Airline Name
Air Liberte (Air Liberte S.A.)Here’s an alternate version of the logo, around the time the airline was bought out and managed by British Airways (1997-2000):
IATA: IJ / ICAO: LIB / CALLSIGN: LIBERTE
Founded in 1987 (Jul.), commenced operations in 1988 (Apr.), ceased operations in 2001 (Sep. 22nd)
(Merged with AOM French Airlines, rebranded to Air Lib; see below for details)Air Lib (Air Lib S.A.)
IATA: IW / ICAO: LIB / CALLSIGN: AIR LIB
Founded and commenced operations in 2001 (Sep. 22nd), ceased operations in 2003 (Feb. 6th)
(Declared bankruptcy)And the final entry, the Tunisian subsidiary of Air Liberte:
Air Liberte Tunisie
(Apologies for the low quality.)IATA: BJ / ICAO: LBT / CALLSIGN: LIBERTE TUNISIE
Founded in 1989 (Oct.), commenced operations in 1990 (Mar. 21st), ceased operations in 1996 (Jan 1st)
(Later rebranded into what is now known as Nouvelair)
Country of Origin
France / French Republic ()
Main Hub(s): Paris Orly Airport (ORY)(Rebrand shares the same hubs/bases)
Subsidiary Country of Origin: Tunisia / Republic of Tunisia (
)
Subsidiary Main Hub(s): Monastir Habib Bourguiba International Airport (MIR)
Aircraft Types Used (from those available in WoA)
(For this airline, some types are available in WoA, some not.)NOTE: In order to determine which aircraft was operated by Air Liberte, Air Lib or Air Liberte Tunisie, and in order to help avoid confusion, “x/y/z” will be used to determine what was operated by which airline; they will also be known as the “original”, “rebrand” and “subsidiary”, respectively.
(X represents the original, Y represents the rebrand, Z represents the subsidiary.)Aircraft operated (already in-game/planned):
Airbus A300 (-600, A306) - 2/0/0 former.
(Pictured below: F-GHEG - now known as N740FD, stored)Airbus A340 (-200, -300, A342/A343) - 2/4/0 former.
(0/2 for the original airline, 2/2 for the rebrand, respective to each variant.)
NOTE 2: While it was listed both Air Liberte and Air Lib operated the A343, there appear to be no media or examples proving that they operated the type with their colors or an identifiable livery; all of the media I saw of the A340s provided were ex-AOM aircraft.
Because of that, I’ve opted not to include the A343s here, as their livery was already covered in the AOM suggestion - but I will show the A340-200s:(Pictured below: Air Lib A340-200 F-GLZF - later scrapped, known as JY-AIB at end of its life)
As for the next aircraft:
ATR-42 (-300, AT43) - 6/2/0 former.
NOTE 3: Similar to before, it is documented that both airlines operated the ATR-42-300, however, there appears to be no media of Air Lib’s ATR-42s, or anything showing their markings; likely because most were operated only around the brief time period British Airways stepped in for Air Liberte, which would also explain the livery shown below:
(Pictured below: Air Liberte F-GKND - now known as EC-IVP)Boeing 737 (-200, -200 Adv, -200C, -300, B732/B732C/B733) - 8/0/0 former.
(3/1/2/2 for each variant, respectively.)
NOTE 4: Once again, it seems as if no media exists of the two 737-300s Air Liberte operated, so unfortunately, I can only include the 737-200s.(Pictured below: Boeing 737-200 F-GCJL - preserved)
Here’s that same livery with the European Union flag added on the engines:
(Pictured below: Boeing 737-200 F-GCSL - partially preserved)And here’s a bare white color scheme for this aircraft type:
(Pictured below: Boeing 737-200 F-GCLL - later scrapped, known as SU-PMA at end of its life)However, as for the -200 Adv, the only media that seems to exist of it just shows it with a bare white scheme:
(Pictured below: Boeing 737-200 Adv F-GEXJ - now known as UR-BVY, preserved)And now, the 737-200C:
(Pictured below: Boeing 737-200C F-GFYL - later scrapped, known as ZS-OVO at end of its life)Moving on to the next aircraft:
Boeing 747 (-100, B741) - 1/0/0 former.
(Pictured below: LX-FCV - later scrapped, known as N3293H at end of its life)There’s something important I wanted to note about this livery - it’s not a “full” livery.
