Air France Winter schedule 2010/11
Even if high-yield traffic has still not recovered to pre-crisis levels, activity over the past few months shows a net improvement compared with last year. In this context, the Air France KLM group’s winter schedule posts capacity, measured in ASK (available seat kilometers), up by 3.3% compared with winter 2009. This progression is largely due to the group’s long-haul activity (up 4.1%), whereas activity is practically stable on medium-haul routes (up 0.5%).
The fleet
Air France is continuing its fleet modernization and is increasing its range of products and services to better meet its customers’ needs. The new Premium Voyageur cabin, located between the Business class cabin and the Voyageur (Economy) cabin, is now available on 90% of long-haul routes operated by Air France on departure from Paris-Charles de Gaulle.
At the end of 2010, the new long-haul Business class seat, presented at the recent IFTM Top Résa trade fair, more comfortable and with several new features, will be installed on certain long-haul aircraft.
Since the beginning of October, three destinations are served by the A380: New York (5 times weekly), Johannesburg and Tokyo Narita (one daily flight). The fifth and sixth A380s will start operating in May and June 2010.
Concerning the medium-haul fleet, 90% of aircraft in the A320 family operating on the domestic network are today equipped with new, lighter seats which offer more legroom.
The long-haul schedule
On routes to North America and Latin America, Air France will be operating a flight schedule similar to the one it operated before the economic crisis, with 6 daily frequencies to New York, increased capacity to Boston and Mexico and 2 daily flights to Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.
Growth in capacity is considerable to Asia this winter (+5.4% in ASK). In India, services to Bangalore will be daily. The Paris-Bangkok route will benefit from a daily flight by A340 entirely dedicated to this destination as the continuations to Vietnam will no longer operate. Flights to Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi will be non-stop. There will be 5 weekly services to these two cities in cooperation with Vietnam Airlines, a new SkyTeam alliance partner, with Air France operating 3 of the 5 flights to Ho Chi Minh.
To Tokyo, in addition to its flights to Tokyo Narita, Air France will also be offering a daily service to Haneda airport, closer to the city centre, operated by its Japanese partner JAL.
In Africa, Air France is adding a new destination to its network. Bata, in Equatorial Guinea, will be served twice weekly via Malabo by A319 Dedicate (subject to infrastructure compatibility), and there will be daily flights to Malabo. Air France is increasing the number of flights to Pointe Noire in the Republic of Congo (5 weekly flights) and to Libreville (5 weekly frequencies subject to authorization from the Gabonese authorities). Finally, services to Djibouti will be increased from one weekly flight to 3 weekly flights via Jeddah.
In the Middle-East, Air France is increasing capacity to Saudi Arabia. Services to both Riyadh and Jeddah will be daily thanks to a code-share agreement with Saudi Arabian Airlines. Both these destinations will be served 3 times weekly by an Air France A330 and by a Saudi Arabian Airlines A320 on the other 4 days.
In the Indian Ocean, Air France is increasing the number of flights to Reunion Island (9 weekly flights for the entire season).
Source: Air France