Market leader
Paris continues to be central to Air France’s network growth. Thomas Withington looks at the fl ag carrier’s activities at the SkyTeam hub.
P
aris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) is Europe’s second busiest airport in terms of passenger and aircraft movements, and the sixth
biggest globally. Not only does it boast impressive capacity, but the gateway serves as Air France’s main hub, and is key to the airline’s continued route network development.
This network has experienced
signifi cant expansion since the airline’s merger with KLM in September 2003. The Air France-KLM group has continued to expand and, in January 2009, it acquired a 25% stake in Italian national carrier Alitalia. This followed a decision in April last year for the Italian airline to enter a joint venture with Air France-KLM and Delta to coordinate these carriers’ respective transatlantic fl ights, allowing revenue and cost sharing.
The addition of Alitalia’s transatlantic network provides both Air France-KLM and Delta with 26% of the total transatlantic airline capacity; offering around 250 fl ights per day with up to 55,000 seats.
Summer schedule – ASK growth The development of Air France-KLM’s transatlantic operations is proceeding, along with the airline’s route network expansion, highlighted in Air France’s summer schedule.
This new schedule, Air France says, could result in a 5.7% growth in Available Seat Kilometres (ASKs), compared with the 2.6% ASK growth generated by last year’s summer schedule. This overall 5.7% ASK increase is expected to be driven by a 6.5% rise in long-haul ASKs; and an almost 3% rise in medium-haul ASK activity.
The 2011 summer schedule will see
an increase in the routes that Air France operates from its CDG hub. Looking at Air France’s transatlantic services, in addition to the Alitalia joint venture, Air France will increase its number of daily fl ights from CDG to Atlanta this summer, with four departures per day. Air France and
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www.routes-news.com
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