Air France Airline Flight Information

Air France was created in 1933 as a result of a merger between Air Orient, Compagnie Générale Aéropostale, Société Générale de Transport Aérien (SGTA) (the first commercial airline in France founded in 1919) Air Union and Compagnie Internationale de Navigation Aérienne (CIDNA). As a direct result of this merger, the newly born Air France inherited an extensive route network across Europe, the French colonies, North Africa and beyond.

During World War II, Air France temporarily moved its operations to Casablanca, Morocco but in 1946 it appointed its first flight attendants and opened its first air terminal at Les Invalides in central Paris that was linked to Paris Le Bourget Airport. By that time Air France already had the world’s longest route network and its first direct flight between Paris and New York which took twenty hours.

By 1948 Air France had the world’s largest aircraft fleet with 130 aircrafts and was almost totally held by the French government. Max Hymans was appointed president of Air France during the same year and initiated modernization by introducing state-of-the-art jet aircraft and by the following year became co-founder of the of Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques (SITA).

By1952 Air France network expanded even further and its operations were moved to Paris Orly Airport. The French government, through numerous laws and mandates, forced Air France to give up much of its domestic monopoly and then a part of its international network to smaller, privately owned airlines.

Beginning with 1974 and onwards, Air France shifted its operations to the newly built Charles de Gaulle Airport and in 1976 it began its supersonic Concorde (twice the speed of light) services which slowly expanded to Rio, New York JFK , Washington Dulles, and Mexico City. All of Air France Condordes were permanently grounded in 2003 following the accident in 2000 and due to their high fuel and maintenance costs. 

By 1983, Air France’s personnel numbered more than 34,000, it operated about 100 jet aircraft (including 33 Boeing 747s) and its ever-expanding network serviced 150 destinations in 73 countries. This made Air France the fourth largest passenger airline in the world as well as the second largest freight carrier.

The French government relaxed its rigidity over the aviation policy in 1986, thus enabled Air France to thrive with little or no constraints. Air France was, therefore, allowed to eliminate much of its competition by acquiring the semi-public Air Inter and the totally privately owned UTA in 1990.

Today, Air France, a subsidiary of Air France-KLM Group, is Europe’s largest airline company, the world largest company in terms of operating revenues and the third largest in the world in terms of network mileage. It is based in Paris, France with its global hub at the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and its secondary hubs are at the Paris Orly Airport, the Lyon Saint-Exupéry Airport and the Nice Côte d’Azur Airport. Air France operates passenger and cargo services to 185 destinations in eighty-three countries. Prior to its merge with KLM in 2004 at which time it was largely privatized, Air France employed 102,422 workers, and is accredited by IATA with the IATA Operations Safety Audit (IOSA).

With an airline of such proportions and magnitude and with its extensive global service, Air France is where interested passengers will find convenient flights to just about anywhere at the most competitive prices, especially through their official website at http://www.airfrance.com/.

Bon voyage!

Posted in France Vacation Guide