domestic air routes on which Air Inter competed with Air France in the pre-liberalisation era were routes linking the mainland with Corsica. In 1977, Air Inter purchased a 20% stake from Air France in the latter's charter affiliate Air Charter International, in return for ceasing to be a rival supplier of charter airline seats in the French inclusive tour market. Annual passenger numbers on Air Inter's domestic scheduled network grew steadily to 21 million, actually beating Air France one year. This established the firm as the largest scheduled domestic airline in Europe. Air Inter was also one of the few European ultra short-haul, mainline scheduled operators to be profitable most of the time and was a forerunner of today's low-cost airlines in Europe. Fares were lower than domestic air fares elsewhere in Europe and competing rail fares, with short turnarounds (35 minutes for a full 314-seat A300 was common), no seat allocation, no frills service on board and minimum crews. On 1 January 1995, Air Inter lost its monopoly on the domestic trunk routes from Paris Orly. From that day, any EU-based rival was free to compete on these routes, without restrictions on capacity, frequency or fares. The sale of controlling stakes in Air Inter and UTA to Air France, as well as integration of both of the former into the latter, was part of a French government plan to create a unified, national carrier with the economies of scale and global reach to counter threats from the liberalisation of the EU's internal air transport market. Fleet Air Inter pioneered Category 3 all-weather landings and started operating Category 3 minima with Caravelles — upgrading with enhanced head-up displays on Mercure and A320s. Listed below are the main aircraft types that were part of Air Inter's fleet at one point or another throughout its 37 years of continuous operations: Airbus A300 B2/B4 series Airbus A320 100/200 series Airbus A321-100 Airbus A330-300 Dassault Mercure Douglas DC-3/C-47 Fokker F27 Friendship 500 series Fokker 100 Nord 262 Sud Aviation Caravelle III series/12 series ("Super 12") Vickers Viscount 700 series. Air Inter entered the jet age with the Caravelle III. Air Inter was an early operator of the Airbus A300, the European aircraft manufacturer's first commercial jetliner and the airline's first widebodied aircraft. The fleet reached 22 aircraft at its peak with aircraft being acquired second hand up to 1992. Air Inter was also a