Air France is celebrating the milestone of 75 years of operations from Manchester Airport.
On 16 June 1946, Air France’s first flight from Manchester took off to Paris, operated by Dakota F-BADX. It was also the first post-war scheduled service from Manchester, after a gap of nearly seven years.
The flight arrived from Le Bourget Airport, Paris to drop off one passenger and pick up a VIP party of 18. The party returned to Manchester the next day on another Dakota aircraft, which stayed overnight and then operated the first public service at 09:39 on 18 June, with three fare-paying passengers on-board.
Air France then began serving the route three times per week, operated during the winter by Scottish Airlines’ Dakotas.
In modern pre-pandemic times, Air France operates up to seven daily flights.
Bénédicte Duval, General Manager of Air France KLM UK & Ireland commented on the anniversary: “We are delighted to today be commemorating 75 years of Air France operating out of Manchester. In the 75 years since we began flying from the airport, the world has changed dramatically and demand for travel has grown rapidly throughout the years.
Every year we carry hundreds of thousands of passengers between the two cities, clearly indicating how important global connectivity is for the region. The past year has been challenging, but Air France has been able to maintain our operations from Manchester, allowing essential travel between Paris and the North West. Moving forward, we are proud to continue our commitment to tourism and local business in the region.”