The Long Haul
How does Air France-KLM thrive in a global airline slump?
By using its connections - lots of them
Michael Freedman and Deborah Orr
28 February 2005
Forbes Global

How does the biggest carrier, Air France-KLM, thrive amid a global airline slump? Lots of connections.

From his office overlooking Charles De Gaulle Airport Jean-Cyril Spinetta can nearly see the remains of Terminal 2E, the $900 million building that collapsed in May 2004, killing four people. The terminal handled 90 Air France flights a day, and the accident left hundreds of confused travelers amid broken glass, screaming ambulances, police and rescue workers. "What was exceptional," Spinetta muses months later, "was that it collapsed at 7:30 in the morning, and we didn't cancel a single flight."

Exceptional, maybe. But hardly surprising. In his eight-year career at Air France Spinetta has shown a knack for turning turbulent situations into smooth landings. In the 1990s he transformed a moneylosing state-owned airline into one of Europe's best. After Sept. 11, when competitors folded and slashed fares and flights, Air France turned a profit and increased the number of passengers coming through Paris. And as the industry retrenched to stave off the inevitable wave of bankruptcies, Spinetta did what many thought was impossible: He merged Air France with the Dutch KLM to create the world's largest airline by revenue (see chart, p. 26).

Now, at age 61, Spinetta has emerged as head of Air France-KLM, a $23 billion (sales) global power that has maintained the trappings of two individual airlines--two sets of planes and two sets of marketing materials, for instance--but has combined routes to create a massive network that sells 225 worldwide destinations to 70 million passengers per year.

The new company gets 80% of its sales from long-haul international flights, which largely inoculates it against the low-cost carriers that have plagued the U.S. majors. The merger gives the company greater access to the all-important U.S. markets, particularly in high-traffic hubs like Houston and Atlanta, through its SkyTeam alliance and code-sharing agreements with Continental and Delta. And with hubs at De Gaulle in Paris and Schiphol in Amsterdam, two of Europe's busiest airports, it can offer customers more options than competitors even dream of. For instance, this mega-network allows Air France-KLM to sell a ticket from Madrid to Hong Kong, say, by way of either Amsterdam or Paris. "It's like offering two daily flights where the competition is more in the range of one," says Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, deputy chief executive.

Already the company has exceeded expectations. Spinetta initially estimated it would cut costs and increase revenue by as much as $260 million in the first two and a half years by buying in bulk, coordinating schedules and sharing maintenance facilities. He soon upped that estimate to $460 million. "We are not talking about the small stuff here," he said in November. "This is real big money." Meantime, in an industry that lost $35 billion since 2001, Air France-KLM's net income jumped 57% to $351 million in the six months ending Sept. 30 on $11.4 billion in sales.

Yet this company prospers largely as a result of its relationship with the French government. Paris created Air France in the 1930s, when it merged four airlines, and called the shots in the years to come. Staunchly French, the fleet was modernized using exclusively French-made aircraft. By 1938 it had the world's third-largest network and, not to be outdone by classy TWA, soon began serving champagne and hot meals. First-class travelers sat in private cabins on "Epicurean Flights." And in the 1960s the carrier became one of the first in the industry to show in-flight movies.

The golden age of air travel was punctuated with the arrival of the supersonic Concorde in 1976. But like the Concorde, put out of commission in 2003, Air France was largely a triumph of national pride over business sense. Years of arcane procurement procedures left the airline and its subsidiaries with ten models plying the skies. The company wasted time training pilots to navigate different cockpits or making them wait around until the right plane became available.

It fell behind U.S. counterparts by failing to develop a hub-and-spoke route map, instead flying half-empty planes between small airports. It eschewed the American concept of yield management pricing, which would have allowed it to charge different fares for the same flight, based on demand. It even lacked a frequent-flier program. According to one report, French bureaucrats couldn't decide whether awards should be based on miles or on the European standard, kilometers. (A spokesman denies there was serious discussion about this; miles ultimately won out.)

Finally, in September 1997, Air France turned to Spinetta, a man well-equipped to navigate the French bureaucracy. He studied at the Ecole Nationale d'Administration, a university for would-be bureaucrats and the French elite, and moved into government jobs at the ministry of education, followed by the ministries of labor and transportation.

As a fellow bureaucrat, Spinetta was more ally than adversary of his government shareholders when he took the reins at Air France. In 1998 pilots went on strike for three weeks leading up to the World Cup soccer games in Paris. Under enormous pressure to avoid French embarrassment Spinetta negotiated day and night, and maintained contact with the transportation minister, a member of the Communist Party. With the minister's support Spinetta managed to end the strike by offering pilots an 11% stake in the company in exchange for a wage cut.

Again, after Sept. 11, Spinetta stayed on the French government's good side. While competitors laid off tens of thousands of employees, the French flag carrier froze hiring and wages but guaranteed employees there would be no layoffs. (An Air France spokesman claims job cuts were unnecessary.)

Yet Spinetta also managed to restore Air France to profitability. He required every plane to have a standard layout, saving thousands of hours in training and downtime for flight crew and maintenance teams. He strengthened some of the initiatives begun by his predecessor, including putting together a hub-and-spoke route system. And he spent the dark days after Sept. 11 strengthening the SkyTeam alliance by working with Delta to bring Alitalia aboard. He also began discreet merger talks with KLM, a Dutch carrier with 58 long-haul destinations whose previous merger negotiations had gone nowhere.

Today, as a result of the merger, the French government owns only 18% of the combined company. Yet competitors continue to assert that the deep relationship allows Air France to maintain an iron grip on its greatest asset: landing slots at Charles de Gaulle, Europe's third-busiest airport, and at Paris' Orly airport.

In May London's low-cost carrier EasyJet filed a suit against the French body that allocates airport slots, alleging it was not truly independent and, in fact, too closely linked to Air France. As a result, EasyJet claims, Air France controls the French market, operating 86% of domestic flights and 62% of flights to Europe. As its next-largest competitor, EasyJet operates only 4% of such flights. Recognizing Air France's virtual monopoly in its home country, Easy's founder, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, puts it bluntly: "I think the lesson is it's good to be king."

Air France-KLM says it has no direct or indirect influence over slot allocation. Low-cost carriers still put 25% of Air France-KLM sales at risk, according to Spinetta, and in a statement the company argues the French market is subject to strong competition in the domestic market from airlines as well as from high-speed rail. Moreover, EasyJet obtained 25,000 slots at Charles de Gaulle and Orly in just two years. "This is an unprecedented situation," says Spinetta.

Still, as the suit winds ever slowly through the French legal system, Air France-KLM faces a slew of challenges. It already has higher debt and lower margins than European competitors British Airways and Lufthansa. High oil prices and a strong euro that keeps Yanks away from Europe could squeeze margins further.

Longer term, KLM Chief Leo van Wijk, Spinetta's number two in the new arrangement, expects to see competition from a transatlantic, low-cost carrier. And UBS analyst Damien Horth notes another challenge is coming from the east, by way of Dubai's Emirates Airline, which plans to buy 70 planes over the next five years, doubling the size of its fleet. Emirates' geography positions it to focus on Asia and the Mideast, two growth markets in the industry and strongpoints for Air France-KLM.

A far greater challenge will be dealing with the complexity of a system that depends on shuttling massive numbers of people through sometimes labyrinthine airports to get to the next leg of the journey. Airline executives know strong security measures conflict with consumer demands for speed and efficiency. Last year the Spanish Iberia Airlines had to abandon attempts to use Miami as a hub for passengers traveling between Spain and Central and South America. Customers missed flights as they stood in line to clear immigration before heading to their next destination.

Spinetta, however, is unfazed. In the last year, he says, Air France improved its on-time performance from 81.7% to 83.4% because of strong air traffic control. The rate of lost baggage incidents dropped from 8.3% to 1.4%. European airlines have proven better able to handle tough security measures than those in the U.S., and the Paris airport has a reputation for being among the world's most efficient. Despite great cost, airport personnel ferry passengers from one terminal to another, rush them through security and even shuttle them across tarmacs to make their flights.

Meantime, Alitalia is rumored to be hoping Air France-KLM will buy it out of its troubles, too. The Italian carrier had no comment, but an Air France-KLM spokesman says it is "ready to welcome Alitalia" in discussions after the Italian carrier privatizes later this year and improves its financial situation. So look for Air France-KLM to find the surest way to keep adding destinations, cycling millions more through its megahubs. Says Spinetta: "There can never be too many routes."

Air France-KLM to raise summer capacity 4.6 pct year-on-year
16 March 2005

PARIS (AFX) - Air France-KLM said it will increase its flight capacity by 4.6 pct across its network this summer, as measured in available seat/kilometre (ASK).

On long-haul flights, capacity will increase by 5.9 pct, with capacity to North America set to rise by 10 pct 'in spite of very fierce competition' in the region.


KLM to raise summer capacity by 2 pct in Europe, 6 pct in rest of world
16 March 2005

AMSTERDAM (AFX) - KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, a unit of Air France-KLM, said it will raise capacity in its summer schedule by 2 pct on European routes and by 6 pct on intercontinental routes, compared with the year-earlier period.

The new schedule starts March 27 and ends Oct 29.

The airline also announced plans to increase coordination between its hub at Amsterdam Schiphol and Air France's Charles de Gaulle hub in Paris. The airline will run 15 flights daily between the hubs and offer fares allowing passengers to leave via one hub and return via the other.

Air France and KLM will also launch this summer a new frequent flyer programme, combining their existing separate activities.

Air France-KLM says growth strategy unaffected by Paris airport repairs
17 March 2005

PARIS (AFX) - Air France/KLM said the decision to tear down and rebuild the roof of Terminal 2E at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport, which collapsed last May, will have no impact on the carrier's growth strategy.

'The growth strategy of Air France for the coming years will not be affected,' the company said.

Earlier today, the state-owned operator Aeroports de Paris (ADP) said the entire roof of the departure area of Terminal 2E will be rebuilt, allowing the terminal to operate normally by the end of 2007.

Four people died on May 23 when a 30-metre section of the roof over the terminal's departure lounge collapsed, just one year after being built.

An administrative inquiry found that structural and design faults were the cause of the partial roof collapse.

Air France KLM to order 7 cargo Boeings for $1.5 bln.

PARIS, March 24 (Reuters) - Air France KLM is set to order seven Boeing 777 freight carriers in a contract with Boeing Co. worth about $1.5 billion, French newspaper La Tribune reported in a pre-released Friday edition.

The new planes would replace part of Europe's biggest airline's Boeing 747 fleet from the end of 2008, the paper said, citing trade union sources.

"The company has in the past shown its interest in the 777," a Air France KLM spokesman said. "But I have no comment on the article."

Air France has already ordered 16 Boeing 777-300 planes, which will be placed in markets that have demand for first-class service, such as New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo. Earlier this month it ordered four extra Boeing 777-300ER jets.

Boeing vies with European airplane maker Airbus, which is controlled by giant European aerospace company EADS, in the global aircraft arena.

Air France KLM reports increase for passenger traffic and decrease for cargo in March
08 April 2005
Airline Industry Information

Air France KLM has reported an increase of 6.2% for its passenger traffic in March 2005.

According to the airline, the increase was due to growth for services to the Americas and to Asia and the load factor for the month was 80.1%, an increase of 1.7 percentage points. Air France KLM also reported that its traffic increased by 6.2% in the Americas, 11.2% in Asia and 9.1% in Africa and the Middle East. The airline saw a 3.6 percentage point increase on the medium-haul network, while there was a 2.8 percentage point increase in the load factor, Reuters reported.

The cargo traffic figures however fell by 2 percentage points for the month as the demand in Asia was weaker, while the cargo load factor fell by 4.9 percentage points to 67%.

Air France-KLM sees $2.6b in benefits from synergy
Joining the two European carriers has helped combat surge in jet fuel costs
Russell Barling
24 June 2005
South China Morning Post

The Air France-KLM Group expected to reap benefits of {euro}280 million ($2.6 billion) from the merger of their airlines within the first two years of joint operations, senior executives in Hong Kong said yesterday.

The enlarged group, formed in October 2003, controls about 16 per cent of passenger capacity between Europe and Greater China, a "top strategic market" as it looks to counter escalating jet fuel costs.

"The [enlarged] group has proven to be an asset in fighting higher fuel costs," Asia Pacific managing director Jean-Louis Pinson told the South China Morning Post.

"We expect synergies created by the merger to save us {euro}165 million this fiscal year. It has in part helped us counter our increasing costs."

Mr Pinson said capacity on China routes would grow 20 per cent this year, largely due to a doubling of Beijing flights from this month.

The merger of the two airlines - combining a fleet of more than 370 aircraft - and all the support services is on-going in Asia, where Japan is their biggest market.

Even with a diverse fleet and a healthy order book for new aircraft, the challenge will be to match the right aircraft to the right market, according to senior vice-president for Asia Pacific Boet Kreiken.

"There could be a business case made to increase our frequencies to Hong Kong," Mr Kreiken said. "But we don't have the right aircraft right now."

Management is merging everything from sales offices in the Philippines to aircraft maintenance and baggage handling firms in Hong Kong as it looks to maximise economies of scale.

But the philosophy is one of co-ordination rather than a full-scale integration of two of Europe's most recognisable brands, especially in key markets.

"There are already seven or eight countries in Asia where one airline is managing the business on behalf of the other," Mr Kreiken said. "But in China, Japan, India and South Korea we will continue to manage the businesses separately."

The increase in jet fuel cost has trimmed the bottom lines of the industry's top carriers this year.

Air France-KLM paid {euro}660 million more for fuel in the past fiscal year and it expects to add {euro}650 million to that figure this year.

Its policy of fuel hedging is paying off in an era where cover is hard to come by. The group has hedged at least 80 per cent of its expected fuel needs this year and next.

Air France raises fuel levy on all flights, KLM hikes long-haul surcharge
4 July 2005

PARIS (AFX) - Air France said that sustained higher oil prices have caused it to increase the surcharge added to its fares for short-haul flights by 2 eur, and raise the levy on long-haul flights by 4 eur.

The surcharge on Air France's domestic French flights will be increased by 1 eur, it said.

Including the increases, the Air France surcharge stands at 7 eur for domestic flights, 10 eur for short-haul and 38 eur for long-haul.

In a separate statement, Air France's Dutch merger partner KLM said it will increase its fuel surcharge by 14 eur to 40 eur on all long-haul flights, although the short-haul surcharge was left at 16 eur.

The increases will be put in place from July 19.

Both companies said the latest increases would be withdrawn should oil prices fall below 50 usd per barrel for 30 consecutive days.

Brent crude was at 57.80 usd per barrel in afternoon trade, with the US markets closed for the July 4 holiday.

Today's increases are the third since the surcharge was introduced last May. An Air France spokeswoman said the company will continue to review the surcharge as the oil price develops and has 'absolutely not' put a ceiling on the levy.

Air France-KLM reports 7.8-percent rise in passenger traffic

PARIS, July 7 (AFP) - Air France-KLM reported on Thursday that passenger traffic measured by miles travelled had risen by 7.8 percent in June on a 12-month basis on strong business on routes to the Americas, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

The group, recently formed of a merger between Air France and the then failing Dutch airline KLM, said that it had increased its total seat capacity by 4.6 percent and that its seat occupancy rate, a key measure of profitability, had risen by 2.4 percentage points to 81.5 percent.

Traffic on the Americas routes had risen "strongly" by 11.2 percent. On these routes the seat capacity offered had been increased by 12.0 percent and the occupancy rate had fallen by 0.7 points to 88.4 percent.

On Asian routes, seat capacity had been increased by 1.9 percent and traffic had risen by 6.0 percent with the result that the occupancy rate had risen by 3.3 points to 84.5 percent.

On routes to Africa and the Middle East, traffic continued to "increase strongly", rising by 11.6 percent. On these routes seat capacity had been increased by 10.2 percent. The occupancy rate had risen by 0.9 points to 76.2 percent.

On routes to the Carribean and Indian ocean, seat volume had been reduced by 9.5 percent. The occupancy rate rose by 7.7 percent to 75.9 percent and the amount of traffic carried had risen by 0.7 percent.

However, freight traffic continued to be sluggish owing to weakness of European exports, the airline said.

Carrying capacity offered had increased by 4.3 percent but traffic had fallen by 1.1 percent. The rate of capacity utilisation fell by 3.5 points to 64.7 percent.

Air France-KLM July Air Traffic Up 9.2%
8 August 2005

PARIS (Dow Jones)--Air France-KLM (AKH) said Monday that air traffic rose 9.2% in July compared to the same month last year, with capacity up 5.1%.

The company said its load factor gained 3.2 points to reach a record 85.2%, while the number of passengers rose 7.1% to 6.5 million passengers during the month. [ 08-08-05 0608GMT ]

Air France-KLM said all its long-haul routes posted load factors in excess of 80%. Routes to the Americas saw traffic increase 12.4% with capacity up 10.8% in July. The load factor on those routes rose 1.3 points to 91.2%.

The company said Asia continued to post a good performance with a 4.5 point improvement in load factor to 88.2% while traffic was up 11.6% on 5.9% higher capacity.

Traffic growth to Africa and the Middle East was up 8.8% on 7.0% higher capacity, increasing the load factor 1.3 points to 82.0%.

Traffic on Air France-KLM's medium-haul flights was up 8.3% in July with a 2.3% rise in capacity. Load factor improved significantly, rising 4.2 points to 76.2%.

The company said cargo operations continued to suffer from the weakness of European exports. Traffic decreased by 1.6% on 5.5% higher capacity with the load factor slipping 4.4 points to 62.1%.

The company said the Toronto airport accident on August 3, will have no commercial or financial impact on the Group.

Monday August 22, 12:31 AM
Air France confident US gov't will grant SkyTeam antitrust immunity

PARIS (AFP) - French national carrier Air France said it was confident the US government would ultimately approve antitrust immunity for the SkyTeam global alliance of six airlines despite opposition from the US Department of Justice (DoJ).

An Air France spokeswoman noted that the DoJ report released Friday on the immunity request from SkyTeam, which also includes the Dutch carrier KLM, Czech Airlines, Alitalia and two US airlines Delta and Northwest, was only a recommendation to the US Department of Transportation, which is considering the proposal.

The DoJ's report said that immunity for the six-carrier alliance would lead to a risk of "significant harm to certain international and domestic competition."

The immunity request is designed to foster "new possibilities of cooperation in the United States and the Justice department has just given its analysis. The advice is only consultative," the French airline's spokeswoman said.

The French carrier was "confident of a favorable outcome to the request for anti-trust immunity at the DOT," she said.

The SkyTeam alliance has argued that immunity would help the six airlines provide more seamless travel arrangements and reduce costs.

A rejection of the immunity request in the US would not change how SkyTeam operates, but would prevent further coordination among the carriers.

The US government has denied Air France/KLM and Delta/Northwest immunity request. It seems strange that the Department of Justice is enforcing the Anti-Trust laws so stringently, especially under a more lenient President Bush.

KLM starts first business class-only flight

AMSTERDAM, Aug 30 (Reuters) - KLM, a unit of Air France , said on Tuesday it would start its first regular flight service with business class seats only.

KLM will lease a Boeing 737-700 plane and crew from Switzerland-based PrivatAir for direct flights between Amsterdam and Houston in the United States, six times a week.

"The new service will meet the great demand for World Business Class (WBC) seats on this route," a KLM spokesman said, adding that customers were mainly working in the oil industry.

The aircraft will carry 44 lie-flat business class seats, equipped with plug-in points for laptop computers. The new service will start on October 30.

Air France KLM's Q1 profit seen up 13 pct

PARIS, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Air France KLM is expected to post like-for-like operating profits up around 13 percent for its first quarter under new accounting rules, despite starting its 2005/06 fiscal year with a steep fuel bill, analysts said.

Boosted by recent strong traffic figures, the airline group is expected to increase its operating profit to 197 million euros ($240 million) for the three months to end-June, from an IFRS-adjusted level of 175 million euros in the same period a year ago.

The forecast is the average given in a Reuters poll of seven analysts, while the year-ago figures have been restated to conform with new IFRS accounting rules and were distributed to analysts by the company.

The Franco-Dutch airline last year reported an operating profit for the period of 156 million euros under French GAAP accounting rules.

Amid a backdrop of record oil prices, analysts expect Air France's fuel bill to have risen some 30 percent during the quarter, but Air France has imposed a fuel surcharge since May 2004. It has also embarked on a cost-cutting programme.

The company's net profit is seen falling 79.4 percent to 110 million euros although core earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and aircraft rentals (EBITDAR), is forecast to have risen by 5 percent.

The fall in net profit is mainly due to a 449 million-euro accounting item related to its merger with KLM.

The company acquired KLM's assets for less than they were later found to be worth.

On its balance sheet Air France has subsequently been amortizing the revised, higher value of the KLM assets as a "negative goodwill" item on its balance sheet.

Excluding this item, net profit is seen rising 27 percent.

Investors are also hoping that management will return to their goal of reporting results broadly similar to the same period a year ago.

Following is a summary of analyst's forecasts polled by Reuters:

Q1 RESULTS, SEPT 2.

(mln euros) Low High Median Average


NET PROFIT 86 131 114 110.4
OPERATING PROFIT 179 217 197 197.1
EBITDAR* 787 812 794 796.2

Air France-KLM August Passenger Traffic +8.1%
September 7, 2005 02:49 ET

PARIS (Dow Jones)--Air France-KLM (3112.FR) said Wednesday its passenger traffic for August rose 8.1% on year due to strong demand in the Americas and Asia.

The load factor, an indicator of how airlines succeed in filling their aircraft, rose to 84.1% in August from 81.7% in the same month of 2004.

Capacity, the number of aircraft available, increased 5.1% in the period, Air France-KLM said in a statement. [ 07-09-05 0639GMT ]

Air France and KLM said both traffic and capacity rose sharply in the Americas, up 10.9% and 11%, respectively.

Load factor improved strongly in Asia, up five points to 87.5%, as traffic rose 11.6% on higher capacity, the companies said.

The Africa and Middle East network saw traffic increase by 8.3%, and Europe remained buoyant, with a 7.4% increase in traffic on 1.5% higher capacity.

Air France and KLM also said cargo operations improved slightly, up 3.2% as capacity increased by 7%, and the load factor slipped by 2.2 points, to 60.9%.

FRENCH PRESS: Air-France-KLM Wants Ties With US Airlines
31 October 2005

PARIS (Dow Jones)--Air-France-KLM (3112.FR) Chief Executive Jean-Cyril Spinetta said he would like to build closer ties with U.S. airlines to combat intense competition over transatlantic flights, several French dailies reported Monday.

"In the face of the surge in North Atlantic routes (operated by) U.S. companies such as Delta (DAL) or Continental (CAL), the only structural response is to be found in building joint ventures with these U.S. partners," he said.

Spinetta cited the current partnership between KLM and Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWAC) as an example of the type of partnership they are looking at, he said at the Cannes Airlines Forum Friday.

KLM Chief Executive Leo Wan Wijk said the partnership would be between Air-France-KLM, Delta and Northwest.

Regarding Delta and Air France/KLM, a problem that may be building up concerning Delta's massive addition of Delta flights to many more European cities. Delta has added or is planning to add in the next six months flights to Moscow, Kiev, Tel Aviv, Copenhagen, Duesseldorf, Berlin, Venice, Nice, Edinburgh and Athens. The Kiev and Berlin flights will be from JFK, but the rest will be from ATL. Because Air France and Delta fly four widebodies between ATL and CDG every day, much of this new service used to go through CDG on Air France planes. Now it is going directly to the final destination city on a Delta plane, thus lessening the need to fly so many passengers to Air France's CDG hub where they transfer to an Air France plane to their final destination.

It will be interesting to see how this move by Delta to fly long-hauls directly to more European cities has on the Delta-Air France relationship within SkyTeam.

FRENCH PRESS: Early Departure Seen For Air France Chmn
2 November 2005

PARIS (Dow Jones)--Air France-KLM (3112.FR) Chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta could decide to step down from his position before his contract expires in 2010, weekly magazine Challenges reports.

Spinetta, whose decision could be prompted by "personal reasons," could be replaced by Jean-Marc Espalioux, who was recently ousted as head of French hotels group Accor SA (12040.FR), the magazine reports, without citing sources.

Too bad, because Spinetta seems to be doing a fantastic job at Air France-KLM.

Air France-KLM October passenger traffic up 8.9 pct

PARIS, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Air France-KLM's passenger traffic rose 8.9 percent in October, thanks chiefly to continued buoyant traffic on its networks in Europe and the Americas, the Franco-Dutch airline said on Monday.

The company's load factor, an indication of the proportion of seats an airline has filled on its flights, climbed 2.2 points in the month to 81.7 percent of capacity.

On its European network capacity edged up 0.7 percent, contributing to a 5.8 percent rise in traffic, while the load factor in that region rose 3.4 points to 71.9 percent of capcity.

For the Americas there was a strong rise in traffic as well as capacity, rising 14.3 percent and 13.3 percent respectively. The load factor added 0.8 points to 86.8 percent.

Air France-KLM's load factor in Asia improved by 4.8 points, the company said, to 88.2 percent, while traffic increased 10.6 percent and capacity was 4.6 percent higher.

Cargo activity showed a 3.7 percent rise and was up for the third straight month. But capacity rose 7.4 percent and its load factor dropped 2.5 points to 68.4 percent of capacity.

Air France passengers gather to press case: 'I'm not same as before'
Agence France-Presse
11 November 2005

Some 50 passengers of the ill-fated Air France Flight 358 have gathered in Toronto, where three months ago they survived a fiery crash landing, seeking answers, hope and retribution.

What Canada's transport minister dubbed a "miracle" -- all 297 passengers and 12 crew escaped serious injury after their Airbus 340 skidded off the end of a runway at Pearson International on Aug. 2 -- these people remember as the most horrific experience of their lives, and they want compensation for their suffering.

"I'm not the same as before and it makes me angry [often] and very sad," said Abdul Al-Jebory, who has difficulty turning his head because of a neck injury. His left knee still hurts from jumping two metres from the right front exit of the plane where an escape chute did not deploy.

His wife was trampled by other passengers while trying to flee before the plane burst into flames and has since lost her sight in one eye. She feels "hopeless," Mr. Al-Jebory said. His three-year-old daughter, he added, has frequent nightmares.

A majority of the passengers suffer from psychological problems and a few dozen still feel pain after suffering real injuries, said lawyer Paul Miller.

Two separate lawsuits were filed within weeks of the crash. Both have since merged into a single class action lawsuit accusing Air France, Toronto airport authorities, control tower staff, Airbus, Goodrich -- which built the jet's escape chutes, two of which malfunctioned -- and the two pilots of Flight 358 of negligence in the accident.

The suit is seeking $150-million. At the meeting on Wednesday meant to update passengers on the proceedings, Mr. Miller said 107 plaintiffs had so far joined the litigation.

One passenger who asked to remain anonymous said he suffers bouts of anxiety and depression, sees a therapist regularly and says he is too afraid to fly ever again. The Toronto-area resident added: "There's been nothing done since: no crash zone built at the airport, no proper radar installed, the runway hasn't been lengthened.

In August, Air France chief executive Jean-Cyril Spinetta blamed airport authorities for allowing the plane to land in bad weather.

Transport Safety Board lead investigator Real Levasseur said the massive jet was too high on its approach and touched down too far along the rain-soaked runway before overshooting, skidding off into a ravine and bursting into flames.

He found no mechanical malfunctions, leaving human error and severe weather conditions as the likely culprits.

The board's conclusions, however, cannot be used in court to find fault.

Mr. Miller said he expects the lawsuit to be certified by a judge in March or April, but warned passengers it could take up to four years to resolve.

Canada Officials Remain Unsure About Cause Of Airbus Crash
16 November 2005

TORONTO (AP)--Canadian transportation investigators announced Wednesday that they still hadn't determined what caused an Air France (3112.FR) Airbus to skid off a Toronto runway and burst into flames during a heavy rainstorm in early August, though reiterated that the aircraft had landed too far down the runway.

Many of the 297 passengers on board have blamed the pilots for landing nearly halfway down the runway in dreadful weather and are suing the airline for negligence. Despite the plane skidding off the runway, landing in a ravine and bursting into flames on Aug. 2, all passengers and 12 crew members escaped and survived with minor injuries.

Confirming earlier reports that all systems on Flight 358 from Paris appeared to be functioning normally, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said in a statement that to date, investigators "have not found significant anomalies" of the aircraft systems.

The statement, out of its headquarters in Gatineau, Quebec, said the digital flight data recorders - known as the black boxes - revealed no system troubles or malfunctions.

"Based on a physical examination of the wreckage combined with a follow-up detailed DFDR review of parameters, no problems were detected with the flight controls, spoilers, tires and brakes, or thrust reversers," the agency said. "The flight controls functioned as expected, spoilers were deployed on touchdown, the tires and braking system worked as per design, and the thrust reversers were found in the deployed position."

The board said it would take several months to come to any conclusions.

The findings released Wednesday did reiterate, however, initial findings by TSB chief investigator Real Levassuer several days after the crash. He said then that the Airbus "landed long," 4,000 feet down the 9,000-foot runway at Toronto's Lester B. Pearson International Airport.

"With the water on the runway...at that point there was no way that this airplane could have stopped before the end," Levassuer said.

That doesn't sit well with Philippe Lacaille, whose wife and four children were on board. He said passengers want to know why - if all systems appeared to be functioning normally on the aircraft - the pilots landed in severe weather conditions and too far down the slick runway.

"We landed too long, we landed in terrible conditions and the plane could not brake," Lacaille told CBC Television after the TSB issued its update on Wednesday.

"The first question that comes to mind is, why was the plane allowed to land in these kind of weather conditions?" said Lacaille, who has joined one of several class actions against the French airliner. "It doesn't make any sense. Was there a mechanical problem or was it the pilot's decision? There's still a lot of unanswered questions."

He said that his family is suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome and they still have recurring nightmares and flashbacks.

"I can tell you, my flashback that comes all the time, I see my 14-year-old daughter's face surrounded by this enormous orange glow right where she was sitting," Lacaille said, adding that he believed they were all about to die.

WRAPUP 2-Air France-KLM, easyJet see Dec traffic rise

PARIS, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Europe's Air France-KLM and easyJet posted stronger traffic in December to cap a year that saw both full-service and budget airlines enjoy better demand despite higher fuel prices.

Expansion in Eastern Europe is helping drive demand for European air travel, which at current growth trends would double by 2020.

Air France-KLM, Europe's largest airline group, said December traffic rose by 11.9 percent measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs).

Its load factor, a measure of how well it filled seats, rose 2.1 percentage points to 79.8 percent.

Activity rose by 15.1 percent on Asian routes and by 7.1 percent within Europe, it said.

Airlines in Europe have been beefing up service to the rapidly expanding air travel markets of India and China.

In sheer passenger numbers, Air France-KLM said it carried 5.6 million passengers in December, up 8 percent.

