Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the

flag carrier A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by the government for international operations. Hist ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

headquartered in

Tremblay-en-France Tremblay-en-France (; ) is a commune in the north-eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. More than one-quarter of Charles de Gaulle Airport lies within the territory of the commune of Tremblay-en-France, in p ...

. It is a subsidiary of the

Air France–KLM Air France–KLM S.A., also known as Air France–KLM Group, is a Franco-Dutch airline holding company incorporated under French law with its headquarters at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Tremblay-en-France, near Paris. The group has offices in ...

Group and a founding member of the

SkyTeam SkyTeam is one of the world's three major airline alliances. Founded in June 2000, SkyTeam was the last of the three alliances to be formed, the first two being Star Alliance and Oneworld, respectively. Its annual passenger count is 630 million ...

global airline alliance. , Air France serves 29 destinations in France and operates worldwide scheduled passenger and cargo services to 201 destinations in 78 countries (93 including

overseas departments and territories of France Overseas France (french: France d'outre-mer) consists of 13 French-administered territories outside Europe, mostly the remains of the French colonial empire that chose to remain a part of the French state under various statuses after decolon ...

) and also carried 46,803,000 passengers in 2019. The airline's global hub is at

Charles de Gaulle Airport Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (french: Aéroport de Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle, ), also known as Roissy Airport or simply Paris CDG, is the principal airport serving the French capital, Paris ( and its metropolitan area), and the largest intern ...

with

Orly Airport Paris Orly Airport (french: Aéroport de Paris-Orly), commonly referred to as Orly , is one of two international airports serving the French capital, Paris, the other one being Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). It is located partially in Orly an ...

as the primary domestic hub. Air France's

corporate headquarters Corporate headquarters is the part of a corporate structure that deals with important tasks such as strategic planning, corporate communications, taxes, law, books of record, marketing, finance, human resources, and information technology. Corpor ...

, previously in

Montparnasse Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. Montparnasse has bee ...

, Paris, are located on the grounds of

, north of Paris. Air France was formed on 7 October 1933 from a merger of

Air Orient Air Orient was an airline based in France. Created in 1929 from the merger of ''Air Asie'' (c. 1928) and ''Air Union Lignes d’Orient'' (c. 1927 – renamed from Messageries Transaeriennes 1923), the short lived airline was merged with Air Franc ...

Air Union Air Union was a French airline established January 1, 1923, as the result of a merger between the airlines ''Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes'' and '' Compagnie des Grands Express Aériens''. Air Union was merged with four other French airli ...

, Compagnie Générale Aéropostale,

Compagnie Internationale de Navigation Aérienne CFRNA ("The French-Romanian Company for Air Transport"; french: Compagnie franco-roumaine de navigation aérienne; ro, Compania franco-română de navigație aeriană) was a French–Romanian airline, founded on 1 January 1920. Its name changed ...

(CIDNA), and Société Générale de Transport Aérien (SGTA). During the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

, from 1950 until 1990, it was one of the three main

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

scheduled airlines operating in Germany at

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

Tempelhof Tempelhof () is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. It is the location of the former Tempelhof Airport, one of the earliest commercial airports in the world. The former airport and surroundings are now a park called ...

and

Tegel Tegel () is a locality (''Ortsteil'') in the Berlin borough of Reinickendorf on the shore of Lake Tegel. The Tegel locality, the second largest in area (after Köpenick) of the 96 Berlin districts, also includes the neighbourhood of ''Saatwinkel'' ...

airports. In 1990, it acquired the operations of French domestic carrier

Air Inter Air Inter (Lignes Aériennes Intérieures) was a semi-public French domestic airline. Before its merger with Air France, the airline was headquartered in Paray-Vieille-Poste, Essonne.''World Airline Directory''. Flight International. 26 March-1 Ap ...

and international rival UTA –

Union de Transports Aériens Union de Transports Aériens (abbreviated as UTA and sometimes known as UTA French Airlines), was a French airline that was formed in 1963 as a result of a merger between Union Aéromaritime de Transport (UAT) and Transports Aériens Interconti ...

. It served as France's primary national

for seven decades prior to its 2003

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

with

KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...

. In 2018, Air France and its

regional In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

subsidiary

Hop A hop is a type of jump. Hop or hops may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Hop'' (film), a 2011 film * Hop! Channel, an Israeli TV channel * ''House of Payne'', or ''HOP'', an American sitcom * Lindy Hop, a swing dance of the 1920s and ...

carried 51.4 million passengers. Air France operates a mixed fleet of

Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...

and

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

widebody A wide-body aircraft, also known as a twin-aisle aircraft, is an airliner with a fuselage wide enough to accommodate two passenger aisles with seven or more seats abreast. The typical fuselage diameter is . In the typical wide-body economy cabin ...

jets on long-haul routes, and uses

Airbus A320 family The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the famil ...

aircraft on short-haul routes. Air France introduced the

A380 The Airbus A380 is a large wide-body airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and only full-length double-deck jet airliner. Airbus studies started in 1988, and the project was annou ...

on 20 November 2009 with service to New York City's JFK Airport from Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport. Air France Hop (formerly HOP!) operates the majority of its regional domestic and European scheduled services with a fleet of

regional jet A regional jet (RJ) is a jet-powered regional airliner with fewer than 100 seats. The first one was the Sud-Aviation Caravelle in 1959, followed by the widespread Yakovlev Yak-40, Fokker F-28, and BAe 146. The 1990s saw the emergence of th ...

aircraft.

History

Formation and early years

Air France was formed on 7 October 1933, from a merger of

, Compagnie Générale Aéropostale,

(CIDNA) and

Société Générale des Transports Aériens The Société Générale des Transports Aériens (SGTA) was a French airline founded in 1919. It operated until 1933 when its assets were incorporated in the newly created Air France airline. History Initially known as the ''Lignes Aériennes Fa ...

(SGTA). Of these airlines, SGTA was the first commercial airline company in France, having been founded as Lignes Aériennes Farman in 1919. The constituent members of Air France had already built extensive networks across Europe, to

French colonies From the 16th to the 17th centuries, the First French colonial empire stretched from a total area at its peak in 1680 to over , the second largest empire in the world at the time behind only the Spanish Empire. During the 19th and 20th centuri ...

in North Africa and farther afield. During World War II, Air France moved its operations to

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

(Morocco). In 1936, Air France added French-built twin engine

Potez 62 Potez 62 was a French twin-engine civil airliner, designed by Henry Potez in 1934. The French military adapted this air-frame two-years later to create the Potez 650. History The prototype of the Potez 62 made its maiden flight on January 28, 193 ...

aircraft to its fleet featuring a two-compartment cabin that could accommodate 14 to 16 passengers. A high-wing monoplane, it had a wooden fuselage with composite coating while the wings were fabric-covered with a metal leading edge. Equipped with Hispano-Suiza V-engines, they were used on routes in Europe, South America and the Far East. Although cruising at only 175 miles per hour, the Potez 62 was a robust and reliable workhorse for Air France and remained in service until the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

with one used by the

Free French Air Force The Free French Air Forces (french: Forces Aériennes Françaises Libres, FAFL) were the air arm of the Free French Forces in the Second World War, created by Charles de Gaulle in 1940. The designation ceased to exist in 1943 when the Free Frenc ...

On 26 June 1945 all of France's

air transport Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...

companies were

nationalised Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

. On 29 December 1945, a decree of the

French Government The Government of France ( French: ''Gouvernement français''), officially the Government of the French Republic (''Gouvernement de la République française'' ), exercises executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister, who ...

granted Air France the management of the entire French air transport network. Air France appointed its first

flight attendant A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are prima ...

s in 1946. The same year the airline opened its first air terminal at

Les Invalides The Hôtel des Invalides ( en, "house of invalids"), commonly called Les Invalides (), is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as ...

in central Paris. It was linked to

Paris Le Bourget Airport Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, Air France's first operations and engineering base, by coach. At that time the network covered 160,000 km, claimed to be the longest in the world. Société Nationale Air France was set up on 1 January 1946. European schedules were initially operated by a fleet of

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

aircraft. On 1 July 1946, Air France started direct flights between Paris and New York via refuelling stops at Shannon and Gander.

Douglas DC-4 The Douglas DC-4 is an American four-engined (piston), propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Military versions of the plane, the C-54 and R5D, served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s ...

piston A piston is a component of reciprocating engines, reciprocating pumps, gas compressors, hydraulic cylinders and pneumatic cylinders, among other similar mechanisms. It is the moving component that is contained by a cylinder and is made gas-tig ...

