27 April 1952. At 7:24 p.m. an Air France Lockheed Constellation took off from Paris-Orly for Mexico, more than 9,000 kilometres away...
After stops in Gander (Newfoundland, Canada) and New York, the elegant four-engine aircraft, with 34 passengers on board, landed at Mexico Central Airport. The Paris-Mexico City route was officially launched!
It was also the first direct air service between Europe and Mexico. For Air France, which was successfully implementing its long-haul strategy, Mexico was an ideal addition to its "flagship" route between Paris and New York.
Both routes had the best aircraft and the most prestigious services. Like the "Parisian special" the epitome of French elegance: private cabins, refined cuisine and a champagne welcome. Mexico was extremely buoyant and supported by tourism. More and more Europeans were travelling there.
Traffic took off; services multiplied between the two capitals, with one then two weekly flights in 1952, seven in 1954. In 1961, the Boeing 707, capable of carrying 180 passengers, brought the journey time of 24 hours down to 14 hours 20 minutes. The strengthened ties between the two countries, endorsed by visits, on Air France aircraft, by André Malraux (1960) and General de Gaulle (1964), promoted Mexico even further, and it became a key destination on the Air France network.
Headlining major advertising campaigns (from the Georges Mathieu series in 1968 to the Air France, France is in the Air campaign today), it continued to be served by the flagships of the fleet: the Boeing 747 in 1973, and the Airbus A380 in 2016.