EasyJet carried 2.37 million passengers, up 11.1 percent.

The budget carrier's load factor was 80.5 percent, down 0.2 of a percentage point.

"December passenger numbers were in line with our expectations. Unit revenue for the month -- the total revenue per seat flown -- showed a year-on-year improvement, supported by strong ancillary contributions," easyJet said in a statement.

Record plane sales in 2005 for manufacturers Boeing Co. and Airbus underscored a rebound in air travel despite fuel costs which have doubled in the last two years.

A newspaper report at the weekend said easyJet had hired Goldman Sachs to help defend itself against a potential takeover bid by Iceland's FL Group.

FL, which owns Icelandair , owns 16.2 percent of easyJet.

January 11, 2006
Air France to record best year ever

PARIS (AFP) - The 2005-2006 financial year for Air France promises to be the best on record, with the world's biggest airline by revenue racking up operating profits much higher than for the previous period, chief executive Jean-Cyril Spinetta said.

"It will be a very good year for Air France-KLM... and the best year for Air France since Air France has existed," Spinetta told the Professional Aeronautic and Space Journalists Association.

The company's financial year, which ends in March, is expected to return an operating profit higher than the 534 million euros reported for 2004-2005.

First semester results have already shown a 46-percent rise to 750 million euros.

Spinetta said the merger between Air France and the Netherland's KLM airline last year was showing benefits.

"Compared to competitors such as British Airways or Lufthansa, you can see some big differences," he said.

According to Air France-KLM, passenger traffic is up 11.9 percent, with an average 79.8 percent occupancy rate on aircraft. Lufthansa and BA have, in comparison, seen passenger numbers rise by 3.6 percent and 4.7 percent, respectively.

Spinetta also definitively scotched rumours that Air France-KLM was looking to merge with Italy's loss-making Alitalia.

"There is no discussion underway," he said.

The much-vaunted new A380 super-jumbo made by Airbus would join the Air France fleet in April 2008, a year behind schedule, Spinetta added, confirming the delay already announced by the European plane-maker.

KLM to Launch Chengdu-Amsterdam Service

BEIJING, Jan 30 Asia Pulse - Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) recently announced that it will open a direct flight from Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, to Amsterdam.

Air China, China Eastern Airlines and Southern Airlines have opened flights from Chengdu to Europe via Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Chengdu has become the air traffic hub of Sichuan, Yunnan, Shaanxi provinces and Tibet Autonomous Region. Following three domestic airline companies opening flights to the other parts of the world, KLM, Korean Air, Cargolux Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and Qantas Airways are also eyeing Chengdu as the gateway for air transportation in southwest China.

The flow of passengers at Shuangliu International Airport in Chengdu amounted to 13.887 million persons/time in 2005, 2.2 million persons/time more than that in 2004, ranking 6th among Chinese airports.

Shuangliu Airport is making preparations for the construction of a second runway and a second terminal, with construction of a logistic park at the airport to commence soon.

Air France-KLM reports profits surge despite fuel costs

PARIS, Feb 16, 2006 (AFP) - Air France-KLM reported on Thursday that operating profit in the first nine months of its financial year had surged by 76.5 percent to 940.0 million euros (1.12 billion dollars), saying that strong traffic had outweighed high fuel costs.

The operating margin rose by 2.2 percentage points to 5.8 percent.

In the third quarter, net profit more than tripled from the equivalent figure in the previous year to 77.0 million euros from 23.0 million euros on a 12.4 percent increase in sales to 5.43 billion euros.

The airline said that activity in the fourth quarter of its financial year was usually weak owing to seasonal factors, and said that it expected operating profit for the whole of its 2005-2006 financial year to exceed 900.0 million euros from 534 million euros in the previous year.

In the third quarter, operating profit had risen to 190.0 million euros from 20.0 million euros 12 months earlier, owing partly to efficient hedging of fuel costs.

The airline said that in the third quarter fuel costs had risen by 27.4 percent on a 12-month comparison to 1.0 billion euros, and that in the first nine months the fuel bill had risen by 30.0 percent to 2.72 billion euros, owing to the rise of oil prices and despite heavy hedging on financial markets.

But from October to the end of December, passenger traffic had continued to be "dynamic", rising by 11.0 percent. Capacity had increased by 7.6 percent.

The airline had achieved a record rate of occupancy on its aircraft, which had risen by 2.4 percentage points to 80.1 percent. Unit fares had held up well and freight activity had shown an encouraging recovery.

Air France: To Boost Seat Capacity 5.6% In Summer Months
20 February 2006

PARIS (Dow Jones)--Air France-KLM (3112.FR) Monday said it will increase its seat capacity by 5.6% from around June through to August compared with the same period last year.

In a statement, the airline said it will boost its capacity in its fastest-growing markets, such as Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

"These increases in capacity are a result of additional frequencies and the introduction of larger aircraft," the company said in a statement. [ 20-02-06 1025GMT ]

Air France also said it would add new routes on its its medium-haul schedule, with flights to Yerevan in Armenia, Leipzig in Germany, and Katowice in Poland. Medium-haul seat capacity would grow 6.3% on the year, the company said.

Air France said capacity on its domestic flights would remain stable, growing by around 1%.

Company Web site: http://www.airfrance.com

Air France denies job cut plans

PARIS, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Air France on Wednesday denied it was planning heavy job cuts after France's largest union expressed fears of up to 5,000 reductions by 2008.

The union was reported as saying on Tuesday that only a handful of the 3,000 to 5,000 people due to retire between now and 2008 would be replaced.

"This is wrong," Air France responded in a statement.

"On January 25 the chairman gave the board employment forecasts which point to stability."

Air France has 72,000 full-time equivalent posts and sees this remaining stable in 2008-09, the statement said.

Air France is part of the Franco-Dutch Air France KLM airlines group.

KLM Airline to Appeal $238,000 Fine
3 March 2006

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - The Dutch airline KLM has appealed a $238,000 fine imposed by a Philippines court for losing a passenger's bag, a spokesman for the company said Friday.

The court awarded the damages last month to a man who lost his suitcase eight years ago en route from Manila to Almaty, Kazakhstan, where he was giving a lecture at a World Health Organization conference.

The passenger, identified as Jose Tiongco, claimed his reputation had suffered when he stood before his audience in jeans, T-shirt and sneakers.

A KLM spokesman said the airline disputed the Manila court's ruling that it was responsible for the loss, and also the "tremendous amount of money" the court awarded in damages -- a KLM record for losing a bag.

The spokesman, Youssef Eddini, said the passenger's itinerary had several legs that included non-KLM flights.

"We do not know on which leg the suitcase was lost," he said. "In the airline business, it is common that in such cases the last airline is responsible" for lost luggage.

Crash survivors reject first Air France redress offer

OTTAWA, March 13, 2006 (AFP) - A handful of survivors in the fiery crash landing of Air France Flight 358 in Toronto have settled their claims with the airline, but most plan to sue, their lawyer said Monday.

Air France made a first formal, written offer last month to each of the 297 passengers. All escaped serious injury after their Airbus 340 skidded off a runway at Toronto airport on August 2, 2005, lawyer Paul Miller told AFP.

Proposed reparations for burned luggage, injuries and suffering ranged from about 5,000 to 15,000 Canadian dollars, he said.

In a letter obtained by AFP sent to 120 passengers considering litigation, Miller strongly recommended they reject the airline's attempt to atone.

"The offers were pretty weak. Nobody was happy with them. None of our clients have accepted them and we're moving forward with the lawsuit," he said in an interview by telephone from Toronto.

"However, we've heard that 12 to 15 people without legal representation have accepted offers," he added.

A class-action lawsuit was filed last year accusing of negligence Air France, Toronto airport authorities, control tower staff, Airbus, the two pilots and Goodrich, which built the jet's escape chutes, two of which malfunctioned.

A majority of the passengers suffer from psychological problems and a few dozen still feel pain from physical injuries, Miller said.

The suit seeks 150 million Canadian dollars (124 million US).

A judge will decide in the coming months whether to allow the class-action lawsuit to proceed, Miller said.

Transport Safety Board lead investigator Real Levasseur said the jet was too high on its approach and touched down too far along the rain-soaked runway before skidding off into a ravine and bursting into flames.

He found no mechanical malfunctions, leaving human error and severe weather conditions as the likely culprits.

The board's conclusions, however, cannot be used in court to find fault.

Air France-KLM warns of additional costs from delay of CDG airport expansion
15 March 2006

PARIS (AFX) - Jean-Cyril Spinetta, chief executive of Air France-KLM, said the carrier will face extra costs from the delay in building a new terminal at the Charles de Gaulle-Roissy airport outside Paris, which is now expected to open in autumn 2007, about six months behind schedule.

Aeroports de Paris (ADP), which runs the airports outside Paris, informed Air France-KLM recently of the setback for Terminal S3, being built especially to accommodate the new Airbus A380 superjumbo.

'Roissy lacks the capacity for welcoming clients. The S3 terminal will unfortunately see a significant delay compared to the original schedule,' Spinetta said during a visit to the airport.

As a result, Air France-KLM will not be able to raise flight capacity as fast as hoped, and it will continue to rely on shuttle buses to bring passengers from the boarding terminal to the plane and vice-versa.

These shuttle buses cost the airline 27 mln eur every year, Spinetta said, adding that today, only 50 pct of its planes used for long-haul flights have direct contact with the terminal, compared with a rate of 70 pct before the collapse of Terminal 2E in May 2004.

Air France in two-year pay deal with unions

PARIS, March 15 (Reuters) - Air France said on Wednesday it had struck a two-year pay deal with unions representing the majority of its staff.

Under the deal with six unions, staff will get a one-off bonus of 500 euros ($600) in April 2006 as well as an average overall salary increase of 3.3 percent spread over two years, the airline said in a statement.

Air France is the French part of the Franco-Dutch airline group Air France KLM .

Salaries form the group's biggest single cost, ahead of fuel, and make up around half its operating expenses.

Salaries and related costs amounted to 1.597 billion euros in the fiscal third quarter (October-December 2005) compared with fuel at 1 billion and total expenses of 3.112 billion.

Air France envisages putting trains in its colors

PARIS, March 26, 2006 (AFP) - Air France could run high-speed trains in its own livery after the total liberalization of passenger rail services in Europe, the company's boss said in an interview to be published Monday.

"It is highly probably that with the liberalization of passenger rail traffic on the domestic market there will be TGV trains in Air France's colors between Roissy and cities like Angers, Tours or Vendome," Air France-KLM Chairman and CEO Jean-Cyril Spinetta was quoted as saying in Monday's issue of the French business daily La Tribune.

Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris already has a station for France's TGV (high-speed) trains that can take passengers almost 800 kilometers (500 miles) from Paris to the Mediterranean coast in three hours

"We don't have any projects today, we're talking in effect about 2012 to 2014," he said.

Spinetta has previously criticized subsidies and competitions regulations which have favored high-speed trains.

The European Parliament approved last year the first draft of a directive opening up international passenger train traffic to free competition beginning in 2008 and liberalizing national markets in 2012.

EU transport ministers in December agreed on liberalizing international passenger train traffic in 2010, but not national markets.

Air France KLM March traffic up 6.6 pct

PARIS, April 7 (Reuters) - Air France KLM reported a 6.6 percent rise in March passenger traffic on Friday as solid growth on its American routes helped compensate for the negative impact on tourism of the mosquito-borne chikungunya disease.

But Air France added in a statement that its load factor -- an indication of the proportion of seats it fills on flights -- fell 0.7 percentage points to 79.4 percent.

The airline noted the March increase came despite Easter falling in April this year but in March last year.

Traffic in America rose 8.1 percent, while in Asia it increased 15.7 percent.

Total passenger numbers rose 4.7 percent to more than 5.8 million.

KLM will raise fuel surcharge on long-haul flights

AMSTERDAM, April 12, 2006 (AFP) - KLM Royal Dutch Airlines announced Wednesday that it will increase its fuel surcharges on intercontinental flights.

KLM will add another five euros (6.07 dollars) per ticket on long-haul flights from Friday. The total fuel surcharge for long-haul flights is now 45 euros per leg of a journey.

The surcharge will be dropped only when the price of oil falls below 65 dollars a barrel for 30 consecutive days, the company said.

A spokesman for Air France, which shares the same parent company told AFP Wednesday that they had no plans for the moment to increase their surcharge on long-haul flights.

Air France increases long-haul fuel surcharge
26 April 2006

PARIS (AP) - Air France raised the fuel surcharge on long-haul passenger flights by €7 (US$8.70) Wednesday, citing "extremely high" oil prices.

Air France, part of the Air France-KLM Group, said the surcharge will be revoked after the price of a barrel of oil falls below US$60 for 30 days in a row.

The latest hike brings Air France's total fuel surcharge on long-haul flights to €51 (US$63.40) per passenger.

Air France last increased its fuel surcharges on Oct. 4, 2005, to €8 (US$10) for domestic services, €12 (US$15) for mid-range services and €44 (US$54.70) on long-haul fares.

The surcharge will come into effect Friday, Air France said.

Air France and other airlines have been increasing their fuel surcharges over the past year in an attempt to recoup some of the expense of record fuel costs.

On Tuesday, Deutsche Lufthansa AG said it would raise its long-haul charge to €62, a 20 percent hike, and British Airways PLC last week raised its charge for long-haul to 35 pounds (€50.50; US$62.50) from 30 pounds.

Light sweet crude for June delivery was trading at US$72.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange early Wednesday.

Thursday May 18, 8:59 PM
Air France-KLM 4Q Profit Falls 30 Percent

AP - Air France-KLM, the world's largest airline by sales, posted a 30 percent drop in net profit for its fiscal fourth quarter Thursday but said underlying earnings were stable despite soaring oil prices.

Net profit fell to 7 million euros ($9.02 million) in January through March from 10 million euros a year earlier, the airline said, despite a 13 percent increase in revenue to 5.20 billion euros ($6.7 billion).

The rising fuel bill resulted in a 12 percent increase in overall operating costs, Air France-KLM said.

Net profit for the fiscal year ending March 31 almost halved to 913 million euros ($1.18 billion) from 1.70 billion euros the previous year, as revenue rose 10 percent to 21.45 billion euros ($27.63 billion).

Air France-KLM said the year-ago net figure was inflated by a one-time pension fund surplus of 928 million euros ($1.19 billion). Excluding the pension surplus, net profit rose 29 percent, the company said.

Full-year operating profit rose 69 percent to 936 million euros ($1.21 billion), lifting the company's operating margin _ or operating profit as a share of revenue _ to 4.4 percent from 2.8 percent a year earlier.

"This capacity to maintain solid results in an environment characterized by rocketing oil prices gives me great confidence in our ability to improve our profitability over the medium term," Air France-KLM Chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta said.

Cost-cutting and synergies from the 2004 merger of Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airline helped offset rising fuel prices and boost the operating margin, the airline said, and fuel surcharges on ticket prices should generate about 200 million euros ($258 million) of additional revenue in the current fiscal year.

Air France-KLM said it achieved better-than-expected net profit last year thanks to "extremely dynamic levels of activity in our sector." It also boasted Europe's "strongest growth in traffic and load factors." Load factor is a measure of the share of available seats that an airline fills with passengers.

Passenger traffic rose 8.6 percent last year while capacity rose 6.2 percent, resulting in a load factor of 80.6 _ five points above the European industry average, the airline said.

Chief Operating Officer Pierre-Henri Gourgeon said the company would achieve additional synergies of 115 million euros ($148 million) this year and cut a further 325 million euros ($418.66 million) in costs. Some 70 million euros ($90.17 million) of savings will come from replacing older airplanes with newer, more fuel-efficient jets, he said.

Air France-KLM forecast operating profit this year of "at least the same level as last year."

Fuel hedging helped contain the company's fuel bill at 3.59 billion euros ($4.62 billion) last year, up 32 percent from the previous year.

This year, Air France-KLM is forecasting a 22 percent increase in the fuel bill to 4.4 billion euros ($5.67 billion).

Air France-KLM shares fell 0.8 percent to 17.11 euros ($22.04) in Paris.

KLM Airline to Appeal $238,000 Fine
3 March 2006

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - The Dutch airline KLM has appealed a $238,000 fine imposed by a Philippines court for losing a passenger's bag, a spokesman for the company said Friday.

The court awarded the damages last month to a man who lost his suitcase eight years ago en route from Manila to Almaty, Kazakhstan, where he was giving a lecture at a World Health Organization conference.

The passenger, identified as Jose Tiongco, claimed his reputation had suffered when he stood before his audience in jeans, T-shirt and sneakers.

A KLM spokesman said the airline disputed the Manila court's ruling that it was responsible for the loss, and also the "tremendous amount of money" the court awarded in damages -- a KLM record for losing a bag.

The spokesman, Youssef Eddini, said the passenger's itinerary had several legs that included non-KLM flights.

"We do not know on which leg the suitcase was lost," he said. "In the airline business, it is common that in such cases the last airline is responsible" for lost luggage.


LOL!! OMG

KLM has also lost my bags!! I travelled from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, the plane went onwards to Manila, some years back. KLM took close to a Month to get my bags back to me, since this time I was in Penang, Malaysia. Absolutely no compensation from the KLM. Had to buy completely brand new clothes. :(

Air France KLM May traffic, load factor rise

PARIS, June 7 (Reuters) - French-Dutch airline Air France KLM said on Wednesday it carried 6.2 percent more passengers in May than a year ago, partly driven by strong performance on its Asian routes.

In a statement, the company said its load factor -- an indication of the proportion of seats it fills on flights -- rose 1.4 percentage points to 79.1 percent.

The group posted a significant increase in unit revenue in May which continued to be driven by sustained levels of premium traffic, Air France KLM said in a statement. It had 6.3 million passengers.

Load factor on Asian routes rose 4.3 points to 83.7 percent, while for the Americas the factor was up 2.1 points at 86.4 percent. For Europe, it edged up 0.3 points to 72.4 percent but for Africa and the Middle East it slipped 0.8 points to 68.7 percent and in the Caribbean and Indian Ocean sector it fell 0.4 percent to 78.0 percent.

Cargo traffic increased 5.3 percent on capacity that was 2 percent higher. The cargo load factor improved by 2 points to 65.8 percent.

Air France KLM shares slipped 0.3 percent to 16.06 euros by 0903 GMT.

Roissy, 19 June 2006
Air France Increases Services to India
Corporate Press Release

Air France continues to develop its network to India, one of the world´s fastest-growing markets.

Starting on 30 October 2006, Air France will operate three weekly flights to and from Chennai (Madras) using its own aircraft (the service is currently operated on a code-share basis with Delta Air Lines aircraft and crew).

The flight will be operated using an Airbus A340 seating 291: 30 in l´Espace Affaires and 261 in Tempo. The aircraft is equipped with the New Air France Travel Concept cabin for enhanced passenger comfort.

Schedules will be particularly well-suited to passengers with short connections at Paris-Charles de Gaulle on their way to and from other Air France destinations:

Flight AF 158: CDG2 10:20 a.m. - Chennai 00:25 a.m. local time.

On Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Flight AF 157: Chennai 02:10 a.m.- CDG2 08:35 a.m. local time.

On Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

These flights will also be sold by Delta Air Lines.

Chennai is the largest city in Southern India and the capital of the dynamic Tamil Nadu state. Its IT sector is growing exponentially, as are other highly diversified industrial activities, for example telecommunications, chemical, automobile and textile industries, to name only a few. Gateway to Tamil Nadu, cradle of the Dravidian civilization, close to Pondicherry and Kerala, Chennai is the cultural capital of Southern India and an outstandingly popular destination with tourists.

In addition to launching flights to Chennai, Air France will be increasing capacity on other flights between Europe and India, with seven weekly flights from Paris to Bangalore instead of five. The Paris-Mumbai (Bombay) route will be operated using Boeing 777-300s with 310 seats instead of the Boeing 777-200s with 270 seats operated last winter.

In all, Air France´s capacity to India will be increased by 27%.

Together, Air France and KLM will offer 42 weekly frequencies (instead of 36 last year) to Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai. The networks and fares of the two airlines may be combined, including to and from India, forming a vast network based around the hubs at Charles de Gaulle and Schiphol so that passengers can travel either via Paris or via Amsterdam.

Air France expecting 175,000 departures from Paris airports Friday

PARIS, June 29, 2006 (AFP) - Air France is expecting passenger departures through its gates at Paris's two main airports to set a new record Friday, when the first wave of summer vacationers fly out.

More than 120,000 passengers are expected to leave from Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport and more than 55,000 from Orly airport, a spokesman said.

That was some 2,000 more for each facility than for the previous daily record.

To cope with the exodus, Air France said it was putting on 270 extra staff and had scheduled larger aircraft for certain destinations such as Rome, Lisbon and Istanbul.

Extra crewmembers tasked with helping struggling families were to be present on board long-distance flights to the Caribbean, Africa and the Middle East.

Passengers wanting to cut down on wait times in queues were advised to print their own boarding cards off Air France's website.

Many French take their big annual vacation of several weeks over the July-August period, with increasing numbers heading to cheap, sun-drenched spots outside the country.

KLM has a thing with Northwest which now means Minneapolis has a French connection.

EU court throws out easyJet suit against Air France-KLM merger
By AOIFE WHITE
4 July 2006

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - Low-cost airline easyJet PLC saw its lawsuit challenging the EU antitrust approval of the merger between Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines thrown out on Tuesday by the Court of First Instance.

The carrier filed a suit with the Luxembourg-based court to annul the 2004 merger, arguing that EU regulators did not properly examine the merger's impact on competitors.

But the EU's second highest court said arguments made by British-based easyJet "do not prove that the (European) Commission committed manifest errors of assessment" in approving the deal.

It added that easyJet gave "no evidence" to prove claims Air France and KLM could influence the allocation of slots at Paris Charles de Gaulle and Paris Orly airports.

The court decision was a test for Europe's flagship airlines, which are contemplating consolidation to cut costs and win back customers from discount carriers.

The EU's approval of the Air France-KLM merger went through on condition the two airlines give up several takeoff and landing slots, mainly at their Paris and Amsterdam hubs.

Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd said the ruling confirmed that companies' promises to change their business behavior -- in this case opening up access to Air France/KLM slots at European airports to other airlines -- could remove antitrust concerns when it was not possible for them to sell off business units.

The British airline has not decided whether to appeal the ruling to the European Court of Justice. It said it was disappointed that the court did not back its view that the Commission had waved through the first major pan-European airline merger without paying heed to the interests of consumers.

"We had hoped the court would give the European Commission a rap over the knuckles for bowing to political pressure and agreeing the merger in double-quick time," said easyJet Chief Executive Andy Harrison.

"The fact of the matter remains that France suffers from the least competition and the highest air fares of any major European country. The European Commission had a great opportunity to address this profound structural failing by using the Air France/KLM case to inject some genuine and much-needed competition into the market," he said.

The airline said it is also challenging the Commission's clearance of an alliance between Air France and Alitalia, saying the companies have not opened up airport slots to rivals despite requests from easyJet.

------

AP Business Writer Jane Wardell in London contributed to this report.

Air France-KLM CEO to be probed in fraud investigation: source

PARIS, July 12, 2006 (AFP) - The chief executive of airline Air France-KLM, Jean-Cyril Spinetta, is to be questioned by a French judge under an investigation into money laundering and illegal employment practices at a bankrupt airline security group, a source close to the case said on Wednesday.

Spinetta is to be interviewed in the next few days by financial judge Herve Loureau in Paris who might put him under investigation, a first step to laying charges, relating to a probe into practices concerning a company called Pretory.

He is suspected of "organised money laundering, involvement in undeclared employment, and of being an accessory to passive corruption and influence peddling", the source said.

The French news magazine L'Express had carried a report to the same effect.

The judge is investigating contracts between Air France and Pretory for the supply of on-board security agents for flights going to the United States in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

The sales of Pretory increased sharply as a result of the contracts and the group had 600 employees at one point. In December 2003, it was placed under bankruptcy administration for liquidation of its assets.

Four people, including the former chief executive and founder of Pretory, Jacques Gaussens, have already been put under investigation.

Canada Ends Probe of Air France Crash
1 August 2006

TORONTO (AP) - Investigators have concluded a report into the crash landing of an Air France jet in which all 309 people aboard survived and would present it to Canada's Transportation Safety Board, officials said Tuesday.

Flight 358 from Paris skidded off a runway at Toronto's international airport a year ago, landing in a ravine and bursting into flames.

Many of the 297 passengers have blamed the pilots for landing nearly halfway down the runway in dreadful weather and are suing the airline for negligence.

The investigators examined whether human error, mechanical failure or bad weather were to blame. The preliminary report must now go to top officials with the Transportation Board for review and won't be made public until all of them have signed off.

Christian Plouffe, a spokesman for the agency based in Gatineau, Quebec, said that process could take months.

Initial investigations indicated that all systems on the Airbus appeared to have functioned normally. Officials said the digital flight data recorders revealed no system troubles or malfunctions.

The initial findings released earlier indicated that the Airbus "landed long" or about 4,000 feet down the 9,000-foot runway.

----------

On the Web:

Transportation Safety Board: http://www.tsb.gc.ca

Air France KLM posts higher July passenger traffic

PARIS, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Air France KLM said on Monday its July passenger traffic rose 4.9 percent with the passenger load factor at 85.2 percent, a decline of 0.1 points.

The company enjoyed a further significant increase in yield in July because of a rise in average revenue per passenger in all segments. The cargo load factor improved by 0.5 points to 62.6 percent.

It said that for the Americas, passenger traffic grew by 2.3 percent on 3.3 percent higher capacity while the load factor remained at 90.4 percent.

Activity on the Asian routes remained buoyant with traffic rising 8.7 percent on 7.2 percent higher capacity and the load factor rising 1.2 points to 89.6 percent.

On the European network, the airline said activity was "particularly buoyant" with traffic up by 8.5 percent on 6.7 percent higher capacity.

The load factor rose 1.3 points to 77.5 percent.

Spike in oil price prompts Air France to raise fuel surcharge again

PARIS, Aug 8, 2006 (AFP) - Air France will raise its fuel surcharge for the seventh time since 2004 because of the latest spike in oil prices, the company said Tuesday.

The increases, to take effect on Thursday, will be one euro (1.25 US dollars) each way for domestic flights, two euros for medium-haul flights and seven euros for long-haul routes, the company said in a statement.

The new surcharge on long-haul flights will be 58 euros, or a total of 116 euros for a round-trip to New York from Paris; it will be nine euros on domestic flights and 14 euros for medium-haul journeys.

The increase "will be scrapped as soon as the price of a barrel (of oil) returns to below 65 US dollars for 30 consecutive days," the statement said.

Air France's announcement came as oil prices pushed towards the 80 dollar-a-barrel mark after a pipeline leak forced British major BP to shut the biggest oil field in the United States and US authorities considered releasing strategic stockpiles.

Other airlines have also increased their fuel surcharges in recent days, including the Portuguese flag-carrier TAP and Malaysia Airlines.

The International Air Transport Association representing 265 companies said the aviation sector faces losses of around three billion dollars this year because of high oil prices.

Airlines will pay some 112 billion dollars for kerosene this year, compared with 91 billion dollars in 2005, according to IATA's estimates.

KLM plane leaves runway after landing in Amsterdam

AMSTERDAM, Aug 12, 2006 (AFP) - A plane belonging to the Dutch carrier KLM veered off the runway after landing Saturday at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, but there were no casualties, a spokesman for the airline said.

"The front wheel of the plane went off the runway. There were no casualties among the 190 passengers and seven crew members, spokesman Bart Koster said.

"The captain asked them to leave the plane by the steps and everything went off calmly," he said.

The Boeing 737, which had landed from London Heathrow, went off the runway after touching down in heavy rain. It was travelling at between 30 and 40 kilometres (18-24 miles) per hour at the time, the spokesman said.

An inquiry has been opened to determine the exact cause of the accident.

Thursday August 31, 5:48 PM
Air France KLM profit up

PARIS/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Average fare yields pushed up Air France KLM profits sharply in the first quarter, prompting the Franco-Dutch airline group to strengthen its forecast for the rest of the year and sending up its shares.
The world's largest airline by revenues posted April-June current operating profit up 84 percent to 411 million euros ($527.6 million) from the same period a year ago.

Net profit more than doubled to 244 million euros from 112 million euros, the airline said on Thursday.

Its adjusted operating margin rose 2.7 points to 8.0 percent.

It strengthened its outlook for the rest of the year, predicting a "significant" increase in operating profit rather than the simple increase it had previously forecast.

Air France KLM shares rose 2.5 percent in a weaker market in early trading to 21.21 euros.

Analysts had on average forecast operating profit of 328 million euros and net profit of 182 million euros, according to Reuters Estimates.

"Where we initially feared that it would not be easy to forward fuel prices to customers, the company is succeeding in forwarding higher costs and is meanwhile benefiting from the improvement in the French economy and the cost savings from the merger with KLM," said Thijs Berkelder of Petercam in Amsterdam.

Air France and KLM, which operate separate fleets and networks under the umbrella of a common holding company, both raised fuel charges earlier this month after oil prices surged above $70 a barrel, though they have retreated somewhat.

Air France KLM had already reported an 11.9 percent rise in first quarter revenue to 5.802 billion euros, driven by all of its sectors, especially passenger business.

The yield -- revenue per passenger and kilometer flown, a key yardstick for airline profitability -- rose 4.5 percent, and the group has benefited from hedging a higher proportion of its fuel bill than its rivals British Airways and Lufthansa.

The airline group reported its quarterly results amid mounting speculation of a merger with struggling Italian airline Alitalia .

Shares in Italy's largest airline rose more than 2 percent on Wednesday and another 1.5 percent on Thursday on speculation that talks between French and Italian government leaders on Friday might help shore up the long-awaited deal.

The French government owns 18 percent of Air France-KLM.

Analysts have also been speculating on a merger to help ensure the long-term survival of Italy's flag carrier, which has seen its share of the domestic market fall from around 80 percent at the end of 1994 to just over half at the end of 2005.

Earlier this month, a French newspaper reported that France was considering approving the merger if Italy's Enel renounced any intention to bid for French utility Suez . The government denied the report.

The airline industry is recovering from a battering from soaring fuel prices, while competition makes it difficult for carriers to raise fares.

International airlines association IATA on Thursday slashed its 2006 loss estimate for the global airline industry to $1.7 billion from $3 billion, helped by cost-cutting efforts and higher revenues.

Director-General Giovanni Bisignani told Reuters in an interview he saw no sign of slowing demand after British police said they foiled a plot to blow up transatlantic flights, but said airports need to be better prepared for emergencies.

Air France pilot's union calls strike for next week

PARIS, Aug 18, 2006 (AFP) - A minority of Air France pilots are to go on strike over two days at the beginning of next week, their union said Friday, but the airline said their action was unlikely to disrupt flight schedules.

The SNPNAC union said Friday the strike would take place between 6:00 am and 10:00 am (0400 and 0800 GMT) Monday and Tuesday to protest working conditions.