-engine

airliner An airliner is a type of aircraft for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an ...

s covered the route in just under 20 hours. In September 1947 Air France's network stretched east from New York, Fort de France and Buenos Aires to Shanghai. Lockheed L1049 F-BGNG Air France LAP 08

By 1948 Air France operated 130 aircraft, one of the largest fleets in the world. Between 1947 and 1965 the airline operated

Lockheed Constellation The Lockheed Constellation ("Connie") is a propeller-driven, four-engined airliner built by Lockheed Corporation starting in 1943. The Constellation series was the first pressurized-cabin civil airliner series to go into widespread use. Its press ...

s on passenger and cargo services worldwide. In 1946 and 1948, respectively, the French government authorised the creation of two private airlines: Transports Aériens Internationaux – later

Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux was a private French airline, based at Orly Airport, Paris. In 1963, it was merged with Union Aéromaritime de Transport on 1 October 1963 to form UTA French Airlines. Operations In the early 1950s its ro ...

– (TAI) and SATI. In 1949 the latter became part of

Union Aéromaritime de Transport ''Union Aéromaritime de Transport'' (UAT) was a French airline. It had its head office in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. Compagnie Nationale Air France was created by

act of parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...

on 16 June 1948. Initially, the government held 70%. In subsequent years the

French state Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its terr ...

's direct and indirect shareholdings reached almost 100%. In mid-2002 the state held 54%. On 4 August 1948

Max Hymans Max Hymans (March 2, 1900 in Paris – March 7, 1961 in Saint-Cloud), was a notable leftist French politician, member of the resistance, and director of Air France from 1948 to 1961. Biography Max Hymans was born is Paris on the March ...

was appointed the president. During his 13-year

tenure Tenure is a category of academic appointment existing in some countries. A tenured post is an indefinite academic appointment that can be terminated only for cause or under extraordinary circumstances, such as financial exigency or program disco ...

he would implement modernisation practices centred on the introduction of

jet aircraft A jet aircraft (or simply jet) is an aircraft (nearly always a fixed-wing aircraft) propelled by jet engines. Whereas the engines in propeller-powered aircraft generally achieve their maximum efficiency at much lower speeds and altitudes, je ...

. In 1949 the company became a co-founder of Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques (SITA), an airline telecommunications services company.

Jet age reorganisation

In 1952 Air France moved its operations and engineering base to the new

South terminal. By then the network covered 250,000 km. Air France entered the jet age in August 1953, flying the original, short-lived

de Havilland Comet The de Havilland DH.106 Comet was the world's first commercial jet airliner. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland in the United Kingdom, the Comet 1 prototype first flew in 1949. It featured an aerodynamically clean design with four d ...

series 1A Paris-Rome-Beirut. In the mid-1950s it also operated the

Vickers Viscount The Vickers Viscount is a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs. A design requirement from the Brabazon Committee, it entered service in 1953 and was the first turboprop-powered airliner. The Visc ...

turboprop, with twelve entering service between May 1953 and August 1954 on the European routes. On 26 September 1953 the government instructed Air France to share long-distance routes with new private airlines. This was followed by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport's imposition of an accord on Air France,

Aigle Azur Aigle Azur was a French airline based and headquartered at Paris Orly Airport. The airline operated scheduled flights from France to 21 destinations across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, with a fleet of Airbus A320 family and A330 aircraft ...

TAI Tai or TAI may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Tai (comics) a fictional Marvel Comics supervillain *Tai Fraiser, a fictional character in the 1995 film ''Clueless'' *Tai Kamiya, a fictional character in ''Digimon'' Businesses and organisations ...

and UAT, under which some routes to Africa, Asia and the Pacific region were transferred to private carriers. On 23 February 1960, the Ministry of Public Works and Transport transferred Air France's domestic monopoly to Air Inter. To compensate for the loss of its domestic network Air France was given a stake in Air Inter. The following day Air France was instructed to share African routes with

Air Afrique Air Afrique was a Pan-Africanism, Pan-African airline, that was mainly owned by many West African countries for most of its history. It was established as the official transnationalism, transnational Air carrier, carrier for francophone West Af ...

and UAT. The airline started uninterrupted jet operations in 1960 with the

Sud Aviation Caravelle The Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle is a French jet airliner produced by Sud Aviation. It was developed by SNCASE in the early 1950s and made its maiden flight on 27 May 1955. It included some de Havilland designs and components developed for t ...

and the

Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first flew on December 20, ...

; jet airliners cut travel times in half and improved comfort. Air France later became an early

Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022. After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, t ...

operator and eventually had one of the world's largest

fleets.

On 1 February 1963 the government formalised division of routes between Air France and its

private sector The private sector is the part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The ...

rivals. Air France was to withdraw services to West Africa (except

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

), Central Africa (except

Burundi Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili language, Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French language, French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the ...

and

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

), Southern Africa (including

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

in North Africa,

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

and

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

in the Middle East, Sri Lanka (then known as

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

) in South Asia, Indonesia,

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

and Singapore in Southeast Asia, Australia,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

as well as

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

and

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...

. These routes were allocated to the new

(UTA), a new private airline resulting from the merger of TAI and UAT. UTA also got exclusive rights between Japan,

and

, South Africa and

Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island ...

island in the Indian Ocean, as well as Los Angeles and Tahiti. In 1974 Air France began shifting the bulk of operations to the new Charles de Gaulle Airport north of Paris. By the early 1980s, only

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

, Martinique,

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...

, most services to

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...

, Réunion, the

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...

region, Eastern Europe (except the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

), Southern Europe (except

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

and Italy), and one daily service to New York (JFK) remained at Orly. In 1974, Air France also became the world's first operator of the

Airbus A300 The Airbus A300 is a wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Airbus. In September 1967, aircraft manufacturers in the United Kingdom, France, and West Germany signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a large airliner. West G ...

twin-engine

plane,

Airbus Industrie Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...

's first commercial airliner for which it was a launch customer.

Concorde service and rivalry

On 21 January 1976, Air France operated its inaugural

supersonic Supersonic speed is the speed of an object that exceeds the speed of sound ( Mach 1). For objects traveling in dry air of a temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) at sea level, this speed is approximately . Speeds greater than five times ...

transport (SST) service on the Paris (Charles de Gaulle) to

Rio Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

(via

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...

) route with

Anglo-French Anglo-French (or sometimes Franco-British) may refer to: *France–United Kingdom relations *Anglo-Norman language or its decendants, varieties of French used in medieval England *Anglo-Français and Français (hound), an ancient type of hunting d ...

BAC-Aérospatiale Concorde F-BVFA. Supersonic services from Paris (CDG) to

Washington Dulles International Airport Washington Dulles International Airport , typically referred to as Dulles International Airport, Dulles Airport, Washington Dulles, or simply Dulles ( ), is an international airport in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Eastern United States, loc ...

began on 24 May 1976, also with F-BVFA. Service to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

(JFK) – the only remaining Concorde service until its end – commenced on 22 November 1977. Paris to New York was flown in 3 hours 23 minutes, at about twice the

speed of sound The speed of sound is the distance travelled per unit of time by a sound wave as it propagates through an elastic medium. At , the speed of sound in air is about , or one kilometre in or one mile in . It depends strongly on temperature as w ...

. Approval for flights to the United States was initially withheld due to noise protests. Eventually, services to

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

via Washington, D.C. were started. Air France became one of only two airlines –

British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...

being the other – to regularly operate supersonic services, and continued daily transatlantic Concorde service until late May 2003. By 1983, Air France's

golden jubilee A golden jubilee marks a 50th anniversary. It variously is applied to people, events, and nations. Bangladesh In Bangladesh, golden jubilee refers the 50th anniversary year of the separation from Pakistan and is called in Bengali ''"সু ...

, the workforce numbered more than 34,000, its fleet about 100

(including 33

s) and its 634,400 km network served 150 destinations in 73 countries. This made Air France the fourth-largest scheduled passenger airline in the world, as well as the second-largest scheduled freight carrier. Air France also codeshared with regional French airlines, TAT being the most prominent. TAT would later operate several regional international routes on behalf of Air France. In 1983 Air France began passenger flights to

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, being the first European airline to do so. In 1986 the government relaxed its policy of dividing traffic rights for scheduled services between Air France, Air Inter and UTA, without route overlaps between them. The decision opened some of Air France's most lucrative routes on which it had enjoyed a government-sanctioned monopoly since 1963 and which were within its exclusive sphere of influence, to rival airlines, notably UTA. The changes enabled UTA to launch scheduled services to new destinations within Air France's sphere, in competition with that airline. Air France Boeing 747-100 Gilliand

Paris-San Francisco became the first route UTA served in competition with Air France non-stop from Paris. Air France responded by extending some non-stop Paris-Los Angeles services to

Papeete Papeete (Tahitian language, Tahitian: ''Papeete'', pronounced ) is the capital city of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of the France, French Republic in the Pacific Ocean. The Communes of France, commune of Papeete is located on the isl ...

