Corporate press information

Air France will celebrate its 60 years of operations in Canada by welcoming one of its Airbus A380s next October 7 at Montréal-Trudeau airport. This special one-day-only event is planned for the AF 346 inbound flight from Paris and the AF 347 outbound flight from Montréal.




This will be the airline’s first Airbus A380 to touch down in Canada. Seats onboard these flights will be sold online at airfrance.ca and through travel agencies. Some 60 seats will be reserved for various contests surrounding the 60th anniversary of which, the ’60 years of memories in Canada’, a photography contest which is launched today on its website.



‘This aircraft will allow us to celebrate our 60 years in Montréal in style, in the city where it all began for us and where we are firmly entrenched, especially with our four daily flights this summer,” declared Bénédicte Duval, Vice-President and General Manager of Air France-KLM Canada. Duval also added: “I am truly proud this unique flight is accessible to everyone, made doubly special as it will occur on the day Air France will be celebrating its 77th birthday.’



Air France, which now operates three A380s, is the first European airline to integrate the aircraft to its fleet. Now used on flights to New York and Johannesburg from Paris-Charles de Gaulle, the airline recently announced that it will be adding Tokyo as the aircraft’s third destination in September.



Air France’s A380s are equipped with 538 seats, divided in three classes: nine in La Première first class on the main deck, 80 in L’Affaires business on the upper deck, and 449 in Voyageur economy divided among the two decks.



Air France’s presence in Canada dates back to October 2, 1950, when the airline’s Lockheed Constellation 749, registration number F-BAZS, touched down at Dorval for the first time, after stopovers in Shannon and Gander. The first outbound Air France Montréal-Paris flight left for Orly on October 5 with 40 passengers, thus cementing the airline’s regular flight service between the two countries.