The union covers around five percent of Air France's pilots.

Pierre-Jean Loisiel, the head of the SNPNAC, said the dispute lay with a union-management agreement on working conditions signed in May by the much bigger SNPL union which he said fell short, particularly in terms of salaries.

He claimed 70 percent of Air France's pilots opposed the agreement.

Air France-KLM to launch carrier in the low-cost sector

PARIS, Nov 17, 2006 (AFP) - Air France plans to compete with low-cost airlines in France via a subsidiary devoted to medium-haul tourism flights beginning next year, the French carrier's parent group said Friday.

Air France-KLM said the new airline would be 60 percent owned by Air France and 40 percent by Transavia, a Netherlands-based airline that is itself 100 percent owned by KLM.

The new subsidiary, the name of which is to be revealed next week, will be based at Paris's Orly Sud airport and launch operations in spring 2007.

According to the financial daily La Tribune, the new airline might be called "Air France Soleil" (Air France Sun).

It will offer low-cost flights to popular French tourist destinations such as Morocco, Tunisia and Spain, serving routes not covered by Air France, the French-Dutch carrier said.

The project was the result of "growth in the leisure market" and "demand from professionals in the French tourism sector", it added.

Sector analyst Penny Butcher at Morgan Stanley said Air France-KLM sought to compete with carriers such as Ryanair and easyJet on flights to popular sunspots, noting that Ryanair was very interested in providing service to Morocco.

Air France-KLM said the new subsidiary would use a fleet of Boeing 737-800s with a capacity of 186 passengers and added that Transavia would also start to offer flights from Orly.

The low-cost Transavia carrier currently operates a combination of scheduled and charter flights, mainly from the Netherlands.

It posted net profit of 32 million euros in the 2005-2006 fiscal year on sales of 468 million euros.

The project for the new carrier will be submitted to the Air France board on Wednesday, a day before the group's quarterly results are released.

German rival Lufthansa is already present in the budget sector with its Germanwings subsidiary that offers low-cost flights and charter carrier Condor.

Air France-KLM Low-Cost Airline Eyes EUR300M Rev By '09
27 November 2006

PARIS (Dow Jones)--A plan for a new low-cost airline being created by Air France-KLM (AKH) is based on the assumption that it will have revenue of up to EUR300 million by 2009, executives of Transavia.com said Monday.

The airline will start operations to nine mainly North African destinations in June 2007 using four leased Boeing 737-800 aircraft, Christian Boireau, Senior Vice President for commercial operations at Air France told a press conference.

The airline will be called Transavia.com, the same name used by KLM's wholly-owned low-cost subsidiary, to avoid confusion, Boireau said.

Air France-KLM has decided to launch the venture to take advantage of a fast-growing market for leisure tourism. Most of the seats will be sold through tour operators, and the remainder will be offered for sale over the internet.

Air France will have a 60% controlling interest in the new French unit, and Transavia will control 40% of the new airline, which will be capitalized at EUR22 million.

The new entity will be registered in France, operate using French flight crews and will have its base at Orly airport south of Paris..

Air France-KLM, the world's largest airline by revenue, has said it expects the new airline to break even in two years' time.

The French Transavia.com will have a headcount of 400 by 2009, but more than 2,000 jobs will be created at suppliers and other vendors, Boireau said.

Boireau will chair the new airline's supervisory board while retaining his present functions at Air France. Lionel Guerin, currently chairman and CEO of French regional airline Airliner, will head the airline's management board.

The French tourist charter market is currently about eight million passengers a year, representing 12% of the European market. The French market is less than one-quarter the 35 million British passengers who take charter flights, however.

By the winter of 2007/2008, Transavia.com could be serving up to 15 destinations, chiefly in Morocco, Tunisia, Spain, Italy and Egypt.

Transavia will generally avoid flying to destinations already operated by Air France, although an exception will be Marrakesh in Morocco, where tourist traffic is booming and where Transavia expects to be flying at least two flights daily.

There are no plans to operate low-cost flights to French cities, Boireau said, although flights could leave from French provisional cities if there is sufficient demand from local tour operators.

Ticket prices will be around EUR50, and could offer much cheaper fares in special promotional offers.

The new Transavia.com's management will be completely separate from Air France, Boireau said, and will achieve low operating costs thanks to reduced overheads, synergies with the Dutch Transavia.com, and heavy reliance on outsourcing.

France's CGT labor union has criticized the new venture, calling it a "retrograde" move from a labor point of view.

Air France-KLM to use A380 superjumbo on Paris-Tokyo route

TOKYO, Nov 29, 2006 (AFP) - Air France-KLM said Wednesday it plans to use one of its first Airbus A380 superjumbos on the Paris to Tokyo route from 2009 to boost flight capacity to Japan's congested Narita airport.

"This decision was taken because of the impossibility of easily increasing the number of flights to Tokyo due to a lack of landing slots at Narita," said Patrick Alexandre, Air France vice president, international commercial affairs.

Air France/KLM currently has 51 weekly flights from the Japanese cities of Tokyo, western Osaka and central Nagoya to Paris and Amsterdam and "the planes are full", Alexandre told reporters here.

Neither Japan Airlines (JAL) nor All Nippon Airways (ANA) has expressed any interest in the double-decker A380, which can carry 853 passengers.

The carriers, Asia's largest, have increasingly bought smaller planes for shorter flights, particularly to their growing market China.

Thursday November 30, 7:20 PM
Iberia open to alliance with Air France-KLM

MADRID (AFP) - The Spanish airline Iberia, currently tied up with British Airways, says it would also consider an alliance with Air France-KLM or Lufthansa of Germany.

"We don't consider ourselves bound hand and foot to British Airways," Iberia's financial services chief, Enrique Dupuy de Lome, said in an interview published by the newspaper Expansion.

"We work with British Airways but we do not rule out moving closer to other airline groups.

"There are complementarities with Air France and Lufthansa. Iberia is a leader on a market that could be advantageous" to British Airways, Air France-KLM and Lufthansa.

In Paris, the price of shares in Air France-KLM shot up 2.93 percent to 30.58 euros following reports of the comments.

Iberia, in which British Airways holds a 10 percent stake, was privatized in 2001 and is the leading carrier linking Europe and Latin America, controlling 18.7 percent of the market.

Shares in Air France-KLM had been under pressure recently on news that the airline had begun talks with Italian airline Alitalia on a possible alliance. Alitalia is in financial difficulties and Air France-KLM has always said that any alliance with it would be conditional on restructuring.

Lufthansa declined to comment Thursday on a possible tie-up with Iberia.

"This is speculation about which we're not commenting," said a Lufthansa spokeswoman.

"We welcome sector-wide consolidation in general and we want to play an active role in that consolidation," she said.

But there were no concrete tie-up projects at present, she added.

did someone flew with Air France from Paris to HongKong?
how is the entertaiment on this flight? do they have seat back TVs

^^
Yes,they have PTV on their B777 which are used on this route.

Air France-KLM 3Q profit triples on strong traffic growth
14 February 2007

PARIS (AP) - Dynamic passenger traffic helped Air France-KLM triple its net profit in its third quarter despite a rising fuel bill, the world's largest airline by revenue said Wednesday. It also reaffirmed its outlook for the fiscal year ending March 31.

Air France-KLM reported net profit of 229 million euros ($298 million) for the October-December period, up from 77 million euros a year earlier and well above the 140 million euros ($182 million) expected by analysts.

Operating profit rose 32.6 percent to 252 million euros ($328 million) in the third quarter, in line with the average analyst forecast of 253 million euros on a 5.9 percent rise in revenue to 5.75 billion euros ($7.49 billion).

In a statement, Air France-KLM said it expected to break even in the fourth quarter, assuming a fuel bill for the January-March period of 1.02 billion euros ($1.33 billion).

That would leave the airline's net profit for the year at the 847 million euros ($1.1 billion) reported for the first nine months of the year, and operating profit above the 1.23 billion euros ($1.6 billion) posted for the same period.

Previously Air France-KLM had forecast a "significant rise" in operating profit this year, compared with the 936 million euros ($1.22 billion) it reported last year. The company is scheduled to report its fourth-quarter earnings May 24.

Air France-KLM shares fell 0.17 euro to close at 34.97 euros ($45.42) in Paris.

Air France phases Boeing 737 model out of fleet

PARIS, June 11 (Reuters) - French airline Air France said on Monday the last Boeing 737 in its fleet had made its last flight. In the late 1990s, Air France operated 50 of the single-aisle passenger jets on its European and North African network. It took the decision to phase out the plane four years ago, a spokesman said.

The Boeing 737s have been replaced by Airbuses of the A320 family. Air France operated 145 Airbus A318, A319, A320 and A321 aircraft as of March 31, the spokesman said.

Airbus recently announced an order for 30 more aircraft of the A320 family. At the same time it said it would buy 18 wide-body 777s from Boeing.

Workers urge Air France chiefs to stop expelling immigrants
12 July 2007

PARIS (AP) - Airline unions urged Air France on Thursday to stop transporting expelled illegal immigrants on its flights, saying the practice upsets flight attendants and passengers and may hurt business at France's flagship carrier.

Workers for five unions were presenting their demands at the Air France-KLM annual shareholders' meeting in Paris.

For years unions have urged the airline to halt the transportation of expelled immigrants, but the demand attracted extra attention this year because of President Nicolas Sarkozy's determination to step up expulsions as part of his tougher policies on immigration.

Every year, thousands of illegal immigrants are put aboard Air France flights and sent to their homelands, sometimes handcuffed and escorted by police. On occasions, they resist and must be forcibly restrained.

Air France unions CGT, CFDT, SUD, ALTER and SPAF voted Tuesday to ask the company to refuse to transport expelled immigrants.

In response, the company said in a statement Wednesday that it had no plans to reconsider expulsions "executed by the Interior Ministry on the basis of administrative or judicial decisions."

Still, the company noted that crew can refuse to allow a passenger aboard who is "believed to pose a threat to the safety of the flight."

In the first five months of 2007, 6,000 illegal immigrants were expelled by air, 2,200 of them under police escort, according to the newly created Ministry of Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Co-development.

Gilles Nicoli, general secretary of CFDT-Air France, said airplane staff are suffering "more and more trauma from the violence that people sent across the border are subjected to."

"This has a negative image for the company," Nicoli said on France-Info radio.

Sarkozy has said he wants to expel 25,000 illegal immigrants this year, up from 24,000 in 2006. Sarkozy toughened immigration rules as interior minister before he became president this spring.

Air France-KLM orders 20 regional jets from Brazilian planemaker Embraer
3 August 2007

PARIS (AP) - Two regional subsidiaries of the Air France-KLM Group said Friday that they had ordered 20 regional jets, with an option for an additional 18 aircraft, from Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer.

The French-Dutch airline declined to disclose the value of the deal -- the first joint order placed by the airline's regional units, the French carrier Regional and Holland's KLM Cityhopper.

Air France-KLM said the orders are for Embraer's E170 and E190 short-to-medium haul aircraft. Regional will take six E170s and four E190s, while KLM Cityhopper is taking 10 E190s.

"This first joint order placed by the two regional carriers will lead to substantial synergies both in the purchasing of aircraft, engines and spare parts, and in fleet management, operational maintenance and crew training," Air France-KLM said.

Deliveries will take place between 2008 and 2011.

The company said the new Embraer aircraft will help Regional improve its fleet significantly. Regional already operates three E190s and has three others on back order, besides those mentioned Friday.

The aircraft ordered by KLM Cityhopper gradually will replace aging Fokker 100s, the company added. The order marks the start of a fleet renewal and upgrade program for the Dutch regional carrier.

Air France-KLM shares slump 6.0 percent after results

PARIS, Aug 9, 2007 (AFP) - Shares in Air France-KLM, the biggest European airline, fell more than 6.0 percent on Thursday after the group's first-quarter results disappointed investors.

The company said first-quarter net earnings rose 70.1 percent over 12 months to 415 million euros (571 million dollars), but operating profit rose by a modest 1.0 percent to 415 million euros.

The group also said it would be "attentive" to developments regarding loss-making Italian rival Alitalia and is open to contacts with the Italian carrier.

Air France-KLM said it did not have any more details about the planned sale of the group following the Italian government's decision to scrap an privatisation process.

"We remain attentive and if we are contacted we will listen," the company said in reference to press reports that Alitalia's new chairman is planning to meet potential buyers, including Air France-KLM.

Shares in the group closed down 6.26 percent on the Paris stock exchange at 30.20 euros.

A Paris-based dealer contended that the results and outlook for the company were broadly positive, arguing that the slide in the share price was more about profit-taking on a share that had risen strongly over the past year.

Group sales in the first quarter were 5.9 billion euros, up 2.5 percent.

Air France-KLM's existing full-year outlook was for a further rise in operating income and a return on capital employed of 7 percent.

Wednesday September 26, 3:10 PM
Air France prepares bid for Spain's Iberia: report

MADRID (Reuters) - French-Dutch airline Air France KLM is planning to team up with two Spanish firms to bid for Spain's Iberia against a group led by private equity group TPG, Expansion newspaper said on Wednesday.

The Air France KLM offer would keep 51 percent of Iberia in Spanish hands, allowing the airline to keep flying certain routes in Spain and abroad, the newspaper reported.

On Monday, the head of Air France KLM, Jean-Cyril Spinetta, said the airline would not do a deal with Iberia or Italy's Alitalia unless it was "strongly creative" of value. In July, the airline said it might be interested in Iberia.

TPG , in a consortium with British Airways and Spanish firms Ibersuizas, Vista Capital and Quercus Equity, has been talking to Iberia management for months and has made an indicative offer of 3.60 euros a share.

Iberia stock closed at 3.25 euros on Tuesday.

Expansion said Air France KLM would bring on board two Spanish family investment vehicles -- Torreal, which belongs to Juan Abello, and Planeta, owned by the Lara family, the lead shareholder in Barcelona-based airline Vueling .

Planeta declined to comment. Torreal was not immediately available to comment.

Air France sees decision on Alitalia, Iberia-paper

AMSTERDAM, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Air France-KLM expects to make a decision on buying Italy's Alitalia or Spain's Iberia shortly, a Dutch newspaper reported on Friday its chief executive as saying.

The chairman and chief executive officer of the French-Dutch airline, Jean-Cyril Spinetta, said in an interview with the newspaper NRC Handelsblad that the company would decide on Alitalia on Oct. 25 during a board meeting.

Spinetta confirmed the airline was on a short list of companies interested in Alitalia, but declined to comment when asked whether Air France-KLM would make a bid for Alitalia alone or with other airlines.

Air France-KLM would make a decision on Iberia in the coming weeks, Spinetta said.

The airlines chief said KLM might also fly from London's Heathrow airport after the company said Air France would team up with Delta Air Lines to share routes linking U.S. cities and Europe.

Every European city might be used as a starting point for transatlantic flights, Spinetta said, citing Rome as an example.

A so-called Open Skies pact between the United States and the European Union enabled the deal with Delta Air Lines, and Spinetta acknowledged that other airlines, such as British Airways , could compete at airports important to Air France-KLM, like those of Paris and Los Angeles.

Air France's Spinetta Fears Competition From Emirates -Report
22 October 2007

PARIS (Dow Jones)--Jean-Cyril Spinetta, chairman and chief executive of airline Air France-KLM (AKH) rates Dubai-based competitor Emirates Airline's business model as the most menacing for Air France-KLM on flights in Europe and Asia, French weekly newsletter La Lettre de l'Expansion reports Monday, without citing sources.

Referring to comments made within the company, La Lettre de l'Expansion adds Spinetta is said to believe Emirates' on-board services are excellent, ticket prices are attractive and passengers are favorable to the prospect of spending a stopover in Dubai to enjoy attractive duty-free shopping.

No one at Air France was immediately available for comment.

Air France ok for deals if profitability intact

PARIS, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Air France KLM wants to be a consolidator of the airline industry but will do so only if this does not hurt its medium-term financial performance, the Franco-Dutch carrier's deputy head said on Friday.

Asked whether Air France KLM was still interested in an alliance with troubled Italian carrier Alitalia , Air France-KLM Deputy Chief Executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon said:

"Of course we are still ready to talk with Alitalia... But however interesting the matter is, we will go ahead with the project only if we have a clear vision that they will not hurt our medium-term performance."

"If we can't see the possibility of continuing on the path of profitability at a three-year horizon, then too bad, we will not be able to pursue this (project)," he added, in a speech at shareholders trade fair Actionaria in Paris.

Alitalia seeks a buyer for the Italian Treasury's 49.9 percent stake in the loss-making Italian flag carrier after an auction for it collapsed in July.

Air France KLM did not take part in the original auction, citing unattractive conditions set by the Italian government, but was later named by Alitalia management as a potential buyer.

Gourgeon also repeated that Air France KLM was looking at Iberia but he declined to say whether it would join a bid battle for the Spanish carrier.

IBERIA

"Iberia is looking for something that could guarantee its future. They have the feeling that they need to merge with one of the big players," he said.

"We are ready to move along with the consolidation process... After that, it is like a dance and it takes some time for the couples to form."

Sources close to Air France have not ruled out a bid for Iberia but say any such bid would be a financial deal rather than an industrial partnership because the two airlines compete heavily on routes to Latin America.

British Airways has already expressed interest in Iberia, while Lufthansa has for months said the Spanish airline was too expensive.

On Thursday, a group of Spanish billionaires along with Spanish bank BBK made a takeover approach that values Iberia at up to 3.7 billion euros ($5.4 billion).

Gourgeon downplayed risks that surging oil prices and a weakening of the dollar could affect Air France KLM's profitability.

He said its fuel hedging policy had been "efficient" to reduce the impact of rising oil prices and added that fuel taxes on tickets had allowed the airline to match the gradual rise in oil prices with the gradual rise in ticket prices.

The weakening of the dollar was not negative for the airline, Gourgeon said.

"When the dollar goes down, we are benefiting from it since we have more dollar costs than dollar revenues," he said.

"But if the euro goes up against all other currencies, then this is a different matter because then it is our yen revenues and our yuan revenues that are falling."

Air France-KLM CFO Sees Alitalia, Iberia Decision By Yr-End
17 November 2007

PARIS (Dow Jones)--Franco-Dutch airliner Air France-KLM (AKH) is currently not holding talks with Spain's Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana SA (IBLA.MC) and Italy's Alitalia SpA (AZA.MI) about a potential takeover, but will likely unveil its intentions about the two firms before the end of the year, the group's chief financial officer told Dow Jones Newswires Saturday.

"We are not at that stage yet (of holding talks with Alitalia and Iberia)," Air France-KLM Chief Financial Officer Philippe Calavia said on the sidelines of an investor conference here.

"But I do expect us to reach a decision by the end of the year," the executive said.

Calavia said the company is advised by investment banks BNP Paribas (13110.FR) on Iberia and Lazard and Morgan Stanley (MS) for Alitalia.

"For Iberia, if we make an offer, we will likely have to team up with a local (Spanish) partner. For Alitalia that seems less necessary," he added.

"We will have to make a choice between the two, an offer on both companies will not be the case," Calavia said.

Iberia recently said it received a takeover approach from a group of investors, valuing Iberia at as much as EUR3.76 billion. Madrid-based Iberia, Spain's largest airline by revenue, in March received a takeover approach from U.S. private equity firm TPG. It has since built a consortium including key Iberia shareholder British Airways PLC (BAB) and several Spanish financial investors to prepare a binding offer for the company.

Last month, Alitalia said it had six potential suitors, including leading European carriers Air France-KLM and Deutsche Lufthansa AG (DLAKY).

Air France-KLM enters bidding for Alitalia

As the final deadline passed for Alitalia's auction, Lufthansa said it will not bid, but Air France-KLM is making an offer for the unprofitable Italian national carrier.

The Franco-Dutch airline is the leading candidate to buy a 49.9% stake in Alitalia, but reportedly at a lower price than Rome wants. Air France-KLM's Chief Executive Jean-Cyril Spinetta has said: "Any consolidation in Europe must improve the profitability of the new group."

Air France-KLM has 569 planes, 102,000 employees and turnover in its last financial year of 23 billion euros. Alitalia has a fleet one third the size and a workforce of 18,000. Its turnover last year was 4.37 billion euros, but is losing more than one million euros a day.

Business Finance professor Fabio Verna said: "Air France KLM is the logical potential buyer for Alitalia, so it's definitely an important opportunity for our country and for our national airline, the negative aspect is that probably it won't be our national airline anymore."

Italian low cost carrier Air One also plans a bid. That would keep Alitalia in Italian hands, but analysts questioned whether the smaller airline could achieve a takeover of a company with such huge problems.

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi has said he hopes Alitalia will go to the best bidder, with Italian ownership a secondary consideration. Alitalia is expected to pick a bidder in mid-December with which to start exclusive talks.


http://www.euronews.net/index.php?page=eco&article=457889&lng=1

Air France-KLM still looking at Iberia, silent on Lufthansa

PARIS, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Air France-KLM is still looking at Spain's Iberia after making a non-binding offer for Italian flag carrier Alitalia on Thursday.
An Air France spokeswoman said that on the Iberia dossier, the group was sticking to comments made last month by Chief Executive Jean-Cyril Spinetta that Air France-KLM was looking closely at the Spanish carrier.
Air France-KLM would make no comment after German rival Lufthansa said it would not make an offer for loss-making Alitalia for economic reasons.

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon)



http://www.reuters.com/article/mergersNews/idUSPAC00899820071206

Alitalia recommends Air France-KLM as preferred buyer

ROME: Alitalia recommended Friday that Air France-KLM, the world's largest airline, should buy the Italian state's controlling stake in the carrier.

The move put pressure on the Italian government to reject an offer from a domestic rival, Air One.

Alitalia's five-member board, which includes the government-appointed chairman, Maurizio Prato, and representatives of the Finance Ministry, said the Air France plan was "credible" and voted unanimously to support the offer, the Rome-based carrier said. The government has said it will take the board's recommendation into consideration when choosing the buyer in January.

"The government should take the Alitalia recommendation into account," Gianluca Verzelli, of BNP Paribas Private Banking in Milan. "It would be very difficult for the government to explain a change in direction."

Prime Minister Romano Prodi has been trying to sell Rome's 49.9 percent stake in Alitalia, which has been losing more than €1 million, or $1.4 million, a day, recently. The government gave Prato a mandate in August to find a buyer after canceling a seven-month auction process the previous month when bidders dropped out.


http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/21/business/alitalia.php

AirFrance-KLM buys Belgium's VLM

BRUSSELS (AFP) — Aviation giant AirFrance-KLM is to buy out Belgium's VLM, a major regional airlines operating out of London City Airport, VLM said in a statement Monday.

The move would see VLM, which operates a fleet of 18 Fokker 50 aircraft and one BAE 146 and uses the British airport as a hub for most of its flights, link up with Air France subsidiary CityJet.

No financial details were released.

VLM chief Johan Vanneste said the move would "create value for our customers, as this transaction will ensure them access to the largest number of destinations from London City Airport."

"The strengths of the Air France-KLM group will provide the necessary support to take the development of VLM Airlines to the next level," he said.



http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hnVCj1R-qOuG-OucIVqWtlkzNFqg

AIR FRANCE KLM: December 2007 Traffic

Passenger

Traffic up by 3.1% with a load factor of 78.6%

Further rise in unit revenue excluding currency impact

Cargo

Traffic up by 2.9% and load factor maintained at the high level of 70.2%

Passenger activity

In December 2007, Air France-KLM posted a 3.1% rise in traffic following a slow-down at Air France at the end of the month due to strike action at Orly Airport. With capacity up 4.1%, the load factor declined slightly (-0.8 points) but remained at the high level of 78.6%. Unit revenue excluding currency impact improved further. The number of passengers rose 0.5% to 5.8 million.

- On the Americas network traffic was up 4.7% with capacity up 6.4%. The load factor remained at the high level of 83.1% (-1.4 points).

- The Asian network posted a traffic growth of 4.9% and an increase in capacity of 5.6%. The load factor was maintained at 82.1% (-0.6 points).

- On the Africa and Middle East network traffic was up 2.6% with capacity up by 5.7%. The load factor declined by 2.4 points to 79.1%.

- On the Caribbean and Indian Ocean network traffic was up 1.5% on stable capacity, leading to a
1.3 point rise in load factor to 83.6%.

- On the European network traffic was stable (-0.2%) while capacity rose 0.7%. The load factor stood at 65.8% (-0.6 points).

Cargo activity

In December 2007 the cargo activity recorded a rise in traffic of 2.9%, driven by the Americas and Africa and Middle East networks. Capacity was up by 3.7%. The load factor was maintained at the high level of 70.2% (-0.5 points). The group transported 131,648 tonnes, a rise of 2.3%.

STATISTICS

http://corporate.airfrance.com/en/news/index.html

Air France-KLM takeover talks for Alitalia underway


Air France-KLM has started its exclusive talks as preferred bidder for Alitalia. It has been given a deadline of eight weeks for the discussions by Italian treasury minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa.

Air France-KLM's chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta met Alitalia's head Maurizio Prato in Rome. Spinetta then held talks Alitalia's trade union representative.

If a deal is reached the shareholding in the new combined airline would have 67.7% in the market, the French government would hold 17.8%, Alitalia's workers would have 11.5% and the Italian government 3%. But one of the unions involved in the talks said it is possible that the Italian state could end up with a 5% stake as part of
a share-swap deal.

The government of Prime Minister Romano Prodi currently holds 49.9% of the near-bankrupt Italian flag carrier which is predicting a loss this year of 400 million euros.

Air France-KLM's shares fell following a report in a Milan newspaper that its rival, Italian carrier AirOne, has not given up on the idea of buying Alitalia and it has "the support of five or six heavyweight financiers ready to invest 200 to 250 million euros."

http://www.euronews.net/index.php?page=eco&article=463797&lng=1

Delta Air Lines could be working on plans to bring Air France-KLM Group into its merger talks.

After Delta's board of directors last Friday authorized merger talks with Northwest and United airlines, Delta CEO Richard Anderson and other top executives flew to Paris to meet with management of Air France-KLM Group, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.

Delta's president and financial chief, Ed Bastian, and Glen Hauenstein, its head route-planner, accompanied Anderson, according to the person.

The purpose of the trip could have been simply to update nervous alliance partners on the merger discussions. Delta and AirFrance-KLM are partners in the decade-old SkyTeam marketing alliance. But Delta also could be approaching Air France to buy a stake in a contemplated merger between Delta and Northwest.

Northwest also is in SkyTeam, which lets passengers accrue frequent-flier miles from the various carriers in the group. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Air France merged in 2003.

KLM and Northwest also have antitrust immunity dating from an earlier linkup in the 1990s, which allows them to coordinate flight schedules and fares in ways that other competing airlines can't. Late last year, Delta and Air France announced similar plans for a joint venture that will give Delta its first access to London's Heathrow Airport, the busiest airport in Europe.

Air France is supplying four pairs of Heathrow slots to the joint venture.

By raising the possibility that it could defect to a rival alliance if it merges with United, Delta also could be hoping to pressure Air France to chip in valuable assets such as a cash investment or more Heathrow flying rights to encourage a merger with Northwest.

A spokeswoman for Delta said she didn't know details of the executives' travel plans, and declined to comment beyond earlier statements that the airline's board and management are looking at strategic alternatives including possible mergers.

Delta reportedly is contemplating a stock-swap deal with Northwest or United. A cash-infusion from Air France-KLM in exchange for an equity stake in the combined carriers would make the deal more attractive to investors and help cement ties with the European carriers.

Federal law limits foreign carriers to a 25 percent voting stake in an American carrier, but interest in such deals has heated up as U.S. carriers' stock prices and the value of the dollar has slumped compared to the euro.

Last month, German carrier Lufthansa announced that it was paying $300 million for a 19 percent stake in U.S. discount carrier JetBlue Airways.

But veteran airline industry consultant Jon Ash said Delta could simply be discussing how the merger plans might affect alliance partners, who could oppose a deal when the European Commission's antitrust arm reviews any merger proposal.

"My suspicion is that it's kind of a difficult situation to break up alliances," he said. The trip "could very well be to settle them down."

Airlines on both sides of the Atlantic have been rushing to expand their networks, partly in response to a new "Open Skies" treaty that takes effect in March. The pact opens more access for U.S. carriers to Heathrow, but also allows European carriers to fly to the United States from more cities.

http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/delta/stories/2008/01/17/deltafrance_0117.html

Air France Backs Delta-Northwest Merger, Person Says

By Andrea Rothman and Mary Jane Credeur

Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Air France-KLM Group will encourage a merger between Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp. and may make a financial investment to foster a tie-up, a person familiar with the European carrier's plans said.

A Delta-Northwest combination would preserve the SkyTeam Alliance, a marketing group that includes all three carriers, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. Delta executives have met with Air France- KLM, Europe's biggest airline, to discuss a role in a Northwest merger, the person said today.

Delta, the third-largest U.S. carrier, is in talks with Northwest and United Airlines parent UAL Corp., U.S. Representative James Oberstar of Minnesota said yesterday. United is a member of the Star Alliance, a SkyTeam competitor.

``These global alliances are not casual arrangements; they are contractual agreements where they're sharing revenue on these markets,'' said Michael Derchin, an analyst at FTN Midwest Research Securities in New York. Star Alliance member Deutsche Lufthansa AG is ``the mortal enemy of Air France,'' he added.

Brigitte Barrand, a spokeswoman for Paris-based Air France, declined to comment. U.S. law limits foreign ownership of airlines to 49 percent of equity and 25 percent voting stake.

The chief executive officers of Delta and Eagan, Minnesota- based Northwest told employees in messages this week the carriers are studying options, including mergers, to offset rising fuel bills. Atlanta-based Delta formed a board committee in November to consider a tie-up.

Spokeswomen for the three U.S. carriers have declined to comment on any merger negotiations. Oberstar, a Democrat from Minnesota, said Northwest executives confirmed to him that Delta was in discussions with Northwest and United.

Staying With SkyTeam?

Darryl Jenkins, an aviation consultant in Marshall, Virginia, said Northwest was unlikely to pick a partner from outside SkyTeam. The 11-carrier alliance includes Continental Airlines Inc., Alitalia SpA and China Southern Air Holding Co.

``In this one, they actually work as a real, virtual airline,'' Jenkins said in an interview. ``It is the best managed, the oldest and most successful.''

Alliances get carriers as close to a joint-venture relationship as possible under foreign-ownership rules. The groups let members sell tickets on each other's flights, thus expanding their route networks. Alliance carriers also usually connect their frequent-flier programs so that travelers have more ways to earn mileage points.

Delta fell 81 cents, or 5.1 percent, to $15.19 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Northwest dropped 47 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $16.95. Chicago-based UAL slid $1.22, or 3.5 percent, to $33.42 in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. Air France-KLM declined 31 euro cents to 19.8 euros in Paris trading.

Jet fuel has surged 54 percent in the past year, while the 16-member Bloomberg U.S. Airlines Index has dropped 43 percent.

