for: Air France (band) Air France (formally Société Air France) is one of the world's largest airlines. Air France is based in Paris, France, and is a subsidiary of Air France-KLM Group. It operates worldwide scheduled passenger and cargo services to 185 destinations in 83 countries. Its global hub is at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. Paris Orly Airport, Lyon Saint-Exupéry Airport and Nice Côte d'Azur Airport are secondary hubs. .

Prior to the merger with KLM, Air France was France's primary national flag carrier, employing 71,654 people in March 2004. By March 2007, the airline employed 102,422 staff.

The company's corporate headquarters, initially in central Paris, is at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle north of Paris. Between April 2001 and March 2002 the airline carried 43.3mn passengers and had total revenues of €12.53bn. Régional, Air France's regional airline subsidiary operates the majority of its regional domestic and European scheduled services with a fleet of regional jet and turboprop aircraft. Air France is also accredited by IATA with the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) for its safety practices.

According to Air France-KLM, the company's principal activities are:

• Passenger transport: first European airline with 25.5% of market share (November 2004) and largest airline in the world in terms of operating revenue.
• Freight transport: largest company for international freight transportation without integration. With integration, Air France-KLM is third worldwide behind FedEx and UPS.
• Airplane maintenance and repair: largest multi-services operator.

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History

Air France was formed on October 7, 1933 from a merger of Air Orient, Compagnie Générale Aéropostale, Société Générale de Transport Aérien (SGTA) - the first commercial airline company in France founded as Lignes Aériennes Farman in 1919 - Air Union and Compagnie Internationale de Navigation Aérienne (CIDNA). The constituent members had already built extensive networks across Europe, to French colonies in North Africa and farther afield.

During World War II, Air France moved to Casablanca, Morocco.

On June 26, 1945, all French air transport companies were nationalised. On December 29, 1945 a decree of the French government granted Air France the management of the entire French air transport network.

Air France appointed its first flight attendants in 1946. The same year the airline opened its first air terminal at Les Invalides in central Paris. It was linked to Paris Le Bourget Airport, Air France's first operations and engineering base, by coach. At that time the network covered 160,000 km, claimed to be the longest in the world.Air France (Airline, France)