January 13, 1950
Posted on Mercredi 13 janvier 2010 at 11 h 08 min and filed under Ephémérides.Air France takes delivery of the first of its Lockheed L.749 Constellations, which it starts operating on 30 January 1950. It operated 25 of these aircraft. This four-engine aircraft carried between 48 and 62 passengers, depending on the version, at 480 km/h. It replaced the Lockheed L.049 which was less efficient.
On 2 February, it starts operating the weekly Paris-Rome-Damascus route, and in March the Paris-Saigon route (33 flight hours instead of 67 hours by DC-4).
Air France and KLM were the first European airlines to operate the Lockheed Constellation.