Air France's support of a Delta-Northwest merger was reported earlier today by the Wall Street Journal.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a8CGWSuGGcSU&refer=home

Air France Advance May Leave British Airways Behind
By Andrea Rothman and Tracy Alloway


Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Air France-KLM Group, the world's largest carrier by sales, may widen the lead over British Airways Plc and Deutsche Lufthansa AG by swallowing Italy's Alitalia SpA and using African routes to counter an expected slowdown in North Atlantic traffic.

Rising oil prices and cooling travel demand amid a credit squeeze in the U.S. and Europe have slashed British Airways' and Air France's market value by almost half in the past year. The Paris-based company has the lowest price-earnings ratio among Europe's biggest airlines. The stock may rebound by 68 percent in 2008, according to the average of 14 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg, compared with 38 percent for British Airways.

Air France, which took over KLM in 2004, got 16 percent of sales from North America in the year ended March 2007. That compares with 32 percent at British Airways a year earlier, according to Aviation Economics, a London-based consulting company.

``Air France is better hedged on fuel and is less exposed to the U.S., the area where most of the concern is about economic conditions,'' said Jonathan Wober, an analyst at Societe Generale in London who recommends buying the company and has a ``hold'' rating on British Airways. ``They have a far more diversified revenue base, with good exposure to emerging markets.''

The French-Dutch carrier's shares surged 1.20 euros, or 6.8 percent, to 18.85 euros in Paris, where stocks rose for the first time in six days following the Federal Reserve's surprise interest-rate cut today. British Airways jumped 6 percent in London to 296 pence. Lufthansa rose 2.1 percent.

Open Skies

In the North Atlantic market, Air France may gain after March 31, when the U.S.-European open-skies agreement lets it run trans-Atlantic flights from British Airways' main base at London's Heathrow airport.

Lufthansa, the fifth-largest airline by sales, is also beefing itself up for open skies. The Cologne, Germany-based carrier bought 19 percent of JetBlue Airways Corp. last month, completing the transaction today, to gain a potential partner for expanding U.S. service. Lufthansa said on Jan. 15 that it wants to play an ``active role'' in industry consolidation ``if conditions are right.''

``That was a very good move,'' said Klaus Breil, a fund manager at Cominvest Asset Management in Frankfurt, which oversees the equivalent of $69 billion including Lufthansa shares.

U.S.-Europe Traffic Origins

``JetBlue is a very strong carrier east of the Mississippi, and 70 percent of all travelers going from the U.S. to Europe and beyond originate from east of the Mississippi,'' he said. The German company is also adding flights to Shanghai in China and Busan, South Korea, he said.

Nineteen analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect Lufthansa shares to rise 49 percent to 23.71 euros in the next 12 months.

Air France's efforts to take over Alitalia were boosted on Dec. 28, when Italy's government, which owns 49.9 percent of the Rome-based airline's shares, granted the French company exclusive rights to negotiate a purchase. If the talks succeed, Air France's sales would jump to as much as 27 billion euros ($39 billion) a year as it gains a potential market of almost 60 million people.

Air France had sales of 23.1 billion euros in fiscal 2007, up 7.6 percent from a year earlier, compared with 8.49 billion pounds ($16.6 billion) at British Airways. Air France's operating profit, or earnings before interest and tax, rose 32 percent to 1.24 billion euros. British Airways' operating profit dropped 12 percent to 640 million pounds.

Market Share

Air France has built up its dominant market share since buying KLM in 2004 and now accounts for 27.1 percent of all passenger traffic handled by members of the Association of European Airlines, an industry group based in Brussels. That compares with 16 percent for British Airways, according to the association.

Air France-KLM serves some 240 destinations, compared with 145 at British Airways, according to the companies' Web sites. The gap is particularly wide in Africa. Air France and KLM have 344 direct flights to 42 airports, according to OAG Official Airline Guide, a global flight information company. British Airways serves 14 airports in Africa directly, with 91 weekly flights, OAG said.

Africa's Contribution

``Africa alone is the biggest contributor to operating profit'' at Air France, said Yan Derocles, an analyst at Oddo Securities in Paris, who estimates the airline gets 30 percent of its profit there. He recommends buying Air France shares and selling British Airways.

British Airways depends on flights between Heathrow and the U.S. for at least half its profit, according to estimates by Derocles and Chris Avery, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in London.

Since 1977, British Airways has been one of four carriers allowed to serve the U.S. from Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport. Because of the open-skies agreement, ``BA is quite exposed at Heathrow to new competition,'' said Nicholas van den Brul at Exane BNP Paribas, who also recommends buying Air France stock and selling British Airways.

Delta, Northwest Ties

Air France-KLM aims to set up an alliance with Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp. to share costs, revenue and flights from 2010. Air France already has such an alliance with Delta, and KLM with Northwest, though a four-way deal still requires an antitrust waiver from the U.S. government, which may respond to the group's request for one by April.

Air France has already announced a venture with Skyteam alliance partner Delta to share costs and revenue of as much as $8 billion for trans-Atlantic flights, including service to Heathrow. The French airline also plans service between Heathrow and Los Angeles.

A potential takeover of Northwest by Delta could provide further momentum for sharing sales and costs. Air France-KLM might provide capital to help finance the tie-up, a person familiar with the company's plans said.

While open skies will give new competitors the right to fly to Heathrow, it won't give them the terminal slots they need to take off and land. British Airways still holds rights to about 40 percent of the slots.

``Even though open skies may increase trans-Atlantic competition, British Airways is still very well positioned,'' said Gert Zonneveld, an analyst at Panmure Gordon & Co. in London, who recommends buying the British company. ``Slot scarcity at Heathrow makes it extremely difficult and improbable for other airlines to build up competing networks with enough frequency to attract premium traffic.''

Spinetta's Turnaround

Uncertainty about the Alitalia deal may also keep investors away from Air France until the takeover terms become clear. A political crisis in Italy may derail the transaction. Prime Minister Romano Prodi's government is on the verge of collapse and the leader may resign, allies said last night.

Alitalia shares fell 1.3 percent to 69 euro cents today in Milan. The Italian carrier's losses and history of labor unrest may present greater hurdles for Air France than KLM did. Alitalia has lost money every year since 2000 except for 2002, when it received an injection of 1.4 billion euros from Italy's government.

Like the Italian company today, Air France was plagued by labor strife and losses and received a government bailout before Chief Executive Jean-Cyril Spinetta took over in 1997. He persuaded pilots to accept a wage freeze and a no-strike accord in return for equity when Air France sold shares to the public in 1999.

Spinetta, 64, met with Alitalia's unions the day he began takeover talks with the Italian government. That helped him win statements of support from pilots for a bid even as flight attendants signaled a wait-and-see approach.

``We are ready to negotiate labor peace with Air France, said Nelson Ferrera, a spokesman for the Anpac union, which represents about half of Alitalia's 2,000 pilots. ``This is the last chance to sustain the company.''

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601213&sid=aa5VaAuCycVc&refer=home

Air France to spend almost $3B a year through 2020 to reduce plane pollution
28 January 2008

PARIS (AP) - Air France-KLM is to invest almost $3 billion a year until 2020 to modernize its Air France fleet with the aim of cutting pollution, the group's chairman said Monday.

The announcement by the world's largest airline by revenue comes as dozens of airlines are pledging to clean up their fleets as fears about global warming -- and fuel costs -- have mounted. So far, however, growth in worldwide air travel has largely outpaced industry progress in reducting aircraft emissions.

The plan would reduce fuel consumption -- and therefore fuel costs -- by 15 percent to 20 percent over the next five years, Air France-KLM chaiman Jean-Cyril Spinetta told a news conference.

He also said Air France aims to reduce noise pollution to below 2005 levels.

As part of the project, Air France has set itself the target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions -- blamed by scientists for contributing to global warming -- over the next five years by 20 percent on flights between mainland France and its overseas territories and by 5 percent on domestic flights, Spinetta said.

wow this is great!

Air France, Skyteam Partners To Add New Heathrow-US Flights

February 05, 2008: 08:39 AM EST

PARIS -(Dow Jones)- The SkyTeam airline alliance will be adding 11 new daily flights between the U.S. and London's Heathrow airport starting March 30, Air France, the French airline operated by Air France-KLM (AKH), said Tuesday.

The new flights are being introduced thanks to the 'Open Skies' agreement freeing up competition on transatlantic routes.

The flights by Skyteam's 11 partner airlines will create eight new nonstop routes to and from Heathrow, to Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta, New York JFK, Newark, Detroit, Minneapolis and Seattle. The SkyTeam partners that will either operate the routes, or participate on a code-sharing basis, include Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL), Continental Airlines Inc. (CAL) and Northwest Airlines Corp. ( NWA) as well as Air France and KLM. The three U.S. carriers will be the first U.S. airlines to gain new entry to Heathrow airport since 1991.
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200802050839DOWJONESDJONLINE000269_FORTUNE5.htm

^ They got the coveted Heathrow slots?

Air France-KLM wants to take over 100 pct of Alitalia
02.19.08, 2:18 AM ET

PARIS (Thomson Financial) - Air France-KLM wants to take over 100 pct of Alitalia, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing vice chairman Leo van Wijk.

The airline is poised to inject 3 bln eur into the ailing Italian flag carrier over six years, an executive told the paper.

The airline is currently in negotiations as preferred bidder to take over the Italian government's 49.9 pct stake in the airline.

The paper quoted van Wijk saying, 'if we get a deal with the Italian government, then we will make a general offer for Alitalia. And if it works out, we will delist it'.

Van Wijk said the group is interested in buying a stake in the entity, formed by a merger between Delta Airlines and Northwest Airlines (nyse: NWA - news - people ), and is still considering how much capital it would inject if the deal goes through, the WSJ reported.

Van Wijk said the Alitalia deal depends on the new Italian government and on whether it will support the carrier's plan to cut daily flights from Milan's Malpensa airport. 'If the Malpensa hub is not significantly downsized, we don't see a reason for a deal,' he told the paper.

http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2008/02/19/afx4667716.html

Skyteam Unveils Plans for London Heathrow Co-Location
Tuesday 19 February 2008


The alliance is working closely with BAA, the airport company, to develop a customer-focused facility that gives passengers a superior travel experience and helps member airlines grow their businesses.

As part of its previously announced plan to increase its presence at London Heathrow International Airport (LHR), SkyTeam, the global airline alliance, unveiled plans today for its new co-located facility in Terminal 4.

BAA is coordinating a broad airport relocation project that involves a £100 million (approximately $194.3 million) expansion and renovation of Terminal 4. In conjunction with this effort, SkyTeam is investing in building an alliance co-location facility for all members operating out of Heathrow. The SkyTeam facility will be completed in spring 2009. SkyTeam will offer a common check-in area and other standard features alliance passengers have come to expect. Additionally, alliance customers travelling through Heathrow will have access to several service enhancements, including:

* Common-use self service kiosks;
* More check-in desks; and
* Additional bag drop-off locations.

“Co-locating our member operations at London Heathrow will allow SkyTeam to offer our customers worldwide a superior travel experience in one of the most contested markets in the world,” said Giorgio Callegari, chairman of SkyTeam Airport and Infrastructure Special Projects. “SkyTeam continuously strives to provide our customers with a hassle-free journey before, during, between and after their flights. In order to maximize this customer offering at Heathrow, we are working together as an alliance and with BAA to make the necessary renovation and branding investments in Terminal 4, where we will be the anchor airline alliance.”

Heathrow will be the first airport in which all co-located SkyTeam members will share kiosks, allowing alliance passengers to access travel reservations with any of the ten carriers. The greater number and common-use feature of the kiosks will help improve passenger flow through the terminal, reduce congestion and reduce operating costs for member airlines.

Passengers transferring at Heathrow can take advantage of several non-stop service options, including long-haul destinations such as Nairobi and Seoul; European destinations including Amsterdam, Milan, Moscow, Paris, Prague, Rome and Rotterdam; and U.S. destinations such as Houston, New York, Atlanta and Los Angeles. The addition of SkyTeam’s three U.S. carriers and the co-location of all alliance members to one terminal will allow SkyTeam to increase its service out of Heathrow to nearly 50 daily flights.

“London Heathrow will play a key role in the SkyTeam global network for connecting and point-to-point traffic,” said Mr. Callegari. “It will augment our already superior transatlantic hub system, which includes Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG) and Amsterdam Schiphol International Airport (AMS), as well as Houston, New York-JFK, New York<s> </s>Newark and Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson. The development of SkyTeam’s profile at Heathrow is a long-term priority for the alliance, supporting our ongoing focus on providing seamless connections for our customers.”

Although the first-stage open skies agreement takes effect this spring, SkyTeam began taking steps for a shared terminal at Heathrow almost two years ago, when nine members signed a Memorandum of Understanding with BAA in 2006 to co-locate their facilities. Since then, SkyTeam members and BAA have jointly determined the optimal design of Terminal 4 to ensure that passengers enjoy a travel experience of the highest quality. The planned renovations will result in better traffic flow for passengers making their way to their departure gates due to an extended and refurbished departure concourse.

As previously announced, SkyTeam’s move to Terminal 4 will take effect over the next 12 months. In phase one, at the end of March 2008, the U.S. carriers (Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines) will join KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Kenya Airways, who already operate out of Terminal 4. In the spring of 2009, the remaining SkyTeam carriers operating out of Heathrow (Aeroflot, Air France, Alitalia, CSA and Korean Air) will relocate. BAA anticipates approximately 10 million passengers* will be served out of Terminal 4 once all airline moves are complete and the ten SkyTeam alliance carriers are operating out of the co-location.

About SkyTeam

SkyTeam is the global airline alliance partnering eleven members, including Aeroflot, Aeroméxico, Air France, Alitalia, China Southern Airlines, Continental Airlines, Czech Airlines, Delta Air Lines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Korean Air and Northwest Airlines, and three Associate Airlines: Air Europa (Spain), Copa Airlines (Panama) and Kenya Airways. Through one of the world’s most extensive hub networks, SkyTeam offers its 428 million annual passengers a worldwide system of 16,400 daily flights covering 841 destinations in 162 countries. www.skyteam.com.

* Total estimated passenger traffic through Terminal 4, including non-SkyTeam alliance carriers with operations in the terminal, as provided by BAA.

http://corporate.airfrance.com/en/news/index.html

^^ WOW this news sound amazing!!!

the idea looks fantastic when the T4 will become the SKYTEAM's hub, and not just one carrier's hub giving advantages to others co-carriers.

Alitalia agrees to £106m Air France takeover
Alitalia has agreed to a takeover offer of €138 million (£106 million) by Air France KLM in a move to save the troubled Italian airline from bankruptcy. Air France KLM offered one share per 160 Alitalia shares, an 81% reduction on the airline’s current share price, valuing it at €0.10 per share. The price is well short of the €0.35 per share it had initially bid.

The low price tag on the deal reflects the desperation of the Italian government to get shot of its 49.9% stake in the company, which has been heading towards bankruptcy. Alitalia said two weeks ago that it had less than €300m in cash remaining, having lost more than €3bn since 2000, and warned it could be forced to stop trading by the middle of the year.

Alitalia's problems include the challenge of the budget airlines easyJet and Ryanair, which both now provide stiff competition in the airline's home market, and the airline is regarded as hopelessly inefficient and over-manned.

Air France has a 3 year recovery plan for the airline, which aims to restore it to profitability by 2009. The French company plans to cut 1600 jobs, cancels unprofitable routes and eliminates inefficiencies. It has also said it will take over only part of Alitalia's ground services division, which could mean the airline faces higher job losses than previously thought.

The plans are likely to put Air France at loggerheads with Italian trades unions, which must back the deal in order for it to go ahead. The takeover also needs clearance from the Italian government, which may take some time following the collapse of the administration led by Romano Prodi in January. Air France said it expects to win approval for the deal from European Union regulators by the end of June.

In addition to the €139m purchase price, Air France has also agreed to buy out the airline's convertible bond holders for €608m, taking its total outlay to €747m. The 3 year recovery plan would be financed through a new €1bn bond issue.

The deal comes ahead of the Italian general election on 13 – 14 and would mark an end to the 60-year independence of the global Italian brand.

International Herald Tribune, March 28, 2008:
Air France sweetens offer to Alitalia unions

ROME: Air France-KLM on Friday agreed to take on an extra 12 percent of Alitalia's ground service workers to appease unions fighting its bid for the ailing carrier but initial reaction to the new proposal was hostile.

Air France-KLM, also battling resistance from top Italian politicians and the operator of the Milan airport, says it will scrap the deal without union support. The deal is considered Alitalia's best hope of averting bankruptcy.

After an initial stalemate in negotiations with the unions, Air France-KLM on Friday unveiled plans to hire about 900 more employees of Alitalia's troubled ground services unit, according to a document seen by Reuters.

Air France-KLM would now retain 4,191 workers out of about 7,400 employees at the ground services unit, AZ Servizi, compared with 3,300 in an earlier draft.

It then plans to cut 500 positions from those taken on and still wants to reduce Alitalia's 51 percent stake in the unit.

The response from unions, which were due to meet later on Friday to discuss the new proposal ahead of talks on Monday with the French carrier and Alitalia management, was negative.

"It appears to be a plan with big cutbacks causing too many redundancies, and if it is not changed notably, I don't see much chance of it progressing," Marco Veneziani, head of the UIL union's transport section, told Italian television.

Air France-KLM confirmed plans to cut about 1,600 jobs at Alitalia's airborne operations and shut its cargo unit in 2010, drawing a sharp rebuke from the carrier's main pilots' union.

"There has not been any type of progress," said the Anpac union chief, Fabio Berti, adding that union members were ready to let the airline go bankrupt. "It is an extremely serious situation. For us pilots, the Air France-KLM plan is finished. A chapter closed."

The Franco-Dutch carrier also offered retirement benefits or the possibility of jobs with Air France-KLM to pilots and flight assistants expected to lose their jobs in its new plan.

Air France-KLM said any further concessions would undermine its plans for Alitalia, whose board is to meet Friday to discuss extending the negotiations beyond the initial March 31 deadline.

Air France-KLM has already agreed to continue talks beyond that date but Alitalia says it needs more time to study the legal and financial implications of such an extension.

Even if Air France-KLM manages to convince the unions, it still faces opposition from the Milan airport operator, SEA, which has sued Alitalia for $2 billion over plans to cut flights.

There is also a potential veto from Italy's next government if the media magnate Silvio Berlusconi wins an election in April, as opinion polls suggest.

Berlusconi has turned Alitalia's fate into an election issue by promising a rival Italian bid will emerge to thwart Air France-KLM's "unacceptable" offer. Political rivals have dismissed the idea as election rhetoric.

Alitalia shares were suspended from trade in Milan early Friday after being indicated down nearly 30 percent. They had risen sharply in recent days on talk of a rival Italian bid.

But three of the Italian companies named in a newspaper on Thursday as being interested clearly denied any involvement.

Despite Alitalia's long list of troubles - from difficult unions to tough competition from low-cost carriers - it appeals to Air France-KLM because it controls the lucrative Milan-to-Rome route and offers a foothold in heavily-visited Italy.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/28/business/28alitalia.php

AFP, March 31, 2008:
Talks on Air France-KLM takeover of Alitalia go into overtime

ROME (AFP) — Tense takeover talks between management at Air France-KLM and unions at struggling Italian carrier Alitalia went into overtime Monday as the Alitalia boss gave workers 24 hours to reach a "basic accord."

"We have today and tomorrow to see if a basic accord is possible, which I would refer to the board of directors and then we will decide," Maurizio Prato said, according to union sources cited by Italian news media.

As Air France-KLM made a new and possibly final push to get unions to back a bid by the European aviation giant for the nearly bankrupt Alitalia, the head of the UIL transport union, Giuseppe Caronia, left the negotiating table.

Slamming what he called a "poisonous" atmosphere at the talks because of Italy's imminent elections, Caronia said on Italian television that negotiations should be postponed until after the April 13-14 polls.

Two other unions criticised the UIL's decision, saying that negotiations were the only way to evaluate the Air France-KLM in depth.

The Franco-Dutch airline has said it will not go forward without the approval of the next government.

Air France-KLM also wants all categories of workers to accept the terms of its takeover plan before proceeding.

Outgoing opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi, who is tipped to win the premiership for a third time, repeated on Monday that he would reject the Air France-KLM proposal for Alitalia, which would entail 2,100 layoffs.

Alitalia's share price, which has been on a roller coaster for the past two weeks prompting repeated trading halts, closed up 19.4 percent at 48 euro cents on Monday at the Milan stock exchange.

All nine of the unions representing Alitalia's 11,000-strong work force on Friday rejected a revised version of the government-approved takeover plan, under which the suitors sweetened severance terms and offered to absorb nearly 4,200 workers from the company's ground services unit AZ Servizi.

The original plan called for Air France-KLM to take in 3,300 workers from the AZ Servizi workforce of 7,400.

Alitalia is on the brink of bankruptcy, losing about one million euros (1.6 million dollars) a day.

The company announced on Friday, however, that it had found an additional 148 million euros in its coffers that would allow it to continue operations a few days more than forecast.

Alitalia is seeking a bridging loan of 300 million euros from the government to tide it over until the promised recapitalisation of some one billion euros promised by Air France-KLM in the takeover deal.

Air France-KLM's new plan calls for a generous severance package for about 1,600 employees to be laid off from Alitalia's flight operations and 500 from AZ Servizi, which is to be shut down in eight years.

Italy's outgoing centre-left government approved the acquisition on March 17 through a share swap that valued the Italian airline at 140 million euros.

The future of the ailing flagship company has become a key election issue ahead of the polls two weeks from now.

Berlusconi has made frequent assertions of the need for an all-Italian alternative to Air France-KLM, while the specifics of a homegrown consortium remain unclear.

On Sunday, Alitalia eliminated more than two-thirds of its flights from Milan's Malpensa airport, to the dismay of the region's politicians and industry chiefs.

The carrier cut all but 366 of the more than 1,200 flights in and out of Malpensa it operated each week. It cut 14 of its 17 inter-continental routes, keeping only New York, Sao Paulo and Tokyo.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hVDN7TkXMnJG10wl9ak8B2HUgUuQ

Bloomberg, March 31, 2008:
Air France Begins Heathrow-L.A. `Open Skies' Flights

By Andrea Rothman and Timothy Barwell

March 31 (Bloomberg) -- Air France-KLM Group began flying from London Heathrow airport to the U.S. for the first time today, becoming the first European carrier to exploit an ``Open Skies'' treaty that expands trans-Atlantic air travel.

Air France Flight 60, which left London at 5:13 p.m., helps break the hold four carriers -- British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, United and American -- have had on U.S. flights from Heathrow under a 1977 agreement. The plane is scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles at 8:15 p.m. local time, and Air France will fly passengers from the California city to the U.K. capital 10 minutes later.

The French airline follows U.S. carriers Delta Air Lines Inc., Continental Airlines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp., which began flights into Heathrow yesterday. The airport is Europe's busiest and is attractive to other carriers as the continent's key hub for premium travel.

``The main battleground is the corporate traveler using the business-class cabin,'' said Chris Tarry, an independent airline analyst in London.

Air France's daily Heathrow-Los Angeles flight will be operated in a code-sharing agreement with Delta; both airlines are members of the SkyTeam alliance. Delta, Continental and Northwest are the third-, fourth-and fifth-largest U.S. airlines, respectively, and their Heathrow arrivals were joined by a flight from US Airways Group Inc., the No. 7 carrier.

Chaos at Heathrow

The planes landed at Heathrow at a time of chaos as British Airways Plc and BAA Ltd., the airport operator owned by Spain's Grupo Ferrovial SA, opened a new terminal.

British Airways, Europe's third-largest carrier after Air France and Deutsche Lufthansa AG, canceled 54 flights today as it processes a backlog of 15,000 pieces of stranded luggage. The airline has dropped more than 250 flights since Terminal 5 opened March 27 as it struggles to run the baggage check-in system at the intended speed.

The influx of flights means seating capacity between Heathrow and the U.S. for the summer season is up 21 percent from a year earlier, according to Aviation Economics, a London-based consulting company. Total capacity is up 3.1 percent.

``This means more competition, more frequencies, more flights -- and that's an improvement for customers,'' said Air France Chief Operating Officer Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, at a briefing today at Heathrow. Air France will offer some ``promotional fares'' on the new routes, he added.

Fare Reductions

The EU and U.S. agreed to Open Skies last year, after four years of negotiations, amid hopes the treaty would encourage competition and reduce ticket prices. The accord replaces a series of pacts between individual European countries and the U.S.

The European Union's regulatory arm estimated last March that over five years, the agreement will increase annual EU-U.S. traffic by 26 million passengers to about 73 million. It will also bring consumer savings of as much as 12 billion euros ($19 billion), the European Commission said.

Increased competition may force incumbent carriers at Heathrow to cut fares, Delta Executive Vice President Glen Hauenstein predicted today at a press conference given by Delta and Air France at Heathrow.

``It's the richest market in the trans-Atlantic and certainly increased competition will put downward pressure on fares,'' he said. ``If you're the incumbent, I'd see a lot of downward pressure.''

Fuel Crimps Benefit

Still, some experts said dramatic reductions in fares aren't in the cards.

``If anyone's looking for a price reduction overnight, that's not going to happen,'' said Patrick Murphy, a Washington consultant and deputy assistant to the transportation secretary under Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush. ``The fuel cost increase will overwhelm the benefits of more competition.''

Crude oil, from which jet fuel is derived, has surged 60 percent in New York trading in the last 12 months, prompting many carriers to raise prices.

Delta's first flight into Heathrow, from New York, arrived at 9 a.m. London time yesterday, followed by a trip from Atlanta. The service is part of a revenue-sharing partnership with Air France announced in October.

``Being able to add Heathrow to our portfolio was absolutely key for our corporate customers,'' said Armin Venencie, Delta's regional manager for Europe, Africa and the Middle East, in a telephone interview.

Airline Cooperation

Air France and Delta have a combined market share of about 20 percent in their joint venture for flights across the Atlantic, Gourgeon said today.

Two Air France partners in the SkyTeam alliance, KLM and Northwest, also have a trans-Atlantic venture. The four airlines have applied for permission from the U.S. Department of Transportation to have four-way antitrust immunity, which would allow all the carriers to share information and revenue.

Opportunities to fly from Heathrow are limited by a flight schedule that's already at 99 percent of capacity, forcing carriers to pay top dollar for operating rights. Continental paid $209 million for four pairs of takeoff and landing slots.

Continental's first flights March 30 were from New Jersey's Newark Liberty airport and Houston, its headquarters city, while Eagan, Minnesota-based Northwest flew from Minneapolis. US Airways flew from its Philadelphia hub.

British Airways

Open Skies also gives European Union carriers the right to fly to the U.S. from any of the bloc's countries instead of just their home nations. British Airways plans to start a subsidiary called OpenSkies to fly between Paris and New York from June.

British Airways has shifted some trans-Atlantic services to Heathrow from London Gatwick as Open Skies lets it fly to more U.S. destinations than previously allowed.

EU governments say they may suspend rights for U.S. airlines if the countries don't reach a second-stage Open Skies agreement allowing greater access to North America. Discussions on the second stage, which would allow European carriers to fly domestic U.S. routes and acquire more than 50 percent of a U.S. airline, begin May 15.

``The view from this side of the Atlantic is that the Americans are the big winners,'' said John Strickland, director of London-based aviation specialist JLS Consulting, in a Bloomberg Television interview. ``Europe has given away the family silver.''

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=aBKx5NwJ3LqA&refer=uk

Air France, March 28, 2008 :

Paris-Charles de Gaulle: a number of Air France flights operated at the new Terminal 2E

Starting from Sunday 30 March 2008, a number of Air France medium-haul and long-haul flights will start progressively to arrive at and depart from the new Terminal 2E at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport.

The 10 on-stand parking gates will handle over 80% of long-haul flights departing from and arriving at the parking stands at the Paris-Charles de Gaulle Terminal.

► Destinations concerned:

With effect from Sunday 30 March 2008, flights to the following Air France destinations will be operated out of Terminal 2E: Amman, Atlanta, Bamako, Bangalore, Bangkok, Beijing, Belgrade, Boston, Bucharest, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Casablanca, Chicago, Cincinnati, Conakry, Dakar, Damascus, Detroit, Guangzhou, Hanoi, Hong-Kong, Houston, Istanbul, London-Heathrow, Los Angeles, Mexico, Miami, Montreal, Moscow, Mumbai, Newark, New Delhi, New York JFK, Ouagadougou, Papeete, Philadelphia, Pointe-à-Pitre, Port-Harcourt, Rabat, Rio de Janeiro, Saint Petersburg, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Santiago de Chile, São Paulo, Seattle, Singapore, Tehran, Tel Aviv, Toronto, Washington and Yerevan.

From Tuesday 29 April 2008, Air France flights to the following destinations will also be handled at Terminal 2E: Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bristol, Dublin, Edinburgh, Johannesburg, London City, Manchester, Newcastle, Seoul, Shannon, Southampton and Zagreb.

[1] The following SkyTeam member airlines will use the new Terminal 2E: Air France, Aeroflot, AeroMexico, Delta, China Southern, Korean Air, Northwest Airlines.
http://corporate.airfrance.com/en/news/and-also/etaussi-detail/index.html?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=2681&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=10

KLM began new daily A330 service from Amsterdam to Dallas/Fort Worth Sunday, March 30.

Full story: http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/03-30-2008/0004782468&EDATE=

http://www.airliners.net/uf/4/phpFfrVRs.jpg

http://www.airliners.net/uf/536895787/1206917023xYqnPn.jpg

http://www.airliners.net/discussions/general_aviation/read.main/3910397/

AviationRecord.com, April 3, 2008 :

Unions kill Air France-KLM bid to buy Alitalia


SYDNEY, April 3: Intransigent Italian trade union leaders may have spelt the end for stricken airline Alitalia.

International media agencies are reporting that Air-France KLM have "walked away" from its planned takeover of Alitalia after failing to agree on post-merger conditions with Alitalia's trade unions.

Alitalia subsequently announced its chairman - Maurizio Prato - had resigned and called an extraordinary board meeting to consider its next move. In an extraordinary comment, Prato said the airline "was cursed".
"Only an exorcist can save it," he is reported to have told unionists.

With the airline on the brink of bankruptcy, the unions may well have spelled its death.

In a statement, Air France-KLM said it "regretted" the breakdown of talks but "conditions did not exist for further negotiations".

The unions were attempting to dictate terms of Alitalia's ongoing operations after the takeover. They were demanding it retain a 51% stake in its ground service unit, which is running at a substantial loss, to accelerate a cargo plane acquisition program and to maintain the cargo division in future.

Support from Italy's often-militant trade unionists was always a condition of Air France-KLM's offer for the business, which appeared to be greatest hope for its rescue: the two airlines already code share on some flights, cross-represent each other in international ticket offices, and co-operate in other ways.

