Private company

Air Orient

Logo: Air Orient, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons³

French airline

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1929Founded¹

HeadquartersParis¹
Founded inParis¹

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Air Orient was an airline based in France, created in 1929 by the merger of Air Asie (c. 1928) and Air Union Lignes d’Orient (c. 1927 – renamed from Messageries Transaeriennes 1923). As its name suggests, it specialized in flights to the Orient and the Far East. The winged seahorse was chosen as the company's symbol and was inherited by Air France upon its incorporation. A weekly service linked Marseille to Saigon (then French Indochina), a journey that took ten and a half days and touched 17 airports in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The airline was merged into SCELA which, on 30 August 1933, gave life to Air France, operational from on 7 October.²

Products and brands

Destinations

The airline connected France and parts of Europe to the Middle East and Far East, many of which were French colonial outposts:

France – Paris, Lyon, Marseille

Great Britain – London

Italy – Naples

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Greece – Corfu, Athens

Lebanon – Beirut

Syria – Damascus, Aleppo

Iraq – Baghdad

Persia – Bushehr (Bouchir), Jask (Djask)

India – Allahabad, Karachi, Jodhpur, Calcutta

Siam – Bangkok

Burma – Rangoon, Akyab

Indochina – Saigon

Fleet

Chantiers Aéro-Maritimes de la Seine CAMS 53 seaplanes - 2

SPCA Météore 63 – 3 from Air Union Lignes d’Orient

Farman F.190

From Wikipedia’s article on Air Orient, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.⁴

Timeline

1933Dissolved Dissolved¹
1929Founded Founded in Paris¹

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

1
WikidataAir Orient on Wikidata
2
WikipediaAir Orient on Wikipedia
3
Wikimedia CommonsAir Orient logo by Air Orient, Public domain
4
WikipediaAir Orient on Wikipedia (revision used)