Amelia

Amelia is an airline you have often seen without noticing. The French fly only a few routes under their own name – they operate most of their flights for other airlines, for sports clubs or for companies. That is exactly what makes them interesting for spotters: an Embraer 145 with a French registration that suddenly shows up under someone else’s flight number may well be an Amelia. This page shows you who is behind the brand, which aircraft you can expect and how to attribute Amelia flights cleanly.

Amelia at a glance

Amelia is the brand name of the French Regourd Aviation group, based in Paris. Its roots go back to 1976: back then Regourd Aviation began trading business aircraft and helicopters, and in 1977 a Learjet 23 for on-demand flights was added through a subsidiary at Le Bourget. Over the decades subsidiaries in France, Africa and Slovenia were added. In July 2019 the group gave itself a common name: Amelia, as a tribute to the US aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart. The subsidiaries were then renamed step by step.

Today Amelia bundles several lines of business under one roof:

• ACMI wet lease for airlines in France and abroad
• Charter and ad hoc flights for sports teams, companies, tour operators and institutions
• Air ambulance flights, including with an Embraer 135 equipped for the purpose and a Learjet 45
• Scheduled flights on individual routes, currently Pau–Paris-Orly
• Maintenance in its own Part-145 organizations, such as Amelia Tech in Saint-Brieuc

Amelia has nothing to do with an alliance. For the Pau–Orly route, though, the airline advertises connections through a partnership with Air France – which fits a company that works closely with the French network airline anyway.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code 8R: appears in the flight number when Amelia flies under its own name – for example on the Pau–Orly route.
• ICAO code AIA: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on flight trackers for flights of the French operation.
• Callsign AMELIA: how the crew calls in on the radio.
• ICAO code AEH: belongs to the Slovenian sister operation Amelia International, the former Aero4M.

Important for attribution: on ACMI flights the customer sells the tickets under its own flight number. The departure board then shows not 8R but, for example, an AF or XK flight. What exactly appears on the radio and on the tracker depends on the respective contract. The difference between flight number and callsign is explained in the article Callsign and flight number.

One brand, several air operators

Behind the uniform name are several companies with their own air operator certificates. For passengers that hardly matters, for spotters it does – because registrations and ICAO codes differ.

Company	Country	ICAO code	Typical registration	Role
Amelia (Regourd Aviation)	France	AIA	F-	Main operation with scheduled service, charter and ACMI
Amelia International (formerly Aero4M)	Slovenia	AEH	S5-	Second air operator certificate, Part-145 maintenance and CAMO
Amelia Executive	Austria	–	OE-	Business travel and VIP flights, for example with the A319 OE-LIA

According to its own statements, the group took over Aero4M in 2012 and later renamed it Amelia International. Striking: most of the Embraer fleet wears French F- registrations, and according to the fleet list only the Embraer 145 S5-ACJ is registered in Slovenia. If you see an S5 registration on an Embraer 145, you may think first of the former Adria Airways – today it is more likely Amelia International behind it.

The fleet: Embraer at the center

According to Amelia’s fleet overview, the group comprises thirteen aircraft in 2026. The range runs from the eight-seat Learjet to the Embraer E190 with 98 seats.

Type	Number	Max. passengers	Use	Spotter note
Embraer 145	7	50	ACMI, charter, scheduled	Backbone of the fleet, registrations including F-HESR, F-HYOG, S5-ACJ
Embraer 135	1	37	Charter, air ambulance flights	F-HMOV, also in MEDEVAC equipment
Embraer 190	2	98	Charter, ACMI	New to the fleet since 2025, F-HDRI and F-HDRK
Airbus A319	2	60–68	Executive and group flights	F-HDSJ and OE-LIA
Learjet 45	1	8	VIP and air ambulance flights	F-HACP, the only business jet in the fleet

The Embraer ERJ 145 is the workhorse. According to its own statements Amelia introduced it in 2010 and today operates seven examples. Its shortened sister, the Embraer ERJ 135, is present only once; it flies air ambulance missions, among other things, according to French sources for example between Mayotte and La Réunion. In 2025 two Embraer E190s with 98 seats were added, which Amelia uses for larger groups, ACMI contracts and, according to French sources, also on the Pau–Orly route. The manufacturer of all these jets is Embraer.

Add two Airbus A319s with generous seating – one of them at the Austrian branch Amelia Executive – and a Learjet 45. That closes a circle: as early as 1977 a Learjet 23 was among the group’s first aircraft.

Historic: Beechcraft, ATR and A320

If you have been around a while, you remember Regourd Aviation with entirely different aircraft. The group’s earlier fleet included a Beechcraft 1900C, Dornier 228 and a Dassault Falcon 900EX, among others. The Beechcraft 1900 was the classic turboprop for small feeder and charter routes; the later version with standing headroom in the cabin is on the page for the Beechcraft 1900D.