But Air France-KLM had made union support a condition for wrapping up the deal, and Alitalia has said any further delays in talks would worsen its already precarious finances. It is currently losing more than one million Euro a day.

The most likely next course is that Italy's government, the largest shareholder with a 49.9% stake, will place the business in emergency administration, with the appointed administrator left to decide whether to continue trading, break it up or close it down.

Opponents of the sale were celebrating - even in the face of almost certain doom.

"News that Air France has abandoned the talks, hopefully for good, is very positive - that deal was neither positive for Alitalia nor for Malpensa (Milan's airpot)," said Northern League leader Roberto Maroni, an ally of opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi who heavily criticised the sale.

Malpensa is opposed because Alitalia has ceded a large number of landing slots pre-sale, undermining the financial viability of the airport.

According to the International Herald Tribune newspaper, Air France-KLM began Wednesday's talks by offering to reconsider in 2009 its decision to shut Alitalia's cargo unit, to reviewthe acceleration of plans to buy new planes and to let its Atitech unit go on providing heavy maintenance work beyond 2010, union sources at the meeting said.

"But the unions demanded more," reported the newspaper. Negotiators told unions they would take their proposal to the board, but doubted it would be accepted, the union sources said.

Air France-KLM planned to shut the cargo unit in 2010.

Meanwhile, Italy's Economy Minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa had earlir ruled out a bid for the airline by private Italian businessmen - as advocated by Berlusconi - calling it "impossible" and not a solution for an airline in need of deep restructuring.
http://www.aviationrecord.com/search-results.aspx?articleType=ArticleView&articleId=327

AIR FRANCE KLM, April 2, 2008 :

AIR FRANCE KLM Press Release

When it submitted its final offer on 14 March this year, Air France-KLM clearly indicated that the offer was contingent on prior agreement with the trade unions representative of the majority of the various categories of Alitalia employees (ground staff, flight crews); this agreement concerned the implementation of the Alitalia restructuring plan and its related severance measures. Air France-KLM know from experience that in the airline industry no restructuring plan has ever succeeded if it was not first agreed by employees. Consequently, Air France-KLM has always considered that the Alitalia industrial plan would have no chance of success unless it had the backing of the trade unions representing Alitalia's workforce.

After several lengthy negotiation sessions, the trade unions today formulated a new proposal corresponding to a totally different framework to the one in which Air France-KLM had restricted itself since Autumn 2007.

In formal terms, Air France-KLM was thus regretfully forced to accept that there was no longer any basis for further negotiations. This is because Air France-KLM has no mandate from its Board of Directors to follow up this new proposal. As regards content, the new proposal, which would involve retaining a number of activities generating large scale-losses within the Alitalia group, seems incompatible with the target of a rapid return to profit.

Chairman Spinetta said: "I regretfully acknowledge the breakdown in negotiations, which is none of our doing. This is a project I have profoundly believed in and continue to do so, because it would have ensured Alitalia a rapid return to profitable growth”.
http://corporate.airfrance.com/index.php?id=communiques_detail&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=2704&L=1&no_cache=1

^^ and all the staff at Air France/KLM heave a big sigh of relief....

klm is the most stupid aviation comnpany!

^^ I don't really understand your post... You're entitled not to like KLM, but you could at least say why.

Associated Press, May 22, 2008 :
Air France-KLM warns of challenging year ahead

By EMMA VANDORE –

PARIS (AP) — Air France-KLM said Thursday it expects the coming year to be "challenging" amid sharply higher oil prices and a sluggish global economy which contributed to a net loss in its fiscal fourth quarter.

Europe's largest airline said in a statement that it lost 542 million euros ($853.81 million) in the three months ending March 31, compared with a profit of 44 million euros a year earlier.

CEO Jean-Cyril Spinetta said the group expects operating profit for the coming fiscal year to fall as skyrocketing fuel costs cloud the outlook for the industry.

Oil prices are setting new records nearly every day, and on Thursday hit an all-time high above $135 a barrel before falling back.

Shares fell 9.1 percent to 16.95 euros ($26.82) in Paris midday trade.

Petercam analyst Thijs Berkelder said investors are selling the stock because Air France-KLM's forecast is worse than expected. But he noted that the outlook is "much better than what most airlines can demonstrate."

"They can keep a profit while others will dive into losses," he said,

The Franco-Dutch group said it expects operating profit — a measure of earnings from ongoing operations — to fall to 1 billion euros ($1.58 billion) in the coming year from 1.4 billion euros ($2.21 billion) in its latest fiscal year.

In the quarter, Air France-KLM said it had an operating loss of 46 million euros ($72.46 million) after a profit of 9 million euros a year earlier.

For the full year, Air France-KLM reported a 16 percent drop in net profit to 748 million euros ($1,178.32 million) from 891 million euros.

Results were hurt by an exceptional charge of 530 million euros ($8,34.91 million) which the airline group took to cover possible penalties arising from an antitrust probe into airline cargo activities.

Spinetta said the soaring cost of fuel means the industry is in for a "profound transformation," predicting capacity reductions, the acceleration of mergers and the exit of some players from the market.

Spinetta pointed to the carrier's young fleet of fuel-efficient aircraft, fuel hedging that softens impact of record oil prices, and synergies from the merger of Air France and KLM.

"We have strong qualities to come out of this reinforced," he said at a Paris news conference.

ABN Amro analyst Andrew Lobbenberg said Air France-KLM stands to gain market share as weaker players fall out of the market.

"It's going to be ugly but they are going to come through it," he said.

To compensate for higher oil prices, some airlines raised ticket prices again last week. Air France, which operates separately from its Dutch partner KLM, announced its 17th fuel-related hike.

Airlines paying about 82 percent more for jet fuel than they did a year ago.

Air France-KLM said its yearly fuel bill rose 7.4 percent to 4.57 billion euros ($7.2 billion). In the coming fiscal year, Calavia said he expects the fuel bill to rise by an extra 1.2 billion euros ($1.89 billion).

Quarterly revenue rose 5.8 percent to 5.7 billion euros ($8.98 billion), and was up 4.5 percent to 24.1 billion euros ($37.96 billion) in the full year, the company said.


http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j4qvt8iNxfmI9dmeP1yQt-Ood5aQD90QMJQO1

Forbes.com, July 7, 2008:
Air France-KLM June traffic up 2.6 percent; load factor down 1.2 points

PARIS (Thomson Financial) - Air France-KLM said passenger traffic rose 2.6 percent year-on-year in June, but a bigger 4.1 percent increase in capacity caused its load factor to fall 1.2 points to 81.5 percent.

The airline group said it faced an unfavourable comparison with June 2007, when traffic was boosted by the Paris Air Show and Vinexpo, and was also affected by an air traffic control strike at Orly airport.

The carrier said it recorded a further rise in yield, excluding currency effects, 'underpinned by premium traffic which remained robust'.

The group carried a total of 6.8 million passengers in June, up 1.3 percent.

On the Americas network, traffic was up 2.3 percent while capacity rose by 4.8 percent, yielding a 2.1 point drop in the load factor to 86.5 percent.

The Asia network saw traffic increase 2.1 percent and capacity rise 7.1 percent, producing a 4.1 point decrease in the load factor to 83.3 percent. Air France-KLM said the lower load factor reflected the impact on volumes of the recent earthquake in China.

On the Africa and Middle East network, traffic rose by 5.8 percent, ahead of the 3.8 percent increase in capacity, leading to a 1.5 point rise in the load factor to 79.9 percent.

The Caribbean and Indian Ocean network saw a 1.9 percent rise in traffic and a 1.1 percent rise in capacity, yielding a 0.6 point increase in the load factor to 76.8 percent.

Air France-KLM's European network saw a 1.9 percent progression in traffic on a 1.8 percent increase in capacity, leading to a stable load factor of 75.2 percent (up 0.1 point).

In its cargo business, Air France-KLM said traffic fell 1.5 percent while capacity rose 1.8 percent, producing a 2.2 point drop in the load factor to 65.4 percent.

The carrier reiterated its adjusted forecasts, announced on Friday, for capacity in the year ahead. It expects an increase in capacity for its winter flight programme of around 2 percent, followed by a similar increase for summer 2009.

The general secretary of the group's central works council told Agence France-Presse that Air France had originally planned a 4 percent capacity increase for the winter period, a figure which the Air France-KLM declined to confirm.

http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2008/07/07/afx5186850.html

carrentals.co.uk, July 24, 2008
Air France cuts fares for US travellers

Air France is cutting its fares to European destinations, as well as to several in the Middle East, as part of an extended seat sale offer. The French flag carrier clearly realizes that fare cuts at a time when travel news often feature headlines of ticket price hikes due to fuel costs, will make waves among prospective passengers. In order to buy the discounted tickets, however, clients must be sure to make their reservation online, or using Air France’s US-based 1-800 number no later than August 5th, 2008. The actual flight may take place any time between September 1st and October 29th, thus making this promotional ideal for those looking for autumn travel.

The lowest fares are, not surprisingly, available on the popular New York City to Paris route, which now costs only $314 each way, provided that the passenger purchases a roundtrip ticket. Those looking to travel from Philadelphia to Madrid can find Air France tickets for $353, although it is important to point out that this trip involves making a connection in Paris.

As with all discounted fares, there are a handful of restrictions that apply to this one as well. For example, a Saturday night stay-over is required and the passenger must be sure to return back home no later than one month after the date of departure. Additionally, these are not flexible tickets and as such, it is only possible to make any changes for a $200 fee, not including any increases to the ticket price. One key advantage, however, is that the fuel surcharge is already included in the originally quoted ticket price, so passengers need not worry about an inflated total when they book online.
http://news.carrentals.co.uk/air-france-cuts-fares-for-us-travellers-3423093.html

Reuters, September 8, 2008
Air France, Veolia move closer to rail deal-report

PARIS, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Air France-KLM and Veolia (http://www.veolia.com/en/default.aspx)will create a single company aimed at providing TGV links in continental Europe, Le Parisien reported on Monday.

The first trips would take place from Jan. 1 2010, the date when competition in rail transport is to open.

Air France-KLM said at the beginning of July that it was in discussions with Veolia about a partnership to create a new high-speed rail player in Europe.

No one was immediately available for comment at Air France or Veolia.

Veolia's shares were up 2.88 percent at 33.6 euros per share, while Air France KLM was up 3.3 percent at 17.22 euros.
(Reporting by Vanessa Walters; Editing by Quentin Bryar)


Source (http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSOECL86327320080908)

Air France getting into high speed trains business: the reactions on the Libération forum are priceless ! Viva la revolucion!

Corporate.airfrance.com, October 1st, 2008:
Air France celebrates its 75th Anniversary on 7 October 2008

http://corporate.airfrance.com/typo3temp/pics/dec00c45b9.jpg

Air France is celebrating its 75th anniversary on 7 October 2008, commemorating its rise, since it was founded in 1933, to the position of one of the word’s greatest and most prestigious airlines.

Two books will be published to mark this occasion:

- the first, written by Philippe-Michel Thibault and Anaïs Leclerc, published by Gallimard as part of its prestigious Decouvertes collection, retraces 75 years of the Air France story; (128 pages, 12.50 euros). The book has been on sale since 2 October 2008.

- the second presents 75 recipes from Guy Martin, Head Chef of the prestigious Paris restaurant, Le Grand Véfour, and creator of the l’Espace Première menus of Air France since 2004. The book will be on sale as from 9 October 2008 in the Beaux Livres collection, published by Cherche Midi (176 pages, 49 euros).

► Until 31 December 2008, Air France will be advertising on the façade of the Grand Palais: a canvas cover of 540 sq.m. advertising Air France has been installed on the 6,000 sq.m. of scaffolding on the façade of the Grand Palais facing the Seine and undergoing renovation work.

► Every week, since 14 August 2008, Air France has been screening 10 video films on its corporate website www.corporate.airfrance.com, each one recounting a chapter of the airline’s history. The films combine scenes from the past and the present.

Programme until 24 October 2008:

“The Air France fleet”
“Life on board”
“Maintenance”
“Pilots” and ”Flight attendants”
“Ramp activity”
“Sales Force”
“Cargo” from 3 to 10 October 2008
“Airports” from 10 to 17 October 2008
“Air France Yesterday and Today” from 17 to 24 October 2008

► Furthermore, the website www.airfrancelasaga.com recounts the entire history of Air France through images from the archives.

Over time, Air France has embodied the image of an innovative, groundbreaking company. In the face of political and economic uncertainties, it has always been able to adapt so as to take an active part in the changing landscape of air transport.

In the 1950s, Air France boasted the longest network in the world, and in the 1960s, it incorporated the first jets in its fleet, such as the Caravelle and Boeing 707. In 1970, Air France was one of the first airlines to put the world’s biggest passenger aircraft into service, the Boeing 747.

In the 1990s, Air France overcame a tough operating environment by setting up the Paris-Charles de Gaulle hub, streamlining its network and fleet and reworking its ground and inflight products.

In the early 2000s, Air France weathered a series of crises which hit the air transport sector, such as the 9/11 attacks and the SARS epidemic in Asia.

In 2004, Air France and KLM merged to become the world’s leading airline by revenue. This merger heralded the restructuring of the European airline business.

Over time, Air France has also developed the image of an airline embodying the French lifestyle: cabin comfort and design, gourmet meals and designer tableware, discreet and attentive inflight service, and elegant flight attendants with uniforms designed by Dior, Balenciaga and even Christian Lacroix.

Facts and figures :

Number of Air France aircraft:

- 1933: 259 aircraft
- 2007-2008: 411 aircraft

Number of passengers carried:

- 1933: 52,100
- 2007-2008: 75 million (Air France and KLM)

Example of the France – Saigon route:

- 1933: from Marseille to Beirut by the Cams 53 seaplane via Naples, Corfu, Athens and Castelrosso. From Beirut to Damascus by car. From Damascus to Baghdad by Breguet 284 T, and finally by Fokker VII to Saigon with stops in Djask, Karachi, Jodhpur, Allahabad, Calcutta, Rangoon, Angkor and Bangkok. The trip lasted 10 days!
- 2008: direct Paris-Ho Chi Minh City flight with one stop in Bangkok. Flight time: 14 hours and 30 minutes.
Source : www.corporate.airfrance.com (http://corporate.airfrance.com/index.php?id=etaussi_detail&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=3458&L=1&no_cache=1&tt_news[BackPid]=2)

Corporate.airfrance.com, October 3, 2008 :
Air France and Air Mauritius strengthen their Partnership

Manoj R K Ujoodha, G.O.S.K., Chairman of Air Mauritius and Jean-Cyril Spinetta, Chairman and CEO of Air France, today signed a new agreement in Port-Louis for an initial five-year period aimed at strengthening the partnership between the two airlines.

This new agreement replaces the one signed on 21 October 1998 which focused more specifically on the Paris – Mauritius route, as the two airlines operate up to 17 weekly non-stop flights between Mauritius and Paris.

Since 1 October 2008, the agreement has gradually been extended to other destinations served by the two airlines. Air Mauritius will be able to add its code to Air France flights connecting in Paris-CDG to Europe, Israel and North Africa and reciprocally, Air France will be able to add its code to Air Mauritius flights connecting in Mauritius.

In addition to the 24 destinations it already serves, Air Mauritius can now offer its customers daily code-shared flights via the Paris-CDG hub at the best possible fares between Mauritius and over 35 new destinations in France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Russia, Austria and Italy. Other destinations will later be added to Air Mauritius’ offering and Air France will be able to provide its customers with flights via the hub in Mauritius on the Air Mauritius network in the Indian Ocean.

The agreement will also encourage joint development and will harmonize the various ranges of products and services offered to customers of both airlines, both in-flight and on the ground, especially at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam airport in Mauritius and at Paris-Charles de Gaulle.
www.corporate.airfrance.com

Corporate.airfrance.com, September 12, 2008 :
Air France awarded the Prize for the Best Single Achievement in 2008 for its Innovative Inflight Entertainment Offer


The «World Airline Entertainment Association» (WAEA) has just awarded Air France the prize for the best single achievement in 2008 in Los Angeles. This prestigious prize recompenses the performance achieved by Air France in terms of inflight entertainment over the last 12 months.


Individual video-on-demand extended to all cabins

In November 2007, Air France proposed a new system of video-on-demand to its customers on long-haul flights, which enabled it to increase the content of its inflight entertainment programme ten times over. The meticulous selection of 500 hours of programmes led to the production of some very original entertainment, some of which was exclusive and totally original. Air France has always wanted all its customers to enjoy inflight entertainment and, to this end, it has phased in personal video systems in all long-haul cabins. With over 30,000 screens, Air France is Europe’s leading carrier to offer as many seats fitted with personal video systems.

The new inflight entertainment programme


A choice of 85 films, in video-on-demand, some of which are translated into 9 languages (German, English, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese) as well as films in their original language including Tamil, Hindi, Chinese, Japanese, Brazilian, etc.

The best of today’s TV series (Heroes, Desperate Housewives, etc. with one complete season per year), video magazines dedicated to travel, cultural discoveries, gracious living, etc.

Ongoing news bulletins, from every angle: economic, special events and sports news with a daily recap produced by Equipe TV. TV news bulletins are adapted to each destination such as NHK for Japan, CCTV for China, KBS for Korea and recently BBC for London/Los Angeles. In addition, French news programmes screened in French (France 2) and in English (Euronews) are shown on each flight. The weather report for the world’s capitals is also presented.

Games and amusements, adapted to every age with an audio-video programme and cartoons, etc. for the younger passengers, and chess, solitaire, and even personalized programmes such as learning a language with Berlitz (23 languages) or relaxation exercises for the older ones.

Music of every kind to create your own world with 23 music channels, video clips, and, exclusive to Air France, the live music programme «Taratata» which is highly appreciated by international performers. Furthermore, customers can choose from 200 CDs (over 3,000 titles) to create a special programme of their favourite music during their trip.

Air France in a nutshell groups all useful information about the Company’s services (Unaccompanied Minors, passengers with reduced mobility, time-saving services, etc.), the Flying Blue frequent flyer programme, on-board shopping, etc.


In addition, thanks to the Geovision programme, customers will enjoy discovering some of the landscapes overflown, thanks to selected satellite photos produced by the European Space Agency (ESA ), exclusively for Air France.


Using cell phones on board

In January 2008, Air France launched its first flight where passengers were able to use their cell phone with no risk of interfering with radio navigation instruments. To try out this new technology, an Airbus 318 fitted with an on-board telephone system «Mobile On Air» flew all over Europe for 6 months. To begin with, the trials focused on data exchange (SMS, MMS or e-mails) but were then extended to vocal exchanges. Air France is currently analysing comments from customers and crew members.
http://corporate.airfrance.com/en/news/and-also/etaussi-detail/index.html?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=3353&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=10&cHash=432eae1517

Corporate.airfrance.com, October 8, 2008 :

Optimization Of The Skyteam Transatlantic Network On Departure From London-Heathrow


Given the present economic and financial crisis, the four SkyTeam airlines - Air France, Delta, KLM and Northwest - have decided to further enhance their transatlantic services on departure from London on their U.S. hubs.

The Air France service from London Heathrow to Los Angeles will be removed from the 2008-09 winter schedule. The resources thus freed up (aircrafts, slots) will be used to reinforce the London Heathrow-New York JFK service with flights increased from two to three flights a day for the Summer 2009 schedule; two operated by Delta and one by Air France.

The assignment of an Air France aircraft to this route will give SkyTeam passengers the benefit of a First Class cabin. At the same time, Delta will offer its new full-flat seats in Business Class on London Heathrow-New York JFK flights.

Furthermore, the transatlantic services of the four airlines is supplemented by flights to and from Delta’s Atlanta hub, Northwest’s Detroit and Minneapolis hubs, as well as Seattle, the gateway to the West Coast of the United States.
http://corporate.airfrance.com/no_cache/en/press/press-releases/communiques-detail/index.html?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=3493

Air France will do what it takes to be India’s favourite
6 October 2008
The Hindu

PARIS: It’s all about an India focus at Air France’s headquarters in Paris. The Indian welcome, “namaste,” newspapers, vegetarian food and films on board its flights make up the current agenda. More destinations in India and more services to Chennai are in the list of long-term objectives.

Looking at India as a fast developing strategic zone to get more passengers – either intending to stay here for a while or transiting through Charles de Gaulle Airport to countries further West – Air France looks to becoming the preferred European carrier for Indians, says the airline’s Senior Vice-President of International and The Netherlands Division, Jean-Louis Pinson.

At present, 80 per cent of Air France’s Indian passengers transit through Charles de Gaulle Airport, while the remaining 20 per cent stay on for tourism or other purposes.

“There is a great potential for more passenger traffic and we want to tap this,” he says.

For this, flight crew are being given an orientation on what food Indians prefer, the regional films they like to watch and even the gestures that should be used while guiding them. “So far, 250 flight attendants have volunteered to learn Indian culture through our programme,” says Mr. Pinson.

French crew will welcome Indian passengers now with a ‘namaste.’ “And, sometime later, we may have a few Indian crew who can speak Hindi and Tamil,” he says.

The passenger traffic from India has trebled in five years since the launch of the Bangalore service in 2005 and the Chennai service in 2006. But, there is a bit of a standstill this year and it may have been caused by inflation and competition. He, however, projects a 9 per cent to 10 per cent growth every year.

The Air France group, which includes the KLM airline, is looking at Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Pune as the next destinations.

“But, these are only options that are being explored now and nothing has been decided yet. We want to first firm up things in Hyderabad. And, when it is time to look for the next destination, it may be an Air France or a KLM service to Kolkata,” says Mr. Pinson.

Air France may consider operating five services a week from Chennai next winter and a daily service later. Tie-ups with domestic carriers for connecting flights may also be worked out.

“Again, none of these is finalised. These are all possibilities. And, there are no plans to buy stakes in any Indian airline or for franchise,” he says.

On increasing the number of flights from India, Mr. Pinson says Air France is yet to touch the permitted number of 35 a week. There are 29 flights now — Air France operates 24 and KLM five.

As for the introduction of A380 airbus service, he says: “At present, there are space constraints in New Delhi and Mumbai. But, we believe that in 2010 both the airports can handle A380 aircraft.”

Paris, Amsterdam airports strike alliance

PARIS/AMSTERDAM, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Paris and Amsterdam airport authorities forged a cost-saving alliance on Tuesday and agreed to take an 8 percent cross-shareholding, driving up shares in state-controlled Aeroports de Paris .

The deal brings Europe's second and fifth-largest airport groups into step with a dual-hub regime already operated by their largest customer, Franco-Dutch Air France-KLM , and comes as the industry tightens its belt for a slowdown.

ADP, operator of Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports, and Amsterdam's Schipol Group predicted annual revenue and cost synergies of 71 million euros ($94 million) by 2013 and said they expected to reduce capital expenditure by 18 million from the same year.

They said the deal would boost ADP's earnings per share from 2009 and Schiphol's earnings from 2010.

ADP last week announced a 3.6 percent drop in traffic in September and blamed the global financial crisis and weak global economy. Nine-month traffic was up 1.5 percent. ADP also revised its 2009 traffic forecast to "slight growth" from a previous target of 2-3.5 percent.

Analysts said the airport co-operation deal was the first of its kind and would extend the benefits of a 2004 merger between Air France and KLM to create Europe's biggest airline.

Under the deal ADP will buy 8 percent of Schiphol Group in a reserved share issue worth 370 million euros.

Schiphol will buy 8 percent of ADP from the French government for 67 euros a share, or 530 million euros, leaving the French government with just over 60 percent.

The price for ADP stock represents a 42 percent premium to ADP's previous closing price of 47.06 euros.

ADP shares were up 5 percent at 49.51 euros by mid-session.

"This ... makes industrial sense in our opinion as it will generate synergies with Air-France KLM, the main clients of the airports involved in the cooperation agreement," said Paris brokers Natixis Securities in a note.

Dexia bank upgraded ADP stock to "buy" from "neutral".

Shares in Skyteam alliance leader Air France-KLM rose 3 percent, outpacing the French blue-chip index <.FCHI>, which was up 2 percent.

Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said the French government would keep a majority of ADP's capital.

The deal appeared to narrow the options for French construction group Vinci , which has 3.3 percent of ADP and would like to buy more. Vinci was not available for comment.

INTERNATIONAL RISKS

Schiphol and Charles de Gaulle were voted "most loved" and "most hated" airports, respectively, by Fodor's Travel Guides in 2007, though Paris is in the midst of a rebuilding programme.

ADP, Schiphol, British operator BAA and Frankfurt's Fraport dominate European air traffic between them.

The new deal will run initially for 12 years, and the parties expect to complete it by end-November.

ADP is bidding for a stake in Prague's airport, but ADP Chief Executive Pierre Graff ruled out bidding for London's second airport, Gatwick, which BAA's owner Ferrovial must sell for competition reasons.

ADP's priority will be Skyteam airports, Graff told a news conference. CSA Czech Airlines is part of Skyteam.

Schiphol last week raised its stake in Brisbane Airport by about 3 percent to 18.7 percent, citing the positive outlook for Brisbane. It also operates a terminal at New York's JFK airport.

The Dutch government abandoned the latest in a long-running series of proposals to privatise Schiphol Group last year after the city of Amsterdam blocked the sale of a minority stake.

Schiphol is 75.8 percent owned by the Dutch state, with 21.8 percent owned by Amsterdam and 2.4 percent by Rotterdam.

From october 26 Airfrance will stop their Tehran flights :( it was served by an a340-300
but instead KLM will increas their flights to Tehran from 4to5weekly with an MD11

Any chance that Air france can take over Alitalia?

^I thought I heared something about KLM taking over Alitalia

But Italy didn't want that or sth, so the deal was suspended.

Air France CEO: Pilots Strike Will Cut Earnings By EUR 100 Mln
13 November 2008

PARIS (Dow Jones)--Air France Chief Executive Jean-Cyril Spinetta said Thursday a four-day pilots' strike will erode the airline's earnings by EUR100 million if air crew follow it massively.

Labor unions representing pilots have called the strike, starting Friday, to protest a plan to extend the age when pilots must retire to 65 from 60 at present.

In a conference call with journalists, Spinetta also said there has been no decision on whether Air France's parent company, Air France-KLM (3112.FR), will acquire a minority stake in Italy's struggling airline Alitalia (AZA.MI).

MarketWatch.com, November 18, 2008:
Air France-KLM to buy 20% Alitalia stake for 200 million euros, report says


ROME (Dow Jones)--Air France-KLM (3112.FR) will buy a stake of around 20% in struggling Italian airline Alitalia SpA (AZA.MI) for about EUR200 million via a capital increase, reports Italian daily Il Sole 24 Ore Tuesday, without citing its sources.
The approximate amount of EUR200 million will be on top of the EUR1.1 billion that 16 Italian investors, grouped in Compagnia Aerea Italiana, or CAI, are ready to invest to take over the main assets of the unprofitable airline, says the newspaper.
CAI has decided to pick Air France-KLM in light of its current partnership with Alitalia, which would cost about EUR200 million to end based on various costs and penalties. The daily adds that rival Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE) is still trying to convince CAI to switch to an alliance with the German carrier.
Separately, Italy's Industry Ministry late Monday said investment bank Banca Leonardo SpA Tuesday will give Minister Claudio Scajola an assessment of the CAI bid for Alitalia's assets. Later Tuesday, a special committee will discuss the assessment and give an opinion to the minister. This ends the procedure for Scajola to approve the sale of Alitalia's assets to CAI.

Newspaper Web site: http://www.ilsole24ore.com

Source (http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/air-france-klm-buy-20-alitalia/story.aspx?guid={F85788F2-D4A2-4B95-A122-6A090899401E}&dist=msr_6)

Reuters, November 21, 2008 :
Air France may challenge Austrian Air sale -paper

FRANKFURT, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Air France-KLM (AIRF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is considering legal steps against the Austrian state holding company's planned process for the sale of Austrian Airlines (AUAV.VI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Financial Times Deutschland reported on Friday. "We are thinking about taking legal steps against the sale process, in which the rules of the game were changed after the fact," the newspaper cited the French carrier's designated Chief Executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon as saying.

The Austrian government last month responded to pressure from Germany's Lufthansa AG (LHAG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) -- the only bidder remaining for Austrian Airlines -- to take on around half the latter's 900 million euro ($1.1 billion) debt pile.

State holding company OeIAG is in exclusive talks with Lufthansa, after Air France-KLM last month dropped out of the race and a bid from Russia's S7 failed to comply with the rules of the tender.

Gourgeon, who will be at the helm of Air France from Jan. 1, said OeIAG had made demands on Air France which it later dropped for Lufthansa.

Commenting on a possible tie-up with Alitalia SpA (AZPIa.MI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Gourgeon said there would be "healthy competition" in the northern Italian market if Air France won the bid for the carrier and Lufthansa continued expanding its own operations out of Milan's Malpensa airport. (Reporting by Maria Sheahan; Editing by David Holmes)
source (http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSLL44833220081121)

Flightglobal, November 21, 2008 :
Air France paints A320 in retro colours for 75th anniversary
By David Kaminski-Morrow

Air France has become the latest carrier to repaint one of its aircraft in a retro livery, decorating this Airbus A320 to commemorate the airline's 75th anniversary.

This particular A320 is a 19-year old aircraft, F-GFKJ, which was given 540kg of new paint to reproduce the 1946 colour scheme. It will carry the livery for two years, and is due to make its first scheduled flight today from Paris to Barcelona.

Air France emerged as a unified French carrier in October 1933, from the merger of four main operators, among them Société Générale de Transport Aérien - a company which dated back to 1919.

http://www.flightglobal.com/assets/getAsset.aspx?ItemID=26271
source (http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/11/21/319123/video.html)
Video (http://corporate.airfrance.com/en/media-library/videos-list/videos-detail/index.html?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=3677&tx_ttnews[backPid]=131)

is KLM installing IFE on the 744s? :cheers:

That livery is better than the current one!

Air France-KLM Nov traffic falls 0.8 pct on strike

PARIS, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Air France-KLM said on Monday that traffic dipped 0.8 percent in November, hit by a strike by pilots over proposed retirement age reforms.

Without the impact of the Air France strike, which saw around a third of flights cancelled between Nov. 14 and 17, traffic would have risen around 1.8 percent for the month, with capacity rising a similar amount, the airline said.

Load factor edged down 0.1 percentage points to 78.3 percent.

By region, the Franco-Dutch airline group's European network saw the biggest decline, with a 5.8 percent drop in traffic and a 4.2 percent reduction in capacity, leading to a 65.8 percent load factor, down 1.1 points. Cargo activity fell 13.2 percent in November, hit by a slowdown in trade. Capacity was reduced by 7.5 percent, leaving load factor 4.3 points lower at 67.1 percent.

Source : http://bbs.feeyo.com/posts/392/topic-0016-3929941.html

http://pic.feeyo.com/pic/20081215/200812150650172626.jpg

AFP, december 31, 2008 :
Air France-KLM to seal Alitalia deal next month: report

MILAN (AFP) — Air France-KLM will seal a deal to buy a stake in Italy's Alitalia next month, a source was quoted as saying on Wednesday, after the ailing airline was taken over by a group of Italian industry figures.

