Recovery and profitable growth

The Air France Group

In the early 1990s, the economic crisis hit airlines worldwide and led to a series of mergers. Air France, UTA and Air Inter merged to form one of the World's largest air transport groups, the Air France Group, on 12 january 1990 (after Air France acquires stakes in UTA)

Back to profitability

Air France developed a staff-backed, wide-scale strategic plan, the Corporate Plan, which covered the period 1994-1996.

Air France caught up with its rivals by building the Paris-Charles de Gaulle 2 hub, introducing new products, launching sophisticated revenue management and pricing, tools and techniques, anf finally implementing a very stringent cost-cutting policy.

At the end of the 1996-1997 financial year, the results came in : Air France was profitable once again.

New services

In 1995, Air France set up its head office at Roissy at the heart of its operations. By upgrading its products, the Company offered its customers a new concept in air travel, particularly with the new seat-bed in the Espace Première cabin and an entire range of new ground and infligt services

New Aircraft

During the same year, Air France was the launch carrier for the Airbus A340, a wide-bodied long-haul aircraft with an operating range of 14,350 km. It enables Air France to increase its non-stop services on long-haul routes ( 252 seats), and went into operation two years after the roll-out of the Boeing 747-400 super jumbo jet.

Paris-Charles de Gaulle 2 Hub

1996 featured the opening of the Paris-Charles de Gaulle 2 hub. It enables rapid connections between short, medium and long-haul flights operated by Air France and its partners, through a single transfer airport. It is Europe's most efficient hub with 14,000 connections opportunities a week between medium and long-haul flights.

La Navette shuttle service

In the same year, the La Navette shuttle service was launched from Paris-Orly to Marseille, Nice and Toulouse, then Bordeaux in 1999. It strengthened the position of French air transport in France, Europe's biggest domes tic market.

Air France merges with Air Inter

After completion of the merger of UTA and Air France in 1992, Air Inter, already indirectly under Air France control, merged with the Company on 1 april 1997

On 3 June 1998, Air France was renamed Société Air France.

Partnerships

At the same time, Air France continued to expand. Over thirty agreements and alliances were signed or developed with US carriers such as Delta Air Lines, and also with European, Asian and African carriers.

Profitable growth

1998 marked the arrival of the Boeing 777-200ER with an operating range of 12,945 km, fully loaded with 270 passengers, and a range of 11,200 km with an additional 12 tonnes of cargo. During October, the new cargo terminal G1XL, Europe's largest cargo hub, was opened at Roissy.

The Paris-Charles de Gaulle 2 Hub continued to expand with the opening of the very modern Hall F in 1999.

Air France launched its 1999-2002 Corporate Plan aimed at evolving from a national carrier to a world-class airline major.

Initial Public Offering

In february of the same year, the Company successfully completed its IPO, with 2.4 million individual shareholders. Its share capital reached 3.15 billion euros. Over 72% of the staff became shareholders in their company, gaining an 11.8% stake in capital.