'Air France' (''Compagnie Nationale Air France'') is an airline based in
Paris,
France, a subsidiary of
Air France-KLM Group and is the international flag carrier of France. It operates domestic and international scheduled passenger and cargo services to 185 destinations in 83 countries around the world. Its main bases are
Orly Airport and
Charles de Gaulle International Airport, both in Paris, with a hub at
Saint-Exupéry International Airport,
Lyon[1].
Before its merger with
KLM, Air France was the national
airline of
France, employing 71,654 people (as of March 2004).
[2] By March 2007 the airline employed 102,422 staff.
The company's headquarters are located at
Charles de Gaulle International Airport near
Paris; these headquarters are now used by Air France-KLM. Between April 2001 and March 2002, the airline transported 43.3 million passengers and earned 12.53 billion
Euro. Air France's subsidiary,
Régional, operates
regional jet and
turboprop flights within Europe.
[3] Air France is also accredited by the IATA with the IOSA (IATA Operations Safety Audit) for its safety practices.
[4]
__TOC__
Air France-KLM union
Boeing 777-200ER tail
Air France merged with the
Dutch company
KLM in May 2004, resulting in the creation of
Air France-KLM. Air France-KLM is the largest airline company in the world in terms of operating revenues, and the third-largest in the world (largest in Europe) in terms of passengers-kilometers.
Air France-KLM is part of the
SkyTeam Alliance with
Aeroflot,
Delta Air Lines,
Aeroméxico,
Korean Air,
Czech Airlines,
Alitalia,
Northwest Airlines,
Air Europa and
Continental Airlines. Both Air France and KLM continue to fly under their brand names.
History
Founded on
October 7,
1933, through the merger of
Air Orient,
Compagnie Générale Aéropostale, Société Générale de Transport Aérien (SGTA, the first French carrier, founded as Lignes Aériennes Farman in 1919), Air Union and CIDNA (Compagnie Internationale de Navigation). The airline had extensive routes across
Europe, but also to
French colonies in northern
Africa and elsewhere. During
World War II, Air France moved its operations to
Casablanca,
Morocco; the airline was featured prominently in the film ''
Casablanca''.
Passengers disembarking from a Sud-Est SE-161 Languedoc
After the Second World War the company was
nationalized and Societe Nationale Air France was set up on
1 January 1946. Compagnie Nationale Air France was created by a parliamentary act on
June 16,
1948. The government held 70% of the new company and in mid-2002 still held a 54% stake in the airline. On
August 4,
1948, Max Hymans was appointed president of Air France. During his thirteen years at the helm, he implemented a modernisation policy based on jet aircraft, specifically the
Sud Aviation Caravelle and the
Boeing 707. In 1949 the company was one of the founders of
SITA (Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques). The airline used the
De Havilland Comet for a short while from 1953, but soon replaced it with
Vickers Viscounts. In 1959 the company started widespread use of the twin-jet Sud Aviation Caravelle. It graduated to the use of Boeing aircraft, but as a national European carrier it became committed to Airbus designs from 1974.
In 1976, the airline started operating the
Concorde SST supersonic airliner on the
Paris-Charles de Gaulle to
New York route as well as a number of other routes (those other routes were dropped in 1982). It flew the route Paris to New York City in 3 hours and 20 minutes, at about twice the speed of sound.
On
12 January 1990, the operations of all government owned airlines, Air France, Air Inter, Air Charter and
UTA, were merged into the Air France Group. A new holding company Groupe Air France was set up by decree on
25 July 1994 and implemented on
1 September 1994. It had majority shareholdings in Air France and
Air Inter (renamed Air France Europe). In 1997 Air France Europe was fully absorbed into Air France. On
10 February 1999 Lionel Jospin's
Plural Left government partially privatised the airline on the Paris stock exchange. It became a founder member of the
SkyTeam Alliance in June 2000
.
The five Air France
Concordes were withdrawn from use on
31 May 2003 as a result of insufficient demand following the 2000 accident, along with higher fuel and maintenance costs. British Airways followed suit a few months later, with their last Concordes flying on
24 October 2003. Concorde F-BVFA was transferred to the
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in
Chantilly,
Virginia, near Washington-Dulles airport in Washington, D.C., an annex of the
National Air & Space Museum. F-BVFB was given to a German museum, F-BTSD to the "Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace" in Paris, while F-BVFC was returned to its place of manufacture in Toulouse (France) at the Airbus factory.