"Barring any last-minute surprises, the agreement is set to be sealed around January 10," just ahead of January 13 when the new Alitalia is to start operations, an informed source was quoted by Ansa news agency as saying.

Contacted by AFP, a spokesman for Alitalia declined to comment and a spokeswoman for Air France-KLM said the two sides were "continuing work."

Air France-KLM will pay around 250 million euros (350 million euros) for a 25 percent stake in the Italian airline, according to press reports.

Lufthansa is competing with Air France-KLM for the stake.

An Italian consortium of investors took over Alitalia earlier this month in a long-awaited deal worth 1.05 billion euros (1.46 billion dollars). Under the deal, 12,500 Alitalia workers will be retained while 3,250 jobs will be cut.

Air France-KLM had been prepared to assume Alitalia's debt, estimated at around 3.2 billion euros, as part of a takeover offer that it withdrew in early April after the breakdown of acrimonious negotiations with the unions.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gdHJ57MZBw2FW75Uwd8_czjWADeg

Flightglobal.com, January 9, 2009

Report: Air France to unveil new livery

ByJon Ostrower

The famous French "barcode" era is coming to a close after 33 years in service on the tails of the Air France fleet. Aerocontact.com, a French aviation website, reports that the Paris-based airline will unveil a new livery for its aircraft (French) in the next few days. The redesign coincides with the airline's 75th anniversary this year and there's speculation that the first A380 (seen here) will be among the first to carry the new look. The last time Air France changed its livery, it was introducing the Concorde.

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/flightblogger/2009/01/report-air-france-to-unveil-ne.html

Air France colors are very well known, simple and elegant. I don't see any reason to change and lots of brand equity to lose by a change.

I like Air France's current livery. Too many livery changes recently....LTU, TAP, Air India, Delta, AeroMexico, Thai, Alitalia, Hainan Airlines, Jet Airways...list seems to go on. Those were all perfect liveries in my opinion.

Bloomberg, January 12, 2008 :
Air France to Buy 25% of Alitalia for EU323 Million

By Marco Bertacche and Steve Scherer

Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Air France-KLM Group, Europe’s biggest airline, agreed to pay 323 million euros ($431 million) for 25 percent of Alitalia SpA, beating Deutsche Lufthansa AG for a stake in the reorganized Italian carrier.

“Air France showed more conviction than other suitors,” Rocco Sabelli, chief executive officer of CAI, Alitalia’s owner, said today at a press conference in Rome. The tie-up with Paris-based Air France should deliver 720 million euros in savings and additional revenue over three years, CAI said.

Alitalia was put into bankruptcy on Aug. 29 after political and labor opposition thwarted two years of attempts to sell the Rome-based airline, which was 49.9 percent state- owned. CAI on Dec. 12 agreed to buy Alitalia’s main assets and to combine it with smaller rival Air One SpA before bringing in a foreign airline as minority investor.

Alitalia will operate as a new company starting tomorrow. The agreement with Air France includes a lock-up commitment for CAI investors not to sell their stakes in Alitalia for four years, CAI Chairman Roberto Colaninno said.

Lufthansa, Europe’s second-biggest airline, sought to become CAI’s partner after abstaining from earlier bids because of Alitalia’s debt. CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber said in November that he was optimistic about being chosen because of Lufthansa’s multihub strategy. The Cologne, Germany-based carrier never said how much it was willing to inject.

CAI includes more than 20 investors, among them the Benetton family’s toll-highway operator Atlantia SpA and Intesa Sanpaolo SpA. Its takeover of Alitalia was valued at 1.05 billion euros, including 625 million euros of debt.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=amDtRX3nZcqQ&refer=home

Air France colors are very well known, simple and elegant. I don't see any reason to change and lots of brand equity to lose by a change.

What an irony, the cultural capital of Europe has an Airline with a not at all artistic livery!!

klm is the most stupid aviation comnpany!

It's one of the bigest, oldest and nicest so I don't understand why.

I also realy like the KLM colour and logo. It's simple and nice.

http://www.ubora.nl/images/%5Bnews%5D/klm_vliegtuigen.jpg

http://www.deondernemer.nl/data/artikel/Bedrijfslogo_s/.cache-467x307/KLM.jpg

Some nice (old) KLM commercial posters;

http://www.vea.nl/werk_print/afbeelding1.png

http://www.creativeedge.nl/Joost/KLM-groot.jpg

http://www.vea.nl/communicatie/geschiedenis-van-communicatie/KLM300x406.jpg

http://www.dutchcowboys.nl/images/upload/1114195391klm04.JPG

http://www.dagbladacademy.nl/images/DA_Beoordelingscriteria_KLM.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v415/windey/klm-transatlantic.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/Klm-poster-1919.jpg/180px-Klm-poster-1919.jpg

http://www.cosmostrading.nl/images/KLM%2030x40%20cm%20bewerkt.jpg

Translation: You discover the USA with KLM.
http://members.chello.nl/~h.jellema1/images/Amerika_ontdek_je_met_KLM.JPG

Translation: I want to become a KLM pilot.
http://hette.web-log.nl/photos/uncategorized/wordt_klm_vlieger.jpg

Translation: It was nicer inside. "KLM flies with heated airplanes".
http://www.jaikhebhet.nl/products_pictures/NG-40-KL_KLM_35x50.jpg

Edit: KLM is the oldest airline in the world still operating under it's original name. Founded in 1919.

For example, American Airlines was founded in 1930 and Air France was founded in 1933.
Some say the Australian airline company Qantas is the oldest, but Qantas was founded in 1920.

Reuters, January 13, 2008 :
Air France contacted over SAS privatisation -paper

PARIS, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Air France KLM (AIRF.PA), which this week announced the purchase of a 25 percent stake in Italian carrier Alitalia (AZPIa.MI), is also looking at Scandinavian airline SAS (SAS.ST), according to French paper La Tribune.

"SAS has begun an informal consultation process and has contacted us," an internal Air France KLM source told La Tribune, in an article due to appear in Wednesday's edition of the paper.

Air France KLM officials could not be reached immediately for comment and SAS declined to comment on the report.

"We confirm, as we have done earlier, that we are in a process where we are looking at structural possibilities, that discussions are ongoing concerning structural measures," said SAS spokeswoman Elisabeth Manzi.

In September, sources told Reuters that Germany's Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) was in talks to buy troubled SAS, which has long been tipped as a takeover target.

Like others in the industry, SAS -- half of which is owned by Sweden, Norway and Denmark -- has been forced to contend with cut-price rivals and overcapacity.

La Tribune reported that Air France KLM considered SAS as an "interesting" opportunity, but was worried by SAS's financial position.

SAS signed a preliminary deal in December to sell a majority stake in its loss-making Spanair unit. Earlier this week, SAS posted a 12.5 percent year-on-year fall in December passenger traffic and said it expected to cut capacity further this year. (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; additional reporting by Anna Ringstrom in Stockholm; editing by Leslie Gevirtz)
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssAirlines/idUSLD58188420090113

I hope SAS is sold soon :D
I wonder who'll take it.

lovely KLM commercials

KLM celebrates 90th year with 'retro' 737

By David Kaminski-Morrow

Dutch carrier KLM has become the latest airline to adopt a retro-style livery, painting a Boeing 737-800 in a historic scheme to mark the company's 90th anniversary.

Several airlines argue that they are the world's oldest, but KLM's particular claim is to be the oldest airline still operating under its original brand.

It was founded on 7 October 1919, and within five years had expanded from regional routes to serving its first intercontinental destination in Indonesia. It began transatlantic operations, to Curacao, in 1934.

The airline stopped services during the Second World War but resumed in September 1945 and has been operating since.

KLM's SkyTeam partner Air France has also painted a 'retro' scheme on one of its aircraft, to mark its 75th anniversary. Several other carriers - such as Lufthansa, SAS, Finnair and Iberia - have similarly used commemorative designs in their fleets.

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd251/bima25/yourfile.jpg

Air France-KLM posts quarterly loss

PARIS (AFP) — Franco-Dutch carrier Air France-KLM, Europe's biggest airline, said Wednesday that it suffered an operating loss of 200 million euros in the last three months of 2008.

Following its third quarter loss, the company said "it was unable at this stage to make a comment on the forecasts for (for the full year to March 2008) predicting a positive outcome that have been circulating in the market."

The actual full-year result "will depend on how the economic situation develops and especially on the cargo operations which are facing difficult times, as recent figures have shown," Air France-KLM said.

In November and December, Air France-KLM reported the sharpest ever falls in cargo traffic -- at 13.2 percent and 20.4 percent respectively -- since the company was formed in 2004.

Full results for the group are due February 13.

In a statement Tuesday, it said that "the deterioration in the economic climate in the third quarter has led to a slight weakening" in passenger volume and "a strong deterioration in cargo revenue."

While the full-year should be profitable, how profitable "will depend on how the economic situation evolves in the weeks to come," it said.

KLM To Introduce New Ladies’ Uniform


KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will introduce a new ladies’ uniform for its 11,000-plus cabin and ground personnel, as well as for female pilots serving KLM and KLM Cityhopper.
As of April 2010, they will wear uniforms created by Dutch fashion designer Mart Visser.

KLM feels the time is ripe for a new ladies’ uniform that reflects current trends in couture. The uniform will retain the KLM blue colour introduced in 1971. “We are proud of the staff who bring the blue of our airline to life,” said Peter Hartman, KLM President & CEO. “By making this investment under the prevailing economic circumstances, we underscore our faith in the future and in the KLM brand.”

The selected designer’s philosophy closely matches that of KLM. Mart Visser: “I see corporate uniforms as a company’s statement to the outside world. The wearer should feel comfortable in my creation, further strengthening the KLM image.” Mart Visser’s designs are functional and timeless, displaying his signature style, which may be characterised as fresh, open and confident. “The great thing about my design is that it will contribute to the wearer’s sense of pride and pleasure. This will have a positive effect on passengers travelling with KLM, which is exactly what we hope to achieve.”

The current planning is to present the entire collection in October 2009. The new uniform will become visible on the ground and on board in April 2010. The existing ladies’ uniform was presented in 1990. Mart Visser’s design will be KLM’s 10th ladies uniform since the first was introduced in 1935. The new men’s uniform, introduced in 2000, was designed by Oger.


http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd251/bima25/new-klm-uniform.jpg

Air France-KLM Cargo suspends Guangzhou service


Air France-KLM Cargo has suspended its twice-weekly B747-400 freighter service between Paris and Guangzhou, in southern China, with immediate effect.

“Business is not good enough presently to maintain the flights so we’ve suspended them awaiting better days,” an Air France Cargo spokesman told IFW.

He underlined that the move had no bearing whatsoever on AF-KLM Cargo’s joint-venture with China Southern. “The JV is a long term strategic issue for us and for China Southern and one that has nothing to do with the current worldwide economic situation affecting the (air cargo) trade.”
The spokesman said he had no information on whether the AF-KLM Cargo was cutting capacity on other routes to China, or elsewhere in Asia or on major routes generally.

“We continue to fly where we were already flying,” he went on to say.

Last month, cargo traffic, measured in freight tonne km (FTK), fell by 29.2% on AF-KLM Cargo’s Asian routes and was down 20.4% globally.

Earlier this week, the company announced it predicted an operating loss in the third quarter of fiscal 2009 partly due to a strong decline in cargo revenue.

KLM celebrates 90th year with 'retro' 737

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd251/bima25/yourfile.jpg

Here it is at Glasgow International (GLA)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3086/3225455672_a7d3ffeaf7.jpg?v=0

^^Very nice!:cheers:

The retro plane at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport :D


http://i43.tinypic.com/znk511.jpg

Air France, KLM and West-Jet sign commercial alliance


LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Air France KLM and Canadian low-cost airline WestJet Airlines on Thursday said they have signed a memorandum of understanding to build a new commercial relationship. The deal will see the airlines start to build a code-sharing agreement in late 2009 or early 2010. Possibilities for future frequent flyer program cooperation will be explored as well. Air France and KLM said the agreement is a great opportunity for them to strengthen their position in services to Canada.

KLM to reorganise budget operations


KLM is to merge its Martinair and Transavia units into a specialist budget airline division, each operating under their own names, the Telegraaf reports on Thursday.

Both budget airlines are 100%-owned by KLM and will be given a single management board. The reorganisation is necessary because of the effect of the economic crisis as well as the new taxes on flying introduced last year.

Air France to cut capacity as traffic growth slows


PARIS, Feb 2 (Reuters) - French carrier Air France expects to cut capacity by between 1 and 2 percent in the coming summer season, it said on Monday, as it seeks to manage the impact of slowing traffic growth triggered by the economic downturn. Parent Air France-KLM (AIRF.PA), Europe's biggest airline, had said in November it planned to increase capacity across the group by between 1 and 2 percent this summer but gave no separate targets for its French and Dutch units.

French daily Les Echos on Monday cited group Chief Executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon as saying the reduction was planned across the group.

But a spokeswoman said his comments, made on Friday at an industry conference, applied only to Air France. She was unable to comment on Dutch business KLM's capacity plans.

Les Echos also cited an unnamed source as saying the group's third-quarter operating loss would be around 220 million euros

($283 million) and that a similar loss would follow in the fourth quarter.

Air France-KLM had warned last month that the tough economic environment was likely to lead to a 200 million euro operating loss in the third quarter but said it hoped to post a positive result for fiscal 2008/09.

The Air France-KLM spokeswoman said she was unable to comment on earnings prospects ahead of the group's third-quarter results, due on Feb. 13.

Air France-KLM shares were 4.4 percent lower at 7.18 euros by 1041 GMT, underperforming a 1.7 percent decline in the DJ Stoxx travel and leisure index .

Spanish rival Iberia (IBLA.MC), in exclusive merger talks with British Airways (BAY.L) to create a bigger competitor to Air France-KLM, said last week it would cut total capacity by 1.7 percent this year.

Air France Begins Daily Flight At PH Int’l Airport Soon


Airfrance says it will commence daily flight schedule from Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa in April.

The District Manager, Eastern Nigeria, Mr Yann Gibert, who disclosed this to our aviation correspondent said the company would commence operations using jumbo aircraft as soon as the Aviation Ministry approved the traffic movement of bigger aircraft for the airport.

Mr Gibert, who said that the flight company would soon commence cargo movement at the airport, also commended the customers for their patronage.

Soon, he said passengers would not need transit visa any more as air travellers would be taken to their destinations in any part of Europe.

The eastern district manager of the airline noted that the aviation market has not been so fruitful when compared to market indices of the last two years. He, however, assured that the airline would continue to service the Eastern Zone because of its position in aviation industry.

Mr Gibert said the airline is currently enjoying the monopoly at the airport as the only international flight operating from the airport and noted that it would continue to contribute to the growth of the nation’s aviation.

Currently, the airline is operating at the Port Harcourt Airport with its smaller aircraft from Charles de Guille Airport, France, and it operates Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Air France-KLM January traffic falls


PARIS, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Air France-KLM (AIRF.PA) reported a 1.9 percent drop in passenger traffic in January, led by falls in Europe driven by bad weather, and a drop of more than 20 percent in underlying cargo traffic for the second month running.

Europe's largest airline said on Monday a "deterioration in the operating environment weighed on activity" despite the removal of seats from the market. And the economic crisis continued to hit business traffic, driving down unit revenues.

The passenger load factor, or proportion of seats sold, fell 0.5 percentage points to 76.6 percent after the traffic drop was only partially offset by a 1.2 percent cut in capacity.

Air France-KLM shares opened down 1 percent at 8.035 euros. France's benchmark CAC-40 index .FCHI was down 0.8 percent.

In Europe, where snow led to the temporary closure of some airports, traffic fell 7.9 percent with capacity down 6.7 percent. Asia traffic fell 3.9 percent while traffic on American routes grew 1.9 percent.

In cargo, which has been hit by a slump in trade due to the economic crisis, underlying traffic fell by 23.3 percent and capacity was reduced by 10.4 percent in January.

The resulting load factor dropped 9 points to 53.5 percent.

Including cargo activities of Martinair, consolidated from Jan. 1, cargo traffic fell 1.2 percent with capacity up by 10.9 percent and a load factor of 55.6 percent.

Cargo traffic had fallen 20.4 percent in December.

The head of airports body ACI Europe told Reuters on Friday 2009 would be an "annus horribilis" after passenger traffic dropped 7.7 percent year-on-year in December and freight plunged more than 21 percent. [ID:nL6295736]

The organisation is particularly worried about freight traffic, which fell 21.4 percent year-on-year in December and is seen as an indicator of the strength of international trade.

As a barometer of the way the economy is affecting aviation, cargo data could point to further declines in passenger traffic in coming months, the official said.

Analysts have said the slump in cargo traffic could dominate Air France-KLM's third-quarter earnings due on Friday.

In a profit warning in January, Air France-KLM said it would post an Oct-Dec operating loss of some 200 million euros.

It said it still expected an operating profit for the full year ending Mar. 31, but that the level would depend on how the economy treated its activities, notably the cargo business.

The Franco-Dutch group withdrew detailed full-year forecasts in November after warning in October that it would miss its 2008-09 operating profit goal of 1 billion euros.

3 Paris airports close because of storm

PARIS: French aviation authorities say Paris' three airports will close for 14 hours because of a severe windstorm.

The civil aviation authority says Paris' Charles de Gaulle, Orly and Le Bourget airports will close from 8 p.m. (1900 GMT, 3 p.m. EST) Monday and remain closed until 10 a.m. (0900 GMT, 4 a.m. EST) Tuesday.

The storm is expected to bring winds reaching up to 60 mph (100 kph).

A statement says that such gusts could pose a safety threat to air traffic. No further details were immediately available.

Source: International Herald Tribune (http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/02/09/europe/EU-France-Airport-Closures.php)

^^ Must be a bad storm!

NEW LOGO: an international brand with a French identity

Air France’s visual identity is changing.

The new logo – designed by the Brandimage agency – is now just one word, highlighting Air France’s ambition to be an international brand since over half of Air France's customer base is located outside of France.

The national colours (blue, white and red) remain present on the aircraft’s tail fin and fuselage, underlining not just the airline’s French identity, but also its values and history which it has been proudly displaying for the past 75 years:

* navy blue, predominant since the birth of Air France, evokes the brand’s historical capital and the airline’s efficiency,
* white, the colour of excellence, suggests well-being and the French travel experience,
* the bright red accent, punctuates and energizes the brand, underlining both French chic and the attention paid to Air France customers by the airline’s staff, both on the ground and on board.

To limit costs, the changes to aircraft will be made gradually. Aircraft will be painted with the new livery during fleet maintenance operations, and new aircraft will be rolled out with the new logo.
[...]

Source (http://corporate.airfrance.com/no_cache/en/news/front-page-news/alaune-detail/index.html?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=4137&tt_news[BackPid]=2)
Video (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x81psu_nouvelles-couleurs-air-france_creation)

http://corporate.airfrance.com/uploads/pics/Airfrance_sans_ombre.jpg

The livery is almost unchanged:

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/5746/livreezm8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Can't wait to see the new colors on the A380 and B777. I like it.

Air France delays Chinese joint venture: reports
10 February 2009
Agence France Presse

Europe's biggest airline Air France-KLM is delaying a deal on cargo flights with China Southern and will announce big cutbacks because of the economic crisis, media reports said on Tuesday.

French business daily La Tribune said that the joint venture with the Chinese airline was to have been set up at the beginning of 2009 "but the objective now is to launch this company at the end of the year, in the autumn."

The deal has been delayed because the companies do not want to "rush" at a time when cargo traffic is going down because of the economic downturn and because of bureaucracy in China, La Tribune reported without citing its sources.

Contacted by AFP, Air France-KLM declined to comment on the report.

The Les Echos newspaper also reported that the French-Dutch airline was preparing to announce cutbacks following its operating loss of 200 million euros (257 million dollars) in the last quarter of 2008 amid a global slump in airline traffic.

Cuts could include a hiring freeze and not replacing employees who leave.

Air France-KLM said on Monday that its cargo traffic had plunged 23.3 percent in January and passenger travel fell by 1.9 percent in the same month, with a particularly sharp decline in business travel in Europe and Asia.

Concerning the new livery, contrary to what Aerocontact.com reported in January, the modifications are minor : new logo, sea horses (the historical logo) on the engines and some cosmetic changes on the barcode : 3 blue stripes instead of 4, a slightly larger red stripe and the lower part of the stripes are curved to match the new logo.

New livery is great.

Bloomberg, February 13, 2008 :
Air France to Cut 2,000 Jobs After EU505 Million Loss

By Steve Rothwell

Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Air France-KLM Group, Europe’s biggest airline, said it will eliminate as many as 2,000 jobs after lower ticket revenues and dwindling cargo volumes pushed it to a third-quarter loss.

The cuts at the Air France unit will be achieved by scrapping posts when people leave and no one will be fired, spokesman Nicolas Petteau said today. The company had a 505 million-euro ($653 million) net loss in the three months ended Dec. 31 versus a year-earlier profit of 139 million euros.

Air France joins British Airways Plc, Ryanair Holdings Plc and Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. in slashing jobs this week as the industry is buffeted by crumbling demand for air travel. The Paris-based company will also cut 1.2 billion euros from capital spending and reduce capacity by 2 percent as it targets a positive operating profit in fiscal 2009.

“I’m encouraged by the moves they’re making to protect their financial position,” said NCB analyst Neil Glynn, who recommends buying Air France stock. “Airlines globally, the flag carriers in particular, are firefighting to try and weather the current storm.”

Air France rose as much as 7.3 percent to 8.30 euros and was trading at 8.15 euros as of 10:35 a.m. in Paris. The stock has declined 11 percent this year.

“Activity in the third quarter reflected the increasing severity of the economic downturn,” Air France said in a statement. “We will continue to assess all our costs in order to achieve additional savings wherever possible.”

Cargo Collapse

The three-month loss came after cargo traffic declined almost 13 percent and tumbling oil prices compelled the company to reduce fuel surcharges to passengers, hurting ticket revenue.

While passenger traffic increased 3.4 percent in the quarter, it slipped 1.9 percent in January, when the drop in cargo traffic accelerated to 23 percent.

Air France said contracts to fix the cost of fuel purchases had a “negative impact” following the 76 percent drop in crude since July and that it would unwind those positions. The carrier will subsequently be hedged on 43 percent of its energy needs for the 12 months through March 2010, a move that should cut the bill by 300 million euros to 5.5 billion euros, according to NCB’s Glynn.

Airlines globally are shedding jobs and routes to help combat losses that may reach $2.5 billion this year as traffic falls 3 percent, according to the International Air Transport Association.

Virgin, Ryanair Cuts

Richard Branson’s Crawley, England-based Virgin Atlantic said yesterday it may eliminate 600 posts across its business in order to “stay healthy” until economies revive. Ryanair, Europe’s biggest discount airline, said it will cut 200 jobs at its base in Dublin.

British Airways, Europe’s third-largest carrier, has cut more than 400 managers through voluntary severance and said Feb. 6 it will meet with unions to agree further reductions. SAS Group, the owner of Scandinavian Airlines, is making the deepest cuts, eliminating 3,000 jobs as it culls capacity by 20 percent and abandons ambitions to operate as a global carrier after more than a year of losses.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Europe’s second-biggest airline, said Feb. 3 that it would “react with necessary measures,” to maintain profit and that its business is “afflicted by higher than usual risks.”

Air France reported a 194 million-euro operating loss for the quarter after disclosing on Jan. 20 that the deficit for the period would be around 200 million euros. Analysts had predicted a loss of 217 million euros.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aGObhCiX715Y&refer=home

Air France-KLM delays new plane deliveries

PARIS, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Air France-KLM said on Monday it would delay taking delivery of several aircraft by two to three years as it seeks to rein in costs in the face of the global economic downturn.

A spokesman for Europe's largest airline said the delay would involve about five aircraft, including some Boeing 777-300 planes, some Boeing 777 cargo planes, and some Airbus planes.

He added that delivery of an A380 superjumbo plane was still expected for the end of the year.

The airline was not cancelling any plane orders.

Earlier French paper Les Echos reported that the airline could put off delivery of three Boeing 777-300 aircraft, one of three Boeing 777 cargo planes ordered and one Airbus A380 superjumbo.

Air France-KLM swung to an expected third-quarter operating loss last week and abandoned some of its costly fuel price hedges.

It also announced 1.2 billion euros of capital spending cuts, half in the coming year, and said it would cut summer seat capacity by 2 percent, in a move adopted by many airlines to help shore up profitability.

By 0930 GMT, Air France-KLM shares were up 1.18 percent at 8.07 euros.

Air France, February 26, 2009 :
Air France Cargo takes delivery of its first 777

On 21 February, Air France Cargo took delivery of its first Boeing 777 freighter. The aircraft, registration F GUOC, landed at Paris-Charles de Gaulle after its ferry flight from Seattle.

Florence Parly, Executive Vice President Air France Cargo, was present on the tarmac to take delivery of this new aircraft, “which we are the first to operate” and which will enable Air France to “generate close to 20% of fuel savings per revenue tonne-km and to rationalize crew costs by standardizing aircraft”.
[...]

Article and video here (http://corporate.airfrance.com/index.php?id=alaune_detail&L=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=4260&no_cache=1&tt_news[BackPid]=2).

Reuters, March 3, 2009 :
Air France says to delay two A380 plane deliveries

PARIS, March 3 (Reuters) - Air France KLM (AIRF.PA) said on Tuesday it would defer taking delivery of its sixth and seventh Airbus (EAD.PA) A380 planes, out of its order for 12 of the giant aircraft.

Chief executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon had told the Reuters Travel and Lesure summit on Monday the group could defer some A380s after the first six, to save cash on downpayments.

"It's mainly from the six or seventh aircraft that we may move or adjust our schedule, which will create some saving on the down payment this year and the year after," said Gourgeon, who took over as CEO in January. [ID:nN02425406]

In an statement on Tuesday, Air France specified that only the sixth and seventh deliveries of the dozen A380s on order would be postponed. (Reporting by Marcel Michelson; Editing by Dan Lalor)

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSL325453120090303

Tradingmarkets.com, February 25, 2009 :
Air France-KLM still interested in Scandinavian airline SAS

European airline group Air France-KLM (Euronext: 3112) (NASDAQ-OTCBB: AFLYY) is still interested in possibly acquiring Scandinavian carrier SAS Group (Stockholm: SAS), according to a report in French business newspaper La Tribune on Wednesday (25 February).

However, the ongoing restructuring of SAS has made the Franco-Dutch airline rethink its approach to any deal and the company is now looking elsewhere for acquisitions, it added.

Air France-KLM is understood to be mulling a possible EUR200m bid for Czech flag carrier Czech Airlines, which is to be privatised by the end of September, La Tribune said.

Czech Airlines is controlled by the state, which holds a 92% stake in the company. Struggling SAS has announced it will implement drastic cost cutting measures to improve performance

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2194180/

Reuters, March 3, 2009 :
Air France-KLM eyes CSA, crisis ongoing

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Air France-KLM (AIRF.PA) will launch a tentative bid for Czech Airlines (CSA) within weeks as European carriers regroup in the face of a downturn that so far shows no signs of easing, its chief executive said on Monday.

The move comes after it won a 25 percent stake in Italian carrier Alitalia and weeks before the Franco-Dutch firm starts up a key transatlantic joint venture with Delta (DAL.N), fed by traffic scooped up from its own network and partner airlines.

"We understand the Czech government is interested in finding a buyer for a significant part of (CSA). We don't have a lot of information but we are of course very attentive because CSA is a Skyteam partner," Air France-KLM CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon said.

Asked whether Air France-KLM would submit an official expression of interest for the Czech privatization by a March 23 deadline, he said, "We will express something, yes."

Gourgeon was speaking at the Reuters Travel and Leisure Summit in New York in his first overseas interview since he became CEO of Europe's largest airline in January.

Air France-KLM had previously declined to say whether it might bid for CSA, saying only that it would study the dossier.

Analysts expect the airline, which broke-even in the past two years after a history of losses, to fetch some $200 million.

Hungry to boost the flow of passengers into more lucrative long-haul flights, Europe's "Big Three" -- Air France-KLM, British Airways (BAY.L) and Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) -- have been jostling for control of smaller former state carriers crippled by recession.

[...]

http://www.reuters.com/article/TravelandLeisure09/idUSTRE52169720090303

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSN11771720090311

PARIS, March 11 (Reuters) - Franco-Dutch airline group Air France-KLM (AIRF.PA) plans to order Airbus (EAD.PA) or Boeing (BA.N) long-haul aircraft worth over $20 billion at list prices, French newspaper La Tribune reported.

The carrier will order around 100 Airbus A350s or Boeing 787 Dreamliners as early as the end of 2009,

I hope they go for A350s. :D

The FINANCIAL -- Air France is continuing to innovate by introducing a new, private cabin on its long-haul flights, starting in autumn 2009, situated between the Business and Economy cabins, called Premium Voyageur.

http://finchannel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32358&Itemid=4

http://corporate.airfrance.com/fileadmin/dossiers/images/PremiumVoyageur_legendes.jpg

Air France-KLM shows interest in Czech Airlines
23 March 2009
Agence France Presse

Air France-KLM said on Monday it was interested in the possible acquisition of Czech Airlines, currently in the process of being privatised.

"Air France-KLM in a letter will today make a non-binding expression of interest in order to have access to detailed documentation on the company," the Franco-Dutch carrier said in a statement.

"Firm offers are not expected before June, after an in-depth analysis of Czech Airlines by the candidates."

Early in February, the Czech Republic issued a call for bids for the privatisation of the government's 91.51-percent stake in the carrier.

Czech Airlines, or CSA, is already a member the Sky Team marketing alliance, which includes Air France and the Aeroflot of Russia. Aeroflot has also expressed interest in CSA.

really like the new AF livery, and the new class idea

Does anyone have any links to the new AF ad? I'm not talking about the one introducing the new livery though, it's something else.

It's been playing in Singapore quite recently with the Voilah! French Festival ads.

The new class is very comfortable. Regards from Colombia.

Asiatraveltips.com, March 26, 2009 :
Air France - KLM to Test Emission-Free Airport Vehicles

Air France and KLM will be among the first airlines in the world to test AirPods. In May 2009, a pilot project kicks off using seven of these zero-emission, compressed-air-driven vehicles.

Air France and KLM will be using these zero-emission vehicles over a six-month period to transport passengers and light cargo at Paris Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam Schiphol (East). Diesel vehicles are currently still in use at these airports.

The AirPod exemplifies the series of sustainable innovations admired by Minister Camiel Eurlings, Minister of Transport and Public Works for the Dutch government when he visited KLM on Wednesday. A recent agreement closed between the sector and government focuses on promoting sustainable innovation. KLM intends to turn these agreements into concrete achievements.

