Air France

Air France (AFR, Compagnie Nationale Air France) is the flag carrier airline of France. This company has transported 43.3 million passengers and obtained profits of 12.53 billion euros between April 2001 and March 2002. It has routes between 345 cities in 85 countries and has more than 64,000 employees. It belongs to the SkyTeam alliance together with Delta, Aeroméxico, Air Europa, Korean Air, CSA Czech Airlines, ITA Airways, KLM and Aerolíneas Argentinas. In 2004, Air France was the leading European airline, with 18% of all passengers on the continent.

History

The inauguration of the Aérogare des Invalides, August 21, 1951.

Air France was founded on August 30, 1933 as a result of the merger of Air Orient, Compagnie Générale Aéropostale de Pierre-Georges Latécoère, Société Générale de Transport Aérien (SGTA, the first French airline, founded in 1919 as Lignes Aériennes Farman), Air Union and CIDNA (Compagnie Internationale de Navigation). The airline has numerous routes throughout Europe, although it also flies to the former French colonies in North Africa and other destinations.

The company was nationalized in 1946 creating the Compagnie Nationale Air France in a parliamentary act on June 16, 1948. The government kept 70% of the new company and in mid-2002, it still owns 54% of the airline. On August 4, 1948, Max Hymans was appointed president of Air France. During his thirteen years in the presidency he implemented a modernization policy based on jet aircraft, more specifically the Sud Aviation Caravelle and the Boeing 707.

Aérogare des Invalides, 7th Paris District

In 1949 the company participated in the founding of SITA (Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques). The airline used the de Havilland Comet for a short time in 1953, but it was quickly replaced by Vickers Viscounts and, in 1959, the company began using the elegant Sud Aviation Caravelle.

In 1976, the airline began using the only supersonic aircraft with the Concorde SST on a route from Charles de Gaulle Airport to New York and other routes such as Paris-Caracas. The Concorde was one of only two supersonic commercial airliners. It covered the distance between Paris and New York in just three hours and 20 minutes (approximately twice the speed of sound).

In 1994, an Air France plane taking off from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport appears in a small scene in the music video for the song Beautiful Day by U2.

On May 31, 2003, all Concordes were withdrawn from service simultaneously by Air France and British Airways due to low demand resulting from the Air France Flight 4590 disaster in 2000. 5 of these aircraft were relocated to museums. For example, the Concorde F-BVFA (Foxtrot Alpha) was moved to the Air and Space Museum in Washington where it is still on display. The F-BVFB was taken to a German museum, the F-BTSD to the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace in Paris, while the F-BVFC was moved to its manufacturing site in Toulouse (France).) current headquarters of Airbus.

On September 30, 2003, Air France and the Dutch company KLM Royal Dutch Airlines announced the merger of both airlines, forming a new company called Air France-KLM. The owners of Air France came to have 81% of the new company, leaving the remaining 19% to the owners of KLM. This led to the French government's stake in the company being reduced from 54.4% to 44%.

Controversies

On Tuesday, April 10, 2012, the company was ordered to pay a fine of 100,000 euros for "complicity in undercover work" at its subsidiary CityJet. President Jean-Cyril Spinetta, for his part, was sentenced for the same reasons to pay a fine of 15,000 euros. Additionally, they must pay 2,000 euros for damages to 21 CityJet employees, who will also have the right to compensation to compensate for lost pension rights.

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  L’hippocampe ailé (dit aussi "La crevette"), ancien logo de 1933 jusqu'en 1976 sur la dérive d'un A320.

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  1998–2009.
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  Depuis 2009.

Accidents and incidents

• June 3, 1962 - Air France Flight 007 crashed while taking off Orly Airport, killing 130 of the 132 people on board. The flight had as its destination the city of New York, with a stopover at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta.
• 11 September 1968 - A Sud Aviation Caravelle that operated Flight 1611 crashed the Mediterranean Sea in front of Nice, after a fire was reported in the cabin. The 95 people on board died.
• 22 June 1962 - Air France Flight 117, 113 dead.
• December 3, 1969 - Shortly after taking off from Maiquetía International Airport, Air France's 212 flight crashed into the Atlantic Ocean causing the death of its 62 occupants.
• June 26, 1988 - Air france Flight 296 Airbus A320 by Air France crashes into a forest and ends up exploiting when attempting to land in Habsheim during a demonstration flight, 3 passengers lost their lives by failing to escape from the plane on fire.
• September 12, 1993 - Flight 072, operated by a Boeing 747, runs off track after landing at Tahiti Airport, ending in a lake.
• In 1994, a group of terrorists from the Algerian group GIA took Air France flight 8969, trying to crash it at the Eiffel Tower. The French special forces intervened by getting the plan unraveled.
• 25 July 2000 - Air France's 4590 flight, a Paris-driven Concorde to the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York crashed into a burning engine against a hotel, 2 minutes after the takeoff. The 109 passengers died in the sinister, as well as four on the ground.
• August 2, 2005 - Air France flight 358, an Airbus A340 went off track for the bad weather when landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport. There were no casualties, only 43 injured.
• June 1, 2009 - Air France flight 447, an Airbus A330 disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean with 228 people on board heading from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. When he overflew the Fernando de Noronha islands he disappeared from the radar and weeks later his remains are found in the Atlantic. All the passengers on board died.

