AIR FRANCE

in full Compagnie Nationale Air France, French international airline originally formed in 1933 and today serving all parts of the globe. With British Airways, it was the first to fly the supersonic Concorde. Headquarters are in Paris. On May 17, 1933, four airlinesSocit Centrale pour l'Exploitation de Lignes Ariennes (founded 1919), Compagnie Internationale de Navigation (1920), Air Union (1923), and Air Orient (1929)merged and negotiated with the French government to form a national system. A few months later, on August 30, with the support of the government, the combine merged with another line, Compagnie Gnrale Aropostale (founded 1919), to form Air France, which in the years before World War II developed one of the most extensive networks in Europe. Nearly devastated by the war, the company resumed ParisLondon service on Oct. 11, 1945. The following year, it reorganized, and on June 16, 1948, a new Compagnie Nationale Air France was incorporated by act of Parliament (70 percent of the new company would be owned by the French government). The first Air France transatlantic flight, from Paris to New York City, was inaugurated on June 25, 1946. Routes expanded in the coming decades so that by the late 20th century the airline was serving more than 150 cities in more than 70 countries. In 1976 it inaugurated Concorde flights, initially from Paris to Rio de Janeiro (January 21); in 1982 that route and others had to be cut owing to their unprofitability, leaving the ParisNew York flight as its sole route.