, Tahiti, which competed with UTA on Los Angeles-Papeete. UTA's ability to secure traffic rights outside its traditional sphere in competition with Air France was the result of a campaign to

lobby Lobby may refer to: * Lobby (room), an entranceway or foyer in a building * Lobbying, the action or the group used to influence a viewpoint to politicians :* Lobbying in the United States, specific to the United States * Lobby (food), a thick stew ...

the government to enable it to grow faster, becoming more dynamic and more

profitable In economics, profit is the difference between the revenue that an economic entity has received from its outputs and the total cost of its inputs. It is equal to total revenue minus total cost, including both explicit and implicit costs. It i ...

. This infuriated Air France. In 1987 Air France together with

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding m ...

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

and SAS founded

Amadeus Amadeus may refer to: *Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791), prolific and influential composer of classical music *Amadeus (name), a given name and people with the name * ''Amadeus'' (play), 1979 stage play by Peter Shaffer * ''Amadeus'' (film), ...

, an IT company (also known as a GDS) that would enable travel agencies to sell the founders and other airlines' products from a single system. In 1988, Air France was a launch customer for the

fly-by-wire Fly-by-wire (FBW) is a system that replaces the conventional manual flight controls of an aircraft with an electronic interface. The movements of flight controls are converted to electronic signals transmitted by wires, and flight control co ...

(FBW) A320

narrowbody A narrow-body aircraft or single-aisle aircraft is an airliner arranged along a single aisle, permitting up to 6-abreast seating in a cabin less than in width. In contrast, a wide-body aircraft is a larger airliner usually configured with mult ...

twin, along with Air Inter and

British Caledonian British Caledonian (BCal) was a British private independent airline which operated out of Gatwick Airport in south-east England during the 1970s and 1980s. It was created as an alternative to the British government-controlled corporation airlin ...

. It became the first airline to take delivery of the

A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the famil ...

in March 1988, and along with Air Inter became the first airlines to introduce Airbus A320 service on short-haul routes.

Acquisitions and privatisation

Air Inter Dassault Mercure 100 Alain Durand

On 12 January 1990, the operations of government-owned Air France, semi-public Air Inter and wholly private

(UTA) were merged into an enlarged Air France. Air France's acquisition of UTA and Air Inter was part of an early 1990s government plan to create a unified, national air carrier with the

economies of scale In microeconomics, economies of scale are the cost advantages that enterprises obtain due to their scale of operation, and are typically measured by the amount of output produced per unit of time. A decrease in cost per unit of output enables ...

and global reach to counter potential threats from the

liberalisation Liberalization or liberalisation (British English) is a broad term that refers to the practice of making laws, systems, or opinions less severe, usually in the sense of eliminating certain government regulations or restrictions. The term is used m ...

of the EU's internal air transport market. On 25 July 1994, a new holding company, Groupe Air France, was set up by decree. Groupe Air France became operational on 1 September 1994. It acquired the Air France group's majority shareholdings in Air France and Air Inter (subsequently renamed Air Inter Europe). On 31 August 1994, Stephen Wolf, a former

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

CEO, was appointed adviser to the Air France group's chairman

Christian Blanc Christian Blanc (born 17 May 1942) is a French politician and businessman. A former prefect, Blanc also worked as head of the RATP (1989-1992), Air France (1993-1997) and Merrill Lynch France (2000-2002). Blanc was elected to the National Ass ...

. Wolf was credited with the introduction of Air France's

hub and spoke A hub is the central part of a wheel that connects the axle to the wheel itself. Hub, The Hub, or hubs may refer to: Geography Pakistan * Hub Tehsil, Balochistan, an administrative division ** Hub, Balochistan, capital city of the tehsil * Hub ...

operation at Paris Charles de Gaulle. (Wolf resigned in 1996 to take over as CEO at

US Airways US Airways (formerly USAir) was a major United States airline that operated from 1937 until its merger with American Airlines in 2015. It was originally founded in History of aviation in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh as a mail delivery airline called ...

.) In 1997, Air France Europe was absorbed into Air France. On 19 February 1999, French Prime Minister

Lionel Jospin Lionel Robert Jospin (; born 12 July 1937) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002. Jospin was First Secretary of the Socialist Party from 1995 to 1997 and the party's candidate for President of France in ...

Plural Left The Gauche Plurielle (French for ''Plural Left'') was a left-wing coalition in France, composed of the Socialist Party (''Parti socialiste'' or PS), the French Communist Party (''Parti communiste français'' or PCF), the Greens, the Left Radi ...

government approved Air France's partial

privatisation Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

. Its

shares In financial markets, a share is a unit of equity ownership in the capital stock of a corporation, and can refer to units of mutual funds, limited partnerships, and real estate investment trusts. Share capital refers to all of the shares of an ...

were listed on the Paris

stock exchange A stock exchange, securities exchange, or bourse is an exchange where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds and other financial instruments. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for th ...

on 22 February 1999. In June 1999, Air France and

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the List of airlines by foundation date, world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atla ...

formed a bilateral

transatlantic Transatlantic, Trans-Atlantic or TransAtlantic may refer to: Film * Transatlantic Pictures, a film production company from 1948 to 1950 * Transatlantic Enterprises, an American production company in the late 1970s * ''Transatlantic'' (1931 film), ...

partnership A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments o ...

. On 22 June 2000, this expanded into the

global

airline alliance An airline alliance is an aviation industry arrangement between two or more airlines agreeing to cooperate on a substantial level. Alliances may provide marketing branding to facilitate travelers making inter-airline codeshare connections within c ...

Air France–KLM merger

On 30 September 2003, Air France and

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

-based

Royal Dutch Airlines announced the merger of the two airlines, the new company to be known as Air France–KLM. The merger became reality on 5 May 2004. At that point former Air France shareholders owned 81% of the new firm (44% owned by the French state, 37% by private shareholders), former KLM shareholders the rest. The decision of the

Jean-Pierre Raffarin Jean-Pierre Raffarin (; born 3 August 1948) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 6 May 2002 to 31 May 2005. He resigned after France's rejection of the referendum on the European Union draft constitution. Howeve ...

government to reduce the French state's shareholding in the former Air France group from 54.4% to 44% of the newly created Air France–KLM Group effectively privatised the new airline. In December 2004 the state sold 18.4% of its equity in Air France–KLM. The state's shareholding in Air France–KLM subsequently fell to just under 20%. Air France–KLM became the largest airline in the world in terms of operating

revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive reven ...

s, and third-largest (largest in Europe) in passenger kilometres. Although owned by a single company, Air France and KLM continued to fly under their own

brand name A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

s. Air France–KLM remained part of the SkyTeam alliance, which then included

Aeroflot PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (russian: ПАО "Аэрофло́т — Росси́йские авиали́нии", ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; russian: Аэрофлот, , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. The ...

Aeroméxico Aerovías de México, S.A. de C.V. () operating as Aeroméxico (; stylized as AM), is the flag carrier airline of Mexico, based in Mexico City. It operates scheduled services to more than 90 destinations in Mexico; North, South and Central Ameri ...

Korean Air Korean Air Co., Ltd. (), operating as Korean Air (Korean Air Lines before 1984), is the flag carrier of South Korea and its largest airline based on fleet size, international destinations and international flights. The present-day Korean Air ...

Czech Airlines Czech Airlines j.s.c. (abbreviation: ČSA, cz, České Aerolinie, a.s.) is the flag carrier of the Czech Republic. Its head office is located in the Vokovice area of Prague's 6th district and its hub is Václav Havel Airport Prague. The compa ...

Alitalia Alitalia - Società Aerea Italiana Società per azioni, S.p.A., operating as Alitalia (), was an Italian airline which was once the flag carrier and largest airline of Italy. The company had its head office in Fiumicino, Metropolitan City of ...

Northwest Airlines Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWA) was a major American airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines, Inc. by a merger. The merger, approved on October 29, 2008, made Delta the largest airline in the world until the American Airlines ...

China Southern Airlines China Southern Airlines Company Limited is an airline headquartered in Baiyun District, Guangzhou, Baiyun District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province and is the largest airline in China. Established on 1 July 1988 following the restructuring of ...

China Eastern Airlines China Eastern Airlines Corporation Limited (), also known as China Eastern, is an airline headquartered in the China Eastern Airlines Building, on the grounds of Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport in Changning District, Shanghai. It is ...

China Airlines China Airlines (CAL; ) is the state-owned flag carrier of the Republic of China (Taiwan), and one of its two major airlines along with EVA Air. It is headquartered in Taoyuan International Airport and operates over 1,400 flights weekly (inclu ...

Air Europa Air Europa Líneas Aéreas, S.A.U., branded as Air Europa, is the third-largest Spanish airline after Iberia and Vueling. The airline is headquartered in Llucmajor, Mallorca, Spain; it has its main hub at Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport w ...

