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Founded | 8 February 1919 (as Société Générale des Transports Aériens) | ||||||
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Commenced operations | 30 August 1933 (as Air France) | ||||||
Hubs | Paris–Charles de Gaulle | ||||||
Focus cities | |||||||
Frequent-flyer program | Flying Blue | ||||||
Alliance | SkyTeam | ||||||
Subsidiaries |
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Fleet size | 223 | ||||||
Destinations | 184[4] | ||||||
Parent company | Air France-KLM | ||||||
Headquarters | Roissypôle, CDG Airport, Tremblay-en-France, France | ||||||
Key people |
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Revenue | €16.3 billion (2022)[6] | ||||||
Operating income | €483 million (2022)[6] | ||||||
Employees | 38,000[7] | ||||||
Website | airfrance.com |
Air France (French pronunciation: [ɛːʁ fʁɑ̃s]; legally 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 airline alliance. As of 2013, Air France served 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) and also carried 46,803,000 passengers in 2019. The airline's global hub is at Charles de Gaulle Airport, with Orly Airport as the primary domestic hub. Air France's corporate headquarters, previously in Montparnasse, Paris,[8] are located at the Roissypôle complex on the grounds of Charles de Gaulle Airport, north of Paris.[9]
Air France was formed on 30 August 1933[10] as a merger of Air Orient, Air Union, Compagnie Générale Aéropostale, Compagnie Internationale de Navigation Aérienne (CIDNA), and Société Générale de Transport Aérien (SGTA). During the Cold War, from 1950 until 1990, it was one of the three main Allied scheduled airlines operating in Germany at West Berlin's Tempelhof and Tegel airports. In 1990, it acquired the operations of French domestic carrier Air Inter and international rival UTA – Union de Transports Aériens. It served as France's primary national flag carrier for seven decades until its merger with KLM in 2003.[11]
In 2018, Air France and its regional subsidiary Hop carried 51.4 million passengers.[12] Air France operates a mixed fleet of Airbus and Boeing widebody jets on long-haul routes, and uses Airbus A320 family aircraft on short-haul routes. Air France introduced the Airbus A380 on 20 November 2009 with service from Paris to New York. Air France Hop (formerly HOP!) operates the majority of its regional domestic and European scheduled services with a fleet of regional jet aircraft.[13]
Since May 2004, Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines have become the largest European airline group: 1 group, 2 airlines, and 3 businesses.