Air Austral

Among the widebody jets of Air France, Emirates and the rest, an aircraft that has come from very far away now and then stands out at Paris-Charles de Gaulle: a Boeing 777-300ER or 787-8 with “Air Austral” titles. It has flown more than 9,000 kilometers from the Indian Ocean, from La Réunion or Mayotte. The airline’s fleet is small, and every aircraft carries a tail in its own color – ideal for anyone who collects registrations. Here you learn how to place, recognize and best catch Air Austral.

Air Austral at a glance

Air Austral is the airline of La Réunion, a French island in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar. La Réunion is an overseas département and thus part of France and the EU – that is why, despite its location in the southwest Indian Ocean, Air Austral is a French airline with French registrations. Its headquarters and most important hub is Roland Garros Airport in Sainte-Marie, right next to the island’s capital Saint-Denis. The airline has a second base in Dzaoudzi on Mayotte, the second French département in the region.

The business rests on two pillars. On long-haul, Air Austral connects La Réunion and Mayotte with Paris-Charles de Gaulle; Boeing 777-300ERs and Boeing 787-8s are ready for that. In regional service, the airline flies to its neighbors in the Indian Ocean and to southern Africa – for example to Mauritius, Madagascar, the Comoros and Johannesburg. Bangkok comes on top as the only destination in Asia.

Air Austral belongs to none of the three big alliances. In the region, though, it is well connected: it is a member of the Vanilla Alliance, a group of Indian Ocean airlines founded in 2015, and has codeshare agreements with Air France, Air Mauritius and Kenya Airways, among others.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code UU: appears in the flight number, so on the departure board in Paris and on the ticket.
• ICAO code REU: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on flight trackers.
• Callsign REUNION: this is how the crew identifies itself on the radio – fitting for the home island.

The ICAO code REU is easy to remember because it points straight to La Réunion. With the IATA code UU it is different: it has nothing to do with the name. If you search the tracker for Air Austral, it is therefore best to filter for REU.

History: from Réunion Air Service to Air Austral

The roots go back to 1974. The entrepreneur Gérard Ethève founded Réunion Air Service, the island’s first commercial airline. At first it was about small connections in the region, including to the uninhabited French Îles Éparses. In 1977 the route to Mayotte followed, flown with a Hawker Siddeley HS 748 – a turboprop with a good 30 seats.

In 1986 the company renamed itself Air Réunion, and in 1990 the current name Air Austral followed. Around the same time Sematra came into play, a company of the La Réunion region, the département and the chamber of commerce. It is still one of the most important owners today. Air France was also involved for a time but later withdrew.

Air Austral made the big leap to long-haul in June 2003: with two Boeing 777-200ERs it flew to Paris-Charles de Gaulle on its own for the first time. In the following years the network grew strongly – at times Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Nantes and Toulouse were on the schedule, as well as Sydney and Nouméa in New Caledonia and Chennai in India.

An order made headlines in 2009: Air Austral ordered two Airbus A380s in an all-economy version for the route to Paris. They were never delivered. In 2012 the airline ran into financial difficulties, the founder had to go, many routes were cut, and the A380 order was put on hold and eventually abandoned.

After that Air Austral reorganized. In 2013 it took 51 percent of Ewa Air on Mayotte, and in 2015 it ordered two Boeing 787-8s and leased two new 777-300ERs; the single 777-200LR was sold. From 2017 to 2020 Air Austral also held a stake in Air Madagascar, today’s Madagascar Airlines; the partnership ended in 2020. A joint venture with Corsair for the Indian Ocean routes, announced in 2021, was called off again in 2022.

The pandemic worsened the financial situation. In early 2023 the EU Commission approved a restructuring plan with state aid, supplemented by money from Sematra and private investors from La Réunion who joined forces in the group Run Air. Since then the airline has been almost entirely in regional hands. In October 2024 the company leadership changed again.

The fleet: three types, few examples

Air Austral’s fleet is manageable. According to reference sources, it looks like this in fall 2026:

Type	Number	Seats	Use	Spotter note
Boeing 777-300ER	3	438 (14 business, 40 premium economy, 384 economy)	La Réunion–Paris	The long-haul workhorse, most often seen at CDG
Boeing 787-8	2	262 (18 business, 244 economy)	Paris, Mayotte–Paris	Smallest long-haul type, also nonstop from Mayotte
Airbus A220-300	2 active, 1 stored	132 (12 premium economy, 120 economy)	Regional network in the Indian Ocean	In Europe only on ferry flights or for maintenance
Airbus A320neo	2 on order	–	Replacement for the A220	Not yet in service

The 777-300ER is the backbone of the Paris route. With 438 seats it brings many passengers at once over more than 9,000 kilometers – on this route many families, students and vacationers travel between the island and the mainland. Air Austral had operated 777 variants earlier: the 777-200ER from 2003, a 777-200LR from 2011 to 2015 and a first generation of 777-300ERs. The manufacturer of both long-haul types is Boeing, while the A220 and A320neo come from Airbus.