From 2000, according to its own statements, the group also used ATRs – over the years ATR 42s and ATR 72s, in 2022 for example an ATR 72-600 on behalf of Air Tahiti. How to tell the variants apart is explained in the guide Telling turboprops apart. The ATRs have since disappeared from the fleet, as have four Airbus A320s, which according to French sources were retired in 2026.

ACMI: flying for others

The heart of Amelia is the ACMI business. The abbreviation stands for Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance: Amelia provides the complete package, the customer sells the tickets and sets the flight schedule. According to Amelia, such operations exist short- and long-term, typically for peak periods, when a customer’s own aircraft drop out, or when expanding the route network.

As customers, French Wikipedia names Air France and Air Corsica, among others, plus contracts for companies outside Europe such as Aircalin or Bangkok Airways. For HOP!, Amelia Embraers flew from Lorient from October 2018. According to English Wikipedia, an E190 was also in service for Chile’s Aerovías DAP. How the model works in general and why flight number and operator diverge, you can read in the article Wet lease explained.

Charters for sports teams and companies

A second mainstay is charter flights. Amelia offers them for companies, tour operators, institutions, private groups and explicitly also for sports teams and federations. According to French Wikipedia, numerous football and rugby clubs are among its customers, including well-known names from Ligue 1 and the Top 14. For spotters that means: on match day or shortly before, an Amelia Embraer may land at airports where you would never have expected it.

The difference between such operations and scheduled flights is explained in the article Charter or scheduled flight. Because charters are rarely in the public schedule long in advance, it is worth checking the tracker or setting an alert for the registrations that interest you.

Scheduled flights: few, but plannable

Amelia flies only selected routes under its own flight number. The airline currently promotes the Pau–Paris-Orly connection, daily according to its website and with connections through a partnership with Air France. Earlier routes show how flexible the network is:

Route	Period	Note
Rodez–Paris-Orly	2020–2024	First route of its own, public service obligation route
Clermont-Ferrand–Paris-Orly	2020–2021	at its own risk
Brive–Paris-Orly	2022–2024	discontinued
Strasbourg–Amsterdam	2022–2024	public service obligation route
Strasbourg–Munich	2022	public service obligation route
Pau–Paris-Orly	since 2024	current route (as of October 2026)

The routes from Strasbourg to Munich and Amsterdam were particularly interesting for German spotters, because they brought Amelia aircraft to Munich regularly. Those times are over – today Paris-Orly is the most reliable place for an Amelia sighting.

How to recognize Amelia

At Amelia the most reliable features are not the colors but type, registration and code:

• The ERJ family has become rare in Europe. An ERJ 145 or 135 with a French registration is a strong hint at Amelia – still check the registration and code, because other French regional airlines such as Chalair or Twin Jet also fly charter and contract traffic.
• Registration series: The Embraer fleet mostly wears F-H… registrations, plus S5-ACJ and the Austrian A319 OE-LIA.
• Code and callsign: AIA or AEH on the tracker, “AMELIA” on the radio.

With the ERJ 145 and ERJ 135 a close look pays off: both have the engines at the rear and the T-tail, but the 135 is noticeably shorter. How to reliably tell the regional jets apart is shown in the guides Telling regional jets apart and Telling the Embraer E-Jets apart. For the A319, the article Telling the A320 family apart helps.

Spotting Amelia

Spotting in France has its own rules, especially around fences and security areas. Before you head to Orly or Pau, read the overview Photographing at French airports. And if you want to judge how special your Embraer sighting is, the article How rare is my sighting? helps.

Common mix-ups

• Thinking Amelia is a pure scheduled airline – most flights run as ACMI or charter.
• Equating the flight number with the operator – on ACMI the customer’s number is on the board, the ICAO code AIA or AEH shows the real operator.
• Separating Regourd Aviation and Amelia – it is the same group; Regourd Aviation is now the name of the holding company.
• Thinking every S5 registration is a Slovenian scheduled airline – on an Embraer 145 it now more likely points to Amelia International.
• Confusing the ERJ 135 and ERJ 145 – the 135 is shorter and present only once at Amelia.
• Expecting old types – Beechcraft 1900C, ATR and A320 belong to the group’s history.

Conclusion

Amelia is one of France’s most inconspicuous and at the same time most exciting airlines. Behind the name stands the long-established Regourd Aviation, which developed from a Learjet operator of the 1970s via Beechcraft and ATR into an ACMI and charter specialist with an Embraer fleet. If you note the registration and ICAO code as well, you recognize Amelia even when the departure board names an entirely different airline.