On the 7th October 2008, Air France will be celebrating its 75th anniversary. On this occasion customers in the UK & Ireland have access to some special offers.

Anyone booking with Air France on www.airfrance.co.uk between 8 and 21 October will be eligible for either a "2 for 1 dinner voucher" or a "free accommodation hotel break" (selection of hotels and restaurants all over the UK & Ireland).

To get more information about these offers please visit www.airfrance.co.uk from 8th October.

On 7th October 1933, Air France was inaugurated as the official national carrier at the famous Bourget airport just outside Paris, with the very first Air France flight from Paris to London on the 12th April of the same year. Until 1946, Air France was the only French airline to schedule the UK. Over the years the airline has continued to expand and develop its connection with the UK; test flights in 1925, the record 1h15 Paris-London flight in 1938, the new Air France Boeing 727-200 inaugurated and rolled out on the Paris-London route. And more recently the Air France Delta Airlines direct routes to the US from the UK. Air France is not only celebrating its anniversary but also its position as one of the word’s greatest and most prestigious airlines.

Over time, Air France has embodied the image of an innovative, groundbreaking company. In the face of political and economic uncertainties, it has always been able to adapt so as to take an active part in the changing landscape of air transport.

In the 1970s, Air France was one of the first airlines to put the world’s biggest passenger aircraft into service, the Boeing 747. In the 1990s, Air France overcame a tough operating environment by setting up the Paris-Charles de Gaulle hub, streamlining its network and fleet and reworking its ground and inflight products. The hub now offers 900 daily flights and some 24,000 weekly connecting opportunities. In 2004, Air France and KLM merged to become the world’s leading airline by revenue. This merger heralded the restructuring of the European airline business. Today Air France KLM fly to over 258 destinations worldwide from Paris and Amsterdam and together operate from a total of 20 airports in the UK & Ireland with over 1000 frequencies per week to their respective hubs. Air France currently flies to/from a total of 12 UK & Irish airports; London Heathrow, London City, Bristol, Southampton, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Dundee, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dublin & Shannon.

Air France was recently awarded the prize for the best single achievement in 2008 by the «World Airline Entertainment Association» (WAEA); also award winning sommelier Olivier Poussier selected the « Domaine de Cigalus » 2005 which won the Business Travellers Cellars in the Sky «Best Business Class White Wine» award 2007.

Over the years, Air France has also developed the image of an airline embodying the French lifestyle: cabin comfort and design, gourmet meals and designer tableware, discreet and attentive inflight service by elegant flight attendants in uniforms designed by some of the greatest fashion icons: Dior, Balenciaga and the current one by Christian Lacroix.

Facts and figures :

· Number of Air France aircraft:

- 1933: 259 aircraft

- 2007-2008: 411 aircraft

· Number of passengers carried:

- 1933: 52,100

- 2007-2008: 75 million (Air France and KLM)

· Example of the France – Saigon route:

- 1933: from Marseille to Beirut by the Cams 53 seaplane via Naples, Corfu, Athens and Castelrosso. From Beirut to Damascus by car. From Damascus to Baghdad by Breguet 284 T, and finally by Fokker VII to Saigon with stops in Djask, Karachi, Jodhpur, Allahabad, Calcutta, Rangoon, Angkor and Bangkok. The trip lasted 10 days!

- 2008: direct Paris-Ho Chi Minh City flight with one stop in Bangkok.

Flight time: 14 hours and 30 minutes.

Every week, since 14 August 2008, Air France has been screening 10 video films on its corporate website corporate.airfrance.com, each one recounting a chapter of the airline’s history. The films combine scenes from the past and the present. Furthermore, the website www.airfrancelasaga.com recounts the entire history of Air France through images from the archives.

For information on Air France, to book and check in online visit www.airfrance.co.uk or call 0871 663 3777.