forward the date of the F100s introduction into its fleet by a year. Air Europe's inaugural commercial F100 service departed Gatwick for Brussels on 4 December 1989. The F100s introduction enabled Air Europe to increase frequencies to a minimum of three daily round-trips on most of the routes the aircraft served. (Higher frequencies were eventually offered on the Gatwick—Charles de Gaulle and Gatwick—Brussels routes following British Airways' release of slots formerly held by British Caledonian, as part of a deal to permit it to take over its erstwhile competitor.) The F100s introduction also enabled Air Europe to introduce "mainline" jet services between Gatwick and Jersey, following British Airways' withdrawal from what had always been one of British Caledonian's few, genuinely profitable short-haul routes, as well as to replace the Air Europe Express service between Gatwick and Düsseldorf. Furthermore, Air Europe's F100-operated scheduled services showed excellent load factors and enabled each new route launched with that aircraft to become profitable within three months. Ordering a new long-haul fleet and other aircraft commitments Air Europe decided to become the launch customer for the Rolls-Royce Trent-powered version of the McDonnell-Douglas MD-11 in late 1989 when it announced its intention to place a firm order for six aircraft and to take an option on a further twelve. The first of these aircraft was to be delivered in 1993. The airline intended to use these aircraft to operate a mix of long-haul charter and scheduled services, thereby helping sister company Intasun to reduce its dependence on third party suppliers to provide it with long-haul capacity. Work on licence applications to launch new, long-haul scheduled routes from London Gatwick to New York City, the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand to be operated with the new MD-11s commenced during the autumn of 1989. However, these never reached the hearing stage. In addition to the MD-11 order, Air Europe had outstanding orders for an additional 22 Boeing 757-200s, eight Boeing 737-400s as well as eleven Fokker F100s during that period. In April 1990 Air Europe furthermore signed a MoU with Airbus for a firm order covering the delivery of 40 A320 200 series twin-engined, narrow-bodied aircraft for delivery between May 1995 and December 1998. (It also took options on another 40 aircraft, the deliveries of which would have stretched to November 2001 if confirmed.) ILG's abortive attempts to take over British Caledonian Group ILG launched its first takeover