Only two airlines can claim to have operated everything from the earliest passenger aircraft to the world’s only successful supersonic passenger jet. Air France (AF/AFR), which is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year, is one of them. Let’s take a look at the history and development of the French flag carrier.
The formation of a new airline
Air France was founded by the merger of several other state airlines in August 1933. The five airlines Air Orient, Air Union, Lignes Farman, CIDNA and Aéropostale merged to form the new national carrier, but existed without a name until a journalist named George Raffalovitch came up with it by accident during a press conference. Air France was born.
Throughout its early years, Air France worked to establish a far-reaching long-haul network to leverage the growing postwar demand for air travel. The airline commenced its flagship Paris to New York route in July 1946, and expanded to add destinations in Africa, Asia and the Americas in the following years. Aircraft such as the Douglas DC3 and Lockheed Constellation provided the backbone of the carrier’s services throughout the 1950s, with the latter remaining in active service until the late 1960s.
Air France joins the jet age
Whilst Air France breached the jet age with the early British-built De Havilland Comet, a series of fatal accidents with the type caused the airline to shift to 9 Sud Aviation Caravelle and 3 Boeing 707 jets in 1959. That had grown to 43 Caravelles and 33 707s by 1969, with the remaining propeller driven fleet being converted to freighters.
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