Originally Posted by
SpringHeeledJack
They did do some flights into LHR subbing for Air France here and there, but Air Inter's Mercure aircraft did the Paris Orly-Nice and Marseille routes until the A300's took over. These were just internal trunk routes rather than holiday flights. I flew in one a bit later between Paris Orly and Avignon just before they were retired and sent out to various museums.
They also operated, around 1989, an Air France-badged/coded route from Paris to Gatwick. Given that they had the JT8D off the 737-200 and slightly looked like an oversized one as well, they possibly qualify for a peripheral mention here.
Might be their only international schedule for the grand fleet of 10 outside France. When Airbus first wanted to do the A320 there were several doubters who pointed to the Mercure and said it was the same size and would have the same sales fate.
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