T RIED AND TE ST E D FL IGHT
Joon A340-300 business class PARIS CDG-CAPE TOWN
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B A C KGROUND Joon is the new airline brand from Air France. The aim is that it will support Air France in growing its network to and from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, and also act as an innovation lab for Air France. Joon has a raft of short-
haul, medium-haul and now long-haul routes, which use reconfigured Air France aircraft. As of July 2018, Joon will have a fleet of seven Airbus A320s, four A321s and four A340s. By summer 2019 this will have increased to 18 Airbus A320 and A321, with the long-haul fleet staying at four A340 aircraft. There is also the prospect of an A350 joining in autumn 2019. Joon isn’t a low-cost airline,
as indicated by the ticket prices. The airline is positioning itself as something new – which is difficult to do convincingly on long haul with an ageing fleet, as was obvious on this inaugural flight. This flight to Cape Town
departs three-times weekly during the summer, rising to five-times weekly in the winter.
JUNE 2 0 18
Air France previously operated the route with an A330.
BO A RDING I was transferring from a morning flight from London Heathrow. The flight boarded on time at Gate L22 and we were quickly away without any fuss.
THE SE A T The business class cabin has a total of 30 seats in a 2-2-2 configuration, with four rows A-C, six centre rows of D-H and five rows of J-L. The seat is an old-style Air
France business class seat with new upholstery. It is lie-flat rather than fully flat, with a recline of 175 degrees, a bed width of 61cm and a length of two metres. There is one USB socket for each seat and also an electric socket, though you need an adaptor if you have a UK plug (US and EU ones fit without a problem). There is a storage
compartment for magazines between each seat and a slot for your shoes. The side table slides out and upwards from the
arm of the chair. The seats have a new in-flight entertainment system (IFE), which was going through teething problems. My screen needed to be reset three times in total. If you download the Joon app before you fly, you can then use the on-board wifi to stream entertainment to your device from the on-board server.
B EST SE A T I’d avoid seats 1A and 1C because they are close to the front galley, and also the two centre seats of row 6 for the same reason for the rear
galley. The 2-2-2 configuration means you have the option of climbing over the person on the aisle if you are in a window seat or being climbed over.
THE FL IGH T Once at my seat I was offered champagne, juice or water. There was a sheet/duvet at the seat, along with a shoe bag containing blue slippers, blue flight socks and some covers for the headphones. Flight attendants also offered an amenity bag that contained a small Clarins
bus ine s s tr a v el ler .c om
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