Continental Airlines Continental Airlines, simply known as Continental, was a major United States airline founded in 1934 and eventually headquartered in Houston, Texas. It had ownership interests and brand partnerships with several carriers. Continental started o ...

Garuda Indonesia Garuda Indonesia is the flag carrier of Indonesia, headquartered at Soekarno–Hatta International Airport. A successor of KLM Interinsulair Bedrijf, it is a member of SkyTeam and the second-largest airline of Indonesia after Lion Air, operat ...

Vietnam Airlines Vietnam Airlines ( vi, Hãng Hàng không Quốc gia Việt Nam, lit=Vietnam National Airlines) is the flag carrier of Vietnam. The airline was founded in 1956 and later established as a Government-owned corporation, state-owned enterprise i ...

Saudia Saudia ( ar, السعودية '), formerly known as Saudi Arabian Airlines (), is the flag carrier of Saudi Arabia, based in Jeddah. The airline's main operational base is at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah. King Khalid Internati ...

, Aerolineas Argentinas, and

XiamenAir XiamenAir, also known as Xiamen Airlines, is a Chinese passenger airline based in Xiamen, Fujian Province. The airline operates scheduled passenger flights out of Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport and, to a lesser extent, Beijing Daxing Interna ...

. As of March 2004, the group employed 71,654 people. As of March 2007, the group employed 102,422 personnel.

Open Skies venture

On 17 October 2007, the creation of a profit and revenue-sharing transatlantic joint venture between Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines was announced during a press conference at Air France-KLM's headquarters. The venture became effective on 29 March 2008. It aimed to exploit transatlantic opportunities to capture a major share of long-haul business traffic from

London Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the Airports of London, London airport sys ...

, which opened to unrestricted competition on that day as a result of the "

Open Skies The freedoms of the air are a set of commercial aviation rights granting a country's airlines the privilege to enter and land in another country's airspace. They were formulated as a result of disagreements over the extent of aviation liberalis ...

pact A pact, from Latin ''pactum'' ("something agreed upon"), is a formal agreement between two or more parties. In international relations, pacts are usually between two or more sovereign states. In domestic politics, pacts are usually between two or ...

between the EU and US. It was envisaged that Air France and

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also re ...

would begin nine daily round trips between London-Heathrow and destinations in the US, including a daily London (Heathrow) to Los Angeles service by Air France. Once the new Air France-Delta venture received antitrust immunity, it was to be extended to the other two transatlantic SkyTeam partners, enabling all four partners to codeshare flights as well as to share revenue and profit. The new transatlantic joint venture marks the Air France-KLM Group's second major expansion in the London market, following the launch of

CityJet CityJet is an Irish regional airline with headquarters in Swords, Dublin. It was founded in 1992 and has gone through a series of corporate structures. Air France sold CityJet to ''Intro Aviation'' in May 2014; in March 2016 the airline was b ...

-operated short-haul services from

London City Airport London City Airport is a regional airport in London, England. It is located in the Royal Docks in the Borough of Newham, approximately east of the City of London and east of Canary Wharf. These are the twin centres of London's financial ...

that have been aimed at business travellers in the

City A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

financial services Financial services are the Service (economics), economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, acco ...

industry. However, the daily London (Heathrow) to Los Angeles service was not as successful as hoped, and was discontinued in November 2008.

2010s

On 12 January 2012, Air France-KLM announced a three-year transformation plan, called Transform 2015, to restore profitability. The plan was to restore competitiveness through cost-cutting, restructuring the short- and medium-haul operations and rapidly reducing debt. The main objective of this plan was to turn Air France-KLM back into a world player by 2015. Air France had been losing 700 million euros a year. As the financial results of 2011 demonstrated, the long-haul operations, also subject to increasing competition, would not be able to offset these losses. On 22 February 2012, Air France released its plan for the summer schedule. Because of the uncertain economic environment, Air France-KLM set a limit of 1.4% maximum increase in capacity from 25 March 2012 – 28 October 2012. On 21 June 2012, Air France-KLM had announced its decision to cut just under 10% of the total 53,000 workforce (about 5,000 jobs) by the end of 2013 in an attempt to restore profitability. The airline expected to lose 1,700 jobs through natural turnover and the rest by voluntary redundancies. As of August 2012, the Transform 2015 plan was accepted by ground staff and pilot unions but rejected by cabin crew unions. Air France - Boeing 777-228ER - F-GSPO (Quintin Soloviev)

Air France - Boeing 777-228ER - F-GSPO (Quintin Soloviev)

At the beginning of July 2012, it was announced that Air France-KLM found partners for the new African start-up airline Air France, which was co-founded by six countries in Central Africa to replace the former

. But several problems and two partners, who decided to back out, delayed the implementation of the project. Following its launch, Air France announced it would commence operations in 2013. In September 2013, Air France introduced a brand new Economy product along with an improved Premium Economy seat and service. It is expected that the new improvements would be fitted on aircraft from June 2014 onwards. In October 2013, Air France-KLM announced it was writing off the 25% stake in Alitalia, as it was hesitant the struggling carrier would obtain the 300 million euros in financing. The group has denied Alitalia of additional funds as it is currently struggling to restructure itself to profitability with the Transform 2015 plan. In December 2013, Air France announced that Cityjet no longer meets the short haul needs of the group and is in the process of closing a deal with German firm Intro Aviation by the end of Q1 of 2014. In 2014, the airline was targeted by a negative publicity campaign, spearheaded by

PETA Peta or PETA may refer to: Acronym * Pembela Tanah Air, a militia established by the occupying Japanese in Indonesia in 1943 * People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an American animal rights organization * People Eating Tasty Animals, an ...

, for being the only major airline that permits the transport of primates for research. In 2022, the airline announced it would stop transporting nonhuman primates. On 4 February 2014, the new business product was unveiled, featuring a fully flat bed from Zodiac Aerospace. The seat was fitted on Boeing 777 aircraft from June 2014 onwards. In September 2014, Air France announced it would sell a 3 per cent stake in travel technology company

Amadeus IT Group Amadeus IT Group, S.A. () is a major Spanish IT provider for the global travel and tourism industry. Company profile The company is structured around two areas: its global distribution system and its Information Technology business. Amadeus prov ...

for $438 million. Late in 2015, Air France faced a financial crisis, which was exacerbated by a pilot's strike against the airline. The airline answered the strike by announcing it would cut some 2,900 jobs. In December 2015, Air France announced the retirement of its last

Boeing 747-400 The Boeing 747-400 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, an advanced variant of the initial Boeing 747. The "Advanced Series 300" was announced at the September 1984 Farnborough Airshow, targeting ...

with a special scenic flight on 14 January 2016. The airline operated the 747 in several variants since 1970. In January 2017, Air France received its first Boeing 787–9. In November, CityJet no longer operated on Air France flights and the affected destinations were served by Air France and HOP! from then on. In July 2017, Air France-KLM entered into a multi-airline strategic partnership with

and

Virgin Atlantic Virgin Atlantic, a trading name of Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited and Virgin Atlantic International Limited, is a British airline with its head office in Crawley, England. The airline was established in 1984 as British Atlantic Airways, and w ...

, solidifying the existing ties between the carriers. Under the agreement Delta and China Eastern would each buy 10% of Air France-KLM, while Air France-KLM would buy 31% of Virgin Atlantic. In December 2019, the purchase of Virgin Atlantic was cancelled. Air France announced it would terminate services to Iran from September 2018, explaining the concern that the route to Iran is no longer commercially viable due to the redefined

US sanctions The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Corporate affairs and identity

Head office

Air France's head office is located in the Roissypôle complex on the grounds of

and in the commune of

, Seine-Saint-Denis, near the city of Paris.AIR FRANCE HEAD QUARTERS – Roissypôle
" Groupement d'Etudes et de Méthodes d'Ordonnancement (GEMO). Retrieved on 20 September 2009.

Wil S. Hylton Wil S. Hylton is an American journalist. He is a contributing writer for ''The New York Times Magazine'' and has published cover stories for ''The New Yorker'', ''Rolling Stone'', ''Esquire'', '' Harper's'', ''Details'', '' GQ'', ''New York'', ''O ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' described the facility as "a huge white box that squats near the runways at Charles de Gaulle Airport." The complex was completed in December 1995. The French firm Groupement d'Etudes et de Méthodes d'Ordonnancement (GEMO) managed the project. The architect was

Valode & Pistre Valode & Pistre (Valode et Pistre) is a French architecture firm founded by Denis Valode and Jean Pistre. It has its head office in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, with branches operating for over ten years in Moscow and Beijing, . Based in Pa ...

and the design consultants were Sechaud-Boyssut and Trouvin. The project cost 137,000,000 euros (less than 700 million

francs The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th centu ...

