Air France has celebrated 30 years of operating to Paris Charles de Gaulle from Birmingham Airport, over which time the airline has carried more than 1.7 million passengers. The national carrier for France operates almost 2000 flights and carries 225k passengers a year from Birmingham, and has a strong network of onward connectivity from Paris to Nice, Johannesburg, Beijing, Hong Kong, Marseille and Shanghai.
Paul Kehoe, Birmingham Airport’s chief executive, said: “Commencing services on the 1st September 1985, Air France is one of Birmingham Airport’s longest serving carriers and has sustained operations throughout the three decades, growing from strength to strength.
“The commitment from airlines like Air France means that they benefit from Birmingham’s world class facilities, excellent location and strong catchment area. We look forward to many more decades of growth and partnership with Air France, and wish the team a very Happy Anniversary.”
As a member of the SkyTeam Alliance, Air France, along with partner airline KLM, offers passengers access to a global network of over 16,000 daily flights, to more than 1,000 destinations in 177 countries.
Warner Rootliep, general manager for the UK and Ireland, said: “We are proud to be celebrating the 30th anniversary of Air France’s service from Birmingham Airport to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. We are dedicated to continual progress in meeting the expectations of our regional customers and this is evident in our longstanding relationship with Birmingham Airport.
“We offer passengers travelling from Birmingham Airport convenient access to Air France’s worldwide network of over 200 destinations, in more than 100 countries, via Europe’s most powerful hub airport, Paris Charles de Gaulle. The improvements to the hub airport and our service have played a paramount role in our success, with Air France recently being awarded ‘World’s Most Improved Airline’ at the 2015 Skytrax Awards. We look forward to working closely with Birmingham Airport over the years to come.”
Air France began a daily service from Birmingham using a B737-200 in 1985. Nowadays it operates three flights a day on an Airbus A320 family aircraft, with codeshares on three further daily services with Flybe.
