1980s: Golden jubilee and modernisation

CAF's 1982-1993 fleet

Twin aisle:
Airbus A310
Airbus A300B2/B4
McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30
Boeing 747SP
Boeing 747-100/200B/200C/400

Single aisle:
Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde
Airbus A320
Boeing 727-200
Boeing 737-200/300/500
Fokker 27 Friendship
Fokker 28 Fellowship Mark 1000

Cargo:
Boeing 747-200F

On 15 December 1982, CAF received the first of 24 new Boeing 737-200 aircraft (F-GBYA) in a new billboard-style eurowhite livery designed by French graphic designer Bernard Villemot. These aircraft would be flown on some European short-haul routes alongside the airline's existing Boeing 727 and Fokker 28 fleets.

By 1983, the year of CAF's golden jubilee, the airline's workforce numbered more than 38,000 employees, its fleet topped 110 aircraft (including 44 Boeing 747s), and its route network served 188 destinations on all six inhabited continents. This made CAF the fourth-largest scheduled passenger airline in the world as well as the second-largest scheduled freight carrier. CAF also codeshared with several regional French airlines for local feeder connections within France, with TAT European Airlines as its most prominent partner. TAT would later operate several regional international routes on behalf of CAF.

In 1987 CAF joined forces with Iberia, Lufthansa, and SAS to establish Amadeus, a new global distribution system (GDS) that would connect providers' content with travel agencies and consumers in real time. A year later, the airline became one of three launch customers for the Airbus A320 narrow-body aircraft along with Air Metro and British Caledonian. The A320 became one of the first airliners to feature a fly-by-wire flight control system, which replaces mechanical flight controls with an electronic interface.