). The runways of the airport are visible from the building. The Air France Operations Control Centre (''OCC'', French: Centre de Contrôle des Opérations, ''CCO''), which coordinates Air France flights worldwide, is situated at the AF head office. For about 30 years prior to December 1995, Air France's headquarters were located in a tower adjacent to the

Gare Montparnasse Gare Montparnasse (; Montparnasse station), officially Paris-Montparnasse, one of the six large Paris railway termini, is located in the 14th and 15th arrondissements. The station opened in 1840, was rebuilt in 1852 and relocated in 1969 to ...

rail station in the

area and the

15th arrondissement of Paris 15 (fifteen) is the natural number following 14 and preceding 16. Mathematics 15 is: * A composite number, and the sixth semiprime; its proper divisors being , and . * A deficient number, a smooth number, a lucky number, a pernicious nu ...

. By 1991 two bids for the purchase of the Square Max Hymans building had been made. By 1992 the complex was sold to (MGEN) for 1.6 billion

. By that year Air France had planned to move its head office to Roissypôle, taking of space inside the hotel, office, and shopping complex on the grounds of Charles de Gaulle Airport. After Air France moved to Tremblay-en-France, the ownership of the former head office complex was transferred. On a previous occasion the head office was at ''2 rue marbeuf'' in the

8th arrondissement of Paris The 8th arrondissement of Paris (''VIIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, the arrondissement is colloquially referred to as ''le huitième'' ("the eighth"). The arrondissement, ...

Foreign offices

Air France's United States offices are in the

125 West 55th Street 125 West 55th Street, also known as Avenue of the Americas Plaza, is a 23-story, office building located on 55th Street between the Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue) and Seventh Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building al ...

building in

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...

, New York City. Air France first signed a lease to occupy the building in 1991.Air France leases 29,500 sf at Avenue of the Americas Plaza
." ''

Real Estate Weekly ''Real Estate Weekly'' is a weekly American real estate magazine primarily covering New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in t ...

''. 10 July 1991. Retrieved on 24 February 2011. The site also formerly housed the New York City ticket office for Air France. Air France-KLM's head office for the United Kingdom and Ireland operations, which includes facilities for Air France and

, is located in Plesman House in Hatton Cross. The facility's inauguration was on 6 July 2006. Air France moved the office from

Hounslow Hounslow () is a large suburban district of West London, west-southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hounslow, and is identified in the London Plan as one of the 12 metropolitan centres in Gr ...

to Hatton.

Crew base

Air France Cité PN, located at Charles de Gaulle Airport, acts as the airline's crew base. The building, developed by

, opened in February 2006. The first phase consisted of of space and 4,300 parking spaces. The building is connected to the Air France head office.

Vaccination centre

Air France operates the Air France Vaccinations Centre in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. The centre distributes vaccines for international travel. Since 2001 the centre was the only French vaccination centre certified

International Organization for Standardization The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ) is an international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Membership requirements are given in Ar ...

(ISO) 9001. In 2005 the centre moved from the

Aérogare des Invalides Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global airl ...

to its current location.B. H.
Twingo travaillaient à la chaîne La station Simplon ne rouvrira qu'en novembre Le centre de vaccinations d'Air France déménage
" ''

Le Parisien ''Le Parisien'' (; French for "The Parisian") is a French daily newspaper covering both international and national news, and local news of Paris and its suburbs. It is owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, better known as LVMH. Histor ...

''. 10 August 2005. Retrieved on 5 May 2010. "Le centre de vaccinations internationales d'Air France quittera samedi le terminal de la compagnie aux Invalides (VII e ) pour emménager à deux pas, au... 148,

rue de l'Université ''Ruta graveolens'', commonly known as rue, common rue or herb-of-grace, is a species of ''Ruta'' grown as an ornamental plant and herb. It is native to the Balkan Peninsula. It is grown throughout the world in gardens, especially for its bluis ...

(Paris VII e )." GaredesInvalidesAFLogo2

Aérogare des Invalides

The Aérogare des Invalides in the 7th arrondissement of Paris houses the Agence Air France Invalides and the Air France Museum. Until 2005 the building hosted the Air France Vaccinations Centre. On 28 August 1959 Air France opened a ticket and information agency in the former air terminal in Invalides, targeting transit passengers and customers from offices and companies in the Invalides area.

Subsidiaries and franchises

The subsidiaries of Air France include: * Air France Consulting ** Quali-audit * BlueLink *

Air France Hop Air France Hop, formerly branded HOP!, is a French regional airline operating flights on behalf of its parent company Air France. The airline was founded on 21 December 2012http://www.verif.com/societe/HOP!-790151716/ after the merger of Airlin ...

(Formerly called HOP!) *

Servair Servair is a subsidiary of Air France (50,01%) and Swiss catering company Gategroup (49,99%), specialised in airline catering. Servair has its head office in the Continental Square complex in Roissypôle, Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport and in ...

* Société de construction et de réparation de matériel aéronautique (CRMA) * Sodexi Air France and Dutch affiliate

Transavia Transavia Airlines C.V., trading as Transavia and formerly branded as ''transavia.com'', is a Dutch low-cost airline and a wholly owned subsidiary of KLM and therefore part of the Air France–KLM group. Its main base is Amsterdam Airport Schi ...

formed

Transavia France Transavia Airlines S.A.S., trading as Transavia France and formerly branded as ''transavia.com France'', is a French low-cost airline owned by Air France S.A. & Transavia Airlines C.V. based at Paris-Orly Airport. It shares its corporate desig ...

, a low-cost joint venture in May 2007, based at Orly Airport.

Air Corsica ''Compagnie Aérienne Corse Méditerranée S.A.E.M.'' ( co, Cumpagnia Aerea Corsa Mediterrania), trading as Air Corsica (formerly ''CCM Airlines''), is the flag carrier of the French insular region of Corsica, with its head office on the ground ...

and

all operate flights on behalf of Air France, either as subsidiaries or as franchisees. As of January 2019, Air France was investigating how it could shut down its low-cost subsidiary Joon and absorb its employees and aircraft into the parent company.

Air France Asie and Air France Cargo Asie

Owing to the disputed status of

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, Air France could not operate flights to the island under its own name. In 1993, its subsidiary,

Air Charter Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a airline ticket, ticket through a traditional airline). Regulation Charter – also called air taxi or ad h ...

, began operating flights between Paris and

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

via Hong Kong, but after Air Charter ceased operations in 1998, a subsidiary called Air France Asie was established. The airline was one of a number of airline subsidiaries flying under the "Asia" name with the purpose of flying to Taiwan, which included

Japan Asia Airways (JAA) was a subsidiary of Japan Airlines (JAL) which existed between 1975 and 2008. JAA was headquartered in the Japan Airlines Building in Shinagawa, Tokyo. JAA was established as a wholly owned subsidiary of JAL on 8 August 1975 and given the ...

Japan Airlines , also known as JAL (''Jaru'') or , is an international airline and Japan's flag carrier and largest airline as of 2021 and 2022, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport, as w ...

subsidiary),

KLM Asia KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amst ...

British Asia Airways British Asia Airways Limited was a subsidiary of British Airways formed on 20 January 1993, based in Taiwan, to operate between London and Taipei via Hong Kong. History Due to political sensitivities, national airlines operating flights to th ...

Swissair Asia Swissair Asia AG was a subsidiary of Swissair founded due to the legal status of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and territory disputes with the People's Republic of China in order to allow Swissair to continue flying to Taiwan from Switzerland. ...

, and

Australia Asia Airlines Australia Asia Airlines (澳亞航空公司 ''Àoyà Hángkōng Gōngsī'') was a wholly owned subsidiary of Qantas set up to operate services between Australia and Taiwan ( Republic of China). History The subsidiary was established due to t ...

Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founded ...

subsidiary). The livery of Air France Asie differed from that of Air France by having blue and white stripes on the tailfin, rather than blue, white and red ones, representing the

French Tricolour The national flag of France (french: link=no, drapeau français) is a tricolour featuring three vertical bands coloured blue ( hoist side), white, and red. It is known to English speakers as the ''Tricolour'' (), although the flag of Ireland ...

. Air France Asie used two Airbus A340-200 aircraft, F-GLZD and F-GLZE, and two Boeing 747-428Ms, F-GISA and F-GISC. Similarly, Air France Cargo Asie used a 747–200 Combi (for passengers and freight), F-GCBH) or the all-cargo (F-GCBL, F-GPAN and F-GBOX). Air France Asie ceased operations in 2004 while Air France Cargo Asie ceased operations in 2007.

