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HOP! Immediate Take-Off for the Air France Group’s New Airline

In January, Air France revealed the name and commercial offering of its new regional airline, HOP!. It is the result of the merger between the Air France group’s previous three regional airlines: Brit Air (based at Morlaix/Ploujean airport), Regional (Nantes/Atlantique) and Airlinair (Paris/Orly).

HOP! aims to become the reference airline on inter-regional routes in France and Europe with a competitive offer, quickly adaptable to market changes and competition, for business or leisure travel.

As from 31 March 2013, HOP! will operate 530 daily flights to 136 destinations in France and Europe, with fares starting at €55 one way. Lionel Guerin was appointed as Chairman and CEO of the new airline.

HOP! Will have more than 3,000 employees and a fleet of 98 aircraft with between 48 and 100 seats, It is worth mentioning that, in 2012, the three original airlines had a workforce of some 2,200. The fleet of Brit Air was formed by 13 Bombardier CRJ-100s, 15 CRJ-701s and 13 CRJ-1000s; Regional was operating 4 Embraer ERJ-135s, 26 ERJ-145s, 12 EJ-170s and 10 ERJ-190LR; Airlinair fleet was formed by seventeen ATR-42s and seven ATR-72s. Accordingly, from the resulting total of 117 aircraft operated by the merged airlines, 19 will be excluded from the new HOP! fleet.

Flights operated by HOP! fit into the new organization of the Air France group. Within the framework of Transform 2015, the Group has restructured its short and medium-haul operations, which is posting substantial deficit, into three complementary areas of activity: Air France, HOP! and Transavia France.

Air France’s own short and medium-haul activity includes Air France flights which feed the long-haul network at the Paris/Roissy (Charles de Gaulle) hub, routes with a high proportion of business customers in France and Europe, point-to-point flights from Paris/Orly as well as flights departing from the Air France regional bases at Marseille, Toulouse and Nice.
As from summer 2013, HOP! will operate point-to-point flights from Paris/Orly and the domestic network, as well as flights to the hub at Paris-Charles de Gaulle on behalf of Air France.
The «leisure» area of activity, a high-growth segment represented by Transavia France, will operate flights from Orly and French regional cities to destinations across Europe and the Mediterranean.

Positioned alongside a slanted exclamation mark, symbolizing an aircraft’s take-off, the name “HOP!“ evokes rapidity and the ease with which travelers can get from point A to B.

In the picture: Embraer ERJ-170 F-HBXB, previously operated by Regional, in the new HOP! livery (Turin/Caselle airport, April 2013). (Aeromedia)

(Aeromedia, April 2013)