La Compagnie
La Compagnie, legally incorporated as Dreamjet SAS, is a French boutique airline founded by Frantz Yvelin and based at Orly Airport in Paris, with headquarters in Le Bourget in the Paris metropolitan area. It offers all-business class flights between France and Newark Liberty International Airport.
History
La Compagnie was founded as Dreamjet in 2013. It was created and run by French Airline Entrepreneur Frantz Yvelin, with the support of Peter Luethi, Yann Poudoulec, Francois Ledreux, Nicolas Jurczyk, and Pierre-Hugues Schmit among a few others, in the hopes of making an all-business class airline with a true low-cost structure, offering business class fares significantly cheaper than those of legacy carriers.The airline's CEO for its first four years was its founder, Frantz Yvelin, until the very end of 2016. Prior to La Compagnie, Frantz Yvelin was also the founder of L'Avion, which was sold to British Airways and later became OpenSkies. Yvelin's deputy was Peter Luethi, the former COO of Indian airline Jet Airways.
The first scheduled revenue flight, already under the new name La Compagnie, operated from Charles de Gaulle Airport to Newark Liberty International Airport on 21 July 2014 using a Boeing 757-200. On 24 April 2015, the airline started a second scheduled route from London Luton Airport to Newark.
In April 2016, Frantz Yvelin announced La Compagnie was considering a fleet renewal and expansion with Airbus A321neo aircraft, which it had later confirmed with an order for two Airbus A321neos in September 2017. In September 2016, the airline announced the suspension of its route from London Luton to Newark and its intention to instead launch a second daily frequency between Paris Charles de Gaulle and Newark, citing economic reasons linked to Brexit. In December 2016, La Compagnie's sole holding, Dreamjet Participations, which was also founded and run by Frantz Yvelin, acquired 100% of XL Group Ltd., the holding company of XL Airways France, and the two airlines joined forces with the transaction completed by 12 September 2018.
In September 2017, the airline announced that it was offering all-you-can-fly passes for its Newark to Paris route, costing $40,000 per year.
In April 2018, La Compagnie relocated its Paris operations from Charles de Gaulle Airport to Orly Airport. On 5 December 2018, the airline announced a new seasonal service to Nice Côte d'Azur Airport from Newark to begin on 6 May 2019. Also in May 2019, the airline took delivery of its first Airbus A321neo. In September 2019, the airline took delivery of its second Airbus A321neo, and subsequently retired both of its Boeing 757 aircraft by the end of October 2019.
In March 2020, La Compagnie announced it would cease operations as of the 18th of that month, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Operations were expected to resume on 1 June, then postponed to 11 July, and then to 31 August.
Destinations
Prior to the pause of operations due to Covid-19 restrictions on 18 March 2020, La Compagnie served the following destinations:| Country | City | Airport | Notes | Refs |
| France | Nice | Nice Côte d'Azur Airport | ||
| France | Paris | Charles de Gaulle Airport | ||
| France | Paris | Orly Airport | ||
| United Kingdom | London | Luton Airport | ||
| United States | Newark | Newark Liberty International Airport |
Fleet
Current fleet
, the La Compagnie fleet consists of the following aircraft:Historical Fleet
- Boeing 757-200
Service