The Air France offensive in the provinces

Launched in October 2011, the commercial offensive on departure from The French provinces corresponds to a significant development in Air France’s activity on departure from the French regions.

Air France will be increasing capacity by more than 30%, shared between:

• the launch, in the medium-term, of 54 new routes on departure from four regional cities (Marseille, Toulouse, Nice and Bordeaux) to major European cities and the Mediterranean. These new routes, mainly aimed at leisure customers, will be served with several weekly frequencies;
• the increase in capacity on existing domestic routes,  more than 80% additional seat capacity in some cases.

In the medium-term, on departure from Marseille, Toulouse, Nice and Bordeaux, the Air France network will comprise: 

• domestic flights, including the La Navette service to Paris-Orly and flights to the hubs at Paris-CDG and Lyon,
• flights to European destinations and the Mediterranean.

Very attractive one-way fares

On departure from the four main regional cities, Air France will be offering very attractive fares, available as one-way fares, while preserving all its products and services which are its mark of recognition on the market.

Air France intends to continue this strategy in spring 2012 in Toulouse and Nice and in summer in Bordeaux.

First commercial offensive: Marseille

Since 2 October 2011 on departure from Marseille, Air France has been offering 13 new non-stop routes in France, Europe and the Mediterranean, increasing seat capacity by 50%.

For a full year, this represents 1.3 million additional passengers at Marseille airport.

How does an Air France regional base work?

The implementation of this new strategy is based on a significant reduction in operational costs of about 15%.These lower costs enable Air France to offer attractive schedules in terms of destinations and products at very attractive fares.

To reduce its costs, Air France is relying on various different factors: 

> A single aircraft type

At each of the four regional airports, Air France will assign around ten medium-haul aircraft such as the Airbus A320 with between 142 and 178 seats. 38 aircraft in the A320 family will therefore be based in these regions.The use of a modern fleet, made up of a single aircraft type, enables Air France to optimize its fuel consumption and rationalize maintenance costs.> An optimized use of aircraft The duration of daily use of aircraft will be optimized, increasing from 8 hours 15 minutes currently to 11 hours 40 minutes, representing a gain in productivity of around 40%.This optimization will be achieved:

• with departures earlier in the morning and returns later in the evening,
• with turnaround times reduced by five minutes at stations (30 minutes for A319s and 35 minutes for A320s).

> Crew based in the regions

The crews of flights departing from the cities concerned will now be based in the regions. To implement this new strategy, Air France will ask for volunteers among its crew, both cabin crew and flight deck crew. The volunteer crews will work more hours on a limited number of days. The flight attendants should work 650 flying hours per year on average, over a number days which is slightly less than 120. Pilots should work 715 flying hours every year on average, over a number of days slightly less than 130.

This will enable Air France to reduce its costs per flight hour by approximately 15 to 20%, also including the savings made on the costs of stopovers, and hotels in particular, as crew will return home at the end of each rotation. This new organization may particularly appeal to the staff who already reside in these regions and who previously had to travel to Paris to start work.

> More efficient ground operations thanks to the additional activity

 For ground staff, the additional activity provided by this project will allow better use of human and material resources throughout the day and therefore lower production costs. To allow turnarounds in 30 to 35 minutes, strong coordination between the teams on the ground and cabin crew has been set up. While ensuring flight safety, the objective is to optimize the time between the arrival of the aircraft, the disembarkation of passengers, boarding and flight departure. This increase in activity in the French regions also consolidates the position of the company as an employer in these areas.