Description & Facts: Air France (formally Sociate Air France) is a French airline based in Roissy-en-France, France, and is one of the world's largest airlines. It is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance. Air France flies to 20 domestic destinations and operates worldwide scheduled passenger and cargo services to 150 international destinations in 83 countries (including Overseas departments and territories of France). The airline's global hub is at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, with Paris Orly Airport, Lyon-Saint Exupery Airport, and Nice d'Azur Airport serving as secondary hubs. Air France's corporate headquarters, previously in central Paris, are located at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle, north of Paris. Air France was formed on 7 October 1933, from a merger of Air Orient, Air Union, Compagnie Generale Aeropostale, Compagnie Internationale de Navigation Arienne (CIDNA), and Sociate Generale de Transport Airien (SGTA). In 1990, the airline acquired the operations of domestic French carrier Air Inter and international rival Union des Transports Ariens (UTA). Air France served as France's primary national flag carrier for seven decades prior to its 2003 merger with KLM. Between April 2001 and March 2002, the airline carried 43.3mn passengers and had total revenues of $12.53bn. In November 2004, Air France ranked as the largest European airline with 25.5% total market share, and was the largest airline in the world in terms of operating revenue. Air France operates a mixed fleet of Airbus and Boeing wide-body jetliners on long-haul routes, and utilises Airbus A320 family aircraft on short-haul routes. The carrier's regional airline subsidiary, Regional, operates the majority of its regional domestic and European scheduled services with a fleet of regional jet and turboprop aircraft. Air France has received IATA accreditation with the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) for its safety practices. Air France's slogan is "Making the sky the best place on Earth." Air France was formed on 7 October 1933, from a merger of Air Orient, Air Union, Compagnie Generale Aeropostale, Compagnie Internationale de Navigation Arienne (CIDNA), and Sociate Generale de Transport Airien (SGTA). Of these airlines, SGTA was the first commercial airline company in France, having been founded as Lignes Airiennes Farman in 1919. The constituent members of Air France had already built extensive networks across Europe, to French colonies in North Africa and farther afield. During World War II, Air France moved its operations to Casablanca, Morocco. On 26 June 1945, all French air transport companies were nationalised. On 29 December 1945, a decree of the French government granted Air France the management of the entire French air transport network. Air France appointed its first flight attendants in 1946. The same year the airline opened its first air terminal at Les Invalides in central Paris. It was linked to Paris Le Bourget Airport, Air France's first operations and engineering base, by coach. At that time the network covered 160,000 km, claimed to be the longest in the world. Sociate Nationale Air France was set up on 1 January 1946. On 1 July 1946, Air France inaugurated direct scheduled service between Paris and New York via refuelling stops at Shannon and Gander. Douglas DC-4 piston-engined airliners covered the route in just under 20 hours. By 1948 Air France operated one of the largest fleets in the world, numbering 130 aircraft. In 1946 and 1948, respectively, the French government further authorised the creation of two private airlines: Transports Airiens Internationaux - later Transports Ariens Intercontinentaux - (TAI) and SATI. In 1949 the latter became part of Union Aeromaritime de Transport (UAT), a private French international airline. Compagnie Nationale Air France was created by act of parliament on 16 June 1948. Initially, the government held 70%. In subsequent years the French state's direct and indirect shareholdings reached almost 100