“We don’t stop at pretty words,” said KLM President & CEO Peter Hartman. “Despite facing strong economic headwind, KLM intends to continue to lead the world in the field of innovation and sustainability.”

The minister also admired several other innovations including:

- Aircraft stairs featuring solar panels. These stairs are used handling aircraft at the new B Pier (South), for example, where there are no gates.

- Reusing old aircraft components, as initiated by KLM last year. Scraps are used to make new engine components, for example.

- Research into energy recovery from company waste. This process involves converting catering waste into heat and electricity using special technology, releasing no CO2. What’s more, the waste no longer has to be transported elsewhere, further reducing CO2 emissions and saving transports costs.

- The development of alternative fuels, such as kerosene made from algae. Together with government, KLM hopes to significantly stimulate this development.

- The use of sustainable materials and achieving weight savings on board, such as the use of lighter trolleys, saving almost ten kilograms a trolley. Depending on the destination, this involves around eight to eleven trolleys a flight. Other examples include lighter fleece blankets, coffee cups made of recyclable raw materials, and serving sustainable fish and rainforest coffee.

http://www.asiatraveltips.com/news09/263-AirFranceKLM.shtml

Air France warning highlights global trade fears

PARIS, March 27 (Reuters) - Shares in Europe's largest airline fell sharply on Friday after Air France-KLM ditched any hopes of making a full-year profit and warned of "unprecedented difficulty" as the global crisis strangles trade.

The group said late on Thursday it expected an operating loss of 200 million euros ($268.1 million) in its financial year to March 31, compared with a profit of over 100 million expected by the market, sending its shares down as much as 7.3 percent.

It predicted a further operating loss in 2009/10.

The warning followed on the heels of weak traffic figures from international airlines body IATA on Thursday and fuelled evidence that economic woes have continued unabated into March, as G20 leaders prepare moves to unfreeze global trade next week.

It also contrasted with the same airline's predictions of a profit just six weeks ago, proving how many are struggling to make forecasts as their visibility over forward bookings falls.

Although most airlines are suffering, Air France-KLM is typical of network carriers taking the most pain because they depend on commerce and industry for traffic as much as tourism, the stamping ground of low-cost rivals.

"The downturn is global and the downturn is most exposed to falls in cargo and premium (business and first class) traffic," said aviation analyst Stephen Furlong at Dublin brokerage Davy.

The result of a Franco-Dutch merger in 2004, Air France-KLM says it is picking up market share thanks to a powerful twin hub at Paris and Amsterdam. But it has also been hit by outdated fuel price hedges taken out when oil prices were high.

IATA had said on Thursday passenger traffic fell 10 percent in February and international air cargo traffic fell 22.1 percent, echoing two previous months of bad data [ID:nLQ937429]

And Air France-KLM said the first weeks of March, usually one of the busier months, brought no change in trends.

It highlighted a "significant" drop in unit revenues, "notably as a result of the decline in business travel and international trade".

LOW-COST ADVANTAGE

At mid-session Air France-KLM shares were down 6 percent at 6.681 euros in a slightly negative market, leading the DJStoxx European travel and leisure sector index <.SXTP> lower.

Rival British Airways , which although heavily exposed to plunging transatlantic business travel is seen as less vulnerable than Air France-KLM's globally balanced network to trends in cargo, saw its shares down just 0.4 percent.

Europe's leading low-cost airlines Ryanair and EasyJet managed increases of about 1 percent.

Traditional carriers with higher fixed costs are more prone to see their core profitability kicked lower when revenues fall -- a risk-inducing financial effect known as operating leverage.

And while many people remain reluctant to sacrifice a family holiday, industrial warehouses are seen at a near standstill.

"Low-cost airlines will prove to be more defensive because they are not exposed to premium travel or cargo," said Exane BNP Paribas airlines analyst Geoff Van Klaveren in London.

Economists say a shortage of trade financing has contributed to the sharp drop in global trade which is penalising airlines and shippers. Almost half of international freight goes by air.

Britain said on Thursday it would ask G20 leaders to back a $100 billion expansion of trade finance to reverse a fall in exports at a summit it is hosting next week.

Airlines have cut tens of thousands of jobs and over 40 have been grounded in the past 18 months, crippled first by oil, then by a slump in passenger demand and now a collapse in cargo.

The downturn drew a fresh warning overnight that job pressures could feed through to aerospace manufacturers.

The head of United Technologies Corp jet engine unit Pratt & Whitney told Reuters in an interview it expected to make "significant" additional layoffs this year.

Meanwhile Brazilian jetmaker Embraer posted a 44 percent drop in fourth-quarter profits on Friday on derivative losses and slower sales. ($1=.7460 euros)

The 4th Boeing 777-300ER from KLM, arriving in August '09 don't get the normal KLM blue color. This aircraft will be painted in de new Sky team alliance painting.

http://www.luchtvaartnieuws.nl/pictures/skyteam/klm_773ER.jpg

Interesting. I found a pic of Delta's Skyteam livery:
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u246/MD80MadDog/DL%20Skyteam%20764/DSC00863.jpg

David Cenciotti's weblog, April 1, 2009 :
New SkyTeam livery

On Apr. 1, flight Delta DL74, a B764ER with registration N844MH, from Atlanta to Milano Malpensa was the first commercial flight of a plane sporting the new Sky Team livery. The livery, designed by Brandimage-Desgrippes & Laga was inspired to the alliance logo and is made by a silver fuselage with a dark blue tail with the SkyTeam logo in white. Between the wing and the tail there’s large dark blue “lace” slighlty angled (goes from top to bottom). In the forward part of the fuselage, between the cockpit and the leading edge of the wings, above the row of windows there’s a large “SKYTEAM” text in blue; below the windows there’s the red Delta logo and “DELTA” text in dark blue.
Delta was the first company to wear the new livery but all the SkyTeam fleet will introduce an aircraft with the new livery before the end of 2009. Nine aircraft will get the new livery with the following timeline:

* Delta B767-400 Mar. 2009
* Aeroméxico B767-200 May 2009
* Alitalia B767-300 Apr. 2009
* Czech Airlines ATR42 Apr. 2009
* Air France B777-300 Jun. 2009
* China Southern B777-200ER Jun. 2009
* KLM B777-300 Aug. 2009
* Aeroflot A330-200 Nov. 2009
* Korean Air A330 Oct. 2009

It takes 10 days, on average, to customize the aircraft with the new livery. Each aircraft gets 3 layers of paint: base, color and finish. The B767-400 required 265 lt. of paint (of which, 151.5 silver colour for the fuselage, 75.5 lt. of grey for the wings and 7.85 lt. of dark blue colour paint for the lace and SkyTeam logo). The aircraft made its debut on the day the alliance, at the end of the Steering Commitee, announced a new centralized management organization (based in Amsterdam and responsible for marketing activities, sales, relationships, cargo, advertising, branding finance, corporate communication), a new product, “SkyTeam Italy Pass” (that enables passengers flying to Italy with intercontinental round-trip tickets to have advantageous fares on Alitalia and AirOne domestic routes) and an update about the London Heathrow Terminal 4 project (with the expected dedicated lounge and renewal of the check-in area).

http://cencio4.wordpress.com/2009/04/01/new-skyteam-livery/

any pic of the SkyTeam 767 landed in Milan?

:cheers:

Here we go the Skyteam alliance livery Delta's 767 :

http://www.airliners.net/uf/536963583/phprM0DcZ.jpeg

in Milan, bad weather :
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb212/fatamorgana63/N844MH_08.jpg

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb212/fatamorgana63/N844MH_06.jpg

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb212/fatamorgana63/N844MH_05.jpg

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb212/fatamorgana63/N844MH_02.jpg

Air France-KLM Skyteam liveries :

http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/9715/skyteam.jpg (http://img410.imageshack.us/my.php?image=skyteam.jpg)

^^ what about the AZ one?

PS

New B77W in new AF C/S, Everett:

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/4354/1509367.jpg (http://img4.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1509367.jpg)

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Air-France/Boeing-777-328-ER/1509367/L/&width=1024&height=695&sok=&sort=&photo_nr=&prev_id=&next_id=

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/3261/nonfrontpagelogo.jpg (http://img4.imageshack.us/my.php?image=nonfrontpagelogo.jpg)

Thanks for the pic, Shezan!

:okay:

Shezan you can see the Alitalia livery in this video (http://corporate.airfrance.com/fr/mediatheque/videos-list/actualites/actualites/index.html?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=4462&tx_ttnews[backPid]=798&cHash=32a2bea9cd)

Boeing Delivers 777th 777 To Air France With New Airline Livery
April 13, 2009 10:00 AM

KUALA LUMPUR, April 13 (Bernama) -- Boeing and longtime partner Air France celebrated significant milestones last Friday with the delivery of the 777th Boeing 777 airplane.

The new Boeing 777-300ER also will be the first to bear a new Air France livery and company brand identity, Boeing said in a statement today.

The 777 family is the world's most successful twin-engine, twin-aisle airplane. Fifty-six customers around the world have ordered just over 1,100 777s.

The 777's combination of unmatched payload and range, as well as the lowest fuel consumption and operating costs in its class, make it one of the most popular airplanes with passengers and airlines.

Air France operates one of the largest fleets of 777s in the world and was the launch customer for both the 777-300ER and the 777 Freighter.

"The 777 has been a valuable asset to the long-haul fleet of Air France and it is the right aircraft to allow us to maximize our revenues in the most economic and efficient manner," said Pierre Vellay, senior vice president, New Aircraft & Corporate Fleet Planning, Air France.

"It is a fitting tribute to the success of the program that an industry leader such as Air France is taking delivery of our 777th 777," said Aldo Basile vice president, Sales Europe, Russia and Central Asia for Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

"The 777 continues to offer an unbeatable combination of efficiency, economics and passenger comfort that places it at the forefront of modern commercial aviation."

The relationship between Air France and Boeing goes back to the early days of the airline, which celebrated its 75th anniversary last year. Air France's early fleet of DC-3s sported the distinctive silver and royal blue livery that was used to launch the airline.

Three generations of Boeing airplanes have carried three Air France liveries.

The first was with the arrival of the jet age and the Boeing 707.

The second opened up long-haul international travel, epitomized by the Boeing 747 and finally, today with the unveiling of the Boeing 777-300ER.

The latest incarnation of the distinctive Air France livery continues the all-white theme but is intended to position the company in the 21st century as a truly international carrier that has more than half of its passengers based outside France.

-- BERNAMA

The Times of India, April 13, 2009 :
Lessons on mergers from Air France KLM

AMSTERDAM: Though aviation has seen a downturn in these recession-hit times, global majors such as KLM are confident of coming out of the storm
unscathed. This Dutch airline merged with Air France in 2004, leading to the worlds largest airline partnership with over 550 planes, more than all the commercial planes in India put together, putting it in an advantageous position. And theres a lesson here for certain Indian airlines which have merged but rather unhappily, beset as they are by HR problems and different work cultures.

Marnix Fruitema, senior vice-president, Asia and Pacific, Air France KLM, reveals that both airlines worked on the merger for four years before it actually took off. Both KLM and Air France had to live together as man and wife, acknowledging differences but gradually ironing them out too. We tried to bring people to live under one roof, seniority levels were maintained and there were no layoffs. Their strategy was simple: One group, two airlines, three core activities.

Despite their vast networks, they had complementary activities such as passenger transport, cargo shipment and aircraft maintenance. In fact, their two hubs Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol offer over 250 destinations to passengers.

For this airline, Asia is a much more important market than even Europe as the economies of India and China are growing faster than the rest of the world, says Fruitema. I am confident India will bounce back faster than other countries and it is a strategic market for Air France KLM.

But there is a stumbling block in Indias aviation growth. And that is the pricing at airports, which is not conducive for airline growth. Like Schiphol, India should make its airports attractive to passengers, he says. While airports worldwide, be it in Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur or Lusaka, are reducing their landing and parking charges by 50 per cent, India is increasing them. Thats not a wise thing to do if you want development. Besides, its unfair to ask either passengers or airlines to pay for airports such as Delhi or Mumbai which arent even fully built as yet. For KLM, the costs to operate in India are high due to taxes, etc. And though China is a cheaper market, it expects margins from India to be more in future.

Though it had to suspend its Hyderabad operations in February 2009 as passenger loads from this IT capital went down due to recession, the airline is looking to consolidating its hold in Delhi and Mumbai from where it operates daily flights to Amsterdam. For the moment, opening up of new routes in India are on hold. Fruitema was frank enough to admit that for the first time, the airline may not make profits this year.

And part of its bid to make a stronger presence in India, is its frequent flier programmes with Jet Airways and Kingfisher. And though both are losing money, he says the times are turbulent and they should be able to come out of their problems. We are watching their growth, he says.

Would KLM look for a stake in an Indian airline if regulations permit? Fruitema says there are other ways of teaming up with various airlines such as joining SkyTeam, an international alliance of airlines of which Air France, Delta Airlines, Alitalia and Korean Air are members, alliances with Northwest Airlines, frequent flier programmes, etc.

In consonance with the view that the low-cost carrier (LCC) model is the one that stimulates growth, KLM too has LCC arms Transavia and Martinair, which operate to certain parts of Europe and are doing well. As Fruitema says, Regular carriers can learn a lot from LCCs. Who knows, we may even have a Transavia-India.com in future. Thats something Indian passengers, for one, will look forward to.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/India-Business/Lessons-on-mergers-from-Air-France-KLM/articleshow/4392800.cms

hoteliermiddleeast.com, April 12, 2009 :
Dubai possible route for Air France A380

Air France could assign its first A380 on the Dubai route.
The carrier, which currently flies to Dubai 12 times weekly, said Dubai could be one of the long-haul routes the super jumbo will serve.
“It is one of the destinations Air France is considering,” Air France-KLM commercial director for the Gulf, Iran and Pakistan, Bas Gerressen, told Hoteliermiddleeast.com
“We expect the new aircraft to be delivered by the end of this year,” he added.
Gerressen also revealed that the new Air France premium economy product will be rolled out on aircraft serving GCC routes within a year.

http://hoteliermiddleeast.com/article-3876-dubai_possible_route_for_air_france_a380/

AFP, April 3, 2009 :
Air France-KLM and Brazil's GOL in code-share deal

SAO PAULO (AFP) — Brazil's low-cost airline GOL and premier European air transport venture Air France-KLM have begun a commercial partnership that lays the groundwork for future code-shares, the companies said Friday.

The agreement will also allow for the integration of Brazil's second biggest airline GOL and Air France-KLM's mileage programs, they said in a statement.

The agreement allows Air France-KLM to compete with German rival Lufthansa, a stakeholder of the largest Brazilian airline TAM.

Air France-KLM operate a vast network out of its main hubs at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris and Schiphol airport in Amsterdam.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h3kvf3mzyBElxSyGoJFyhBblquCA

Air France to cut 2,500 jobs without layoffs
15 April 2009

PARIS (AP) - Air France plans to eliminate 2,500 jobs over the next two years, without making layoffs but through natural attrition, a spokesman for the French airline said Wednesday.

Air France, part of the Air France-KLM group, currently employs 70,000. It has seen its passenger traffic numbers shrivel since the start of the economic crisis and last month it forecast an operating loss of about euro200 million ($272.1 million) for its fiscal full year, which ended March 31.

Air France's job cuts will be made by not replacing retiring workers and not renewing short-term contracts, airline spokesman Jerome Nguyen said.

Until last month the airline group had been forecasting a profit, but passenger and cargo traffic has been hit by a decline in business travel and international trade.

Air France-KLM's passenger traffic fell 9.4 percent in March, with traffic within Europe and on routes to the Americas particularly hard-hit.

Shezan you can see the Alitalia livery in this video (http://corporate.airfrance.com/fr/mediatheque/videos-list/actualites/actualites/index.html?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=4462&tx_ttnews[backPid]=798&cHash=32a2bea9cd)

Thanks, Alvar :cheers1:

Reuters, April 20, 2009 :
Czech govt picks Air France, Unimex in CSA tender

By Jana Mlcochova

PRAGUE, April 20 (Reuters) - The Czech government picked Air France-KLM (AIRF.PA) and a consortium made up of Czech companies Unimex and Travel Service (ICEAIR.IC) to advance to the second round of a tender to buy national carrier Czech Airlines.

The decision leaves out Russia's Aeroflot (AFLT.MM) and the closely-held firm Odien, Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek said on Monday.

"After a very thorough discussion of all the qualification criteria, formal, security, and international, the government decided that two companies will be asked to submit a price bid," Klaousek told a news conference.

Kalousek and Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek both refused to say why the cabinet rejected allowing the two excluded firms to bid.

"This was discussed in a regime that allows us not to share the reasons," Topolanek said when asked why Aeroflot and Odien were left out.

The Czechs have been in general wary about Russian involvement in Czech industries, especially ones that are considered strategic.

Topolanek's outgoing centre-right administration has taken a tough line on security issues, and supported U.S. plans to build a missile defence base in the central European country, a project sharply opposed by Russia.

The government is offering a 91.5 percent stake in Czech Airlines (CSA).

The sale is expected to continue despite Topolanek's resignation last month.

New Prime Minister Jan Fischer is building a caretaker cabinet that will take the country toward an early election expected in October, and Kalousek said he expected the caretaker cabinet to make a decision on the sale.

The government is selling its stake in the air carrier as a global economic downturn is squeezing travel demand, putting air carriers under pressure.

Analysts expect the sale of the relatively small European airline, hit by leasing costs as well as the global economic turmoil, to fetch up to 5 billion Czech crowns ($240.5 million).



http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSLK9011820090420

Business Week, April 20, 2009 :
Air France Tests Wireless Boarding

In a pilot program on flights from Nice to Paris, the French airline will allow passengers to board by swiping their handsets over special readers

By Jo Best

Air France is testing out what it claims is the first deployment of NFC-enabled mobile boarding passes.

As part of a pilot that will run until the end of October this year, frequent flyers travelling from Nice to Paris with the airline will be able to pick up their boarding pass by swiping an NFC-enabled phone over a reader at the airport.

The Pass and Fly system will identify the traveller through the information held on their NFC-enabled device and then upload the boarding pass to their phone. It will also tally the frequent flyer points the passenger has collected from the trip.

Passengers will need to swipe their device over NFC readers once again when going through security at the airport and just before boarding.

The system is a joint project between Nice Côte d'Azur Airport and Air France, and uses technology from travel IT company Amadeus and transport tech vendor IER.

Air France recently expanded its more traditional mobile check-in system. The service, whereby a boarding pass containing a QR code is sent by SMS, MMS or email to travellers' phones, can now be used for almost all short and medium-length flights run by the airline.

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/apr2009/gb20090420_776356.htm?chan=globalbiz_europe+index+page_top+stories

The Straits Times, April 24, 2009 :
Jet diverted over US no-fly list

PARIS - US AUTHORITIES ordered an Air France flight from Paris to Mexico to stay out of US airspace because a journalist on board figured on their 'no-fly list", the airline and his publisher said Friday.

Air France said the April 18 flight was forced to divert to the French Caribbean island of Martinique before continuing its journey and that it was considering asking the US Transportation Security Administration for compensation.

A spokesman for French publisher Le Temps des Cerises said the suspect passenger was Franco-Colombian journalist Hernando Calvo Ospina, who has written on revolutionary movements in Cuba and Colombia.

'Hernando, who was heading to Nicaragua to research a report, thus found out that he is on a 'no-fly list' that bans a number of people from flying to or even over the United States,' the publisher said in a statement.

It accused the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of being behind Ospina's blacklisting, and noted that the journalist was working on a book about the US spy agency.

Air France said that as the flight had not been headed to a US airport, it had not sent US authorities the passenger manifest, although one was sent to Mexico. The crew was informed of the ban as they approached US airspace.

Ospina, the author of several books and a contributor to the left-wing French political monthly Le Monde Diplomatique, told AFP that he was informed of the order to divert the flight by its co-pilot.

'I was speechless and my first reaction was to ask, 'Do you think I'm a terrorist?',' he said. 'He replied 'no' and said that was why he told me about it, adding that it was extraordinary and the first time it had happened on an Air France plane.'

Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, US officials have maintained a secret 'terrorist watch list' of individuals forbidden to fly into or out of the United States because they are presumed to pose a security threat.

It is a controversial tool in America's 'war on terror' arsenal, amid claims that, in addition to known extremists, peaceful critics of US policy and people with similar names to suspected militants have been listed. -- AFP

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/World/Story/STIStory_368103.html

Hi all,

I read a topic on airliners.com and someone said that all KLM 747-400 Planes are getting PTV's with AVOD in Economy class and he said that the in-flight magazine Holland Herald from KLM was his source. So I did some research and I downloaded the digital March edition from the Holland Herald site and look what I found:

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a370/klm12/Vastleggeninvolledigscherm29-4-2009.jpg

So will we see KLM's 747s with PTV's this summer? I hope :)
:D

let' s hope it! ^^

Air France, May 15, 2009 :
Air France livery, yesterday, today and tomorrow
Aircraft photo contest

Air France is the first airline to be organizing its own international photo contest open to everyone, to choose the best photos of Air France aircraft from yesterday, today and tomorrow.
The competition will run for 3 months, from 15 May to 15 August 2009.
So get snapping!!

View the terms of enrolment and the rules of the contest (http://interview.airfrance.fr/afappli/interview/CLDX/DXUX/Interview.nsf/Interviews/CONCOURS+PHOTO)

«Yesterday», corresponds to the Air France livery* of 1946, reintroduced in October 2008 on the Airbus A320 F-GFKJ to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Air France;

«Today» designates the Air France livery as from 1975;

«Tomorrow» corresponds to the new livery unveiled on 11 April, which will be gradually painted on the fleet in the next few months**.

The contest, the first to be organised by an airline, is open to everyone.

The jury, made up of amateur and professional photographers, will be chaired by Pierre Vellay, Air France Vice President Fleet Management. The jury will choose ten photos of each livery and the Grand Prize will be awarded to the best one.

The prizewinners will be rewarded by Air France and its partners: Airbus, Aviaxess (helicopters and business jets), Boeing, Breitling, Epson, Socatec (aircraft models), PPG Aerospace (aviation paint) and STTS (aircraft paint).

The terms of enrolment and the rules of the contest are accessible on this website. The prize-giving ceremony will take place on 17 September 2009 at the Air France headquarters at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport at the same time as a preview of the photos.


To date the Air France fleet has 262 aircraft including 100 long-haul.

* The livery of an aircraft consists of the colours painted on its fuselage.

** On 15 May, three aircraft, a Boeing 777 and two Airbus A330s will fly in the new livery.

http://corporate.airfrance.com/index.php?id=alaune_detail&L=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=4704&no_cache=1&tt_news[BackPid]=2

Air France-KLM, Delta trans-Atlantic joint venture to have estimated sales of $12B
20 May 2009
Associated Press Newswires

Delta Air Lines Inc., Air France and KLM signed a deal Wednesday to combine two separate joint venture agreements into one to create a more integrated trans-Atlantic powerhouse that they said will generate $12 billion in annual revenue.

The airlines said they will share costs and revenues, as well as coordinate branding at airports and global advertising.

Air France-KLM Group and Delta also will share governance of the joint venture. An executive committee consisting of the three CEOs and a management committee comprising representatives from the three carriers will work together on strategy.

The joint venture represents approximately 25 percent of total trans-Atlantic capacity.

The cooperation agreement between Europe's largest airline and the world's largest airline operator will mean together the carriers will operate more than 200 trans-Atlantic flights and offer about 50,000 seats per day.

The joint venture also covers all the airlines' flights between North America and Europe, between Amsterdam and India, and between North America and Tahiti, the companies said.

The joint venture will not lead to the creation of a subsidiary, the airlines said at a news conference in Paris that was broadcast on the Internet.

No new routes were announced beyond what the two previous agreements provided for separately.

Delta chief executive Richard Anderson called the joint venture agreement "unprecedented."

KLM signed a joint venture agreement with Northwest Airlines in 1997, while Air France and Delta signed a joint venture agreement in 2007. Following Atlanta-based Delta's acquisition of Northwest in October 2008, the carriers decided to work on forming a single joint venture.

Alliances between U.S. and foreign carriers are not new. They allow the carriers to offer more options to passengers, while allowing the carriers to share revenues and costs.

There's a pending bid by American Airlines and British Airways to cooperate on trans-Atlantic flights without fear of breaking antitrust laws. Regulators are looking at the issue. American and BA have been thwarted twice before in seeking closer ties, but their prospects appear brighter this time because of changes in the airline industry over the past several years.

American and its partners in an alliance called oneworld argue that they should get antitrust immunity because two competing alliances already have it -- Star (Lufthansa, United, and beginning this fall, Continental) and SkyTeam (Delta, Air France-KLM).

American also notes that the U.S. and Europe have signed an open-skies treaty, increasing competition at Heathrow, since its last failed effort to work more closely with BA.

The Delta-Air France-KLM joint venture is structured around six main hubs: Amsterdam, Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis, New York-JFK and Paris-CDG, together with Cincinnati; Lyon, France; Memphis, Tenn., and Salt Lake City.

The joint venture has no predefined end date, but can be canceled with a three-year notice after an initial 10-year term, the companies said.

Air France-KLM shares rose as high as 13 percent in early trading on the Paris stock exchange Wednesday after annual earnings results late Tuesday showed progress on cost-cutting. They showed that lower staff costs and marketing expenses helped it achieve a smaller-than-expected operating loss.

The airline also announced plans to cut its work force and reduce its investment plans.

too many cooks spoil the broth....in the same way multiple hubs just complicate things!!! of course if the aim is to become the largest alliance in the world and bully passengers (by forcing them to pay high fares and a "nominal" fee to attend to the call of nature) and eliminate competition then this system works fine!!

VLM becomes CityJet

The brand of the Flemish airline VLM is to disappear. From next year onwards VLM planes will bear the CityJet livery.

VLM intends to cooperate closely with the Irish operator CityJet. Both airlines are subsidiaries Franco-Dutch group Air France - KLM. VLM operates services from Brussels and Antwerp airports, but has London City Airport as its hub.

KLM IS VERY EXPENSIVE , A TICKET FROM LIMA TO AMSTERDAM COST $1600

too many cooks spoil the broth....in the same way multiple hubs just complicate things!!! of course if the aim is to become the largest alliance in the world and bully passengers (by forcing them to pay high fares and a "nominal" fee to attend to the call of nature) and eliminate competition then this system works fine!!

no I disagree... multihub is the future of a global industry that will undoubtedly see a wave of mergers and acquisitions on a global scale and will form huge airlines out of the alliances... and in this future there can be no one hub strategy

Air France-KLM: Airbus A380 Deliveries On Track For 2009

PARIS (Dow Jones)--Air France-KLM (AF.FR) will still take delivery of three superjumbo Airbus A380 before the end of this year, but is talking to Airbus about pushing back future deliveries, the airline's Chief Executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon said Thursday.

The first delivery will take place in October and the other two will follow soon after, Gourgeon told a meeting of French aerospace journalists.

He said the planes will initially be used on the airline's routes to New York and Dubai.

Some other airlines have said recently they are hesitating about taking delivery of the double-decker aircraft amid a steep decline in airline passenger traffic due to the global economic recession.

But Gourgeon said it makes economic sense to put these planes into service, as each one can replace two other long-haul aircraft such as the Airbus A340 or the Boeing 777, and offer cost savings of between 15% and 20%.

no I disagree... multihub is the future of a global industry that will undoubtedly see a wave of mergers and acquisitions on a global scale and will form huge airlines out of the alliances... and in this future there can be no one hub strategy

But Paris and Amsterdam are so close to each other. If it's one main hub per continent, then I can understand ...

Air France-KLM may cut a further 3,000 jobs - CEO

PARIS, June 19 (Reuters) - Air France-KLM, Europe's biggest airline, may need to cut a further 3,000 jobs but only through natural attrition, its chief executive said on Friday.
Asked to comment on a report in French daily Le Parisien that Air France planned a further 3,000 job cuts, Pierre-Henri Gourgeon told RTL radio: "It may be of that order. For a company of 100,000 people, it's a 2-3 percent evolution.
"It's what happended last year. It's our goal and it's based on natural departures," he said
In April, Air France-KLM said it aimed to cut 2,500-3,000 jobs in the next two financial years.
Gourgeon would not confirm that the Franco-Dutch airline was also considering temporary lay-offs to adjust to the gobal economic downturn.
"We are reviewing all options. I have nothing specific to confirm on that issue. I do not know," he said, adding that the economic outlook was unclear. (Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Dan Lalor)

KLM Bookings Up Due To Scrapping Of Dutch Flight Tax In July -Report
22 June 2009

AMSTERDAM (Dow Jones)--KLM NV, the Dutch arm of Franco-Dutch airline group Air France-KLM (AF.FR), has seen a rise in bookings from the Netherlands due to the planned scrapping of the Dutch flight tax from July 1, Managing Director Bram Graber says Monday in an interview with daily Het Financieele Dagblad.

Graber says that the number of bookings for July and August is 5% higher compared to last year, and that this is fully accountable to the rise in holiday traffic.

The flight tax is to be abolished one year after its introduction last year. Under this fiscal measure, travellers had to pay extra taxes for airline flights from the Netherlands. This prompted many Dutch travellers to fly from foreign airports in Germany and Belgium.

By AirCanon from HKADB :

http://www.hkadb.com/forum/files/af77wf_gznestc01ms_249.png

Air France, June 22, 2009 :
Airpod, Carbon-free Vehicles

Starting in July 2009 and over the next six months, Air France Industries and KLM Engineering & Maintenance will be testing seven prototypes of the Airpod, a clean compressed-air powered vehicle.

Click on the image to view the video


The Airpod was designed by MDI (Motor Development International) and could eventually provide an alternative solution to reduce the carbon footprint of the ground operations of Air France Industries and KLM E&M at Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam-Schiphol, by replacing the thermal-engined vehicles.

This will be the first time that these prototypes are used in an industrial process.

Facts and figures concerning the Airpod

Length: 2 metres long
Weight: 300 kg
Full load: 250 kg
Range: 120 to 200 km depending on the load
Tank capacity: 200 litres to 350 bars
Running cost: €0.5 to €1 per 100 km

The Airpod, a carbon-free vehicle

The Airpod uses innovative technology: a compressed air engine which is totally clean, and generates no CO2 emissions.
The ambiant air is compressed using an electric compressor. It is then stocked in a high-pressure tank located under the vehicle.

It takes 3 to 4 hours to fill up with compressed air, using a low pressure compressor, but could eventually do so in less than 3 minutes by using high-pressure compressor stations.

Furthermore Air France Industries envisages compensating for all the CO2 emissions it generates by producing compressed air.

50 engineers and technicians work on compressed-air vehicles with the support of Tata Motors, the exclusive agent for MDI technologies, in order to ultimately offer compressed-air energy in industrial vehicles for the Indian market.

