French airline XL Airways France has suspended ticket sales. The airline said in a statement to passengers that the move was “due to its financial difficulties”.
“For over a year, the management has negotiated with several potential buyers. These negotiations have not been successful,” said the company, less than three weeks after another French airline, Aigle Azur, was forced to make the same decision and enter insolvency.
XL Airways France was founded in 1995 by Cédric Pastour as Société de Transport Aérien Régional and was trading as Star Europe. In 1997, it changed its name to Star Airlines and later on, in 2006, the airline changed its name to the actual XL Airways France.
The airline operated scheduled flights mainly to long-haul destinations in Africa, the Middle East, the United States, and the Caribbean, as well as charter flights to medium-haul destinations in the Mediterranean, mostly out of Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.
According to its website, the French airline employs more than 600 pilots, flight attendants and ground staff and has a fleet of four A330 aircraft (including 1 A330-300 and 3 A330-200).