Air France

Air France is the biggest airlines in France, headquartered in Tremblay-en-France, north of the city of Paris. It is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM group, and is additionally a founding member of the SkyTeam alliance. They fly to 36 destinations domestically and 168 destinations internationally.

The airline's fleet mainly consists of Airbus and Boeing aircraft, operating on long-haul routes, and Airbus A320s on short-haul routes. When the Airbus A380 was introduced in 2007, Air France was one of the customers that purchased the aircraft when it was newly released for commercial service. It operated service from New York City's John F. Kennedy International from Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport in November 2009, and is still doing so today.

Air France has a regional subsidiary, HOP!, that operates the majority of its regional domestic flights. They mainly use regional aircraft, such as Bombardier CRJ700, and Embraer ERJ-145.

## History

The airlines was founded in October 1933 following a merger of Air Orient, Air Union, Compagnie Internationale de Navigation Aerienne (CIDNA), and Societe Generale de Transport Aerience (SGTA). During 1950 until 1990, when the Cold War was taking place, Air France was one of the main three scheduled airlines that operated at Germany's Tempelhof Airport and Tegel Airport, of which are both operating as of 2016. Air France acquired the operations of a French regional carrier named Air Inter, along with its international rival; Union de Transports Aeriens. Air France, prior to its 2003 merger with Dutch airline KLM, served as France's national flag carrier airline. Air France was once the largest airline in the world in terms of operating revenue in 2004, and had a total revenue of around 13 billion euros between 2001 and 2002.

The airline had already built extensive networks across Europe, serving places in France and North Africa. In 1945, the entirety of France's air transport organizations and companies were nationalized, meaning they went from private companies to public companies. In the same year, the French Government granted Air France the management of the entirety of the French air transport network. In 1946, after employing their first flight attendants, the airline opened it's inaugural air terminal at Les Invalides in Paris.

The European schedules were initially operated by a small fleet of Douglas DC-3 aircraft, and started operating direct flights between Paris and New York City, United States, in 1946, with refueling stops in Shannon, Ireland, and Gander, Canada. Douglas DC-4 airliners covered the entire route in around 20 hours.

By 1947, Air France's network had stretched eastward from New York, with service to Fort-de-France, Martinique, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Shanghai, China. It had one of the largest fleets in the world, operating 130 aircraft in 1948. Between 1947 and 1965, Air France's fleet contained Lockheed Constellations for commercial use.

Max Hymans was appointed Air France's president in 1948. During his 13 year tenure, he implemented a slew of modernization practices centered on new aircraft for the airline. The company became a founding member of the SITA, or Societe Internationale de Telecommunications Aeronautiques, a company focused on airline telecommunications.

The airline moved its operations and engineering base to the newly built South Terminal at Paris Orly airport. The following year, in 1953, the jet age for Air France started with the introduction of the short-lived de Havilland Comet series 1, the supposed first jetliner.

In addition to the Comet, it also operated the Vickers Viscount turboprop, with about 12 entering service between 1953 and 1954. In 1953, the French Government instructed Air France to share long-haul routes with private airlines. An imposition by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport contracted on Air France, along with Aigle Azur, TAI and UAT, under which some Africa, Asia, and the Pacific region were also to be shared with private airlines.

In 1976, Air France started commercial service with the Concorde aircraft. It was also known as supersonic transport, as travel with the Concorde was readily faster than that of Boeing and Airbus respectively. Its first service with the Concorde was on the Paris to Rio de Janeiro route via Dakar. Along with the aforementioned route, 1976 also saw Air France operate service from Paris to Washington-Dulles. Despite service from Paris to Washington, approval for flights was initially withdrawn due to numerous noise protests. After that, service to Mexico City via Washington National started. Air France, along with British Airways, were the only two airlines to operate supersonic transportation, with transatlantic service continuing until 2003.

By 1983, Air France's fleet grew to around 100 aircraft, including 33 Boeing 747 aircraft. It's 600,000 kilometer network served 150 destinations in over 70 countries, making the airline the fourth-largest airline in terms of passengers.

After the government had relaxed its policy of dividing traffic rights for scheduled services between Air France, Air Inter and UTA, Air France's most profitable routes were opened. The changes also gave UTA the ability to launch scheduled services to new destinations to compete with Air France.

In 1987, Air France, in addition to Lufthansa, Iberia and Scandinavian Airlines, formed Amadeus, an IT company. The company allowed travel agencies to sell the founders and other airlines' products from a single system.

The following year, in 1988, Air France was one of three launch customers for the Airbus A320 narrowbody twin engine aircraft, along with Air Inter and British Caledonian respectively. It was the first airline to take delivery of the A320 in March 1988, and was also, along with Air Inter, the first airline to introduce A320 service on short routes.

The operations of Air France were merged into a larger Air France. Air France's acquisition of UTA and Air Inter was a part of a government plan to create a single national air carrier to rid potential threats of liberalization of the European Union's air transport market.

In 1994, a holding company was set up, named Groupe Air France. It had acquired the Air France group's majority shareholdings in Air France and Air Inter. Stephen Wolf, former CEO of United Airlines, was officially appointed advisor of Air France chairman Christian Blanc. During Wolf's tenure, he was credited with the introduction of Air France's hub and spoke operation at Paris Charles de Gaulle. In 1996, Wolf resigned in 1996 to become CEO of US Airways.

In 1997, Air France Europe was renamed into Air France. In 1999, Air France was partially privatized. In that same year, Air France formed a bilateral transatlantic partnership with Delta Airlines. This later expanded into the SkyTeam airline alliance.

In 2003, Air France and Dutch airline KLM announced a merger of the two airlines, the new company to be known as Air France-KLM. The merger became reality in 2004.

## Subsidiaries and Franchises

In affiliation with Dutch low-cost airline Transavia, Air France has launched Transavia.com France, a low-cost subsidiary based in Paris, more specifically Paris Orly. The subsidiary mainly operates destinations in the Mediterranean region and north Africa.