For the 2019 summer season (March 31 to October 27, 2019), Air France-KLM is increasing capacity by 2% compared to the previous summer season1 and offering 58 new routes3. This growth is broken down as follows –
– +1.3% for long-haul passenger operations,
– +1.2% for medium and short-haul passenger operations,
– +9.3% for Transavia’s low-cost operations.
Air France-KLM CEO Benjamin Smith said: “As from March 31, our customers will be able to fly on one of the Air France-KLM group’s 58 new routes with Air France, KLM and Transavia. We are developing our network with a 2% increase in capacity and we are committed to providing our customers with the guarantee of a seamless travel experience that meets their expectations. At Air France, this means harmonizing our offer for premium customers, and for KLM, providing the best product available on all flights. As the leading long-haul airline group on departure from Europe and with more than 100 million passengers carried in 2018, our aim, supported by all our teams, is clear: Air France, KLM and Transavia must be our customers’ reference brands for all their travel plans in Europe and worldwide”.
LONG-HAUL: +1.3%
On its long-haul network, Air France-KLM will operate 4 new routes3 –
– 2 destinations on departure from Paris-Charles de Gaulle: Dallas (USA) and Quito (Ecuador) with Air France.
– 2 destinations on departure from Amsterdam-Schiphol – Boston and Las Vegas (USA) with KLM.
- North America:
In the United States, Air France will inaugurate the Dallas service with the completely redesigned Airbus A330 from March 31 to the end of the season with 5 weekly flights. KLM will launch a new service to Boston and Las Vegas, starting from March 31 and June 6 respectively. The company will also increase its flight frequencies to San Francisco as from July with an additional weekly flight (6 flights per week).
In Canada, Air France is adapting to demand by increasing its service to Toronto with 3 additional weekly flights operated by Boeing 777-200 equipped with the latest travel cabins (10 flights per week).
- Central and South America and Caribbean:
In Brazil, since launching a new service to Fortaleza in May of last year, Air France and KLM confirm the popularity of this destination by respectively operating an additional frequency to Fortaleza. 3 weekly flights will thus connect Paris to Fortaleza and 4 weekly flights will connect Amsterdam to Fortaleza. Moreover, Joon will operate the service from France until June 26, after which the service will be entrusted to Air France.
In Columbia, KLM will increase service to Bogota and Cartagena with an additional flight (5 flights per week).
In Costa Rica, Air France will offer 3 weekly flights, i.e. 1 additional frequency.
In Ecuador, Air France will inaugurate the Paris – Quito route by Airbus A340 with 3 weekly flights. Operated by Joon to begin with, the service will be resumed by Air France as of June 26.
In Suriname, KLM will add a frequency to Paramaribo as from July 1, increasing its capacity to 5 flights per week.
In the Caribbean, Air France will gradually resume its service to St Martin and increase its capacity with one additional weekly flight (3 fights per week). KLM will support this dynamic by introducing an additional frequency on the circle flights between St Martin and Curaçao (3 flights per week) as from July 5, 2019.
In Peru, Air France will operate an additional weekly flight to Lima, representing 7 flights per week.
In Panama, Air France customers will also benefit from an additional weekly flight between Paris and Panama (7 flights per week).
- Asia and the Middle East:
In Japan, the Air France-KLM group is significantly increasing its service to Tokyo – 2 additional flights to Tokyo-Haneda on departure from Paris with Air France (14 weekly flights) and 3 additional flights to Tokyo-Narita on departure from Amsterdam with KLM (10 weekly flights). With these increased frequencies, the group is increasing capacity by +12% to Japan.
In China: KLM supports this dynamic in Asia with an additional weekly flight to Shanghai (12 weekly flights).
In India, Air France customers will enjoy a new travel experience on board the Airbus A330 to Bangalore and Delhi thanks to the new cabins in Business (36 seats), Premium Economy (21 seats) and Economy (167 seats). 15 aircraft will be completely redesigned by 2020.
- Africa and the Indian Ocean:
In Kenya, Air France will offer 2 additional weekly flights to Nairobi, representing 5 weekly flights. The route will be operated by the redesigned Airbus A330.
In Côte d’Ivoire, customers will enjoy 3 additional frequencies to Abidjan (17 weekly flights).
MEDIUM AND SHORT-HAUL: +1.2%
On its medium and short-haul network, the group is expanding its offer of destinations and connections with 26 new routes2.
Throughout the 2019 summer season, the Air France-KLM group will offer 7 new routes2 on departure from the main hubs and regions:
– On departure from Paris-Charles de Gaulle with Air France: Belgrade (Serbia), Tbilissi (Georgia) and Lorient (France) as from March 31.
– On departure from Amsterdam-Schiphol with KLM: Wroclaw (Poland) as from May 6 and Naples (Italy) as from April 21.
