1919 witnessed the maiden flight of Koninklijke Luchtvaartmaatschappij for The Netherlands and Colonies or the KLM as it is popularly known. Years down the lane, in 1933, the civil aviation industry saw the merger of five French airlines, Air Union, Air Orient, Societe Generale de Transport Aerien (SGTA), CIDNA and Aeropostale. Both these pioneering players in civil aviation count among the few existing airlines to have been founded before World War II. As early as 1946, Air France and KLM created their first regular services between Europe and North America by linking New York out of Paris and Amsterdam.
The flight, including stop-overs, lasted nearly 24 hours. In 1989, for the first time in the history of air transport, an alliance was reached between KLM and the US carrier Northwest Airlines to offer their customers convenient access to both their networks. A first "open skies" agreement was reached in 1991 between the Netherlands and the United States, allowing for all KLM and Northwest Airlines flights between Europe and the United States to be operated on a joint-venture basis starting in 1993. Air France took over UTA in 1990. The two airlines merged two years later, making the new group the main shareholder of Air Inter, the airline specializing in domestic flights in France, in which it owned 72% of the capital. Six years later, Air Inter became Air France Europe, before being taken over by Air France in 1997.
Air France's capital was open to private companies early in 1999. Its shares were listed on the Paris Stock Exchange for the first time on 22 February 1999. Air France and KLM in 2003 announced their intended merger via Air France's international public offering (IPO) for KLM shares. The IPO was launched on 5 April 2004 on the Paris Euronext and Amsterdam markets as well as on the New York Stock Exchange. This operation which transferred the majority of Air France's stock to the private sector by dilution of the French States' stake resulted in the French company's privatization.
The Group has more than 100,000 employees as of 2011. The consolidated results released on 31 March 2011 recorded revenue of Euros 23,615 million for the year. The operating income stood at Euros 122 million and a net income of Euros 613 million were shown. 27% of business comes from the US region for the group. A total of 71.3 million passengers fly Air France KLM as of 2011. Jean-Cyril Spinetta is the current Chairman of the Board of Directors of Air France-KLM.
Since inception, the company has been committed to promoting sustainable development from an economic, environmental and social perspective. In September 2005, it was the only air transport group in the world to be included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. The Group has taken many environmentally-friendly initiatives - recycling of used parts, lighter seats, low energy consumption demonstration flight, to name a few examples. The most spectacular was the first flight operated by a KLM Boeing 747 using 50% bio-fuel and 50% jet fuel.
[...] It is a French-Dutch airline company integrated under the French law. The Air France has its headquarters in Tremblay-en-France, Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport which is close to Paris. The company has its offices in Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis, Paris, as well as in Amstelveen, Netherlands. In the year 2008, the Air France- KLM was the most successful airline organization in the world according to the total operating revenues collected in that year, as well as also the leading company in terms of international passenger-kilometers. [...]
[...] This makeover is an initiative taken as an Air France-KLM group's recovery attempt where the Air France as well as the KLM is putting into practice actions to make sure a speedy return to breakeven. Infact seven important strategies have been put forward to assist Air France to get back to sustainable development. These are as follows: ➢ Re-establish competitiveness ➢ Regain the number of customer inflow ➢ Organization to be made simpler ➢ Restore long-haul operations ➢ Reorganize small as well as medium-haul operations ➢ Speed up the current changes in Cargo activities ➢ Expand growth subdivision in Maintenance These strategies are the outcome of the hard labor from the seven project groups which have been formed to analyze the conditions, recognize the primary objectives essential for the reorganization as well as propose concerned solutions to cope up with the objectives. [...]
[...] The company has kept the customer as the prime focus of the strategy, not merely by offering access to the most efficient airlines in the world by way of destinations as well as timings but also coming up with more innovative array of products which comprises of e-services, combinable fares, providing a number of flight options as well as attractive fares; along with the frequent traveler program launched by the name Flying Blue. This was innovated when the two companies the Air France and the KLM entered into the merger. Balanced network The Air France-KLM company consists of a balanced set-up that is omnipresent in all big markets. The entire system is developed round two hubs at Paris-Charles de Gaulle as well as Amsterdam Schiphol. These are the Europe's biggest hubs. [...]
[...] The company Air France-KLM's prime environmental impact is resulting because of the emission during the flight operations. AS a result of this the company has taken up a plan to lessen the impact on climate change, named as the “Climate Action Plan” as well as working on reducing the environmental impact caused by the company in areas like noise, waste- management, energy as well as water. The company has moved ahead of the dogmatic necessities by : ➢ Reducing noise as well as emissions from the operations by refurbishing fleets and putting into practice the most competent procedures. [...]
[...] Later as Alitalia as well as Air One was taken over by Compagnia Aerea Italiana in the year 2008, Air France-KLM announced that it was interested in buying shares in the now merged organization. On the year 2009 on the 12the of January, Air France-KLM declared it is going to purchase 25% share of the company with an amount of €323 million. • In august 2011, Air France-KLM was classified as one of World's 10 most secure airlines by ATRA. • In 2012 it was heard, that Air France-KLM was thinking of selling the subsidiary CityJet. [...]
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