Aigle Azur
France · AIGLE AZUR · Active
Airline Identity
History
The Aigle Azur name dates to a French airline founded in 1946; the modern carrier traces its roots to Lucas Aviation, established in 1970, which took the historic Aigle Azur name and grew into France's second-largest airline behind Air France, based at Paris-Orly and flying an Airbus A320/A330 fleet to destinations in Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere. In its final years the airline was majority-owned by China's HNA Group (48%), with US airline entrepreneur David Neeleman (32%) and France's Gérard Houa/Lu Azur (20%) as other major shareholders; a dispute among these shareholders contributed to the cash crunch that triggered its 2019 collapse.
Current Operations
Aigle Azur no longer operates. Weighed down by heavy debts and a protracted ownership dispute among its shareholders, the airline filed for bankruptcy protection and was placed into receivership on 2 September 2019; it suspended all flights as of the evening of 6 September 2019. A court-supervised search for a buyer drew roughly 14 takeover offers, but none was judged financially viable, and the Paris commercial court ordered the airline's liquidation on 27 September 2019. Some of its slots, routes and aircraft were subsequently picked up by other French carriers, but no successor airline operates under the Aigle Azur name or as its direct continuation.
Last verified 2026-09-02· Source: airline public disclosures, company press releases & aviation-industry reporting.