Air France

Tag Archives for Air France.

Farewell Air France’s 380

Another impact of COVID19 is Air France’s early retirement of their ten A380s, just eleven years after the airline first received them. The CEO of the Air France-KLM group Brian Smith indicated that he is absolutely not a fan of the A380 saying in 2019, that while passengers love it, the plane is not suitable for the airline as it is expensive, unreliable and too large. Smith in trying to reduce Air France’s complex fleet structure and confusing product range, indicated their ten A380s (five leased and five owned) would be gone by 2022.  The…

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Joon, the airline searching for purpose, to shut down

Air France in 2016 unveiled its new low cost subsidiary which they called Joon. It’s aim was to win market share back. The word “Joon” is meant to sound like “jeune” which is French for “young“.  Rolled out as a “new generation travel experience”, a low cost carrier for Mellinials, It therefore aimed to attract a new market to flying -at a cheap rate, it aimed to attract a new market to flying -at a cheap rate. On board, Joon offered VR-headset entertainment, allowed access to inflight streaming, had cabin crew dressed in “trendy” clothes made…

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All about SkyTeam- Comparing airlines and Elite Earning

Of the seven airline alliances, Skyteam is the one  I have had the least to do with. You will usually find me on a OneWorld plane before a SkyTeam flight! Of my 1200+ flights, almost half have been on a One World carrier, a fifth with a Star Alliance airline and fewer than ten percent have been via a Skyteam partner. This is caused by three things: Australia and New Zealand have never had a Skyteam member,  I have had elite status with Qantas /One World and Star Alliance carriers for over a decade My concern/perception that…

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All about Airline Special Meals

Just before the main meal service, the crew will be bustling along the aisle discreetly serving what are known in the industry as “special meals”. There are a bewildering range of special meals (IATA lists over 30 different types). Vegetarians and diabetics are usually covered as are those requiring Kosher, Halal or beef free. These can be split amongst five categories: Baby and Children Meals Dietary meals –  e.g. Diabetic, Gluten free, Low cholesterol Occasion meals e.g. Birthday Cake, Champagne Religious meals- Halal, Hindu, Kosher Vegetarian and Vegan meals A few tips on ordering a special meal:…

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J’aime beaucoup- Love Air France’s Safety Demo!

I enjoy watching safety demos. Air New Zealand, traditionally have had some of the best safety films. I think Air France have a winner with their newest one. Its fun, informative, catchy and of course that French accent is irresistible! What do you think?   It accompanies the airline’s newest advertisement: France is in the Air Here is the film about the making of the ad: Air France, has been the country’s flag carrier since 1933. Their 245 aeroplanes currently fly to just over 200 airports. I have flown Air France ten times. I rate…

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Paris -New York in Business for 30% less- LaCompagnie

Fuel prices must be down because people are launching all business class airlines again. I blogged about London based Odyssey airlines last month. (Still unsure if they have a chance or not).  At a Manhattan news conference last Tuesday, LaCompagnie was launched. The company has raised approximately $US41 million) from investors and is the brainchild of a former executive of India’s Jet Airways Peter Luethi and Frantz Yvelin, the founder of a previous all business class airline L’AVION. L’AVION operated between Orly Airport, Paris and Newark in the USA from 3 January 2007 to 2 July 2008 when it was taken over…

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26 countries now in search for MH370 [updated]

Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia’s defence and acting transport minister at a media conference this Monday evening (Malaysian time) said 26 countries are now involved in the search for the plane (up from 25 this morning and 14 yesterday). The countries are Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, China, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Turkmenistan, UAE, UK, US, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. It was revealed today that the Malaysian government have involved the FBI and Interpol from day one, French investigators who worked on the crash of Air France’s Flight 447…

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Alitalia-finally doomed?

Alitalia is the airline I love to hate. They are one of my least favourite airlines ever. Flying them has rarely been a treat. I keep expecting to hear of their demise but somehow they seem to claw their way back from the edge of doom. The current Alitalia is almost five years old rising out of the ashes of the “old” Alitalia which went bankrupt in 2008. On September 6, the Italian carrier released their first half year financials. Revenue fell four per cent from 1686 million Euro to 1621 million. Passenger loads improved…

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Introducing the British Airways A380

Revealed this week an A380 for the tenth operator of the A380 British Airways. The plane is due to be delivered by July, 2013 followed by three more this year and then another eight after that to make a grand total of 12 for the carrier. The plane will be flying initially between – London and Los Angeles from 15th October (as BA268 and 269) – London and Hong Kong from 15th November as BA25 and BA26 The BA A380 will have 469 seats in a four class set up: 1. BA First Class –…

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Trip Report: Air France to London City

My 920th flight was also my first  flight into London City. As a result of this flight, I have now flown into and/or out of every one of London’s five airports. The other are: Heathrow, Gatwick, Stanstead and Luton.  London City Airport was opened in 1987 after six years of planning and construction. The airport is located within the newly developed Docklands precinct of London (11 km: 6.9 miles) from the City of London. In 2011, the Airport served nearly 3 million passengers. Booking: 9 out of 10 This flight was operated as an Air France service by its subsidiary CityJet.…

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