Destinations

Fleet

Current Fleet

Current fleet as of February 2023:

Aeronave	In service	Orders	Passengers					Notes
			F	B	E+	E	Total
Airbus A220-300	18	42	-	-	-	149	149	The deliveries started in September 2021.
Airbus A318-100	9	-		18		113	131	They will be withdrawn and subsequently replaced in 2022 by the A220-300. Equipped with ROPS+ and AP/FD TCAS
Airbus A319-100	17	-		20		122	142
Airbus A320-214	39	-	-	14	-	144	168	Two painted with SkyTeam colors. Equipped with ROPS+ and AP/FD TCAS
				-		174	174
				36		138	174
				-		178	178
Airbus A321-111	4	-	-	-	-	212	212	Acquired of Air Inter after its collapse. Equipped with ROPS+ and AP/FD TCAS
Airbus A321-212	14	-	-	-	-	200	200	One painted with the color of SkyTeam. Equipped with ROPS+ and AP/FD TCAS
				-		212	212
				36		176	212
Airbus A330-203	15		-	36	21	167.	224	Equipped with ROPS+ and AP/FD TCAS
Airbus A350-941	20	21	-	34	24	266	324	They will replace the oldest Boeing 777-200ER. ROPS+ and AP/FD TCAS are basic functionalities in the A350. ROPS+ is more complete in the A350.
Boeing 777-228ER	18	-	-	40	24	216	280	The oldest aircraft will be replaced by Airbus A350-900.
				28		260	312
				16		276	316
Boeing 777-328ER	43	-	4	58	28	206	296	Launch client Three painted with SkyTeam colors.
				38		252	322
			-	42	24	315	381
				14	32	422	468
				14	28	430	472
Boeing 787-9	10	-	-	30	21	225	276
Air France Cargo Fleet
Boeing 777-F28	2	-	Charge					Launch client.
Total	209	63	13.7 average fleet years (February 2023)

Air France Hop

On March 31, 2013, Hop! (currently Air France Hop) was formed, the new low-cost subsidiary of Air France formed after the merger of Airlinair, Brit Air and Regional. Its fleet is made up of 56 aircraft that will be Bombardier CRJ and Embraer E-Jets.

• 11 Bombardier CRJ700
• 14 Bombardier CRJ1000
• 15 Embraer 170
• 16 (+1) Embraer 190

Transavia France

• 8 Boeing 737-800

Historical Fleet

Historical Starfleet of Air France

Airplane	Total	Introduced	Withdrawal	Notes
Concorde	7	1980	2003	Airlines British Airways and Air France acquired 6 planes each, however, Air France lost one in the accident.
Airbus A300B2	10	1974	1998
Airbus A300B4	16	1976	1998
Airbus A310-200	7	1984	2002
Airbus A310-300	4	1989	2002
Airbus A320-100	14	1988	2010
Airbus A340-200	6	1993	1999
Airbus A340-300	24	1993	2020
Airbus A380-800	10	2009	2020	First European operator
Boeing 727-200	5	1980	1992
Boeing 737-200	24	1973	2002
Boeing 737-300	9	1991	2004
Boeing 737-500	30	1991	2007
Boeing 747-100	18	1971	1999
Boeing 747-200	29	1976	2010
Boeing 747-300	2	1991	2007
Boeing 747-400	24	1991	2016	The last Boeing 747-400 withdrew on 10 January 2016, with a final flight back and forth from Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport to Mexico City International Airport.
Boeing 767-200	2	1999	1999
Boeing 767-300	7	1991	2003
Bae 146	3	1997	2005
Douglas DC-8	2	1973	1973
Fokker 100	13	1997	1999
McDonnell Douglas DC-10	5	1992	1995
Saab 340	5	1987	1995
Saab 2000	7	2001	2006

Headquarters

Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, where Air France has its headquarters.

Air France's headquarters are in the Roissypôle complex, at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, Tremblay-en-France, Seine-Saint-Denis, near Paris. The complex, of 130,000 square meters (1,399,309 ft²) was completed in December 1995. Groupement d'Etudes et de Méthodes d'Ordonnancement (GEMO) managed the project. Valode et Pistre was the architect. Sechaud-Boyssut and Trouvin were the design consultants. The project had a monetary cost of 137,000,000 euros (less than 700 million francs). The airport runways are visible from the headquarters.

For approximately 30 years prior to December 1995, Air France's headquarters were located in a tower adjacent to the Paris Montparnasse railway station, in the Montparnasse area and in the 15th arrondissement of Paris. In 1991 two purchase offers were received for the purchase of the Square Max Hymans building. In 1992 the complex was sold to MGEN for 1.6 million francs. At that time, Air France intends to move its headquarters to Roissypôle, occupying 50,000 meters square (538,195.8 ft²). After the corporate headquarters move, MGEN obtained the Max Hymans Square.

The vaccination center

Air France Vaccination Centre, 7th Paris District

Air France runs a vaccination center in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. The center has vaccinations for international travelers. Since 2001, the center is the only one in France with ISO 9001. In 2005, Air France moved the center from the Aérogare des Invalides to its current location.

Affiliates

Air France subsidiaries are:

• Air France Consulting
  • Quali-audit
• Société de construction et de réparation de matariel aéronautique (CRMA)
• Sodexi
• Transavia France
• Air France Hop

Partners

Commercial

It has codeshare agreements with:

Technology

In 2010 Air France outsourced its Passenger Management System to Amadeus. The Altéa platform replaced Air France's in-house system called Alpha3.

Gallery

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  125 West 55th Street in Manhattan, the American headquarters of Air France