Air France are currently in the process of giving all their aircraft names. It marks a change for the French carrier, as previously none of them carried a unique name.

Airlines have used various themes for names throughout aviation history. From figures in Greek mythology to stars, to basing a theme on the aircraft type, plenty of creativity has been shown.

Air France Aircraft Names

So far, a total of 24 aircraft in the fleet have been given a name, with more to follow as time progresses. Air France didn’t exactly go down the most creative route, alas. All the names are French place names, which you can see in the full list below.

Airbus 330-200
F-GZCF Avignon
F-GZCJ Caen

Airbus 350-900
F-HTYA Toulouse
F-HTYB Lyon
F-HTYC Saint Denis De La Reunion
F-HTYD Nice
F-HTYE Boreaux
F-HTYF Marseille
F-HTYG Reims
F-HTYH Dijon

Boeing 777-200
F-GSPL Biarritz

Boeing 787-9
F-HRBJ Saint Emilion

Airbus 321
F-GTAQ Clermont Ferrand
F-GTAO Bastia
F-GTAJ Ajaccio
F-GMZE Rouen
F-GTAS Castres
F-GTAM Calvi
F-GMZC Nancy

Airbus 320-200
F-GKXI Roissy En France
F-GKXH Montreuil
F-GKXY Mazamet
F-HEPC Aurillac
F-GKXG Metz

While they sound a little bit exotic to me, I guess they might seem a little pedestrian to a French person. I’m curious as to how certain places have been chosen. Is there a methodology? Or was the work experience kid sent to Google Maps and told to pick some names for the planes? We will never know.

Overall Thoughts

Aircraft names from history like Southern Aurora, Hermes, Pacific Warrior, Endeavour, Kookaburra or Dreamtime evokes far more mystique than a place. For what it’s worth, all these ones mentioned were the names of Qantas machines at one time or another.

What do you think of the aircraft names Air France have chosen? If you were in control at the French airline, what theme would you have selected instead? Are there any names / themes that you remember that you liked? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image by Anna Zvereva via Wikimedia Commons.
With thanks to AF Cabin Crew on Airliners.net.