Air France Marks 90 Years of Flights to Casablanca with Historic Video Tribute

Air France is celebrating its 90th anniversary. After being exhibited at the Galeries Lafayette Paris Haussmann from September 28 to October 10, 2023 to celebrate "90 years of elegance, 90 years of technology, innovation and comfort in the sky, 90 years of travel, gastronomy, design, haute couture, art and architecture," the company is honoring its service to Casablanca. A video with historical images has been produced and broadcast. 90 years ago, a Latécoère 28 (Laté 28), a single-engine aircraft capable of carrying 8 passengers, connected Toulouse to Casablanca (via stopovers in Toulouse, Barcelona, Alicante, Malaga, Gibraltar, Rabat) over 2 days of travel, reports Air Journal.

Then, Air France operated flights with successively the Wibault 283T tri-motor (10 passengers, 4 stopovers in nearly 32 hours), the French airliner Dewoitine 338 in 1938 (33 hours of flight for 22 passengers) and in 1946 the Douglas DC3. In 1947, the Douglas DC4 will follow, allowing a non-stop connection (in 7h15 for 64 passengers), in 1962 the Lockheed Constellation (in 4h 10 for 62 passengers), in 1960 the Caravelle, a twin-engine airliner designed by the French company Sud-Aviation which later became Aerospatiale (3h15 of flight, 94 passengers), in 1974 the Boeing 727 (2h30, 184 passengers), in 1977, the A300 (in 2h40, 292 passengers), in 1996 the B737 (in 2h50, 112 passengers), and finally in 2001 the A320 (in 3H00, 159 passengers).

The official launch of Air France dates back to October 7, 1933. The grouping of Air Orient, Air Union, the Société Générale de Transports Aériens, the Compagnie Internationale de Navigation Aérienne and the Aéropostale made its creation possible. With a fleet of more than 240 aircraft, the company offers its customers nearly 1,000 flights per day to 200 destinations. "Since its creation on October 7, 1933, the company has been spreading French excellence, that ’je ne sais quoi’ that the world recognizes in France, thanks to an exceptional travel experience that makes elegance fly ever higher," it said in a press release published on the occasion of the celebration of its 90 years of elegance at the Galeries Lafayette Paris Haussmann.

https://youtu.be/8VIqU8NIyhI