Outsourcing

In 2010 Air France migrated from an internally managed

Passenger service system A passenger service system (PSS) is a series of critical systems used by airlines. The PSS usually comprises an airline reservations system, an airline inventory system and a departure control system (DCS). Modules Generally the PSS is made up ...

(Alpha3) that manages reservation, inventory and pricing to an external system (Altéa) managed by

. In rail ventures, Air France and

Veolia Veolia Environnement S.A., branded as Veolia, is a French transnational company with activities in three main service and utility areas traditionally managed by public authorities – water management, waste management and energy services. It pr ...

are looking into jointly operating

high-speed rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, lines ...

services in Europe. Routes have become available to operators in accordance with European rail liberalisation on 1 January 2010.

Livery

Air France's present livery is a "Eurowhite" scheme, comprising a white fuselage with the blue Air France title and design. The tail is white with a series of parallel red and blue lines across the tail at an angle, and a small European flag at the top. The engines have the old Air France (and formerly Air Orient) logo painted on, however that has only happened on recent aircraft. This livery has been in use since the late 1970s. Prior to the "Eurowhite" livery, Air France aircraft had a bare-metal underside, extending up to a blue cheat-line that ran across the cabin windows. Above the cheat-line the fuselage was again white, with Air France titles and a French flag. The tail was white with two thick blue lines, which tapered from the rear of the tail and met at point towards the front bottom. This basic livery, with minor variations, would appear on all post-war Air France aircraft until the late 1970s. In January 2009, to coincide with Air France's new logo, a new livery was unveiled. Air France rolled out its new livery on 11 February 2009. The 2009 livery saw the tail slightly changed; there are now 3 blue bars running down instead of 4 previously. The bars also now curve at the bottom, reflecting the design of the logo. In 2017, Air France received their first

Boeing 787 The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American wide-body jet airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After dropping its unconventional Sonic Cruiser project, Boeing announced the conventional 7E7 on January 29, 2003, ...

with a revised livery which included larger Air France titles. In 2019, Air France revised the livery with the arrival of the

Airbus A350 The Airbus A350 is a long-range, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner developed and produced by Airbus. The first A350 design proposed by Airbus in 2004, in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, would have been a development of the A330 wi ...

, with blue winglets featuring the ''hippocampe ailé''. This coincided with reintroducing practice of naming each of their aircraft, with the name written under the front cabin windows, the first A350-900 was named after the city of ''

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

''. File:Sud SE-210 Caravelle III, Air France AN0818829.jpg, Air France

in the oldest Livery File:Airbus A310-304, Air France AN1114716.jpg, Air France

Airbus A310 The Airbus A310 is a wide-body aircraft, designed and manufactured by Airbus Industrie, then a consortium of European aerospace manufacturers. Airbus had identified a demand for an aircraft smaller than the A300, the first twin-jet wide-bod ...

in the 1976 Livery File:Air France Boeing 777-300ER.jpg, Air France

Boeing 777 The Boeing 777, commonly referred to as the Triple Seven, is an American long-range wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It is the world's largest twinjet. The 777 was designed to bridge the gap bet ...

in the 2009 Livery File:Air France, F-HRBC, Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner (39933535874).jpg, Air France

in the 2017 revised livery File:Air france airbus a350 f-htya.jpg, Air France

in the 2019 revised livery

Marketing

In the 1950s and 1960s graphic designer

Jean Carlu Jean Carlu (Bonnières-sur-Seine, France, 1900–1997) was a French graphic designer who specialised in posters. He was a member of a family of architects; his brother Jacques Carlu for example designed the Palais de Chaillot in Paris. He made post ...

produced promotional posters for Air France. The new official song played before and after Air France flights (during boarding and after landing) is 'The World Can Be Yours' by Telepopmusik. Air France has used different popular music groups for its marketing and on-board ambience, ranging from

The Chemical Brothers The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons in Manchester in 1989. They were pioneers (along with the Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, the Crystal Method, and other acts) in bringing the big beat genre t ...

in 1999 to Telepopmusik in 2010. Air France launched a new ad campaign in 2015 designed by

BETC BETC is a French advertising agency founded in Paris in 1995. The name of the company stands for Babinet, Erra and Tong Cuong, the founding members. The agency notably designed campaigns for clients such as Air France, Evian, Lacoste and Canal+, ...

and directed by We Are From LA, focusing on French culture. Along with the ad campaign and print ads, Air France also introduced a similarly themed safety video. The music is a customised version of

Glass Candy Glass Candy is an American electronic music duo from Portland, Oregon, formed in 1996 by vocalist Ida No and producer and multi-instrumentalist Johnny Jewel. The band is part of the Italians Do It Better label. While the band's early work blends ...

's song ''Warm in the Winter''.

Uniforms

Air France uniforms denote the ranks for the flight attendants. Two silver sleeve stripes denote a Chief Purser. One silver sleeve stripe denote a Purser. Flight attendants do not have any sleeve stripes. The female cabin crew uniforms feature the stripes on the breast pocket rather than the sleeve for their male counterparts. Air France's current uniforms were created by French fashion designer

Christian Lacroix Christian Marie Marc Lacroix (; born 16 May 1951) is a French fashion designer. The name may also refer to the company he founded. Lacroix's designs combine luxury and insouciance. He prefers artisanal trades, fringe, bead, and embroidery. He's ...

Branding

Upon its formation, Air France adopted the

seahorse A seahorse (also written ''sea-horse'' and ''sea horse'') is any of 46 species of small marine fish in the genus ''Hippocampus''. "Hippocampus" comes from the Ancient Greek (), itself from () meaning "horse" and () meaning "sea monster" or " ...

logo of its predecessor Air Orient, known as the ''hippocampe ailé'' (sometimes derisively called "la crevette" – or shrimp – by its employees), as its insignia. Prior to the Air France-KLM merger, the ''hippocampe ailé'' was used on the nose section of aircraft next to the Groupe Air France title; after the merger, the Air France-KLM logo was substituted at the nose area, and the ''hippocampe ailé'' was relocated to engine nacelles. The acronym "AF" has also featured prominently on the airline's flag and its signage. On 7 January 2009, Air France officially changed its logo to a red stripe.

Destinations

Air France Boeing 777-328ER F-GZNE Skyteam livery @ Paris CDG

As of 2022, Air France flies to 29 domestic destinations and 201 international destinations in 94 countries ''(including

Overseas departments and territories of France Overseas France (french: France d'outre-mer) consists of 13 French-administered territories outside Europe, mostly the remains of the French colonial empire that chose to remain a part of the French state under various statuses after decolon ...

)'' across 6 continents, including 19 in the United States. This includes Air France Cargo services and destinations served by franchisees

and

Air France HOP Air France Hop, formerly branded HOP!, is a French regional airline operating flights on behalf of its parent company Air France. The airline was founded on 21 December 2012http://www.verif.com/societe/HOP!-790151716/ after the merger of Airlin ...

. Most of Air France's international flights operate from Paris-Charles de Gaulle. Air France also has a strong presence at Paris-Orly, Lyon-Saint-Exupéry, Marseilles Provence, Toulouse Blagnac, Nice Côte d'Azur and Bordeaux-Merignac airports.

Hub information

: Air France's intercontinental and biggest hub, with 335 daily departures. It is also a hub for Air France's subsidiary Air France HOP. *

: Air France's second biggest hub serving 40 destinations around the world, it is also a hub for Air France's subsidiaries Air France HOP and Transavia France. Long-haul flights are mainly operated to destinations in French overseas departments. *

Lyon–Saint-Exupéry Airport Lyon–Saint Exupéry Airport (french: link=no, Aéroport de Lyon-Saint Exupéry), formerly known as ''Lyon Satolas Airport'' , is the international airport of Lyon, the third-biggest city in France and an important transport facility for the e ...

: Air France's third biggest hub serving 37 destinations in France and Europe, also a hub for Air France's subsidiary Air France HOP. *

Marseille Provence Airport Marseille Provence Airport () is an international airport located 27 km (17 miles) northwest of Marseille, on the territory of Marignane, both ''communes'' of the Bouches-du-Rhône ''département'' in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur '' r� ...

: This is Air France's newest hub as part of its offensive in the French regions. It serves 30 destinations in France, Europe and Africa. *

Nantes Atlantique Airport Nantes Atlantique Airport (french: Aéroport Nantes Atlantique, formerly known as ''Aéroport Château Bougon'') is an international airport serving Nantes, France. It is located southwest of the city, in Bouguenais. The airport is operated b ...

Air France flies to 11 destinations from Nantes *

Nice Côte d'Azur Airport Nice Côte d'Azur Airport (french: link=no, Aéroport Nice Côte d'Azur) is an international airport located southwest of Nice, in the Alpes-Maritimes ''départment'' of France. It is the third busiest airport in France and serves as a focus ...