The 787-8 is smaller and more economical. It also flies to Paris and on the special Mayotte–Paris route. This connection is nonstop; only in bad weather or with a full load may a stopover in Nairobi be necessary. A curiosity on the side: in summer 2018 Air Austral briefly deployed a leased Airbus A380 from Hi Fly – the only A380 in its service, after its own order was never delivered.

The regional fleet: from ATR to A220

For the region Air Austral long relied on ATR 72-500s and Boeing 737s. The ATRs flew from 2000 to 2022, and the last 737-800 left the fleet in October 2023. In 2019 the airline chose the Airbus A220-300 as the successor. At Air Austral, however, the A220 had recurring problems with its Pratt & Whitney engines, and one of the aircraft is stored. Two Airbus A320neos are on order as a replacement. How quickly the switch comes is open – check a current fleet list before a targeted search.

How to recognize Air Austral

Since a new brand identity in September 2014, Air Austral has had a design principle of its own: every aircraft carries a tail in a different color. The “Air Austral” titles are clearly legible on the fuselage. For spotters this is a gift – you can tell the few aircraft apart by the tail alone and get a new subject with every new color.

The second strong feature is the registration. Air Austral is registered in France but, like many airlines from the overseas territories, uses identifiers starting with F-O. The A220s, for example, carry F-OMER and F-OTER. An F-O on the fuselage is a good hint at Paris that an aircraft comes from overseas – even though not every airline from the overseas territories registers this way consistently.

777-300ER or 787-8?

Both types wear the same livery, but their silhouettes differ clearly. The guide Telling the Boeing 777 and 787 apart explains this in detail.

Spotting Air Austral at Paris-CDG

In Europe Air Austral is concentrated on one destination: Paris-Charles de Gaulle. That is the most important difference from the other Réunion airlines. Corsair and French bee fly their Réunion routes from Paris-Orly, and Air Caraïbes is also at home there.

The number of flights fluctuates with the season; during the French school vacations demand on routes to the overseas territories is usually higher. If you are looking for a specific aircraft, an alert helps – how that works in general is explained in the guide Setting up notifications for aircraft, types and airlines. For planning, it is worth checking CDG’s current schedule; spots, getting there and local rules are covered in the guide Plane spotting at Paris-Charles de Gaulle.

The network in the Indian Ocean

If you experience Air Austral in its home region, you mainly see its role as a link between the islands. From Saint-Denis the airline flies to destinations including:

• Mayotte: Dzaoudzi, also the second base with its own Paris connection
• Mauritius: Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Airport in the southeast of the island, plus seasonally the small neighboring island of Rodrigues
• Madagascar: Antananarivo, Nosy Be, Toamasina and Antsiranana, partly seasonal
• Comoros: Moroni, seasonal
• South Africa: Johannesburg
• Asia: Bangkok, where Air Austral cooperates with Thai Airways

In the region you meet Air Austral alongside Air Mauritius, Madagascar Airlines and Air Seychelles. It is linked with some of these airlines through the Vanilla Alliance or codeshares. The subsidiary Ewa Air complements the network from Mayotte with ATR 72-600s to destinations in the Comoros and Madagascar. The route network changes again and again; the list above is a snapshot.

Common mix-ups

• Confusing Air Austral with Austral Líneas Aéreas – the former Argentine domestic airline Austral Líneas Aéreas has nothing to do with La Réunion.
• Taking every Réunion aircraft for Air Austral – Air France, Corsair and French bee also fly to La Réunion. Type and airport help: Corsair comes with the A330neo, French bee with the A350 – both to Orly. Air France also serves La Réunion.
• Mixing up the 777-300ER and 787-8 – fuselage length and landing gear are unambiguous, the tail is colorful on both.
• Expecting the A220 in Europe – the A220s fly in the region, not to Paris.
• Reading UU as a country abbreviation – the IATA code is purely an airline identifier; only the ICAO code REU points to La Réunion.

Conclusion

Air Austral is a small airline with a long reach. With a handful of widebody jets it connects La Réunion and Mayotte with Paris over more than 9,000 kilometers while also keeping a network in the Indian Ocean running. Its history is eventful – from the turboprop to Mayotte through the never-delivered A380s to the rescue by regional investors. For spotters it is a rewarding target: few aircraft, each with its own tail color, and in Europe found at only one airport.