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Discover Tunisair History

1948-1957: The BIRTH OF AN AIRLINE

On the 21st of October 1948 Tunisair was established as Tunisia's flag carrier by issuance of the first Decree approving the statutes of "Tunisair" (formerly known as Tunis Air until 1990) , with a capital of 60 million French Francs to be shared between the Tunisian government and Air France.
The company was first headquartered at 1, rue d'Athčnes,Tunis..
Until December 7, 1948, date of the first constitutional Assembly at Dar el Bey, the newspapers at that time did not mention the birth of "Tunis Air". Mr Pomey was then appointed General Director.

A few months later, in February 1949, Lahbib Jellouli and Abdelaziz Ben Khelil, were the first Tunisian nationals appointed as members of the Board of Directors.

That same year was marked by the recruitment of the first Tunisian employee, Hamadi Ziadi.
Tunisair started its effective operation as of April 1949 using 4 Dakota ( DC3) purchased from the US Army for an amount of 56.5 million francs and bearing a logo with a winged gazelle.

The first DC 4 was then acquired in 1954, followed by a second DC 4 on March 30, 1956. It launched then its first non-stop flight "Tunis-Paris" in 1956. In fact, Tunisair used to operate only regional stopover flights to Algeria, Libya, Nice, Marseilles, Corsica, and Rome and domestic flights between Tunis, Gabčs, Sfax and Djerba.

During this same year, Tunisair celebrated the transport of 100 000 passengers and reported a net profit of 114 million francs.

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