Yesterday, Air France operated the first African A380 service with nonstop service to Johannesburg from Paris, which arrived this morning at 10:58 local time. You can watch a video of the arrival here.
The A380 will begin service to JNB three times a week out of a total of ten weekly JNB flights. While Air France awaits the delivery of its third A380, the Johannesburg schedule gets a little funky. Until March, there will be one daily flight, which is a 777-300ER four days of the week, and a A380 the other three days. On three days of the week (all days the 773 flies), an additional 777-200ER flight is flown. After March 28, that second flight is canceled, while the 777-300ER and A380 keep switching. Then, at the end of April (when the third A380 comes in), the flight will be exclusively flown by the A380.
Employees celebrate the A380′s arrival.
Photo credit: Air France.
To be honest, I think the move makes sense. If I’m getting my Air France seating configurations right (there are five total), flying one A380 means about 8% less seats (about 51) than flying those two 777 flights. So Air France can keep capacity up while reducing the cost of operating the second flight on some days. The second flight would’ve connected to a different bank of Paris flights (it arrives at 8:25 -2.5 hrs after the first flight), but that’s not a huge deal, especially when one considers it only operates three times a week.
On a side note, Air France will be boosting Johannesburg capaicty for the World Cup, as the thrice-weekly 777-200ER service returns.
Good to know. I’m planning a trip to Joberg in May and trying to figure out how I can use miles from Amex to upgrade to biz class.