The company obtained two former Pan American World Airways Boeing 747-100 aircraft, converted them into a high density seating layout capable of carrying 492 passengers and re-registered them as LX-GCV and LX-FCV.

Lionair won a major contract with the fast expanding British tour company Airtours, operating long haul Caribbean and Florida routes.

This caused much confusion as some passengers thought they were flying with the (now defunct) British Charter airline Orion Airways of East Midlands.

Lionair began to experience a string of delays due to aircraft technical issues, sometimes seeing its Airtours holiday passengers stranded for days.

From spring 1989 Lionair flew charters for Air France and UTA from Paris to destinations in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana and Reunion.