: Air France flies to four destinations from Nice. *

Toulouse–Blagnac Airport Toulouse–Blagnac Airport (french: Aéroport de Toulouse–Blagnac) is an international airport located west northwest of Toulouse, partially in Blagnac, both ''communes'' of the Haute-Garonne department in the Occitanie region of France. I ...

: Air France flies to 14 destinations from Toulouse.

Codeshare agreements

Air France codeshares with the following airlines: *

Aerolíneas Argentinas Aerolíneas Argentinas, formally Aerolíneas Argentinas S.A., is Argentina's largest airline and the country flag carrier. The airline was created in 1949 from the merger of four companies and started operations in . A consortium led by Iberia ...

Air Antilles Air Antilles is a French airline based at Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport in Guadeloupe, France. It is a regional airline operating scheduled and seasonal services in the French Antilles. History The airline began operations in Decembe ...

Air Astana Air Astana ( kk, Эйр Астана, translit=Eir Astana; russian: Эйр Астана́, translit=) is an airline group based in Almaty, Kazakhstan. It operates scheduled international and domestic services on 64 routes from its main hub, Alma ...

Air Austral Air Austral is a French airline, based at the Roland Garros Airport, in the Indian Ocean. It operates scheduled services from Réunion to metropolitan France, South Africa, Thailand, India and a number of destinations in the Indian Ocean. The c ...

Air Burkina Air Burkina SA is the national airline of Burkina Faso, operating scheduled services from its main base at Ouagadougou AirportFlight International 27 March 2007 to one domestic destination, Bobo-Dioulasso, as well as regional services to Togo, Be ...

Air Malta Air Malta plc (stylized as airmalta) is the flag carrier airline of Malta, with its headquarters in Luqa and its hub at Malta International Airport. It operates services to destinations in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. History ...

Air Mauritius Air Mauritius is the flag carrier airline of Mauritius. The airline is headquartered in Port Louis, Mauritius, with its hub based at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport. The company was placed in voluntary administration on 22 April ...

Air Serbia Air Serbia (stylised as ''AirSERBIA''; sr, / ) is the flag carrier of Serbia. The company's headquarters is located in Belgrade, Serbia, and its main hub is Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport. The airline was known as Jat Airways until it was r ...

Air Seychelles Air Seychelles is the national airline of the Republic of Seychelles. Its head office is located at Seychelles International Airport on the island of Mahé and it operates inter-island and international flights and charter flights. History E ...

Air Tahiti Nui Air Tahiti Nui is the flag carrier of the French overseas collectivity of French Polynesia, with its head office in Papeete and its daily operations office in Faaa, Tahiti. It operates long-haul flights from its home base at Faa'a International ...

airBaltic airBaltic, legally incorporated as AS Air Baltic Corporation, is the flag carrier of Latvia, with its head office on the grounds of Riga International Airport in Mārupe municipality near Riga. Its main hub is Riga, and it operates bases in T ...

Aircalin Société Aircalin, also known as Air Calédonie International, is the flag carrier of the French collectivity of New Caledonia, with its headquarters in Nouméa. It operates scheduled services from its main base at La Tontouta International A ...

Austrian Airlines Austrian Airlines AG, often shortened to Austrian, is the flag carrier of Austria and a subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. The airline is headquartered on the grounds of Vienna International Airport in Schwechat where it also maintains its hub ...

Azerbaijan Airlines Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

Belavia Belavia, formally Belavia Belarusian Airlines ( be, ААТ «Авіякампанія «Белавія»; russian: ОАО «Авиакомпания «Белавиа»), is the flag carrier and national airline of Belarus, headquartered in Minsk ...

Bulgaria Air Bulgaria Air ( bg, България Ер) is the flag carrier airline of Bulgaria, with its headquarters at Sofia Airport in Sofia. The company is owned by Chimimport AD and is a leader in terms of local market share. The airline operates short ...

Copa Airlines Compañía Panameña de Aviación, S.A., (commonly referred to as Copa and branded simply as "Copa Airlines") is the flag carrier of Panama. It is headquartered in Panama City, Panama, with its main hub at Tocumen International Airport. Copa is ...

Copa Airlines Colombia Copa Airlines Colombia is a commercial passenger airline founded and registered under the corporate name of AeroRepública S.A. in November 1992, and is the second airline in Colombia for international passengers carried after Avianca and the thi ...

Croatia Airlines Croatia Airlines Ltd. is the state-owned flag carrier airline of Croatia. Its headquarters are in Buzin near Zagreb and operates domestic and international services mainly to European destinations. Its main hub is Zagreb International Airport wi ...

* Etihad Airways * Finnair *

* Gol Transportes Aéreos * Georgian Airways * IndiGo * ITA Airways *

* Kenya Airways *

* LATAM Brasil * Luxair * Middle East Airlines *

* Singapore Airlines * Sky Express (Greece), Sky Express * Swiss International Air Lines * TAAG Angola Airlines * TAROM * Ukraine International Airlines *

* WestJet * Widerøe * Winair

Interline agreements

Air France have Interlining, Interline agreements with the following airlines: * Pakistan International Airlines * Vistara

Fleet

Widebody fleet

On 16 September 2011, Air France-KLM announced orders for 50 Airbus A350s and Boeing 787s with 60 options, to be operated by both Air France and KLM. Air France-KLM has a commitment for 37 Boeing 787s, 25 directly and 12 leased, of which 16 are earmarked for Air France to replace some A340-300s, subsequent A340s would be replaced by Airbus A350s from 2019. The first Boeing 787–9 entered into service with KLM in 2015 and with Air France in early 2017. Air France-KLM has 28 A350s on firm order. In June 2019 the group announced a revision of the original order with Air France becoming the sole operator of the Airbus A350, with KLM only operating Boeing 787s, including six originally earmarked for Air France. The first Airbus A350-900 ''(named Toulouse'') was delivered to Air France on 27 September 2019.

Narrowbody fleet

Air France operates a fleet of all four variants of the Airbus A320 family, Airbus A320 ceo family aircraft with a total of 114 jets. In July 2019 a first order was announced as part of replacing its narrowbody fleet. The smaller Airbus A318 and A319 fleet will be replaced by 60 Airbus A220-300s starting in 2021. Air France would have to cut emission by half by 2024 for flights within mainland France as part of conditions of a €7 billion state support from France. As a result, Air France plans to place more Airbus A220 onto its domestic network.

Concorde

The five Air France Concordes were retired on 31 May 2003, as a result of insufficient demand following the Air France Flight 4590, 25 July 2000 crash of AF Concorde F-BTSC, at Gonesse (near Charles de Gaulle Airport), as well as higher fuel and maintenance costs. British Airways flew its last Concorde service on 24 October 2003. Concorde F-BVFA was transferred to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at

. F-BVFB was given to the Sinsheim Auto & Technik Museum in Germany, F-BTSD to the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace at Le Bourget Airport in Paris, while F-BVFC returned to its place of manufacture in

, at the Airbus factory. F-BVFF is the only example to remain at Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Boeing 747

The airline started operating the 747 on 3 June 1970, when a 747–100 was put into service that was delivered 20 March that year."Orders and Deliveries: Boeing 747."
''The Boeing Company''. Retrieved: 1 March 2018. It would go on to operate the −200, −300 and −400 variants. In January 2016, Air France finally retired its last Boeing 747–400. They were replaced by Airbus A380s and Boeing 777-300ERs. Freighter versions were replaced by Boeing 777Fs.

Cabins

Air France offers a mix of three and four cabin configurations for international long haul routes, featuring La Première (select aircraft), Business, Premium Economy and Economy. Personal screens with audio video on demand is available in all cabins on all long-haul aircraft. European short-haul and medium-haul flights feature a three cabin configuration with Business, Premium Economy, and Economy.

La Première

La Première is Air France's long-haul First class travel, first class product. It is available on selected Boeing 777-300ERs. The Première cabin features wood and leather seats which recline 180°, forming two-metric system, metre long beds. Each seat features a 10.4" touchscreen personal screen with interactive gaming and audio video on demand, a privacy divider, automassage feature, reading light, storage drawer, noise-cancelling headphones, personal telephone, and laptop power ports. Each passenger is also provided with a personalised coat service, pure merino wool blanket, a "boudoir-style" cushion, and a travel kit featuring Biologique Recherche facial and body care products to moisturise and refresh the skin. Turndown service includes a mattress, a duvet, hypoallergenic feather pillow, sleepwear, a dust bag for shoes, and a pair of slippers À la carte on-demand meal services feature entrées created by Chef Guy Martin. Private lounge access is offered worldwide featuring a chauffeured car to the aircraft. La Première is not available on Airbus A330s, A350s, and Boeing 777s where Business is the highest cabin class. Four-class 777-300ER configurations are equipped with four seats. Air France is also planning to offer La Première on selected new Airbus A350-900s, which could be delivered as early as 2023.