On
September 30,
2003, Air France and
Netherlands-based
KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines), announced the merging of the two airlines, with the new company to be known as
Air France-KLM. The merger finally became reality on
May 5,
2004. Former Air France shareholders own 81% of the new firm (44% owned by the French state, 37% by private shareholders), while former KLM shareholders hold the rest.
Jean-Pierre Raffarin's government reduced the state's share of Air France from 54.4 per cent (of the former Air France) to 44 per cent (of the current Air France-KLM), thus in effect
privatizing Air France. In December 2004 the French state sold 18.4% of its equity stake in the Air France-KLM Group, reducing its stake to just under 20%
.
Destinations
Most of Air France's international flights operate from
Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport. Air France also has a strong presence in
Paris-Orly and
Lyon-Saint-Exupéry. Some flights also operate out of
Nice.
Main articles: Air France destinations
Fleet
Passenger fleet
The Air France passenger fleet consists of the following aircraft as of June 2007:
[5]
'Air France Fleet'| Aircraft | Total | Passengers
(First/Business/Economy) | Routes | Notes |
|---|
| Airbus A318 | 18 | 118
★
123 | ''Short-medium haul''
Europe, Africa | |
| Airbus A319 | 46 | 133
★ - 136
★
138 - 142 | ''Short-medium haul''
Africa, Europe, Middle East | |
| Airbus A320 | 68
(48 orders) | 160
★ - 166
★
165 - 172 | ''Short-medium haul''
Africa, Caribbean, Europe, Middle East | |
| Airbus A321 | 15 | 196
★ - 200
★
206 | ''Short-medium haul''
Africa, Europe, Middle East | |
| Airbus A330-200 | 16 | 211 (6/42/163)
222 (40/182) | ''Medium-long haul''
Africa, Americas, Asia | |
| Airbus A340-300 | 19 | 252 (6/42/204)
272 (36/236)
289 (30/259) | ''Long haul''
Africa, Americas, Asia, Caribbean | |
| Airbus A380 | (12 orders)
(2 options) | 531 | ''Long haul'' | Entry into service: 2009 |
| Boeing 747-400 | 10 | 395 (13/58/322)
433 (39/394)
474 (17/457) | ''Long haul''
Africa, Americas, Asia, Caribbean | Replacement aircraft:
Airbus A380
Boeing 777-300ER |
| Boeing 747-400M | 5 | | | Replacement aircraft:
Boeing 777-200F
Boeing 777-300ER |
| Boeing 777-200ER | 25 | 264 (4/49/211)
270 (12/56/202) | ''Long haul''
Africa, Americas, Asia | |
| Boeing 777-300ER | 23
(28 orders) | 310 (8/67/235) | ''Long haul''
Africa, Americas, Asia | Launch customer |
★ Short Haul aircraft base L'Espace Affaires seating amounts by demand.
The average fleet age of Air France is 8.9 years as of September 2006
[6].
Cargo fleet
Orders
★ On
24 May 2007 Air France announced it was planning to phase out the 747 by 2012, and placed an order for an additional 13 Boeing 777-300ER aircraft and 5 Boeing 777-200F aircraft. The airline had also converted options for 2 more A380 aircraft into firm orders. This will bring the total number of these aircraft types for Air France to 33 Boeing 777-300ER, 10 Boeing 777-200F, and 12 A380-800.
[7]
★ On
22 February 2005 Air France placed an order for a further 4 Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, adding to 10 previously ordered (4 delivered). The airline had previously ordered 18 Boeing 777-200ERs.
★ Air France has ordered 10
Airbus A380 aircraft, with options on a further 4 aircraft. A further 3 aircraft will be delivered in 2009, with the remaining 6 over the following 2 years. The A380 will initially be used on North Atlantic route services from
Paris to
Montreal and
New York and as additional aircraft arrive, on services to
Beijing and
Tokyo [8].
★ On
20 May 2005 Air France signed an agreement with
Boeing to convert three of its former combi
Boeing 747-400 aircraft, currently in all passenger configuration, into full freighter configuration under the Boeing 747-400SF (Special Freighter) programme. The first modified aircraft will be delivered in June 2007, enabling acceleration of the phasing out of old Boeing 747-200 Freighters
[9].
★ On
23 May 2005 Air France agreed to purchase 5
777 Freighters (with 3 further options), making it the launch customer of the 777 Freighter along with
Air Canada who ordered 2. First delivery will be in late 2008, commencing replacement of the airline's Boeing 747-200F fleet
.
