Air France
Societe Air France or simply Air France is one of the largest airlines in the world. It’s a subsidiary of Air France-KLM and is based in Paris, France. Its main hub is Charles de Gaulle Airport while focus cities include Orly Airport, Lyon Saint-Exupery Airport and Nice Cote d’Azur Airport.
Air France was formed in 1933 as result of a merger of several companies such as Air Orient, Compagnie Generale Aeropostale, Societe Generale de Transport Aerien (SGTA), Air Union and Compagnie Internationale de Navigation Aérienne (CIDNA). It moved to Casablanca, Morocco during World War II. In 1945, all air transport companies in France were nationalised and Air France was tasked to manage the entire French air transport network. On January 1, 1946 the Societe Nationale Air France was established.
Air France carried around 43 million passengers between 2001 and 2002, employs about 100,000 and is an accredited member of the International Transport Association (IATA). Its company slogan is “Making the sky the best place on earth.”
Air France is France’s primary national flag carrier even before it merged with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines on May 5, 2004. The merger made it the largest airline in the world based on operating revenues and Europe’s largest in terms of passenger kilometres (third largest in the world). Air France-KLM’s principal activities are passenger transport, freight transport and airplane maintenance and repair.
Air France and KLM still fly under their own brand names.
Domestic & Worldwide Destinations
Air France has a fleet size of 389 aircraft and flies to 248 destinations worldwide particularly to Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania and South America.
It operates flights to Luanda in Angola; Douala and Yaounde in Cameroon; Bangui in Central African Republic; N’Djamena in Chad; Kinshasa in Democratic Republic of Congo; Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire in Republic of Congo; Malabo in Equatorial Guinea; Libreville in Gabon; Djibouti; Nairobi in Kenya; Antananarivo in Madagascar; Mahebourg in Mauritius; Saint-Denis in Reunion; Algiers in Algeria; Cairo in Egypt; Nouakchott in Mauritania; Casablanca, Marrakech and Rabat in Morocco; Tunis in Tunisia; Johannesburg in South Africa; Cotonou in Benin; Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso; Abidjan in Cote d’Ivoire; Conakry in Guinea; Bamako in Mali; Niamey in Niger; Lagos and Port Harcourt in Nigeria; Dakar in Senegal; Lome in Togo; Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Shanghai in China; Osaka and Tokyo in Japan; Seoul in South Korea; Dhaka in Bangladesh; Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai in India; Singapore; Bangkok in Thailand; Hanoi and Ho Chi Min City in Vietnam; Bahrain; Tel Aviv in Israel; Amman in Jordan; Kuwait City in Kuwait; Beirut in Lebanon; Dammam, Jeddah and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia; Damascus in Syria; Abu Dhabi and Dubai in United Arab Emirates; Yerevan in Armenia; Baku in Azerbaijan; Vienna in Austria; Sofia in Bulgaria; Prague in Czech Republic; Copenhagen in Denmark; Berlin, Bremen, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich, Munster and Stuttgart in Germany; Athens in Greece; Budapest in Hungary; Dublin and Shannon in Ireland; Bologna, Milan, Naples, Rome, Turin and Venice in Italy; Oslo in Norway; Amsterdam in Netherlands; Warsaw in Poland; Lisbon in Portugal; Bucharest in Romania; Moscow and Saint Petersburg in Russia; Belgrade in Serbia; Asturias, Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid and Zaragoza in Spain; Stockholm and Gothenburg in Sweden; Geneva and Zurich in Switzerland; Istanbul in Turkey; Kiev in Ukraine; Bristol, Glasgow, London, Manchester, Newcastle and Southampton in United Kingdom; Montreal and Toronto in Canada; Guadalajara and Mexico City in Mexico; Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle in USA; Havana in Cuba; Punta Cana and Santo Domingo in Dominican Republic; Pointe-a-Pitre in Guadeloupe; Port-au-Prince in Haiti; Fort-de-France in Martinique; Saint Martin in Netherlands Antilles; Papeete in French Polynesia; Buenos Aires in Argentina; Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo in Brazil; Santiago de Chile in Chile; Bogota in Colombia; Cayenne in French Guiana; Lima in Peru; Paramaribo in Suriname; Montevideo in Uruguay; and Caracas in Venezuela.
Destinations in France include Ajaccio, Bastia, Biarritz, Bordeaux, Brest, Calvi, Clermont-Ferrand, Figari, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Mulhouse, Nantes, Nice, Paris, Pau, Perpignan, Strasbourg, Toulon and Toulouse.
SkyTeam
Air France formed a bilateral transatlantic partnership with Delta Air Lines in June of 1999. The next year, it expanded to the establishment of SkyTeam, the second largest airline alliance in the world. The other founding members include Aeromexico and Korean Air. To date, it has 11 full, 3 non-voting and 2 pending members. SkyTeam has two premium levels namely Elite and Elite Plus and benefits are based on member airline’s frequent flyer programme. Some of the benefits include priority in seating, check-in, boarding, airport standby and reservations waitlisting. Other members of SkyTeam aside from its founding members include Czech Airlines, Alitalia, Continental, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Aeroflot, China Southern Airlines, Air Europa, Copa Airlines and Kenya Airways. SkyTeam has 462 million annual passengers, 152 million of which are frequent flyer members. The alliance’s fleet size is 2,496 plus 1,255 from related carriers.
Flying Blue
Air France’s frequent flyer programme is Flying Blue. There are four levels of membership namely Ivory (basic level) and the three Elite levels, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Membership is free. After registration an Ivory card is issued to the member. Acquiring miles is based on distance flown and class of service and booking class. Members can earn miles when they fly with Air France and other SkyTeam and partner airlines or by using the services of non-airline partners of Flying Blue. Reaching required miles will elevate members to Elite levels.
Members can spend their miles on airline award tickets, hotel stays, car rentals, leisure partners, travel-related services and even donate it to charitable causes.