Business

Business, Air France's long-haul business class product, is available on all long haul aircraft. Business features angled lie-flat seats which recline to two metres in length. Each seat includes a 10.4" touchscreen TV monitor with interactive gaming and AVOD, reading light, personal telephone, and laptop power ports. Meal service features three-course meals and a cheese service, or an express menu served shortly after takeoff. The current business class product features Zodiac Aerospace Cirrus seats is designed by Mark Collins of Design Investment, specialised in the world of high-end transportation and by the design and branding agency, Brandimage. Initially debuting on Boeing 777s in June 2014, they were retrofitted onto all other aircraft types except for the Boeing 747–400, Airbus A380s, and Airbus A340-300 as they were to be retired from the fleet by 2016, 2019, and 2020 respectively. A total of 2,102 seats would be installed. The new cabin features a 1-2-1 layout as opposed to a 2-3-2 layout previously used on 777s or the 2-2-2 seat configuration of the Airbus A330s. The new 16-inch (41 cm) screen offers a unique onboard navigation experience similar to a tablet. With a completely redesigned user interface and available in 12 languages (French, English, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, German, Italian, Dutch, Russian and Arabic), choosing an entertainment program from over 1,000 hours of entertainment. The seat converts into a fully flat bed with 180 degrees recline, and features a touchscreen remote control, USB port, universal electrical outlet, new noise cancelling headphones, privacy screen, an Air France signature padded headboard, ample storage space, adjustable headrest, and a duvet with XXL feather down pillow.

Premium Economy

Premium Economy is featured on all long-haul flights. This cabin made its debut on Boeing 777s and Airbus A330s beginning in late 2009 and early 2010. The seats were also installed on Airbus A340-300s between late 2009 and early 2010 and the Airbus A380s in late 2010 and early 2011. It is a dedicated cabin section with a Airline seat#Seating layout, 2-4-2 (2-3-2 on the long haul Airbus fleet and 3-3-3 for Alize on the 777-300 serving Indian Ocean and Caribbean routes) configuration with 38″ pitch (36″ for long-haul Alize seats), 123° reclining fixed-shell seats, including an adjustable headrest, a 10.4″ touchscreen, personal reading lamp, universal power ports, and an adjustable leg rest (40% more space, compared to Voyageur seats; the seats are 20% wider and offer 20% more legroom). This cabin contains 32 seats on Boeing 777-300ERs, 24 on Boeing 777–200ERs and Airbus A350-900s, and 21 on Airbus A330-200s and Boeing 787-9s. Passengers receive double baggage allowance, priority airport services, lounge access (for a fee), and extra frequent flier mileage. On board, business-class amenities include Sennheiser noise-cancelling headphones, an amenity kit (featuring socks, eye mask, toothbrush & toothpaste, and earplugs), improved blankets, and an enhanced meal service with second hot meal, candies, and ice cream, all served with real glass and metal cutlery. A new improved Premium Economy seat using the same shell was introduced from June 2014 on the Boeing 777 aircraft, featuring better cushioning and improved foot rest, adding comfort to the passenger.

Economy

Air France's economy class long-haul product features seats that recline up to 118°. The current long-haul Economy seat, which debuted on the Boeing 777-300ER, includes winged headrests, a personal telephone, and a touchscreen TV monitor with AVOD Interactive Entertainment System which have been installed on all of Air France's long-haul fleet. On long-haul flights, a menu is presented with a choice of two meals. Short- and medium-haul Economy services are operated by Airbus A320 family aircraft with different seating arrangements. Air France is one of the few airlines who features winged headrests on short-to-medium-haul aircraft in both classes. On short-haul flights, a snack is served, while on medium-haul flights, a three-course cold meal is served. Free alcoholic beverages are available on all flights, including champagne. On most aircraft, Air France offers extra-legroom seats in economy called Seat Plus. These seats are located in the economy-class exit rows and other rows depending on the aircraft type, offering at least 4" more seat pitch(36" versus the usual 32" in standard economy seats). Seat Plus prices vary by flight time, but it is free to elites and passengers with a full-fare economy ticket. Air France has introduced a brand-new economy long-haul product which features a new slimline seat providing up to an inch more legroom, wider table, universal electrical sockets, retractable armrests, winged leather headrests, more storage space, high-definition 10-inch screens featuring the latest in-flight entertainment with a USB port, a headphones holder, and newly designed pillows featuring different patterns of the Air France logo. The seats would be installed along with the new La Première, Business, and Premium Economy seats from June 2014 till summer 2016 on the Boeing 777 aircraft, the core of the fleet. All other aircraft would be retrofitted except the Airbus A340-300s, Airbus A380-800s, and Boeing 747-400s as all three types would be retired by 2020.

Services

In-flight catering

For La Première, Air France's first class menu is designed by Guy Martin, chef of Le Grand Vefour, a Michelin guide, Michelin three-star restaurant in Paris. Menu items include Hors d'œuvre, hors d'oeuvres, entrées, bread basket, and cheeses, along with a dessert cart including pastries, petit fours, and tartlets. On long-haul flights, Air France also serves complimentary champagne and drinks to passengers in all classes.

In-flight entertainment

Air France offers Audio Video on Demand (AVOD) in all cabins on all long haul aircraft. The in flight entertainment system features multiple channels of video, audio, music, and games. ''Air France Magazine'', the airline's in-flight publication, is included at each seat, and ''Air France Madame'', a fashion luxury magazine with a feminine perspective, is included in La Première and Business cabins and lounges. On all flights, all films may be watched in English, Spanish, and French. Selected films on all flights are also available in Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, and Korean. The airline offers Berlitz International language courses via the in-flight entertainment system. On 29 May 2013, KLM and Air France launched a pilot to test inflight Wi-Fi. Both airlines have equipped one

-300ER of each of their fleets with Wi-Fi. Using the inflight Wi-Fi, passengers can stay online using their Wi-Fi enabled smartphones, laptops, or tablets. Wireless service would commence once the flight has reached 20,000 feet.

Le Salon

Air France lounges are known as Le Salon, and are open to La Première, Business, and Premium Economy passengers, as well as Flying Blue Gold, Flying Blue Platinum, SkyTeam Elite and Elite Plus members. Worldwide, there are 530 Air France and Skyteam lounges in 300 international airports on every continent except Antarctica.

Flying Blue

Flying Blue, the frequent flyer program of Air France-KLM, awards members points based on miles travelled and class of service. Membership into the program is free. The program is divided into standard (Explorer), Elite (Silver) and Elite Plus (Gold and Platinum) statuses. Explorer is the basic level which is attained upon entry into the program. Elite status is attained by accruing a certain number of miles within one calendar year. Elite Silver, Elite Plus Gold, and Elite Plus Platinum cards have added benefits. An invitation-only card called Club 2000 is attributed to some VIPs, celebrities and politicians. Officially, it provides the same benefits as Platinum status but numerous sources confirm it almost guarantees upgrade to Business or La Première. Flying Blue succeeded Air France's previous frequent flyer program, Fréquence Plus, which operated until the Air France-KLM merger in 2003.

In popular culture

*Air France is the official airline of the Cannes Film Festival. *Air France "''flight 273''" is the plane that ''"Chat Noir"'' in "''Magic Kaito 1412''" episode 18: ''Golden Eye (Part 2): Kid vs Chat Noir Showdown'', uses to escape.

Anniversary jet

On 14 November 2008, Air France released the first picture of an Airbus A320 that had been repainted in the full 1946 paint scheme to celebrate the airline's 75th anniversary. This heritage aircraft was planned to fly under the special colours until early 2010. In 2013 the aircraft was withdrawn from use for scrapping.

Incidents and accidents

Air France has been involved in a number of major accidents and incidents. The airline's deadliest accident occurred on 1 June 2009, when Air France Flight 447, an Airbus A330-203, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean with 228 fatalities. Another notable crash in Air France's records occurred on July 25, 2000, when Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde, caught fire immediately after take-off due to metal debris on the runway damaging a tire, which produced debris that struck a fuel tank on the underside of the wing, catching fire. The fire started to disintegrate the aircraft's left wing and the plane started to list to its side. This caused the aircraft to crash into a hotel on the outskirts of Gonesse, France. All 109 passengers and crew inside Flight 4590, as well as three people inside the hotel died.

References

External links

*
"Wings Over Four Continents" ''Popular Mechanics'', December 1935
pp. 866–868 on massive route expansion of Air France including trans-Atlantic route {{authority control Airlines of France French brands Airlines established in 1933 Association of European Airlines members Air France–KLM SkyTeam Companies based in Île-de-France Multinational companies headquartered in France French companies established in 1933 Former seaplane operators