Like most, 2020 hasn’t turned out as expected for Air France. The French national carrier expected to celebrate 70 years in Canada in a festive fashion that ultimately turned out not to be feasible due to the ongoing pandemic.
Nevertheless, the airline marked its milestone last week (feting the first official flight from Montreal to Paris on Oct. 2, 1950) by holding a virtual event attended by customers, members of its sales network, partners, suppliers and employees.
The event was hosted by travel columnist and writer Jean-Michel Dufaux, who chatted live with new Air France KLM Canada VP and GM Catherine Guillemart-Dias, supplemented by appearances from special guests, such as Ambassador of France to Canada, Kareen Rispal, who underscored the importance of the economic and strategies ties France and Canada share and called the service “truly a symbol of friendship between Canada and France”; and Philippe Rainville, President and CEO of Aéroports de Montréal, who described the “long love affair” between Dorval airport and the airline and how it helped establish the facility as an international hub.
Also featured were archival images and footage; a variety of anecdotes; messages from executive management, including CEO Ben Smith from Paris; and behind-the-scenes videos from employees who talked about their work, how technology and the fleet evolved over the years, and the values that drive the teams.
Closing credits comprised messages from Air France Canada’s main partners: Delta Air Lines, WestJet, Atout France, and the Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver airports.
“Despite the circumstances, it mattered to us that we mark this milestone moment in our history and thank everyone who contributes, in their own way, to the history of Air France Canada,” said Guillemart-Dias, adding that Air France has had to adapt to many unforeseen events in its history and would adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic just the same.
Guillemart-Dias, who took over Air France-KLM’s top spot in Canada in August, recalled the airline’s first flight from Paris to Montreal, which took 14 hours, including stops in Shannon, Ireland, and Gander, Newfoundland.
“And since then we have been growing and keeping pace,” she added, including eventual expansion of service to Toronto in 1976 and, most recently, Vancouver in 2015.
On a global scale, Air France was founding member of the SkyTeam alliance in 2000, merged with KLM in 2005, and launched a joint venture with Delta Airlines in 2009. Earlier this year, Virgin Atlantic joined AF-KLM-Delta to create an expanded trans-Atlantic partnership.
Ambassador Rispal reported that in 2019, 680,000 French visited Canada for tourism while more than 1.2 million Canadians travelled the other way. The country is the top overseas destination for Québecois and second for English-speaking Canadians, she added.
A BRIEF HISTORY
1950 – World War II was over and setting up a Montreal-Paris route matched up well with France’s desire to strengthen diplomatic and economic ties with Canada, after appointing its first ambassador to Ottawa in 1945. Air France’s presence in Canada dates back to October 2, 1950, when the Lockheed Constellation 749 touched down at Dorval airport after stopovers in Shannon and Gander. The first outbound Montreal-Paris flight was on Oct. 5.
1976 – A Boeing 747 touched down on May 20, 1976 to inaugurate the first Paris-Toronto flight, a route that also included Los Angeles as a beyond for the first two years. Between 1978 and 1990, the route originated from Toronto and stopped in Montreal (Mirabel airport) outbound and inbound. Direct flights were introduced in 1994.
2015 – Air France inaugurated its Vancouver route on March 29, 2015.
2020 – Air France will operate a pandemic-inhibited 10 outbound flights a week from Canada in November and up to 17 in December, aboard Boeing B787s and Airbus A350s. KLM will resume flying out of Edmonton effective Oct. 29 with ‘circular’ flights twice a week – Edmonton-Amsterdam direct and Amsterdam-Calgary-Edmonton for a total 17 KLM weekly flights, plus two all-cargo flights to Toronto.