The fine art of flying - Part III
The 2000's saw major changes in the company, not just fleet wise but management wise also. The airline moved towards privatization, with Jean Cyril Spinetta as the CEO.
Air France suffered one of its worst disasters in the year 2000 when a Concorde crashed shortly after take off in Paris. The aircraft had its tyre hit by a foreign part and caught fire because the tyre parts hit the wing tank and fuel spilled out. It is believed that the foreign part responsible for the damage came off from a Continental DC-10 which took off just before the Concorde. The Concorde was grounded by both the DGAC (Direction Generale de L'Aviation Civile, it is the French FAA) and British Aviation Authorities, it retuned to service a year a a half later but it was permanently grounded in 2003 because fuel prices were drastically soaring following the events of 9-11 and the Irak war. Had the world been in an better economy, the Concorde would proably had remained in service till 2007 as originally planned. One of the former Air France Concordes is preserved at the Musee de l'Air in Le Bourget in Paris.
In 2003, Air France introduced the Airbus A318. The A318 is the fourth and shortest member of the narrowbody family of aircraft at Airbus. Air France became then the first airline to fly all four models of the Airbus narrowbody types, the A318, A319, A320 and the A321 which is the longest one of the four variants. The A318 began replacing the Boeing 737-500. Altough Air France remains committed to Boeing for long haul aircraft, it is unlikely that they ever order any Boeing 737NG because they remain strongly committed to the Airbus A320 and its derivatives.
Air France was one the founding members of the Sky Team alliance in 2001 with its US partner Delta Airlines, other members including CSA of Czech Republic, Alitalia, Korean Air and Aero Mexico would follow shortly after.
In 2005, Air France announces to the public a "big wedding": a merger with Amsterdam based KLM. Air France took control of most, if not all, of the assets of KLM. Air France-KLM became one company, one of the three largest airlines in Europe, the other two major players in Europe being British Airways and Lufthansa. The two Frequent Flyers programmes, Frequence Plus and Flying Dutchman of Air France and KLM respectively merged into one combined programme, Flying Blue, and it was of course normal that KLM, Northwest and Continental joined the Sky Team alliance. Aeroflot joined in 2006. Sky Team has now only one partner in the United States: Delta. That's because the late 2000's see these two changes in the alliance: Northwest and Delta merge, and Continental is leaving(they are going to Star). New members likely to join the Sky Team alliance include Tarom or Romania, MEA of Lebanon and Vietnam Airlines. Air France and KLM are now "married".
Air France-KLM is currently evaluating both the Boeing 787 and the Airbus A350 for the future, it is likely that they order additional Boeing 777-300ER aircraft for long haul operations but the Boeing 747-8 currently under study is an unlikely choice, like British Airways they are more interested in the Boeing 777 and the Airbus A380 when buying large wide body aircraft. Air France also phased in the all new Boeing 777-200F for its freighter operations, those are to replace the Boeing 747-200F's which are fuel thirsty and still flown with a three-man cockpit crew. Air France, which took delivery of the 777th Boeing 777 in Spring of 2009, has now a total of 50 Boeing 777's of all variants, 200ER, 300ER and 200F. A few more 200F's and 300ER's are still on order.
Air France has the idea of operating three types on long haul flights in passenger hauling: the Boeing 777, the Airbus A330 and the Airbus A380 which is due to enter service in 2009. The Boeing 747's and the Airbus A340's (one of them crashed in Toronto in 2005) are gradually being phased out from the mainline fleet. There are still a few Boeing 747-400's in passenger hauling operations but some of those are being converted to freighters.
In late 2008, Air France painted one of its A320 aircraft in a retro livery, the old blue cheatline, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the company.
In 2009, Air France introduced a new livery although only a subtle change from the current "bar code" livery dating from the late 1970's: the blue and red "bar code" still exists on the tails, but one stripe is removed and the remaining stripes are slightly curved at the bottom.
Air France suffered one of its worst disasters in the year 2000 when a Concorde crashed shortly after take off in Paris. The aircraft had its tyre hit by a foreign part and caught fire because the tyre parts hit the wing tank and fuel spilled out. It is believed that the foreign part responsible for the damage came off from a Continental DC-10 which took off just before the Concorde. The Concorde was grounded by both the DGAC (Direction Generale de L'Aviation Civile, it is the French FAA) and British Aviation Authorities, it retuned to service a year a a half later but it was permanently grounded in 2003 because fuel prices were drastically soaring following the events of 9-11 and the Irak war. Had the world been in an better economy, the Concorde would proably had remained in service till 2007 as originally planned. One of the former Air France Concordes is preserved at the Musee de l'Air in Le Bourget in Paris.
In 2003, Air France introduced the Airbus A318. The A318 is the fourth and shortest member of the narrowbody family of aircraft at Airbus. Air France became then the first airline to fly all four models of the Airbus narrowbody types, the A318, A319, A320 and the A321 which is the longest one of the four variants. The A318 began replacing the Boeing 737-500. Altough Air France remains committed to Boeing for long haul aircraft, it is unlikely that they ever order any Boeing 737NG because they remain strongly committed to the Airbus A320 and its derivatives.
Air France was one the founding members of the Sky Team alliance in 2001 with its US partner Delta Airlines, other members including CSA of Czech Republic, Alitalia, Korean Air and Aero Mexico would follow shortly after.
In 2005, Air France announces to the public a "big wedding": a merger with Amsterdam based KLM. Air France took control of most, if not all, of the assets of KLM. Air France-KLM became one company, one of the three largest airlines in Europe, the other two major players in Europe being British Airways and Lufthansa. The two Frequent Flyers programmes, Frequence Plus and Flying Dutchman of Air France and KLM respectively merged into one combined programme, Flying Blue, and it was of course normal that KLM, Northwest and Continental joined the Sky Team alliance. Aeroflot joined in 2006. Sky Team has now only one partner in the United States: Delta. That's because the late 2000's see these two changes in the alliance: Northwest and Delta merge, and Continental is leaving(they are going to Star). New members likely to join the Sky Team alliance include Tarom or Romania, MEA of Lebanon and Vietnam Airlines. Air France and KLM are now "married".
Air France-KLM is currently evaluating both the Boeing 787 and the Airbus A350 for the future, it is likely that they order additional Boeing 777-300ER aircraft for long haul operations but the Boeing 747-8 currently under study is an unlikely choice, like British Airways they are more interested in the Boeing 777 and the Airbus A380 when buying large wide body aircraft. Air France also phased in the all new Boeing 777-200F for its freighter operations, those are to replace the Boeing 747-200F's which are fuel thirsty and still flown with a three-man cockpit crew. Air France, which took delivery of the 777th Boeing 777 in Spring of 2009, has now a total of 50 Boeing 777's of all variants, 200ER, 300ER and 200F. A few more 200F's and 300ER's are still on order.
Air France has the idea of operating three types on long haul flights in passenger hauling: the Boeing 777, the Airbus A330 and the Airbus A380 which is due to enter service in 2009. The Boeing 747's and the Airbus A340's (one of them crashed in Toronto in 2005) are gradually being phased out from the mainline fleet. There are still a few Boeing 747-400's in passenger hauling operations but some of those are being converted to freighters.
In late 2008, Air France painted one of its A320 aircraft in a retro livery, the old blue cheatline, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the company.
In 2009, Air France introduced a new livery although only a subtle change from the current "bar code" livery dating from the late 1970's: the blue and red "bar code" still exists on the tails, but one stripe is removed and the remaining stripes are slightly curved at the bottom.