Air Corsica

If you stand at the fence in Marseille, Nice or Paris Orly in summer, you see them again and again between the big names: an ATR 72 or an A320 with the Tête de Maure in the logo. Air Corsica is not a big airline, but one with a clear mission – it connects Corsica with the mainland, all year round and in every season. For spotters it is exciting because the small fleet is manageable, many aircraft carry their own names and, with a bit of planning, you can collect them all.

Air Corsica at a glance

Air Corsica is the regional airline of the Mediterranean island of Corsica. Its headquarters is right at Ajaccio Napoléon Bonaparte Airport, and it has bases at all four airports on the island. The majority of the shares are held by the Collectivité de Corse, the island’s territorial authority. The largest other shareholder is the Air France Group with a minority stake.

The company was founded in 1989 on the initiative of the Corsican regional assembly – at the time under the name Compagnie Corse Méditerranée, CCM for short. In June 1990 the first aircraft took off: an ATR 72 connecting Ajaccio and Bastia with Nice. From the end of 2000 the airline operated as CCM Airlines, and in the early 2010s the current name Air Corsica followed. The old abbreviation lives on to this day in the ICAO code CCM – more on the system behind it in the guide IATA and ICAO codes explained.

By its own account, Air Corsica carries around two million passengers a year and employs over 700 people on permanent contracts. Given the size of the island, that is a considerable role: a large part of the year-round air traffic to and from Corsica runs through this one airline.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code XK: appears in the flight number, so on the departure board and in the ticket.
• ICAO code CCM: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on most flight trackers.
• Callsign CORSICA: this is how the crew identifies itself on the radio.

With codeshares you should look closely: Air Corsica works closely with Air France, and some flights also carry an AF flight number. On routes to Italy there is also a codeshare with ITA Airways. How such double numbers work is explained in the article Codeshare flights explained. Which airline is really flying is shown, as always, by the ICAO code on the tracker – if it says CCM, an Air Corsica crew is in the cockpit.

The network: Corsica and the mainland

The core of Air Corsica is the connections between the four Corsican airports and three major mainland airports:

Corsican airport	IATA	Location	Mainland destinations with public service obligation
Ajaccio Napoléon Bonaparte	AJA	West coast, headquarters	Marseille, Nice, Paris Orly
Bastia-Poretta	BIA	Northeast	Marseille, Nice, Paris Orly
Calvi-Sainte-Catherine	CLY	Northwest, Balagne	Marseille, Nice, Paris Orly
Figari Sud-Corse	FSC	South	Marseille, Nice, Paris Orly

These routes are subject to a special regime in France: because Corsica is an island, the state together with the territorial authority guarantees a minimum level of connectivity that also applies in winter. Air Corsica names twelve such routes on which it fulfills this public mandate. For you as a spotter, that means: In Marseille, Nice and Paris Orly you see Air Corsica all year round.

In addition, the airline flies a number of year-round and seasonal destinations. These include Lyon, Toulouse, Clermont-Ferrand, Dole and Brussels Charleroi as well as Italian cities such as Rome, Milan and Florence. For summer 2026, according to available information, Air Corsica additionally expanded its network with seasonal routes to Munich, Vienna and Rennes. These seasonal routes in particular change regularly, though – don’t rely on last year’s schedule.

The fleet: ATR 72-600 and Airbus A320

Air Corsica relies on just two aircraft families. That makes the fleet manageable – and gives you a clear task: turboprop or jet?

Type	Seats (per Air Corsica)	Use	Spotter note
ATR 72-600	72	Shorter routes, e.g. to Nice and Marseille, feeder in Italy, Airbus shuttle	High-wing with two propellers, high T-tail
Airbus A320neo	186	High-demand routes, e.g. to Paris Orly	Large engines, Air Corsica was the first operator in France in 2019
Airbus A320ceo	186	Like the neo, supplementary	Smaller, slimmer engines

According to company information, the fleet comprises seven ATR 72-600s, four Airbus A320neos and two A320ceos. Depending on season and leasing the number can shift slightly; in 2026, according to available information, another A320ceo was added. For the ceo, some sources also give 180 instead of 186 seats. The turboprops come from the French-Italian manufacturer ATR in Toulouse, the jets from Airbus.

The ATR 72 has accompanied Air Corsica since the very first flight in 1990. Several generations followed over the years; from the end of 2005 the turboprop fleet was renewed with the ATR 72-500, and today only the current -600 version flies. The jet story began in 1992 with the Fokker 100; from 2002 the A319 and later the A320 took over. In December 2019 Air Corsica received its first A320neo – as the first airline in France.

