Air France to cancel 40 pct of long-haul flights

Air France said on Wednesday it expected to cancel up to 40 percent of its long-haul flights and up to 30 percent of shorter flights as a pilot strike ran into its third day.

Air France has had to notify thousands of passengers of axed flights this week via email or text message.

On Tuesday, roughly one in two long and medium-haul flights were cut, but many passengers were re-routed on alternative flights, the airline said.

The SNPL pilots union says around half its members are participating in the action over plans by the conservative government to make strikers in the airline industry give two days' notice before any walkout. Currently, they are not required to give any notice.

The industrial action, which adds to travel disarray caused by freezing temperatures across Europe, was set to run until Thursday night.

French daily La Tribune, citing unnamed sources, said Air France loses roughly 15 million euros per day during a strike, before the cost of compensating passengers.

Transport Minister Thierry Mariani said earlier this week the government was determined to push through the legislation, which would let airlines plan minimum services during a strike rather than finding out on the day that staff have not showed up.

The legislation, adopted in the lower house of parliament in January, is to be taken up by the Senate in mid-February.

Air France and Air Mauritius extend their partnership

This commercial partnership comes within the framework of the agreements signed between the two airlines in 2008,  which already enables Air Mauritius to use its code on Air France flights from the hub at Paris-Charles de Gaulle in Metropolitan France and to several destinations in Europe,according to Air France.

This code-share agreement increases capacity to Reunion Island and Mauritius by creating new travel opportunities via  Mauritius and via Reunion Island.  Moreover, Air France enables its customers to earn miles between Reunion Island and Mauritius.

Air Mauritius operates up to 7 daily frequencies on departure from Mauritius to Reunion Island, Roland Garros and Pierrefonds Airport s.
Air Mauritius and Air France together operate up to 18 weekly flights to Mauritius at peak periods on departure from Paris-CDG Airport . Air Mauritius operates up to 9 weekly flights by Airbus A340-300 and Air France operates up to 9 weekly flights by Boeing 747-400.
Air France operates up to 12 weekly flights to Reunion Island by Boeing 777-300ER at peak periods on departure from Paris-Orly Airport .

Air France-KLM November Traffic, Capacity Rise - Update

Franco-Dutch airline Air France-KLM Wednesday reported increases in traffic, capacity and load factor for the month of November.

Meanwhile, cargo traffic declined 8.1 percent for a 2.3 percent drop in capacity. Cargo load factor decreased 4.3 point to 68.2 percent.

Passenger traffic in the month improved 2.5 percent to 16.85 billion revenue pax kilometrres, or RPKs, from 16.44 billion RPKs in the same month last year.

Capacity measured in available seat-kilometers, or ASKs, inched up 1.7 percent to 21.14 billion from 20.78 billion in the prior year.
Load factor in November grew 0.6 points to 79.7 percent from 79.1 percent in the preceding year.
Air France said the slight rise in unit revenue per available seat kilometer, or RASK, excluding currency was insufficient to offset the rise in the fuel bill, while volatility of activity remains high.
The company noted that it has restated data for the passenger division for last year to facilitate comparisons as passenger business of Martinair is included from this month. Also, traffic was affected by a strike by Air France cabin crew totaling 5 days. The impact of the strike on the operating result is estimated at 28 million euros, it said.
The European network, including France, recorded a 4.3 percent rise in capacity, with a 3.6 percent growth in traffic. Load factor declined 0.5 points to 70.1 percent.
On the Americas network, traffic rose 6.2 percent for a 3.4 percent increase in capacity. Load factor was up 2.2 points to 84.2 percent. In the Asia network, traffic declined 0.3 percent for stable capacity. Load factor decreased 0.3 points to 82.8 percent.
Traffic on the Africa and Middle East network declined 0.5 percent for capacity down 2.3 percent, leading to a 1.3 point increase in load factor to 77 percent. Caribbean and Indian Ocean network traffic slightly improved 0.3 percent for 1.2 percent increase in capacity. Load factor declined 0.7 points to 83,1 percent.
For the group, the number of passengers carried increased 2.6 percent to 5.87 million from 5.72 million a year earlier.
In Paris, Air France shares are currently trading at 4.53 euros, up 4.3 percent, on a volume of 1.63 million shares.
In US, AFLYY.PK closed Tuesday's regular trading at $5.88.

Air France to launch daily A380 Paris-Dubai route in December

Air France (AF) will start operating Airbus A380 aircraft on a daily Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) to Dubai (DXB) route Dec. 5, and on a 2X-daily CDG to Los Angeles (LAX) route May 28, 2012.

The CDG-DXB service will be a seasonal A380 route, made possible by the aircraft’s redeployment from Tokyo Narita to DXB for the winter season, resulting from lower seasonal demand to Tokyo, AF said. The CDG-LAX route is part of the transatlantic joint venture operated by AF KLM, Alitalia and Delta Air Lines.

AF said it will operate six A380s in the current winter schedule on five routes (CDG to New York JFK, Johannesburg, Montreal, Washington Dulles and DXB) and eight A380s in the next summer schedule to six destinations (LAX, JFK, Johannesburg, Tokyo, Montreal and Washington).

Air France expands its offer of services to West Africa

Present for the past 75 years on the African continent such as Douala-Cameroon, Yaounde-Cameroon, Accra- Ghana, , Lagos-Nigeria, Air France is expanding its offer of services in West Africa with the launch of routes to Freetown and Monrovia and increased frequencies to Conakry.
Air France now flies to Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Sundays, via Conakry; and to Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, twice weekly, on Wednesdays and Fridays via Conakry. Daily flights to Conakry will be operated on a non-stop basis four times weekly and via Nouakchott three times weekly.

Flights to Conakry, Nouakchott, Freetown and Monrovia will be operated by Airbus A330-200 with 208 seats, in Air France’s three long-haul cabin classes (40 seats in Business, 21 in Premium Voyageur and 147 in Voyageur).

“After the launch of flights to Kigali by KLM in October 2010, these two new Air France routes and the daily service to Guinea illustrate the confidence Air France KLM has in the development of the West African region. Our commitment to offer our customers even more choice and destinations goes hand in hand with our desire to accompany the growth in economic relations between the African continent and the rest of the world” explains Pierre Descazeaux, SVP Africa & Middle East, Air France KLM.