Air France history
Air France was founded on 7 October 1933, from a merger of Air
Orient, Air Union, Compagnie Générale Aéropostale, Compagnie
Internationale de Navigation Aérienne (CIDNA), and Société Générale de
Transport Aérien (SGTA). Of these airlines, SGTA was the first
commercial airline company in France. The constituent members of Air
France had already built extensive networks across Europe, to French
colonies in North Africa and farther afield.
During World War II, Air France moved its operations to Casablanca,
Morocco. On 26 June 1945, all French air transport companies were
nationalized. On 29 December 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.
On 23 February 1960, the Ministry of Public Works and Transport
transferred Air France's domestic monopoly to Air Inter.
On 21 January 1976, Air France operated its inaugural supersonic
transport (SST) service on the Paris (Charles de Gaulle) to Rio (via
Dakar) route with the Anglo-French BAC-Aérospatiale Concorde. Supersonic
services from Paris (CDG) to New York (JFK). Paris to New York was
covered in three hours and 23 minutes, about twice the speed of sound.
On 30 September 2003, Air France and Netherlands-based KLM Royal
Dutch Airlines announced the merger of the two airlines, the new company
to be known as Air France-KLM. The merger became reality on 5 May 2004
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