''Compagnie des messageries aériennes'' was a pioneering French

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...

which was in operation from 1919–23, when it was merged with

Grands Express Aériens The Compagnie des ''Grands Express Aériens'' was a pioneering French airline established 20 March 1919 and operating until merged with Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes to form Air Union on 1 January 1923. Headquartered at 3, Rue d'Anjou, P ...

to form

Air Union Air Union was a French airline established January 1, 1923, as the result of a merger between the airlines ''Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes'' and '' Compagnie des Grands Express Aériens''. Air Union was merged with four other French airli ...

History

Compagnie des messageries aériennes was established February 1919 by

Louis Charles Breguet Louis Charles Breguet (2 January 1880 in Paris – 4 May 1955 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Île-de-France) was a French aircraft designer and builder, one of the early aviation pioneers. Biography Louis Charles Breguet was the grandson of L ...

, Louis Blériot, Louis Renault and René Caudron. The first commercial route, a mail and freight service between Le Bourget Airport,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and Lille-Lesquin Airport,

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

, was started 18 April 1919 using ex-military

Breguet 14 Breguet or Bréguet may refer to: * Breguet (watch), watch manufacturer **Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747–1823), Swiss watchmaker **Louis-François-Clement Breguet (1804–1883), French physicist, watchmaker, electrical and telegraph work * Bréguet ...

s. In August, a service was started to

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. On 19 September, an international passenger service between Paris - Le Bourget Airport and London (

Hounslow Heath Aerodrome Hounslow Heath Aerodrome was a grass airfield, operational 1914–1920. It was in the London borough of Hounslow, and hosted the British Empire's first scheduled daily international commercial flights, in 1919. The site today includes the main r ...

) was started, also using Breguet 14s.Sherwood (1999) The company was merged with

to form

on 1 January 1923.

Accidents and incidents

* On 23 June 1921, a Blériot-SPAD S.27, F-CMAY of CMA was en route from

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

Le Bourget Le Bourget () is a Communes of France, commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre zero#France, center of Paris. The commune features Paris - Le Bourget Airport, Le Bourget Airport, which in turn hos ...

. It encountered technical problems and attempted a forced landing, possibly aiming for

Bekesbourne Aerodrome Bekesbourne Aerodrome was an airport located at the southeast edge of the village of Bekesbourne, southeast of Canterbury, Kent. It operated from 1916 until 1940, and had both military and civil roles. History World War 1 The airfield sta ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, but crashed onto an adjacent railway line, first hitting telegraph cables which would have softened the impact. The two passengers were unharmed, while the pilot received minor injuries having been pinned underneath the aircraft. The aircraft was written off. *On 3 June 1922, CMA's

Blériot-SPAD S.33 The Bleriot-SPAD S.33 was a small French airliner developed soon after World War I. The aircraft was a biplane of conventional configuration whose design owed much to the Blériot company's contemporary fighter designs such as the S.20. Four ...

F-ACMH en route from Croydon to Le Bourget crashed into the English Channel off

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20t ...

, killing both passengers and the pilot. *On 15 March 1923,

Farman F.60 Goliath The Farman F.60 Goliath was a French airliner and bomber produced by the Farman Aviation Works from 1919. It was instrumental in the creation of early airlines and commercial routes in Europe after World War I. Design and development The ''G ...

F-AEIE overran the runway on landing at

and collided with a building. The aircraft was later repaired and returned to service. *On 3 December 1923, Goliath F-AEIF, which may have been operated by CMA, crashed at

Littlestone Littlestone-on-Sea is a small coastal village close to New Romney in Kent, England. It was established in the 1880s by Sir Robert Perks as a resort for the gentry, at the point of the local lifeboat station. At low tide, a World War II Mulber ...

, Kent.

Fleet

(2 passengers) *

(12 passengers, 15 aircraft) * Blériot-SPAD S.27 (2 passengers, 10 aircraft) *

(5 passengers, 15 aircraft)

Notes

References

*Bluffield, Robert. 2009. Imperial Airways - The Birth of the British Airline Industry 1914–1940. Ian Allan *Sherwood, Tim. 1999. Coming in to Land: A Short History of Hounslow, Hanworth and Heston Aerodromes 1911–1946
Heritage Publications (Hounslow Library)

External links

Le développement du transport aérien en Europe (1919-1932)
Airlines established in 1919 Defunct airlines of France Airlines disestablished in 1923 French companies established in 1919 1923 disestablishments in France {{Europe-airline-stub