– On departure from the French regions with Air France HOP:
o On departure from Lyon – Lorient (France),
o On departure from Brest – Amsterdam (Netherlands),
During the peak summer period, the Air France-KLM group will offer 19 new routes2:
– On departure from Paris-Charles de Gaulle – Heraklion (Crete, Greece), Olbia (Sardinia, Italy), Palermo (Sicily, Italy) and Split (Croatia) with Air France.
– On departure from the French regions with Air France HOP:
o On departure from Bordeaux – Athens (Greece),
o On departure from Toulouse – Copenhagen (Denmark) and Minorca (Spain),
o On departure from Marseille – Heraklion (Greece) and La Rochelle (France),
o On departure from Brest – Bastia (France) and Nice (France),
o On departure from Caen – Calvi (France),
o On departure from Nice – La Rochelle (France) and Pau (France),
o On departure from Rouen – Figari (France),
o On departure from Nantes – Toulon (France),
o On departure from Metz – Figari (France),
o On departure from Perpignan – Strasbourg (France),
o On departure from Rennes – Calvi (France).
TRANSAVIA: +9.3%
Transavia will develop its network from all its bases in France (Orly, Lyon and Nantes) and the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Eindhoven) with 28 new routes3 –
– From Eindhoven – Krakow (Poland) in continuation of the winter season and Zakynthos (Greece).
– From Rotterdam – Nador (Morocco) and Lanzarote (Spain) in continuation of the winter season, Nice (France), Brindisi (Italy), Tangiers (Morocco), Corfu (Greece), Kos (Greece) and Zadar (Croatia).
– From Amsterdam – Beirut (Lebanon) in continuation of the winter season.
– From Groningen – Tenerife (Spain) in continuation of the winter season.
– From Paris-Orly: Extension of service to Tenerife (Spain) in continuation of the winter season, Brindisi (Italy), Nador (Morocco), Minorca (Spain), Kos (Greece), Rhodes (Greece) and Zakynthos (Greece).
– From Nantes – Tel Aviv (Israel) in continuation of the winter season, Budapest (Hungary), Mykonos (Greece), Santorini (Greece), Palermo (Italy), Copenhagen (Denmark) and Tunis (Tunisia).
– From Lyon – Beirut (Lebanon) and Casablanca (Morocco).
On departure from the Netherlands, the Group’s low-cost company will increase its capacity by 4.5%.
On departure from France, total growth in capacity will amount to 16%.
CABINS HARMONIZATION AND SIMPLIFICATION FOR AN ENHANCED TRAVEL EXPERIENCE
The Air France-KLM group is harmonizing the distribution of its cabins on its long-haul network in order to guarantee its customers a clearer, simpler and more consistent travel experience.
In this way, the Air France La Première cabin will be available at least once a day to San Francisco, New York, Washington, Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Abidjan, Dubai, Beirut, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo-Haneda and Singapore. The company is standardizing its routes by mainly assigning its Airbus A380s to the United States. Finally, Air France is harmonizing its products and services by constantly operating the same type of aircraft to a destination such as Tokyo-Haneda, which is operated daily by Boeing 777-200, Santiago de Chile by Boeing 777-300 and Toronto by Boeing 777-300.
KLM will be offering its new World Business Class on all its long-haul destinations. Its new Economy cabin will also be available on all Boeing 777, 787 and Airbus A330 aircraft.
AN ENHANCED AND MODERNIZED FLEET
Air France will welcome its first Airbus A350 (324 seats) in September 2019. Another 6 aircraft will be added to the fleet by the end of 2020. In addition, Air France will receive two Dreamliner 787-9 for the summer season, to operate a total fleet of 9 Dreamliner 787-9.
On July 1, KLM will launch the latest version of the Dreamliner: the Boeing 787-10 (344 seats). This latest generation aircraft is in addition to the company’s 13 Boeing 787-9 aircraft. Another 7 Boeing 787-10 aircraft will be added to the fleet by the end of 2020.
Transavia will fly its customers on board its 79 Boeing 737s throughout the 2019 summer season.
STRENGTHENED AGREEMENTS BETWEEN AIR FRANCE, KLM AND VIRGIN ATLANTIC
On March 4, Air France, KLM and Virgin Atlantic announced their first code-share agreement, offering their respective customers new travel options to and from North America and more opportunities to earn miles with their frequent flyer programmes. Thanks to this partnership, customers of the three airlines can create their own tailor-made transatlantic trip by choosing from the many flight options operated by Air France, KLM, Virgin Atlantic and Delta.
As a result, Air France and KLM customers will have access to a wide choice of additional flights with 24 new routes available between the United Kingdom and North America via London-Heathrow and Manchester. They will have access to more frequent flights on certain routes such as Amsterdam – Miami via London-Heathrow, as well as additional options between Paris and New York via Manchester.
1Capacity measured in available seat-km compared to the 2018 summer season forecasts.
2Compared to the 2018 summer season.
3Air traffic route – service connecting an airport to another.
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