The Group’s overall capacity for the winter 2009 season is -2% in terms of available seat kilometres (ASK) compared with winter 2008 and -3.6% compared with winter 2007. On the long-haul and medium-haul networks capacity has been reduced by -1.8% and -2.9% respectively compared with winter 2008 and -2,8% and -6.4% compared with winter 2007.
Close-up on the Air France schedule
In a very difficult economic context which has led to a sharp decline in the demand for premium classes, the Air France schedule for winter 2009 reflects the decrease in capacity initiated last winter. In terms of available seat kilometres (ASK), capacity has dropped by 1.7% compared with winter 2008 and by 4.8% compared with winter 2007.
In long-haul, capacity adjustments have resulted in:
- the rationalization of services to and from Latin America and Asia;
- reduced flight frequencies to New York, Dubai and Johannesburg, with no change in the number of available seats due to the arrival in the fleet of the first A380s;
- and the optimization of transatlantic services thanks to the Air France/KLM/Delta Joint Venture.
- the downward revision of capacity on domestic routes carried out last summer will be extended to the winter season;
- the first effects of capacity reorganization planned for summer 2010 can already be seen on European routes. Frequencies from Paris-Charles de Gaulle will be adjusted on the busiest routes, without impairing the quality of connections with long-haul flights, so as to use larger capacity aircraft which are more cost-efficient.
This winter, Air France’s long-haul customers will discover the new Premium Voyageur Class, located between the Voyageur (Economy) and Affaires (Business) cabins. By the end of 2010 all the Company’s long-haul aircraft, except for the Boeing 747s and Boeing 777s operated on the Caribbean/Indian Ocean network, will be fitted with this new class. The first planes to offer the new cabin will serve New York (25 October), Tokyo (16 November), Beirut and Singapore (28 December) followed by Beijing and Hong Kong (18 January).
In a few weeks, Air France will also be the first European airline to offer flights on the Airbus A380. In the version designed by Air France, this aircraft will seat 9 passengers in Première (First), 80 in Affaires (Business) and 449 in Voyageur (Economy). The first commercial flight will operate to New York on 23 November 2009 and seats are already on sale. Two other aircraft will be joining the fleet by March 2010 and will go into service on the Dubai and Johannesburg routes.
Long-haul network
The Air France/KLM/Delta Joint Venture on the North American network will mean that capacity and aircraft correspond more closely to demand:
- services to Detroit will be totally operated by Air France with one daily flight instead of 5 weekly flights, as the flight previously operated by Northwest was suspended in January 2009;
- from now on Delta will operate the Paris-CDG- Philadelphia flight using the B757-200, which is better adapted to the demand;
- Delta will also continue to run the Paris-Pittsburg service launched in summer 2009.
- But the major event is the arrival of the A380 on the Paris - New York Kennedy route as from 23 November.
In Latin America, frequencies have been revised downwards to destinations served by more than one daily flight: there will now be 13 weekly flights to Rio de Janeiro instead of 14, 12 to Sao Paulo instead of 14 and 10 to Mexico City instead of 12.
In Asia, the service to Tokyo will be reduced from 20 weekly flights to 17, but the drop in capacity is limited by the change in aircraft to the B777-300 for both the two daily flights. The Paris-Nagoya service, which formed part of the code-share agreement with JAL, has been suspended by our Japanese partner.
In India, apart from the continuation of the capacity adjustments made last summer (suspension of the service to and from Chennai and reduction of capacity to and from Mumbai), there will now be 6 weekly flights to Bangalore instead of 7.
After the capacity increases made this summer on African routes (Luanda, Port Harcourt, Brazzaville, Cotonou and Lagos), the quality of the flight schedule to Cameroon has been further improved thanks to the partial disconnection on the Paris-Douala-Yaoundé route. As from this winter, Douala will be served with six non-stop weekly flights and Yaoundé twice-weekly. This is in addition to the weekly Paris-Douala-Yaoundé flight.
The Johannesburg service will change in two stages. During the first part of the season, frequencies will be reduced from 14 to 11 weekly flights. Then, starting early March, there will only be one daily flight to Johannesburg by A380.
Similarly, in the Middle East, the Dubaï service will be reduced from 14 to 12 weekly flights. It will then become a daily service with the arrival of the Airbus A380, scheduled for 18 January. Services to Cairo will be reduced from 11 weekly flights to de 10.
Capacity will increase on routes to two Caribbean destinations this winter: flights to Havana (Cuba) will be upped from 7 to 9 per week, and flights to Punta Cana (Dominican Republic) from 5 to 6 per week. These flights will be operated with the Boeing 777 300ER.
The flight schedule remains unchanged on Indian Ocean routes.
The international medium-haul network
The many changes made to the schedule this summer are being maintained for the winter season.
Over and above these changes, out of 7 destinations which have very frequent services (Amsterdam, Barcelona, Geneva, Madrid, Munich, Moscow and Rome), some flights outside the main connecting banks will no longer operate.
The number of frequencies is also decreasing to Verona (from 4 to 3 daily flights operated by Régional), Dublin (from 7 to 6 operated by Cityjet), Birmingham (from 6 to 5 operated by Cityjet) and Edinburgh (from 4 to 3 operated by Cityjet).
The Paris-Shannon service is also being discontinued.
On departure from the French provinces, the Bordeaux-Brussels and Lyon-Frankfurt services will no longer operate.
On departure from London City, several routes heavily affected by the crisis will be discontinued, i.e. Strasbourg, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Nice and Geneva, whereas there will be a new route to Nantes, with 2 daily flights.
The domestic network
As during the summer season, there will be major adjustments to capacity on departure from Paris-Orly compared with last winter.
Several routes will be discontinued on departure from Clermont-Ferrand, i.e. Biarritz, Lille, Marseille, Strasbourg and Toulouse. However, a third frequency is being added to the Clermont-Lyon route to make connections easier to and from Clermont-Ferrand via the Lyon hub.
Other changes include 4 daily frequencies instead of 3 on the Bordeaux-Nantes route as well as the Lyon-Nice route and 6 daily flights instead of 5 on the Lyon-Bordeaux route.
On departure from Paris-Charles de Gaulle, the only frequency to change is Toulouse, with 7 instead of 6 daily flights.
Change in Available Seat Kilometres (ASK) Winter 2009/Winter 2008: - 1.7%
Long-haul - 1.7%
. North America -3.7%
. Latin America -4.0%
. Asia – Pacific -5.4%
. Caribbean – Indian Ocean +3.3%
. Africa +5.5%
. Middle-East -0.2%
Medium-haul - 1.7%
. International medium-haul -1.1%
. Metropolitan France -3.2%
Change in Available Seat Kilometres (ASK) Winter 2009/Winter 2007: - 4.8%
Long-haul - 4.3%
. North America -5.7%
. Latin America -7.8%
. Asia – Pacific -8.0%
. Caribbean – Indian Ocean -0.9%
. Africa +7.2%
. Middle-East -5.8%
Medium-haul - 6.5%
. International medium-haul -6.0%
. Metropolitan France -7.4%
Air France press release, Monday 21 September 2009