Previously operated
★
Aérospatiale-
BAC Concorde
★
Airbus A300
★
Airbus A310
★
Airbus A340-200
★
Bleriot 5190
★
Bloch 220
★
Boeing 707
★
Boeing 727
★
Boeing 737-200
★
Boeing 737-300
★
Boeing 737-500
★
Boeing 747-200
★
Boeing 767
★ Breguet 763
★
Convair 990
★
De Haviland Comet 1
★ Dewoitine 338
★
Douglas DC-3
★
Douglas DC-4
★ Farman 2200
★
Lockheed Constellation
★
Sud Aviation Caravelle
★
Sud-Est SE-161 Languedoc
★
Vickers Viscount
★ Wibault 282
Cabin
Air France has three primary classes of international service: L'Espace Première (First), L'Espace Affaires (Business), and Tempo (Economy). European shorthaul flights feature Tempo class service. For flights to the Caribbean and Indian Ocean, a premium economy class, Alizé, is also offered.
[10] Inflight entertainment via AVOD (Audio Video on Demand) is available in select cabins.
L'Espace Première
L'Espace Première, Air France's longhaul
first class product, is available on
Boeing 777-300ER and
Boeing 777-200ER aircraft. The L'Espace Première cabin features four to eight wood and leather seats which recline 180°, forming two meter long beds. Each seat features a 10.4" touchscreen TV monitor with interactive gaming and AVOD, a privacy divider, automassage feature, reading light, storage drawer, noise-cancelling headphones, personal telephone, and laptop power ports. À la carte on-demand meal services feature entrées created by chef Guy Martin. Turndown service includes a mattress, duvet and pillow. Private lounge access is offered worldwide.
L'Espace Affaires
L'Espace Affaires, Air France's longhaul
business class product, is available on
Airbus A330,
Airbus A340,
Boeing 747-400,
Boeing 777-200ER, and
Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. L'Espace Affaires features lie-flat seats which recline to two meters 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.
Tempo
Tempo, Air France's economy class product, features seats that recline up to 118°. The latest longhaul Tempo seat, which debuted on the
Boeing 777-300ER, includes winged headrests, a personal telephone, and a touchscreen TV monitor with interactive gaming and partial AVOD, with films and programs restarting every 15 minutes. Shorthaul Tempo services are operated by
Airbus A320 family aircraft with different seating arrangements. On short haul flights, a cold meal is served. On long haul flights you can choose between two main courses. Complimentary alcoholic beverages are avaiable on all flights. On flights over 10.5 hours, a self-service snack buffet is available in the galley.
Alizé
Alizé, Air France's premium economy product, is available on flights to the Caribbean and Indian Ocean (such as the
Antilles,
Guyana, and
Mauritius). On the
Boeing 777-300ER, the Alizé cabin is located in front of the Tempo cabin and features 36 seats. Alizé seats recline up to 123° and feature massaging foot rests. A predeparture drink, enhanced meal service, and feather pillows and blankets are offered.
Codeshare agreements
The following airlines have codeshare agreements with Air France as of May 2007:
(''This list does not include
SkyTeam airlines'')
Subsidiaries
In partnership with Dutch affiliate,
Transavia, Air France is to launch a new charter/low-cost subsidiary to be based at
Paris - Orly Airport and to begin operations in May 2007 with leisure route services in the
Mediterranean and
North Africa. It will operate 4
Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Transavia is understood to have a 40% stake, with Air France holding the rest
[11].
Incidents and accidents
★ On October 27, 1949, boxer
Marcel Cerdan, violinist
Ginette Neveu and some members of the
Barnum & Bailey Circus died when an Air France flight crashed into a mountain after two failed attempts to make a landing at the São Miguel Island airport in the Azores.
★ On the nights of 12-14 June 1950, two Air France Douglas DC-4s crashed into the waters off Bahrain while attempting to land, with the loss of 86 lives.
★
3 June,
1962: A chartered
Boeing 707-328 (registration ), the
Chateau de Sully, from
Orly Airport (
Paris,
France) to
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (
Atlanta,
Georgia, USA) crashed during take-off; 130 of the total 132 people on board were killed. Two flight attendants sitting in the
aft (tail or rear) section of the aircraft were saved. The investigation found a faulty servo motor, which had led to an improper (and non-adjustable) elevator trim. Brake marks measuring 1,500 feet (457 m) were found on the runway, indicating that the cockpit crew tried to abort take-off. The aircraft rolled right while only seven feet (2 m) from the ground, causing its right wing to hit the ground. The 707-328 crashed 50 yards (45 m) from the runway and exploded.
