Copyright Freesun 2005
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AIR FRANCE 2005-2006 WINTER SCHEDULE
TARGETING FAST-GROWING MARKETS
On the strength of the combined networks of Air France and KLM, Air France is pursuing its development policy on the fast-growing markets of Latin America and Asia, as well as to oil and gas destinations.
To meet the demands of growing passenger numbers over the last few months, and to follow on from the summer schedule, the new 2005-2006 winter schedule reflects the airline's strong growth strategy. Measured in ASK (available seat-kms), capacity is up 6.4% over last winter overall and 8.6% on intercontinental routes.
1. Targeting fast-growing markets and oil and gas destinations
This winter, Air France is focusing its development on services to Latin America, with a 25% increase in capacity in ASK.
- To and from Sao Paulo, Air France is launching a second flight three times weekly (making a total of ten weekly flights operated by Air France to this destination).
- Regarding services to Brazil, there will be a daily service between Paris and Rio de Janeiro, as was the case last summer, and the B747-400 operating this flight is fitted with the new Air France cabin interiors.
- Service to Santiago, onward from Buenos Aires last summer, will consist of three weekly non-stop flights; this is the longest flight on the Air France network. Three weekly flights via Buenos Aires will supplement this service.
o Regarding Caracas and Bogota, Air France will maintain the new features introduced last summer. Consequently, there will be a daily service between these two cities and Paris by B747-400 to Caracas and A340 to Bogota.
Air France is the only airline to offer non-stop service from Paris to Santiago, Buenos Aires, Caracas and Bogota.
- Lastly, in Mexico, the second daily flight introduced last summer will remain, and be adapted to the seasonal nature of the route. The Paris - Mexico City flight will therefore be operated by Air France with nine weekly frequencies, in addition to seven weekly flights by our partner Aeromexico.
Air France's increase in capacity to Asia, with a 13% growth in capacity (ASK) reflects the dynamic image of the continent.
- Air France is offering ten weekly flights to China as from January 2006, with as many to Shanghai as to Beijing. As a result, if we include the service to Guangzhou and Hong Kong, Air France will operate a total of 32 non-stop weekly flights to China.
- The main new feature of the service to India is the opening of the Paris-Bangalore route, with five weekly flights as from 30 October. Air France will then be offering 26 non-stop flights to four Indian destinations: Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai.
- Service to Japan will also be reinforced. Air France is increasing the number of weekly flights to Tokyo Narita to twenty. In addition, the daily service to and from Nagoya will continue, thanks to our code-share agreement with Japan Airlines International, who will operate these flights.
o Lastly flights to Vietnam will be non-stop so as to offer our customers a more convenient service, with two weekly flights to Hanoi and three weekly flights to Ho Chi Minh City.
For Africa and the Middle East, capacity is up 11%, especially on services to South Africa and oil and gas destinations.
- Air France will boost its service to South Africa, with the launch of a second flight to Johannesburg, increasing the number of weekly flights on this route to ten.
- Following on from the summer schedule, there will be four weekly flights between Port Harcourt and Paris and five weekly flights between Paris and Cotonou.
- The number of flights to Malabo, operated by a Dedicate A319, will double with four weekly flights (cf item 4).
- The Dedicate product will be available on five weekly flights to Nouakchott and on four of the five weekly flights to N'djamena, thus boosting services to these two destinations.
- The quality of services to Conakry and Bangui will be improved, thanks to the introduction of non-stop flights to these two destinations.
- The second daily flight launched this summer to Dubai will continue to feature in the winter schedule.
- Air France is offering an extra flight to Amman, making a total of six weekly flights.
Finally, Air France is also increasing capacity to Eastern Europe, another very buoyant market.
- The Paris - Zagreb and Paris - Belgrade routes, opened this summer with one daily flight, will continue to be operated, with a third frequency to Bucharest.
- A third flight between Paris and Ljubljana will be added to the service to Slovenia.
2. Improved service to the French Caribbean
Pending the delivery in summer 2006 of four new Boeing 777-300ERs, fitted with the new Air France cabin interiors, which will be phased in on flights to Pointe-à-Pitre and Fort-de-France, Air France will enhance the quality of its services to French Guiana and the Dominican Republic this winter.
- Services to Santo Domingo and Punta Cana will now be non-stop.
- The aircraft operating the Paris - Cayenne route will be fitted with the new Air France cabin interiors.
3. Other new features
The schedule for destinations in North America will be adjusted for seasonal variations.
- The Paris - Detroit route, opened last June, will be operated with five weekly flights by Airbus A330 fitted with the new cabin interiors.
- The Miami service will be reinforced during the peak Christmas season (from 16 December to 8 January) with three additional weekly flights, making a total of ten per week.
There will be several new features on flights to Southern Europe and North Africa:
- A second daily flight will be launched between Paris-Orly and Marrakech starting on 15 December.
- Services from Paris to Verona and Paris to Vigo will go up from three to four daily flights.
- The Lyon - Bologna and Lyon - Venice services will be increased to three daily flights.
- The third flight between Paris and Istanbul, launched last summer, will continue to operate.
- Regarding Portugal, Paris - Charles de Gaulle and Oporto will feature three daily frequencies (two flights operated by Air France and one by Portugalia).
In Northern Europe, apart from a few seasonal adjustments, the two main new features are:
- In the United Kingdom, an extra flight will be added to the Orly - London City route, highly appreciated by our business clientele, making a total of seven daily flights to London City: six on departure from Orly and one from Paris-Charles de Gaulle.
- An eleventh daily flight launched between Paris and Geneva, considerably improving the frequencies of morning flights with a new departure from Paris at 9am and a departure from Geneva at 10am.
On the domestic network,
o Air France will add a fourth flight to the Paris - Annecy route, and will now offer a flight on Saturdays.
- The new frequencies launched last summer on the Orly - Lourdes (three daily flights) and Orly - Limoges (four flights) routes will be maintained this winter.
- A new route will connect Montpellier with the Lyon hub, with three daily weekday flights and one flight at the weekend. As a result, 33 French and international destinations can be accessed from Montpellier.
- The Clermont Ferrand service has been reorganized, maintaining flights to thirteen French cities and four European destinations.
- Lastly, Air France will be offering a daily service (except on Saturday) on the Metz - Nantes and Mulhouse - Toulouse routes starting in November 2005.
- These new flights will be launched, thanks to our franchised airlines: Régional, Brit Air and CityJet.
4. Continued reinforcement of the combined Air France - KLM network
- While the networks of both airlines have been coordinated (extensive, frequent service of 15 daily flights between Paris CDG and Amsterdam Schiphol),
- While many services have been introduced connecting the French regions to Amsterdam (Lyon - an extra flight, making four daily frequencies - Bordeaux - two daily flights - , Marseille, Nice, Toulouse) operated by KLM, not forgetting Clermont-Ferrand served by Régional on a franchise basis,
- Air France will complete this organization by opening the Paris - Eindhoven route, with two daily flights at the beginning of winter, followed by three from mid-December.
Furthermore, as part of the process to rationalize services, all flights to Malabo (four weekly flights) will be operated out of Paris. On the other hand, all flights to and from Kuwait will operate out of Amsterdam, i.e. five weekly flights.
- Lastly, since 6 June 2005, Flying Blue, the leading European frequent flyer program, will enable our customers to earn and spend Miles on all Air France and KLM routes, as well as on the products and services of the many partners who have joined our frequent flyer program.
Copyright Freesun 2005