In the 1960s, Air France added Mumbai to its “historic” Far East network and launched flights from Mumbai on September 7, 1967. The airline now operates a daily service between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and India’s economic capital by Boeing 777-200 equipped with the latest long-haul travel cabins.
Max Smits, General Manager, Air France-KLM, Indian Sub-Continent said, “We are very proud to celebrate 50 years of service between Mumbai and Paris. Air France has been present in Mumbai since 1967 and has been investing continuously with the aim to provide a great product and excellent connection opportunities to the Indian passengers from its hub at Paris, Charles de Gaulle. We take this opportunity to thank our loyal customers and partners in reaching this great milestone and are absolutely thrilled to celebrate this occasion with our passengers taking the flight 07 Sep from Mumbai to Paris with a small surprise celebration at the Mumbai airport.”
As early as 1930, thanks to route tracing work by Maurice Noguès, Air France connected France to the Far East, serving many countries on the way. In India, the first cities were Jodhpur, Allahabad and Calcutta. These routes were changed, as aeronautical progress and political dynamics evolved. More powerful aircraft required fewer stopovers. In the early 1960s, the Boeing that connected Paris to Tokyo stopped in New Delhi, the country’s political capital, or Calcutta, replaced in 1967 by Mumbai, a city that was expanding fast.
Air France aims to provide a product adapted to Indian culture and traditions, responding to the cultural diversity of Indian customers through improved welcome and assistance together with a special emphasis on the French art of living. The Air France offer to and from India is currently based around several key concepts: tailored service, welcome and assistance, simple connecting channels at Paris Charles de Gaulle, access to destinations worldwide, safety and flight punctuality. On flights to and from India, option of Indian vegetarian meal, popular Bollywood & classics films as well as Indian music are available as part of in-flight service. At Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport, Air France agents speaking English & Hindi are at customers’ disposal to assist them with departure formalities, on arrival and when they have onward connections.