What do I mean by this? Well, look at something like the Singapore Airlines - British Airways Concorde in-game, where each side of the aircraft represents a different airline. That’s essentially what’s happening here - the aircraft was operated by another airline, Corse Air International (later simply Corsair), who had their livery on the other side of the airframe:(Pictured below: Ditto, same aircraft as above)
Anyways, moving on:
Fokker 100 (no specific variant, F100) - 12/0/0 former.
(Pictured below: F-GNLI - later broken up, known as HP-1763PST at end of its life)Decided to start this type off with the basic livery, akin to what the ATR-42-300 above wore. However, there were more liveries beyond just that this time, such as this more detailed variant, I believe known as “L’esprit Liberte”:
(Pictured below: F-GIOG - now known as HP-1764PST, preserved)Next up, here’s a bare white livery variant:
(Pictured below: F-GIOJ - now known as EP-ASO, stored)Now, here’s an alternative version of that bare white livery, showing Air Liberte’s traditional typography:
(Pictured below: F-GNLJ - later broken up)Here’s an interesting livery - an ex-Deutsche BA Landor color scheme:
(Pictured below: F-GNLH - later broken up)And finally, a unique livery displaying “Compaq NonStop” titles:
(Pictured below: F-GNLJ - again)Anyways, with that aside, we’re moving to:
Aircraft operated (not in-game):
Airbus A310 (-200, -300, A310) - 3/0/0 former.
(2/1 for both variants.)
(Pictured below: Airbus A310-200 F-GOCJ - later broken up, known as N449FE at end of its life)Here’s a slightly different, earlier version with different aircraft type text at the aft fuselage, and no EU flag on the engines:
(Pictured below: Airbus A310-200 F-GPDJ - later scrapped, known as N450FE at end of its life)As for the -300:
(Pictured below: Airbus A310-300 F-GHEJ - later written off in fatal accident, known as 7O-ADJ at end of its life)Do note the lack of the shaded/slightly darker lower fuselage with this aircraft; I couldn’t find any pictures with the shading there, so it’s best to assume it was never applied.
Now for the next aircraft:
ATR-72 (-200, AT72) - 3/0/0 former.
(Pictured below: F-GKOB - now known as OE-LFH, stored)Here’s some more unique/colorful livery examples, such as “L’esprit Liberte” once again:
(Pictured below: Ditto, same aircraft as above)There was also this example, known as “La Pyramide du Louvre” if I am not mistaken:
(Pictured below: F-GKOA - now known as PK-YRY, stored)Do note the little Airlinair decal at the aft fuselage by the aft door - I’m unsure as to why that’s there, given the aircraft didn’t enter service with Airlinair until 2001, and the photo was taken in 2000. Maybe it was operated on their behalf? Again though, not sure.
Anyhow though, onto the next type:BAC 1-11 (-500, BA11) - 1/0/0 former.
(Pictured below: G-AXLL - later damaged beyond repair, due to weather)Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia (-120ER, E120) - 4/2/0 former.
NOTE 5: You probably guessed what this is about right off the bat; I can’t find media of the Air Lib EMB-120s; so unfortunately, I can’t include them. Don’t worry though, there will be some actual Air Lib content soon.
(Pictured below: Air Liberte F-GHEY - later broken up, known as ZS-TLK at end of its life)And here’s another example of the “L’esprit Liberte” livery:
(Pictured below: Air Liberte F-GIVK - later broken up)Onto the next type:
McDonnell Douglas DC-10 (-30, -30ER, DC10) - 7/11/0 former.
(6/1 for the original, 10/1 for the rebrand, respective to each variant.)
(Pictured below: Air Liberte McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 F-GPVD - later broken up, known as N786PT at end of its life)(Pictured below: Air Liberte McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30ER F-GPVC - later broken up, known as N810AX at end of its life)
Now, onto the only British Airways livery I could find on this type, “L’esprit Liberte”:
(Pictured below: Air Liberte McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 F-GPVA - later broken up, known as N956PT at end of its life)Now, onto Air Lib’s DC-10s:
(Pictured below: Air Lib McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 F-GTLY - preserved)(Pictured below: Air Lib McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30ER F-GPVC - again)
Now, here’s an Air Lib Express livery:
(Pictured below: Air Lib McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 F-GPVA - again)Now, onto the next, and final type:
McDonnell Douglas MD-80 (-82, -83, MD82/MD83) - 21/18/4 former.
(5/16 for the original, 4/14 for the rebrand, 1/3 for the subsidiary, respective to each variant.)
