French leisure airline Corsair is to withdraw its three Boeing 747-400s by 2017 as part of a fleet renewal programme, says chief executive Pascal de Izaguirre.
"Three Boeing 747s will be removed from the fleet by 2017 and different options are being evaluated to replace them," he tells Flightglobal. "This will be decided before the end of 2014, leaving two full years to prepare for the introduction of new aircraft to our fleet in [the] best possible conditions."
Flightglobal's Ascend Fleets database shows Corsair's three Jumbos are all owned by the carrier's shareholder TUI. The Paris-based carrier also has two Airbus A330-200s and two A330-300s.
Izaguirre says that while "it is still too early to give any hint" about which aircraft the carrier will ultimately select to replace the 747s, he does rule out the 787. "I can already say that the Boeing 787 is definitely not an option as its capacity does not meet Corsair's requirements, especially for the Indian Ocean," he says.
Source: Cirium Dashboard