note

Air Orient, Air Union CIDNA and SGTA merged forming Air France. Airline has been nationalized since January 1946. The first jet service was operated in August 1953 from Paris to Beirut via Rome with a Comet. The same year Air France acquired its first turboprop airplane, British made Vickers Viscount 708 and flew with it on Paris - London route. A milestone in history of aviation was passed when Air France flew first supersonic flight outside Soviet Union on January 21st. 1976. British Airways flew its first flight simultaneously. Air France took its Concorde to Rio de Janeiro via Dakar. Air France also flew first Airbus commercial flight in May 1974 from Paris to London with brand new A300. Air France helped to establish numerous airlines throughout Africa and has an interest in many of them, Cameroon Airline, Air Gabon, Air Madagascar, Royal Air Maroc and MEA just to name few. Air France has extensive global network with high concentration of flights to Western and Northern Africa from points in France. It is based at Paris' Charles de Gaulle and employs close to 40,000 workers. It is one of the largest airlines in the world. In 2007 Air France handled over 31 million passengers on its 820 daily departures.

founded - demised (age)

August 30 1933 - present  (92years)

headquarters

1 Square Max Hymans, Paris

web

www.airfrance.com

base airports

LFPG Charles de Gaulle - Roissy Paris
LFPO Orly Paris

related operators

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines	merged 5/04
Air Inter	merged 1998
Brit Air	sister co.
Airlinair	sister co.
Regional Compagnie Aerienne	sister co.
Cityjet	sister co.