Registrations and aircraft names

Air Corsica is a rewarding airline to collect because the fleet is small and every aircraft has its own identity. Two details help you place them:

• The registration series F-HXK.: Many newer aircraft are registered in this series, such as F-HXKA, F-HXKE or F-HXKZ. The letters XK are no coincidence – they match the airline’s IATA code. Some older A320s, on the other hand, carry other registrations from the French F-H series.
• Corsican names: The aircraft carry names of the island’s mountains, coasts and landscapes, for example “U Monte Cintu” after Corsica’s highest mountain, “A Paglia Orba” or “A riserva di Scandola” after the well-known nature reserve on the west coast. One ATR is named “La Liaison”, fitting its use.

How French registrations are built in general and what the prefix reveals is explained in the guide Understanding aircraft registrations.

How to recognize Air Corsica

The most important recognition feature is the Tête de Maure: the dark head with a white headband that also adorns the Corsican flag. Air Corsica adopted this symbol in its logo in the early 2010s. Added to that are the “Air Corsica” titles on the fuselage. Many aircraft also carry themed liveries, for example as part of the “Ambizione 2030” campaign or for the commemorative year “Paoli 2025” for the Corsican national hero Pasquale Paoli. Such deviations from the standard are worth it – how to track them down systematically is shown in the article Finding special liveries.

The type also helps with placing it. An ATR 72-600 is rather the exception between many jets at mainland airports such as Nice or Orly. If you see a turboprop with a French registration in Marseille or Nice, Air Corsica is one of the obvious candidates. You won’t find older ATR versions in Air Corsica’s current fleet. But you also see regional aircraft in France around Air France, such as at HOP! – if in doubt, the registration helps.

Photographing the ATR 72-600 properly

Turboprops pose their own challenge: the propellers. With too short an exposure time you freeze the blades, and the ATR looks as if it were flying with stationary propellers. With a somewhat longer shutter speed, on the other hand, you get the typical propeller disc that shows motion. How to find the right time without blurring the aircraft itself is explained in the guide Photographing propellers.

A second point is telling it apart from the competition: ATR 72, ATR 42 and Dash 8 look similar at first glance. You recognize the ATR by the high T-tail and the fuselage shape – the article Telling turboprops apart shows details. For the fleet’s Airbus jets, the guide A320neo or ceo? helps.

History: from CCM to Air Corsica

Air Corsica’s history is closely tied to French domestic aviation. From the mid-1990s, CCM cooperated with Air Inter, then the French domestic airline, which merged into Air France in 1997. When the regional airline Air Littoral disappeared in 2004, CCM took over its routes from Calvi and Figari to Marseille and Nice.

The key milestones at a glance:

• 1989: Founded as Compagnie Corse Méditerranée on the initiative of the Corsican regional assembly.
• 1990: First flights in June with the ATR 72, initially from Ajaccio and Bastia to Nice.
• 1992: The first jet joins the fleet with the Fokker 100.
• 2000: The airline operates as CCM Airlines.
• From 2002: Airbus A319 and later A320 replace the Fokker 100.
• Early 2010s: Renamed Air Corsica with a new logo featuring the Tête de Maure.
• 2019: Launch of the Airbus shuttle “La Liaison” in June, first A320neo in December.
• 2020s: Turboprop fleet complete with the ATR 72-600 and expansion of the network to Italy and Central Europe.

Air Corsica is tied to today’s Air France-KLM Group through a minority stake and cooperation, but remains an independent airline with a Corsican majority.

Spotting Air Corsica on the mainland

Your best chance of Air Corsica is at the three mainland airports with year-round service. Each has its own character:

• Nice: Short flight time to Corsica, many ATR rotations and a spectacular location by the sea. Here you see the turboprops especially often.
• Marseille: Also strongly connected with the island, a good place for ATRs and A320s in alternation.
• Paris Orly: The Airbus dominate here, because on the longer routes to Paris Air Corsica needs more seats.

In summer traffic increases significantly because many vacationers want to go to the island. Air Corsica then also flies destinations that rest in winter. Outside France, seasonal connections to Italy, Belgium, Austria or Germany, for example, offer rare chances. If you’re traveling in France, first read the guide on photographing at French airports.

You can read more about the role of small island airlines in European air traffic in the overview Regional airlines in Europe.

Common mix-ups

• Thinking Air Corsica is an Air France subsidiary – the majority owner is the Collectivité de Corse, Air France is only a minority shareholder and partner.
• Not being able to place the ICAO code CCM – it dates from the time of Compagnie Corse Méditerranée.
• Assuming every Air Corsica Airbus is a neo – the fleet also includes A320ceos; the engines are what matter.
• Assuming every ATR in Nice is Air Corsica – other airlines also fly turboprops; the registration decides.
• Equating the codeshare flight number with the operating airline – an AF flight number can be flown by Air Corsica.

Conclusion

Air Corsica is the lifeline between Corsica and the mainland – small, but with a firm place on the schedules of Marseille, Nice and Paris Orly. The fleet of ATR 72-600s and Airbus A320s is manageable, and the registration series F-HXK. and the Corsican aircraft names make collecting especially appealing. If you spot in southern France in summer, you have a good chance of catching half the fleet in one weekend.