the essential
The plane has been brought to the baptismal font for several days. Thursday, November 28, the unique and official mini-lookalike was offered by Air France KLM to the city of Narbonne.
Narbonne will leave its mark – also carbon – on the skies around the world. By giving the name of the city to one of its A 350s, Air France is baptizing one of its best planes with a new flocking as the company has already done for Collioure, Montpellier, Toulouse or Carcassonne…
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The latest version of the A350s
To celebrate this initiative, Air France offered the city, this Thursday, November 28, the only replica registered at 1/100th scale. In the town hall, in front of the mini-liner, Sébastien Champion, Air France KLM regional sales director, indicated: “This old tradition was revived in 2019 of giving city names to the A350s and it is a new identity which enhances the French heritage. Narbonne diversifies the territories a little more with the riches of its heritage and all its attributes will shine throughout the world. The A350 has the advantage of being qualitative for its. comfort, its silence, and it aims to respond to our decarbonization strategy since it consumes 30% less CO2 compared to the previous generation.
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The model is part of the latest version of these A350s which have been taking off since last July. The long haul can carry up to 292 passengers, i.e. 48 seats in business, 32 in premium and 212 in economy.
“A magnificent aircraft produced on the European continent”
One who will have the chance to perhaps pilot it is Florian Martines. Armissan's child, now living in Annecy, is in fact captain of an A350. “The sound impact is appreciated by passengers, but also in airports. It is a magnificent aircraft produced on the European continent which represented only 5% of the Air France fleet in 2019, but which will reach 50% in 2025. We will see the name of Narbonne on all continents.”
The Independent – Philippe Leblanc
An Audois in charge
Florian Martines is an A350 captain. Initially, he piloted gliders within the Donne des wings à tes dreams association. His fiction becomes real at the Narbonne flying club while he obtains a scientific baccalaureate. “I then did two years in prep class at the Arago high school in Perpignan, then I entered the National School of Civil Aviation.” He took the airline pilot exam, passed it and returned to Enac to obtain his license. Three years later, in 2016, “I joined EasyJet, in Geneva, on the A320. After two years, I was recruited by Air France. After the A320s (medium haul), I have been flying the A350s for two years, it is possible, one day, that I will take command of Narbonne, which is part of the fleet.
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Bertrand Malquier, mayor, began to dream of exotic destinations, and told company representatives, regarding the meal trays, that “Aude is the most star-studded department in France”. Then, he transformed himself into a poet by imagining “that in Narbo-Martius, 2,000 years ago, would the inhabitants of the daughter of Rome raise their eyes to the sky thinking that one day the oldest city of France would fly in the air?
The ode to Aude finished, it was recalled that the wines of Gérard Bertrand were offered to passengers of this long-haul which would represent around fifty examples in the Air France KLM fleet. Whether his name is Narbonne or not.