★
June 22,
1962: A
Boeing 707-328 crashed into a hill during bad weather, while attempting to land in Guadeloupe, West Indies, killing all 113 on board. The aircraft was attempting a non-precision NDB approach. A malfunctioning VOR station, and poor NDB reception due to thunderstorms in the area, were blamed for the accident.
★
June 27,
1976: Flight 139 from
Tel Aviv to
Paris through
Athens was hijacked by a
Palestinian group. The
Airbus A300 and its 260 occupants were taken to
Entebbe,
Uganda, where they were rescued by
Israeli soldiers the following week. See
Operation Entebbe.
★ On
June 26,
1988,
Flight 296, an
A320-100 of Air France crashed near the airfield of Mulhouse-Habsheim during an airshow, in Alsace/France. The aircraft overflew the airfield in good weather. Seconds later the aircraft touched the tops of trees behind the runway and crashed into a forest. Three passengers died in the accident and about fifty were injured.
★ In 1994, a group of men from the
Algerian group
GIA hijacked
Flight 8969, intending to crash it into the
Eiffel Tower. French
GIGN intervened and prevented an incident.
★ On
July 25,
2000,
Flight 4590, a chartered Concorde departing from De Gaulle airport in Paris bound for
JFK crashed just after take-off in
Gonesse impacting a hotel. All 109 people on board died plus four people on the ground.
★ On
January 23,
2003, two bodies fell off Flight 112 (from Paris
Charles de Gaulle International Airport to
Shanghai Pudong International Airport) right before its landing in
Shanghai. The two men were described as European by witnesses in the village where one of the bodies fell through the roof of a house and the other plunged into an orchard. No one was reported hurt.
[1] [2]
★ On
August 2,
2005,
Flight 358, an
A340-300 (registration ) with 297 passengers and 12 crew, overran the runway and crashed into trees at
Toronto Pearson International Airport in bad weather conditions. The aircraft caught fire. All passengers survived, although a reported 43 people were taken to hospital for minor injuries.
★ On
May 12,
2007,
Andrew Speaker, a passenger infected with a contagious, drug-resistant strain of
tuberculosis traveled on Air France Flight 385 from
Atlanta to
Paris and Air France Flight 1232 from Paris to
Athens. The passenger allegedly took various flights on
Olympic Airlines. Speaker returned to the U.S on
May 24,
2007 via
Czech Airlines Flight 104 from
Prague to
Montréal and drove to
New York City via rental car. The
CDC issued a warning to quarantine the individual and anyone who came into contact with him to prevent the spread of the disease. [
[3]]
France has been the target of many
hijackings: 1973
Marseille; 1976 Benghazi (
Operation Entebbe) and
Ho Chi Minh City; 1977
Benghazi; 1983
Geneva; 1984 Geneva twice; 1989
Algiers; 1993
Nice; 1994
Algiers; 1999
Paris. On
December 24,
2003, three Air France flights bound for
LAX were cancelled because of fears that
terrorist group members would board.
Livery
Air France's livery is a
Eurowhite scheme, composed of primarily
white with
blue and
red accents.
Trivia
★ The song featured in the Air France commercials, and the song played before and after Air France flights is "Between Us" by the band Aswefall.
★ There are 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.
★ Air France was named by the
Association of European Airlines as one of seven airlines with a worse-than-average record for lost luggage in 2006. The average over 24 airlines is 15.7 bags per 1,000 passengers.
[12]
References
1. Directory: World Airlines
2. AIR FRANCE - KLM Company Profile Yahoo! Finance
3. Régional, compagnie aérienne européenne Company Profile
4. Air France IOSA Operators Profile
5. Air France website - Fleet
6. Air France Fleet & Age
7. Flight Global - Air France to replace 747 fleet
8. Airliner World (March 2005)
9. Air International (July 2005)
10. Air France - On Board
11. Airliner World (January 2007)
12. AEA Consumer Report
External links
★
Air France
★
Air France Experience
★
Air France History
★
Air France La Vie à Bord
★
Fly Air France online game
★
Air France mobile site (WAP/i-Mode) (English, French)
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