(Pictured below: Air Liberte McDonnell Douglas MD-82 ZS-OBF - later broken up)Do note two things: one, that I couldn’t find many other examples of MD-82 liveries besides “L’esprit Liberte” once again, and two, the South African registration prefix - this MD-82 in specific was known as F-GPZC while leased out to Air Liberte/Air Lib’s fleet, though once it was returned from its lease, it was reverted back to ZS-OBF.
However, while I wasn’t able to find many other MD-82 livery examples, I was able to find one, rather unique livery, appearing to bear a ‘hybrid’ livery between Air Liberte and Adria Airways, whom they leased this aircraft from:
(Pictured below: Air Liberte McDonnell Douglas MD-82 YU-ANG - later scrapped, known as N923TW at end of its life)Anyways, moving on to some more Mad Dogs:
(Pictured below: Air Liberte McDonnell Douglas MD-83 F-GHEI - later broken up, known as ZS-TRL at end of its life)Another hybrid livery - or really just the base livery with simple, additional Africair markings added onto it:
(Pictured below: Air Liberte McDonnell Douglas MD-83 F-GHED - stored)Now, here’s a bare white livery example on this type:
(Pictured below: Ditto, same aircraft as above)Next, the “L’esprit Liberte” livery once more:
(Pictured below: Air Liberte McDonnell Douglas MD-83 F-GJHQ - now known as YV485T, stored)Once again, here’s a bare white livery example, this time with British Airways typography and the lower fuselage blue:
(Pictured below: Ditto, same aircraft as above)If you recall the “Compaq NonStop” unique livery from above, here it is again on the MD-83:
(Pictured below: I think you get the idea by now)And I believe that should cover Air Liberte’s side of the MD-80s. Let’s go look at Air Lib’s side:
(Pictured below: Air Lib McDonnell Douglas MD-82 F-GPZE - later broken up, known as ZS-OBK at end of its life)Not quite sure what’s going on with that tail section - I wasn’t able to find any pictures with it fully painted, for some reason… weird.
But anyways, moving on:
(Pictured below: Air Lib McDonnell Douglas MD-83 F-GHHO - now known as PK-KAP, preserved)And finally, as for the subsidiary’s side:
(Pictured below: Air Liberte Tunisie McDonnell Douglas MD-82 S5-ABB - later broken up, known as N803NK at end of its life)Do note the little Slovenian flag at the tail - this aircraft too was leased from Adria Airways.
Anyways, this next livery set will be quite unique, as it displays aircraft operator text in Arabic, and has a few variations - it will require multiple shots, so here goes:
(Pictured below: Air Liberte Tunisie McDonnell Douglas MD-83 F-GHEC - now known as UR-COU, stored)(Pictured below: Ditto, same aircraft as above)
As for the second, and final, variant:
(Pictured below: Air Liberte Tunisie McDonnell Douglas MD-83 EI-CGI - later scrapped, known as N624MD at end of its life)(Pictured below: Ditto, same aircraft as above)
Why should this airline be added?
I’d say this airline should be added because of its very extensive, unique history, alongside a wide variety of aircraft types (with a decent portion of those provided already in-game, or at least planned to be, too). Its various liveries, such as the Air Liberte/Corse Air International B741, L’esprit Liberte Fokker 100s, and even just the standard livery (pre-BA buyout) would also work to make this airline a very notable and special addition if added.While the airline would likely be event-only, I still do think it has a lot of potential as an event airline, given how basically all of Europe can receive arrivals from this airline, as well as possibly airports further out with types such as the B741 or even DC10s - if they are eventually added of course.
Back to airports though, if you’re seeking specifics, then I was able to find they served primarily Western Europe airports, such as Amsterdam, Zurich, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Manchester, Edinburgh, London Gatwick, and as you might’ve expected, London Heathrow.
As such, I do believe that they could potentially be a special contract there in the future, but not sure about it - their service to Heathrow, from what I’ve seen, was managed by MD-80s, which as we know have yet to be added, but at the same time… who knows, really?But, in summary, I believe this airline should be added as it has a very distinctive and unique history, has a great variety of currently available aircraft types (and in the case of the B732, can allow for more options for content) along with quite a few unique liveries that could be added -and of course, would only further add to, and diversify, event arrivals as a whole, especially at European airports.
SOURCES:
Air Liberte’s Planespotters.net Page
Air Lib’s Planespotters.net Page
Air Liberte Tunisie’s Planespotters.net Page
Air Liberte’s Wikipedia Page
