airport
GermanyHamburgHAMEDDHHamburg Airport
ItalyFlorenceFLRLIRQFlorence Airport
ItalyGenoaGOALIMJGenoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport
ItalyRomeFCOLIRFLeonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport
SpainBarcelonaBCNLEBLBarcelona–El Prat Airport
SpainBilbaoBIOLEBBBilbao Airport

Fleet

In August 2019, the Brit Air fleet consisted of the following aircraft with an average age of 10.6 years:

AircraftIn servicePassengers
Bombardier CRJ-700870
Bombardier CRJ-100014100
Total36

Fleet development

Over the years, the airline has operated various aircraft types including:

AircraftIntroducedRetired
ATR 4219862005
ATR 7219912003
Bombardier CRJ-1001995
Bombardier CRJ-7002001
Bombardier CRJ-90020102011
Bombardier CRJ-10002010
Fairchild Hiller FH-227
Fokker F27 Friendship
Fokker F28 Fellowship
Fokker 10019992011
Saab 34019871998

Incidents and accidents

On 22 June 2003, Air France Flight 5672 from Nantes to Brest, which was operated by a Brit Air CRJ100, crashed 2.3 miles short of the runway when attempting to land at Brest Bretagne Airport at 23:55 local time, resulting in the death of the captain. The aircraft involved subsequently caught fire and was damaged beyond repair. The most probable cause of the accident was declared to be pilot error, as the instrument approach had not been executed correctly.