Air France

Air France came into being in 1933 when five small French airlines: Air Orient, Air Union, Compagnie Générale Aéropostale, Compagnie Internationale de Navigation Aérienne (CIDNA), and Société Générale de Transport Aérien (SGTA) merged to form the new airline. In the years before World War II, the Potez 62 was the workhorse of the airline. After World War II all French airlines were nationalized and Air France was given the responsibility of being the National airline. It initially flew a fleet of DC-3’s.
1990
In 1946 the airline began service to New York from Paris using DC-4’s, the flight time was 20 hours. Air France entered the jet age in 1951 becoming one of the first operators of the ill-fated de Havilland Comet. AirFrance soon acquired Boeing 707 and 747 aircraft.

In 1976 Air France began to operate the Concorde SST aircraft. In 1988 Air France became the launch customer of the A320 Airbus short-haul aircraft. In 1990 it acquired UTA airlines.

In 2003 Air France merged with KLM. Air France stockholders own 81% of the newly merged company. While the companies merged it was decided to maintain separate brands and operations.

Today Air France has a fleet of 224 aircraft both from Boeing and Airbus. It currently has 84 planes on order, many destined to replace older aircraft that will be retired.