10/07/1933: Air France Is Inaugurated at Le Bourget

On October 7, 1933, Air France (AF) was officially inaugurated at Le Bourget Airport (LBG) by French Air Minister Pierre Cot. The ceremony followed the airline's formation on August 30 that year.

French commercial aviation had developed from companies such as Compagnie Générale Transaérienne, founded in 1909, which offered travel by airship and seaplane. After World War I, separate airlines built networks across Europe and toward Africa, Asia and South America. They relied on government subsidies and mail traffic as well as passengers.

Cot encouraged the consolidation of Air Orient, Air Union, Lignes Farman and Compagnie Internationale de Navigation Aérienne (CIDNA), with Aéropostale joining later through the acquisition of its assets. Lignes Farman was the predecessor of Société Générale de Transport Aérien. The resulting national airline combined carriers with different aircraft, crews and operating methods.

Air Union Farman Goliath Gascogne, equipped for night flying, photographed between 1923 and 1931. Photo: Unknown author, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Building a National Airline

Air France inherited 259 aircraft of 31 different types. Over the following years, it reduced the fleet to 90 aircraft, mainly French-built, according to the airline's history. Its network centered on Le Bourget for European connections, Marignane near Marseille for the Mediterranean and the East, and Toulouse for South America.

The new airline also adopted Air Orient's emblem. Bringing the predecessor companies together required standardizing their fleets and working practices, rather than simply giving them a common name.

From Postwar Rebuilding to Concorde

Nationalized on June 26, 1945, the carrier resumed the Air France name on January 1, 1946. It opened its Paris–New York route in July 1946 and renewed its fleet with aircraft from Douglas and Lockheed.

Air France put the Caravelle into service in 1959. Its first Boeing 707 entered service on the Paris–New York route on January 31, 1960. By the end of the 1960s, its fleet consisted entirely of jets. The airline had established its headquarters in Montparnasse in 1965.

Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) opened in 1974 and became an Air France hub. Air France's Concorde commercial service began on January 21, 1976, flying from Paris to Rio de Janeiro via Dakar. Washington service followed in May 1976, with New York added in November 1977.