France
See also: Escadron de transport, d'entraƮnement et de calibrage and Cotam 001The Escadron de transport, d'entraƮnement et de calibrage 00.065 (ETEC 65, "Transportation, training and calibration squadron") is the unit of the French Air Force, under direct command of the Minister of Defence, in charge of the transportation of the President, the Prime Minister and other French government officials.
The ETEC operates 4 Dassault Falcon 50 (F-RAFI, F-RAFJ, F-RAFK and F-RAFL), 2 Dassault Falcon 900 (F-RAFP and F-RAFQ), 2 Dassault Falcon 7X (F-RAFA and F-RAFB) and 1 Airbus A330-200 (F-RARF). Additionally, the unit operates three VIP-configured Super Puma helicopters (F-RAFU, F-RAFY and F-RAFZ).
French officials also use the planes of the Escadron de transport 3/60 Esterel, which operates 3 Airbus A310-304 (F-RADA, F-RADB and F-RADC) and 2 Airbus A340-211 (F-RAJA and F-RAJB).
In 2009, the French National Assembly approved a specific budget of 185 million euros for the purchase and modification of an Airbus A330-223 from Air Caraibes (F-ZWUG, ex F-GRTP, ex F-OPTP) to be reserved for the exclusive use of the President of the Republic.
Air France chartered flights were also used by French officials, most notably Concorde when it was still in service with that airline.
Read more about this topic: Air Transports Of Heads Of State And Government
Famous quotes containing the word france:
“The best of America drifts to Paris. The American in Paris is the best American. It is more fun for an intelligent person to live in an intelligent country. France has the only two things toward which we drift as we grow olderintelligence and good manners.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (18961940)
“It is not enough that France should be regarded as a country which enjoys the remains of a freedom acquired long ago. If she is still to count in the worldand if she does not intend to, she may as well perishshe must be seen by her own citizens and by all men as an ever-flowing source of liberty. There must not be a single genuine lover of freedom in the whole world who can have a valid reason for hating France.”
—Simone Weil (19091943)
“I shall not bring an automobile with me. These inventions infest France almost as much as Bloomer cycling costumes, but they make a horrid racket, and are particularly objectionable. So are the Bloomers. Nothing more abominable has ever been invented. Perhaps the automobile tricycles may succeed better, but I abjure all these works of the devil.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (18381918)