Air France is the flag carrier of France. Since its takeover of Dutch KLM, forming Air France-KLM, it is the largest airline in the world in terms of operating revenues. With more than 250 aircraft almost 200 destinations all over the world are served. The SkyTeam member was one of two airlines operating the supersonic Concorde before its retirement in 2003.
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Air France was founded on October 7, 1933, through the merger of Air Orient, Compagnie Générale Aéropostale, Société Générale de Transport Aérien (SGTA), Air Union and Compagnie Internationale de Navigation (CIDNA). The Air Orient's winged seahorse became the airline's logo. The airline’s route network at that time stretched across Europe but also to French colonies in Africa.
During WWII, the Vichy government subordinated their Air France aircraft to the German Lufthansa, while the rest of the fleet was located in Morocco and operated from there.
Air France was nationalized on June 26, 1945, and became the official French airline, responsible for the entire French air traffic. On June 16, 1948, the Compagnie Nationale Air France (CNAF) was created. The French government held 70 % of the new company.
Already in 1946, Air France launched the route Paris – New York with a DC-4, the flight time being 19 hours and 50 minutes. At that time the airline owned 130 planes, a number that was continually increased in the years to come.
In 1954, Air Inter was formed, France’s airline for domestic connections.
Air France was one of the first international airlines to operate jets. It introduced the French manufactured Sud Aviation Caravelle in 1959 and the Boeing 707 one year later. The slogan at that time was “the two best jets on the biggest network in the world”. The Boeing 747 was introduced to Air France in 1970. From 1974 on, the Air France as a national European airline became committed to Airbus.
In 1976, the new supersonic Concorde was introduced on several routes. From 1982, Paris – New York was the only one remaining. The Concorde travelled this distance at Mach 2.02 (2,200 km/h) in three hours and twenty minutes (16.5 hours faster than the DC-4 30 years earlier).
In January 1990, all government-owned French airlines were merged into the Air France group, a process similar to the one of 1933. In 1994, a new holding company, the Groupe Air France was implemented.
In 1999, Air France was partially, in 2004 completely privatised. Today, the French state owns less than 20 % of the airline.
Air France was a founding member of SkyTeam alliance in 2000. In the same year, flight 4590, one of Air France’s Concordes crashed immediately after take-off, killing all 109 people on board. As a consequence of the disaster, the five remaining Concordes were withdrawn from use in 2003 because of insufficient demand, but also because of high fuel and maintenance costs. The planes are now visible in different museums around the world.
On May 5, 2004, Air France took over the Dutch airline KLM, forming the new Air France-KLM group, which is the largest airline in the world in terms of operating revenues. Both airlines continue to fly as separate airlines, both being members of SkyTeam and subsidiaries of Air France-KLM.
On August 2, 2005, Air France Flight 358, an Airbus A340 (registration F-GLZQ) overran the runway and crashed into trees at Toronto Pearson International Airport in bad weather conditions. The aircraft caught fire and burnt out completely. All 297 passengers and 12 crew members survived, as the aircraft could be evacuated in less than two minutes. This event became known as the “miracle of Toronto”.
In 2007, the Air France fleet consisted of more than 250 aircraft and another 140 serviced by regional subsidiaries. The average plane age was 8.9 years. The airline operated 1,800 daily flights to almost 200 destinations in 83 countries of the world.
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