IATA code. And to have an IATA code, you have to be a scheduled airline. APG has therefore expressed the wish to be autonomous on this point and to have its own in-house airline, for its own needs in the broa- dest sense of the term. Its objective will never be to be an airline with a major activity, but vis-à-vis the supervisory authorities, to maintain its status as a scheduled airline: when you invest in an aircraft, you still have to fly it, at the very least. Our roadmap is to be a scheduled airline, carrying passengers, so that we can obtain an IATA code, dis- tribute ourselves in the GDSs and use this code for interline ticketing. In order to easily establish interline ticke- ting partnership contracts with airlines around the world, it is necessary to obtain the Operational Safety Audit (IOSA): this is a certification issued by IATA and renewed every two years . The auditors come from all over the world: every time, they are surprised by APG Airlines, because they are used to auditing big airlines: we are the smallest scheduled airline in the world to be audited for IOSA. Imagine that we have exactly the same constraints as a company like Air France, without exaggerating: vis-à-vis the DGAC, vis-à-vis IATA, for IOSA. So we are audited like them. We have the same set of criteria to meet. Now, as far as the choice of route is concerned, we studied which routes were available, and above all we took into account the constraints relating to the maintenance of this aircraft: it's a Beechcraft and there's a maintenance centre in Toulouse. Being based in Toulouse, APG Airlines then carried out a market study which led to the choice of Lorient for this unique route.
Sophie Balandras: The APG teams worked as a team, all over the world: the project to change the look was presented to them and a competition was organised internally to present projects. There was a lot of enthusiasm for the idea, it was fun. The APG Jordan project was selected.
Class & Relax Lifestyle Magazine: What is your clien- tele on this Toulouse-Lorient route?
Sophie Ballandras: We have a repeat customer base, we target businessmen and businesswomen who have activities both in Toulouse and Lorient: we have regulars on this route where we operate, from Monday to Friday, one flight a day; not all year round: this Beechcraft has to be maintained every 200 hours. We are obliged to carry out this mainte- nance at least twice a year. On the other hand, we suspend operations from mid-July to the end of August, as our clientele is really business. Class & Relax Lifestyle Magazine : Your aircraft recently changed its livery and was repainted. How did you decide on the new look?
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