Regional Airlines S.A. was a French regional airline headquartered at Nantes Atlantique Airport, in Bouguenais, Loire-Atlantique department, France.
History
The airline was formed on 1 January 1992 by the merger of Air Exel, Air Vendée and Avions Taxis Pyrénéens regional airlines, and scheduled operations operated by Air Aquitaine Transport aviation company. At the beginning the airline was legally a subsidiary of Air Vendée (79% shareholding) but after a few years majority ownership was taken over by Air France.
On 30 March 2001 Regional Airlines, Flandre Air, and Proteus Airlines merged their operations. In September of that same year Regional Airlines changed the corporate name to Régional Compagnie Aérienne Européenne and just Régional marketing and trading name was adopted.
On 31 March 2013 all operations were branded HOP!, an Air France-linked trademark. In March 2017 HOP! became a fully registered air carrier, always working in close connection with Air France.
Fleet
In early years the fleet included the following aircraft types, all inherited from the founding airlines: BAe Jetstream 31 Fairchild Metroliner II Fairchild Metroliner III Saab 340
At the beginning of 2001 the fleet included the following aircraft types: 1 Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia 6 Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia Advanced 4 Embraer ERJ 135 12 Embraer ERJ-145 10 Saab 2000
Destinations International Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bilbao, Copenhagen, Geneva, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Milan, Porto, Turin Domestic Ajaccio, Angers, Angouleme, Brest, Biarritz, Bordeaux, Bourges, Clermont-Ferrand, Caen, Dijon, Basle, Le Havre, Lille, La Rochelle, Lyon, Montpellier, Marseille, Nice, Nantes, Rennes, Strasbourg, Toulon, Toulouse
References
Further reading Jean de Galard, "Quatre transporteurs créents Regional Airlines", Air et Cosmos weekly magazine, Paris, 16-22 December 1991 Olivier Constant, "Wave of success", Commuter World monthly magazine, U.S.A., December 1997-January 1998 Olivier Constant. "French connection", Commuter World monthly magazine, U.S.A., August 1998
See also Cygnus Air