Two types of Airpod

Two types of Airpod will be tested at Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam-Schiphol Airports:

. cargo vehicles which would transport minor equipment such as tool boxes, aircraft components and spare parts;
. people carriers, capable of carrying a driver and two passengers.

What exactly does this trial consist of?

4 vehicles will be tested for Air France Industries’ maintenance activities and Air France’s operations at Paris-Charles de Gaulle and 3 at KLM E&M at Amsterdam Schiphol.

For each AirPod, an appointed «test pilot» will carry out a series of tests in order to assess the vehicle’s overall performance, and in particular the aspects concerning safety, ergonomy, reliability and autonomy.

MDI will be fully responsible for this feasibility study, which will reveal whether the Airpod meets the expectations of Air France Industries and KLM E&M.

http://corporate.airfrance.com/index.php?id=alaune_detail&L=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=4871&no_cache=1&tt_news[BackPid]=2

http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/906/photo004b.jpg (http://img229.imageshack.us/i/photo004b.jpg/)
© Air France

AF livery restored at the best :okay:

Air France-KLM fined C$10 mln for price fixing

OTTAWA, June 26 (Reuters) - Air France-KLM , Europe's biggest airline, has admitted to a price-fixing conspiracy between 2002 and 2006 on some air cargo routes affecting Canada, the Canadian Competition Bureau said on Friday.

The arms-length government agency said Air France, KLM and Martinair have been fined a total of C$10 million ($8.7 million) for communicating with competitors about the amount and timing of fuel surcharges on air cargo exported from Canada, resulting in about C$31.5 million in surcharges.

It fined Air France C$4 million, KLM C$5 million and Martinair C$1 million.

Air France and KLM are now a merged company, and Martinair is a subsidiary.

The bureau said it gave the companies reduced penalties for co-operating with the investigation, which continues.

"The co-operation of these parties through the bureau's leniency program will assist in our ongoing conspiracy investigation," Melanie Aitken, interim commissioner of competition, said in a statement.

($1=$1.15 Canadian)

Air France, Bangkok Airways reveal code-sharing deal
29 June 2009
Agence France Presse

Air France and Bangkok Airways said on Monday they had signed a code-sharing agreement under which the French carrier will be able to serve six new destinations in Asia on flights operated by its Thai partner.

From July 1 Air France clients can travel on Bangkok Airways planes to Phuket, Chiang Mai, Koh Samui and Trat in Thailand, Phnom Penh in Cambodia and Luang Prabang in Laos.

Privately-owned Bangkok Airways, established in 1968, serves 19 domestic and regional destinations.

Passenger traffic drops at Europe's top airline
7 July 2009
Agence France Presse

Air France-KLM, Europe's biggest airline, which has already been forced to cut operations in the economic crisis, saw passenger traffic fall 6.4 percent in June, the company said on Tuesday.

The biggest drop came in Asia, where passenger numbers fell 10.8 percent, while traffic in Africa and the Middle East dropped just 0.2 percent. The European network saw a 6.8-percent decline in traffic.

Air France-KLM said it carried a total of 6.4 million passengers in June.

The airline also said however that the decline in cargo traffic had stabilised, edging down only 0.4 percent in the course of the month.

"These figures confirm again the trend towards a stabilization of the cargo activity, with a progressive adjustment of capacity to demand," it said.

Franco-Dutch Air France-KLM lost 814 million euros (1.1 billion dollars) in the first three months of the year -- its first loss since the 2003 merger of Air France and KLM -- and it has announced plans to cut 2,700 jobs.

I really like the "new" livery :)

Airfrance A380 in full livery, after being painted...

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/flightblogger/assets_c/2009/07/AFA380-thumb-560x373-40620.jpg

http://www.flightglobal.com

Air France-KLM team with online travel reward service
9 July 2009
Agence France Presse

Online reward-management service Points.com said Thursday that Air France-KLM has joined the website devoted to putting trillions of remaining air and hotel loyalty points to use.

Members of the Air France-KLM frequent flyer program, Flying Blue, will be able to "buy or gift miles" so people can top off to levels required to qualify for free travel, according to Points International chief executive Rob MacLean.

"Our new partnership with Flying Blue adds another key international partner -- and the largest loyalty program in Europe -- to our roster," said MacLean.

"Maybe you don't have quite enough miles to take your family to Paris but now you could buy those extra miles."

Toronto-based Points launched the online service in 2000 as a way to unlock reward points stored in loyalty programs for anything from Starbucks Coffee to hotel stays or airline travel, according to MacLean.

"Hundreds of millions of consumers participate in these programs but didn't have tools to better manage them," MacLean said.

"We've seen consumers do cool things like take frequent flier miles and convert them to money on their Starbucks card."

Points cited industry estimates that there are from 14 to 20 million unclaimed airline travel miles and hotel stay points in loyalty accounts, half of them locked away because balances are less than needed to claim awards.

US airline Continental last week was the most recent addition to a Global Points Exchange that lets users swap or sell unused travel credits with rates set by buyers and sellers.

The exchange opens options, such as serving as a gift registry where, for example, people could contribute points newlyweds could use for honeymoon travel.

Air France-KLM is not among the exchange's 13 members but Points is working to win them and others into the fold, according to MacLean.

Points.com's exchange roster includes reward programs at Intercontinental Hotel Group and American, Alaska, Delta and Airtran airlines.

Points reports having about 2.5 million members, which MacLean described as the "tip of the iceberg."

Air France considering steps to cut staffing
9 July 2009

PARIS (AP) - Air France may need to resort to partial unemployment measures among its 60,000 employees as the air transport market continues to worsen, the airline's chief executive said Thursday.

Speaking at Air France-KLM's annual shareholder meeting, Pierre-Henri Gourgeon said, "The economic situation is not improving. The slight rebound that we hoped for in early summer hasn't materialized."

Gourgeon said Air France-KLM now expects no rebound before the end of the summer or this autumn.

"Faced with this difficulty, we are forced to take additional measures," Gourgeon said, including possibly reducing staffing through partial unemployment programs, such as cuts to working hours, although he said no decision has been taken and that it might prove unfeasible to implement.

Last month Air France-KLM said it expected to continue reducing its headcount this year by up to 3,000 by not replacing employees who retire or quit the company.

Gourgeon said the airline no longer expects a rebound in capacity of between 2 and 3 percent in the summer 2010 season. The airline now expects to reduce capacity a further 1 to 1.5 percent next summer.

The airline has cut capacity by 4.7 percent so far this year, but traffic has fallen even faster, tumbling 5.8 percent in the three months from April to June. Air France-KLM's financial year runs from April to March.

Earlier this week, Air France-KLM said traffic in June slid 6.4 percent as the global recession pummeled airlines' traffic and profits.

Last month, the International Air Transport Association, which represents 230 airlines worldwide, said the industry was experiencing "the most difficult situation that the industry has faced."

The Geneva-based association said passenger traffic for 2009 is expected to contract by 8 percent from a year ago to 2.06 billion travelers, and it forecast the world's airlines will collectively lose $9 billion this year and face a slow recovery as the economic crisis saps air travel and cargo demand.

Airfrance A380 in full livery, after being painted...

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/flightblogger/assets_c/2009/07/AFA380-thumb-560x373-40620.jpg

http://www.flightglobal.com

Air France Paris-New York A380 superjumbo flights in November
9 July 2009
Agence France Presse

Air France-KLM said Thursday it would start daily flights between Paris and New York from November with the new Airbus A380 superjumbo, the world's biggest passenger jet.

A Singapore Airlines flight last month became the first commercial A380 flight to arrive in Paris but Air France said in a statement it would be the first airline to fly the superjumbo on a route across the Atlantic.

The A380 superjumbo jet can carry up to 853 passengers, but Air France plans to configure its flights from Paris to New York JFK airport with 538 passengers: nine in premier class, 80 in business and 449 in economy.

Air France-KLM, which has ordered 12 A380s, said four of them will begin service late this year and in early 2010.

A Singapore Airlines flight last month became the first commercial A380 flight to arrive in Paris but Air France said in a statement it would be the first airline to fly the superjumbo on a route across the Atlantic.

what about emirates flights from DXB- JFK and also now to YYZ, thats trans atlantic right???

what about emirates flights from DXB- JFK and also now to YYZ, thats trans atlantic right???

i think they mean from or to Paris.

but thats obvious... i read a similar article and they are saying that it is the first transatlantic flight from europe...so that makes more sense

http://corporate.airfrance.com/uploads/pics/MSN_033_04.JPG
http://corporate.airfrance.com/uploads/pics/MSN_033_12.JPG
© Christian Brinkmann / Air France

Isn't she a beauty?:drool:

I think that livery is awesmome on the A380, looks so elegant

Were these two pictures taken in Hamburg?

:yes:

It seems that almost every airline that's taking the A380 has changed their livery for the A380 like Singapore Airlines, Qantas, AirFrance, Korean Air... Hope Malaysia Airlines will change theirs, or alter it slightly.

Wow, A380 looks superb in those shots!

I quite like the new "AIRFRANCE" typeface, but I think the livery is let down by the only slightly modified tail design.

It seems that almost every airline that's taking the A380 has changed their livery for the A380 like Singapore Airlines, Qantas, AirFrance, Korean Air... Hope Malaysia Airlines will change theirs, or alter it slightly.

Don't think Qantas "changed" their livery for the A380. I saw their new fonts last year before A380 debuted :

June 2008 :

http://www.globalphotos.org/sydney/20080607/IMG_0272.jpg

Don't think Qantas "changed" their livery for the A380. I saw their new fonts last year before A380 debuted :

In fact, not a single airline has so far changed its livery 'for the A380'. Singapore Airlines changed it with the introduction of the 777-300ER, Qantas did it, as you mentioned, well before the A380 introduction, Air France introduced its new livery on a 777 a few months ago, well before the A380 introduction, and Korean Air have already introduced their new colors (well, 'new' is stating it a bit strong, they just made the titles larger) while their first A380 is still quite a bit away.

Just like in 2008 Schiphol has been choses to be the best airport again by the Leading Edge Award from the magazine Executive Travel Magazine. With 47,4 million passengers in 2008 and more than 1,5 million tons of freight Schiphol was #5 in passenger numbers in 2008 (in Europe) and 3rd in Europe in freight numbers. Schiphol has aprox. 262 destinations all over the world and is one of the 4 most important hubs in Europe. Aprox. 65.000 people work in Schiphol. A few weeks ago Schiphol also won the ACI EUROPE Best Airport Award.

In it's excistance Schiphol has won more than 120 prices. In 1980, 1981, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1990 en 2003 it was chosen the best airport in the world. From 1988 till 2003 it was chosen the best airport of Europe and Schiphol also won prices like Best Business-Travel Airport. Currently Schiphol has 4 stars with Skytrax, together with 3 other airports, Kuala Lumpur, Sydney & Zurich. The 5 star airports are, Hong Kong, Seoul and Singapore. London, Dubai, Madrid and others have 3 stars and Frankfurt has no stars. Moscow has 2.

Air France Paris-New York A380 superjumbo flights in November
9 July 2009
Agence France Presse

Air France-KLM said Thursday it would start daily flights between Paris and New York from November with the new Airbus A380 superjumbo, the world's biggest passenger jet.

A Singapore Airlines flight last month became the first commercial A380 flight to arrive in Paris but Air France said in a statement it would be the first airline to fly the superjumbo on a route across the Atlantic.

The A380 superjumbo jet can carry up to 853 passengers, but Air France plans to configure its flights from Paris to New York JFK airport with 538 passengers: nine in premier class, 80 in business and 449 in economy.

Air France-KLM, which has ordered 12 A380s, said four of them will begin service late this year and in early 2010.

Silly question perhaps, but will anny of them be wearing KLM colors?

Didn't I read somewhere that the changes that Qantas, Korean Air, Singapore Airlines and to some extent, AirFrance, did to their livery was so that it would look proportional to the aircraft?

In fact, not a single airline has so far changed its livery 'for the A380'. Singapore Airlines changed it with the introduction of the 777-300ER, Qantas did it, as you mentioned, well before the A380 introduction, Air France introduced its new livery on a 777 a few months ago, well before the A380 introduction, and Korean Air have already introduced their new colors (well, 'new' is stating it a bit strong, they just made the titles larger) while their first A380 is still quite a bit away.

Qantas did it for the A380 - it was announced in July 2007 that the logo would be tweaked because the kangaroo would be too small or not look correct on an A380. So it was modified in preparation for the introduction of the A380, and as a general update of the brand, which had not been altered since the early 1990s.

Of course the numerous delays to the A380 has made the date of announcement and date of delivery seem longer.

Qantas press release, July 07
http://www.qantas.com.au/regions/dyn/au/publicaffairs/details?ArticleID=2007/jul07/3621

"This move also reflects the changing structure of our new aircraft - for example, the shape of our new kangaroo is a great fit for the tail of the A380 and other new generation aircraft," Mr Borghetti said.

"We will also be progressively rolling out the new branding across the airline in the lead up to the delivery of the first A380 in August 2008," he said.

If it was a size adjustment of logos, then it isn't a livery change is it? Qantas also changed its fonts as well. Is that unrelated or part of all this?

No, it was all related and done in preparation for the A380, as they believed the then existing kangaroo would look wrong on the A380.

But what I still don't understand is if they changed the proportions for the A380, why would they change the other aircraft as well? Wouldn't the new proportions designed for the A380 not work for the smaller planes?

Avionews, June 16, 2009 :

Air France-KLM might come back in the race for Austrian Airlines' takeover

Paris, France - While European commission studies Lufthansa's proposal
(WAPA) - Air France-KLM might come back in the race for the acquisition of Austrian Airlines (AUA), according to what has been reported today by the Austrian newspaper "Kurier". The European commission, that is currently investigating on the feasibility, in anti-trust terms, of Lufthansa's offer (see AVIONEWS), would have asked the French-Dutch group to present a new proposal, getting a positive answer.

Brussels is waiting for the German carrier to supply guarantees on respect of competition after AUA merger, while Lufthansa is reluctant to make concessions over such lucrative routes. However, if a final decision will not be taken by July 31, Frankfurt's airline will be allowed to pull out from the operation.

Air France had participated in the original tender for the takeover of Austrian Airlines' 41.6%, but it had been defeated by Lufthansa, later complaining on the way how the choice had been made. (Avionews)

http://www.avionews.com/index.php?corpo=see_news_home.php&news_id=1107179&pagina_chiamante=index.php

Air France-KLM could run out of cash in 2010-paper

PARIS, July 17 (Reuters) - Air France-KLM faces a bigger loss and will run low on cash next year if air traffic does not pick up and oil prices reach new highs, according to a study on the airline cited in Les Echos on Friday.

In a worst-case scenario outlined in the report drafted by accounting firm Secafi for the group's works council, Air France could post a wider loss in 2009-2010 than the 129 million euros ($182 million) in 2008-09, and be short of cash within a year.

Air France-KLM was not available for comment.

Separately on Friday, British Airways unveiled plans to raise about 600 million pounds ($1 billion) through a combination of bondholder debt and bank credit in a move chief executive Willie Walsh said eliminated any short-term threat of a financial crisis. [ID:LH678007]

The report on Air France-KLM said that in a scenario where oil prices reached $70 a barrel combined with no recovery in air traffic, the French-Dutch airline could post sales down 9.5 percent and burn 1.5 million euros cash in 2009.

"Even when taking into account the Oceane loan (convertible bonds), the company could be short of cash within a year. The situation is even more worrying at the Air-France-KLM group's level," Secafi said in the study.

In June, Air France-KLM issued 661 million euros of Oceane bonds to finance the purchase of new planes.

In the medium scenario, considered the most realistic, sales would be seen down 9 percent but oil prices would remain at reasonable levels, around $58 a barrel. This is the target Air France-KLM revealed in May, the report said.

In a more rosy scenario, with sales down only 4 percent and oil around $61, the airline would reduce its loss and finance new investments. But this is less likely, after air traffic dropped in May and June, Secafi said.

By Star Alliance from HKADB :

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i59/wongjst/HKG-JNB-Jul09/IMG_2419.jpg

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i59/wongjst/HKG-JNB-Jul09/IMG_2424.jpg

USA Today, August 3, 2009 :
Air France to auction seats on first A380 flights; proceeds go to charity

Today-af-a380 Air France will auction off 380 of the 538 seats on its first two flights on the Airbus A380 superjumbo jet, Britain's Press Association reports. The proceeds will go to charity. Air France's first A380 flight is set for Nov. 20 on the Paris-to-New York route. The carrier's second A380 flight will come on the return on Nov. 21.

Air France will be the first European carrier to put the A380 into regularly scheduled commercial service, according to the Press Association.

Aviation Week’s Things With Wings blog says Air France plans to auction the seats in October. The blog adds Air France initially "will start service with two A380s and grow the fleet to four through the spring of 2010. After New York, Dubai, Johannesburg and Tokyo are set to be the next destinations" to be served with Air France's A380s.

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/item.aspx?type=blog&ak=68495972.blog

The new PH-BVD, expected 25 August 2009 at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/4979/phbvd.jpg

Czechs continue CSA sale after Air France-KLM exit

PRAGUE/PARIS, Aug 19 (Reuters) - The Czech Republic said on Wednesday it would continue with the sale of state-owned Czech Airlines (CSA) with only a single bidder after Air France-KLM withdrew from the process.

A consortium of Czech companies Unimex and Travel Service remains in the tender, one of the biggest privatisations expected in central and eastern Europe this year.

Air France-KLM , Europe's biggest carrier, said it had withdrawn from the tender process due to the impact of the economic environment on the airline industry.

"The (Czech) finance ministry has received Air France-KLM's decision... (and) will continue in the tender and is not changing its proceedings," the ministry said in a statement.

It also extended the deadline for the consortium's bid by 15 days until Sept. 30, after which it will submit the sale decision to the caretaker government, just weeks before an October election.

Analysts have said the sale fetch up to 5 billion Czech crowns ($275.3 million) for the state, which is tackling a ballooning government deficit that is expected to rise above 5 percent of gross domestic product this year.

But the withdrawal of Air France could hit the price.

"The departure of one of the bidders brings the competition level to zero, so the potential income may decrease because there is no counterweight left," said Milan Vanicek, analyst from Czech brokerage Atlantik FT.

CSA has seen its passenger numbers fall by about 10 percent in the first half of the year as the economic downturn cuts into air travel. Its first-quarter loss widened to $51 million from $44 million the year before.

Air France-KLM said economic circumstances meant CSA could focus instead on trying to restore its profitability on its own through a recovery plan.

"In this context, Air France-KLM wishes to further strengthen the existing partnership between the two groups and to continue to explore with CSA any new areas of cooperation that could be of mutual benefit to each company," it said in a statement.

In April, the Czech Finance Ministry picked Air France-KLM and the Czech consortium as second-round bidders for CSA, rejecting bids from Russia's Aeroflot and Odien.

Air France-KLM has been a key player in the much-anticipated consolidation of the European airline industry, as carriers struggle with increasing competition, rising fuel costs and a drop in air travel caused by the financial crisis. ($1=18.16 Czech Crown)

The new PH-BVD, expected 25 August 2009 at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/4979/phbvd.jpg

what a gorgeous livery...

Air France , August 17, 2009:
Baggage tracking with electronic chips

In the last few days in Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, all Air France passengers' baggage checked in at Terminal 2C (flights to Asia and Africa), i.e. 2,000 bags per day, are tracked with electronic chips. A "smart" label incorporating RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology is placed in each of the bags, so that they can be located in real time. The RFID chip, connected up to IT systems, means that the bags at the airport can be traced within a few meters, and that baggage handling performance is monitored and analysed, thus improving logistics.

Air France was the first airline to try out the new system on its Paris-Amsterdam route in 2006.

Every day at Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Air France carries 100,000 bags (Air France and customer airlines), including 35,000 – and even 45,000 on a record day - which are in transit.

Contrary to other airlines, Air France publishes monthly figures for the missing baggage of the previous month. A bag is considered to be missing if does not reach its destination at the same time as its owner.

This figure should be compared with other similar airlines, which have large volumes of connecting traffic, i.e. 55% of Air France passengers at Paris- Charles de Gaulle, and not with those which only focus on point to point traffic.

The many daily flights to destinations on the Air France and KLM networks mean that nearly 80% of the missing baggage can be delivered to customers within 24 hours.

http://corporate.airfrance.com/en/news/front-page-news/alaune-detail/article/bagages-pistes-par-des-puces-electroniques/index.html?no_cache=1

RFID has been around for a long time. Hong Kong International has been using this technology for years. They slap a sticker on the luggage - there is a chip inside, and it goes around the terminal with tracking mode on.

Source : http://pic.feeyo.com/posts/458/4581339.html

http://pic.feeyo.com/pic/20090819//200908190502139222.jpg

http://pic.feeyo.com/pic/20090819//200908190503253489.jpg

http://pic.feeyo.com/pic/20090819//200908190501257860.jpg

Air France announces 1,500 job cuts
4 September 2009
Agence France Presse

Air France said Friday it was about to launch a voluntary redundancy scheme to shed 1,500 jobs due to a decline in both passenger and cargo business.

The airline said in a statement that it hoped to be able to present details of the scheme by late October, while a spokesperson said pilots and mechanics would not be eligible.

The worst global slump in decades has devastated the airline industry, with passenger numbers plunging this year.

Air France-KLM Aug Passenger Traffic -2.9% On Yr
8 September 2009

PARIS (Dow Jones)--Air France-KLM (AF.FR) Tuesday reported a 2.9% fall in August passenger traffic, but said unit revenues stopped decreasing as it cut capacity.

Load factor, which measures how full airplanes are, improved 1.1 percentage points to 84.8% as the Franco-Dutch airline group cut capacity 4.2%.

Air France-KLM, which last week announced a plan to cut 1,500 jobs through voluntary departures, said cargo traffic in August fell 16.1% on a 16.9% reduction in capacity.

La Tribune: Air France stops Strasbourg-London flights
10 September 2009
La Tribune

Air carrier Air France-KLM will stop its flights from Strasbourg to London at the end of October.

The daily flights, operated by its Irish unit CityJet, target mostly British business travellers.

On the other hand, in order to develop its international business, Air France will launch a new destination from Strasbourg to Lisbon through Bordeaux.

According to the french website Aeroweb.fr, here are the first photos of Air France A380's interior :

First class :
http://www.aeroweb-fr.net/uploads/media/large/2009/42/280.jpg

Business :

http://www.aeroweb-fr.net/uploads/media/large/2009/42/281.jpg

Economy :

http://www.aeroweb-fr.net/uploads/media/large/2009/42/282.jpg

KLM and air france used to come to karachi till 9/11:(
does anyone know when they will resume it.?
because on wikipedia it still says that klm is flying to karachi

don' t really like the Y

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/9623/msn033rto81.jpg (http://img36.imageshack.us/i/msn033rto81.jpg/)
© Air France

http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/4295/afa380landung2.jpg
© Air France

According to the french website Aeroweb.fr, here are the first photos of Air France A380's interior :

First class :
http://www.aeroweb-fr.net/uploads/media/large/2009/42/280.jpg

Business :

http://www.aeroweb-fr.net/uploads/media/large/2009/42/281.jpg

Economy :

http://www.aeroweb-fr.net/uploads/media/large/2009/42/282.jpg

it could be much better...

France24, October 30, 2009 :
Air France set to get Europe's first A380 superjumbo

AFP - Air France was due on Friday to become the first European airline to take delivery of the new Airbus A380 superjumbo passenger jet, which it says will make it great savings in tough economic times.

The French flag carrier was due to receive the huge craft at the Airbus plant in the northern German city of Hamburg in a ceremony at 1000 GMT on Friday and then fly it to Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport.

Its first commercial flight is scheduled for November 20, from Paris to New York.

The director of Air France, Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, told AFP that the A380 would enable it to save money by running fewer flights on long-haul routes to destinations.

"To New York, we can remove one Boeing 777-200 and one Airbus A340 and go from five flights a day to four," he said.

"We will be able to use a plane that costs 20 percent less to run than the two others. In other words, we will save 15 million euros a year with an A380."

Air France has ordered 12 of the A380 model, but has postponed the purchase of some of them due to the economic slowdown.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on Thursday that an upturn in global air traffic stalled in September due to a "pause" in the economic recovery, with demand only up slightly compared to September 2008.

It has forecast that airlines will lose 11 billion dollars in 2009.

Three other airlines outside Europe have already taken delivery of the 330-million-dollar A380 -- Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Australian carrier Qantas.


http://www.france24.com/en/category/tags-auteurs/news-wires

First :
http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/4526/airfrancemsn0330033bis1.jpg (http://img688.imageshack.us/i/airfrancemsn0330033bis1.jpg/)

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/3261/airfrancemsn0330098bis0.jpg

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/4526/airfrancemsn0330033bis1.jpg

Business :

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/7620/0i2d1598bisbusy1.jpg
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/6728/0i2d1598bisbusy2.jpg (http://img4.imageshack.us/i/0i2d1598bisbusy2.jpg/)

http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/8143/airfrancemsn0330236bisb.jpg (http://img130.imageshack.us/i/airfrancemsn0330236bisb.jpg/)


Economy :

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/5021/afa380eco1271.jpg (http://img62.imageshack.us/i/afa380eco1271.jpg/)

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/691/afa380eco1272.jpg

http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/3364/0i2d1583bis04bareco.jpg



The Gallery :

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/4462/airfrancemsn0330182bisg.jpg

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/4462/airfrancemsn0330182bisg.jpg

Changing room :

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/842/0i2d1433bis04change.jpg

More :
http://corporate.airfrance.com/en/press/media-library/photos/air-france-airbus-a380/
http://corporate.airfrance.com/en/press/media-library/photos/three-cabin-classes-on-two-decks/

I'm very impressed about what AF has done inside the aircraft : - changing cabin LED lights
- new seats with larger screens - 6 bars in the all plane
- elegant dark grey walls

well done !

Ambiences on board video : http://corporate.airfrance.com/en/press/media-library/videos/the-air-france-a380/ambiences-on-board-the-a380/

Air France press release, october 30, 2009 :
Travelling on board the A380: enhanced comfort, quieter and more spacious

The 538 passengers on board Air France’s A380 will enjoy more comfort and space, whichever cabin they are travelling in: La Première on the upper deck (9 seats), the Affaires-Business cabin on the upper deck (80 seats) and the Voyageur-Economy cabin, located on both decks (449 seats including 106 on the upper deck).

On board, Air France has designed everything so that passengers on this Superjumbo aircraft enjoy a moment of well-being, in a quiet and particularly soothing cabin with noise levels which are 5 decibels lower than industry standards.

Air France has designed a stylish cabin with no details overlooked and new features exclusive to the Airbus A380.

The colour schemes and lighting have been chosen to make the atmosphere as relaxed as possible. The gallery area, the six bars located in all cabins and the stairs connecting the two decks remind us of travel on the large transatlantic ocean liners, geared towards relaxation and conviviality, with an added Air France touch.

Wherever you look - the winding stairs, the stylish curves of the gallery or the starry lights at the bars - a feeling of relaxation and peace emerges.

During the day, the cabin is well lit by 220 windows divided between the two decks. These decks are connected by two stairways, offering an unparalleled surface area with four aisles allowing easy access for passengers and enhancing the sense of space.


More comfort in all the cabins

• To enhance the feeling of well-being: subdued lighting to cross times zones without feeling tired

The A380 is more spacious than any other aircraft, with 50% more floor space than a 747. It is also equipped with a sophisticated lighting system which Air France developed specially to make passengers’ time on board even more enjoyable and relaxing.

The lighting is not only a key element in the feeling of comfort for passengers, but also plays a role in synchronizing the body clock. On board the Air France A380, different lighting environments exist depending on what passengers are doing on board.

Air France has come up with several different lighting ambiances, depending on the cabin and the various flight phases.

The lighting in the La Première cabin is mostly red and orange, which blends in well with the beige and red colour scheme in this cabin. Light-blue lighting predominates in the Affaires cabin, giving it an elegant and modern feel. In the Voyageur cabin, light colours give passengers a feeling of comfort and serenity.

Lighting is at its most intense during boarding and disembarkation. While the aircraft is taxiing, the lighting is dimmed to adapt to the take-off and landing phases. At meal times, the lighting is similar to that of a restaurant in all three cabins. When passengers are waking up, shades of light bring additional comfort.

• To relax, chat and meet up: for the first time, bars in all cabins

To enjoy a drink, relax or chat with friends or family, each cabin on the A380 has its own bars, including one exclusively reserved for La Première customers, two in the Affaires cabin and three in the Voyageur cabin. Throughout the flight, these bars offer all A380 passengers the chance to meet up over a drink and a snack, which are available depending on the flight time.

http://corporate.airfrance.com/uploads/pics/A380_6EN.jpg

• A new, improved, more user-friendly in-flight entertainment system to relax with

The A380’s in-flight entertainment system is completely new, with wider screens and easier navigation, enabling passengers to access programmes in just a few clicks.

Passengers can choose between movies - either by category or by alphabetical order - select those which are dubbed or subtitled in a particular language or follow the aircraft’s flight path (Geovision) in real time, in a second window. Passengers can also see live images throughout the flight taken from an external mini-camera located on the tail fin.

The video on demand (VOD) entertainment system, enabling each passenger to choose when they want to start, finish or pause a programme, offers approximately 600 hours of viewing, including about a hundred full-length movies some of which are translated in up to nine languages and a juke-box of 300 CDs with around 3,000 pieces of music.

Air France is the first airline in the world to equip each seat in the Affaires and Voyageur cabins with a USB socket, enabling passengers to download contents such as flight schedules, information on Air France, destination guides, games for children, relaxation videos and podcasts.

Passengers who do not have a USB key can purchase one on board.

For an even more convivial atmosphere, passengers can also enjoy exchanges via themed forums. To do this, passengers select the "Forum" programme from the list which automatically disconnects when another application is selected.

• Easier access and additional comfort for reduced-mobility passengers

For easier access for reduced-mobility and disabled passengers, Air France’s A380 cabin has been specially designed to include:

- easy-access toilets,

- removable armrests on 99% of seats,

- two on-board transfer wheelchairs,

- seat row numbers in Braille.

• Three doors for smooth boarding and disembarkation

The Air France A380 passengers will board and disembark via three doors, two on the main deck and one on the upper deck, so that all passengers can disembark easily on arrival.

http://corporate.airfrance.com/en/fleet/air-france-the-first-european-carrier-to-offer-flights-on-the-a380/travelling-on-board-the-a380-enhanced-comfort-quieter-and-more-spacious/

Air France press release, october 30, 2009 :
Three cabin classes on two decks

The La Première cabin: spacious and private

http://corporate.airfrance.com/uploads/pics/A380_7EN.jpg

The A380’s La Première cabin is the most spacious of the entire Air France fleet. With just nine seats, no details have been overlooked in this cabin.

• A new changing cabin

At the front of the La Première cabin, passengers can use the new private changing cabin to change into their lounging suit before sleeping, or to get ready before arrival.

In this new area, which has natural light streaming through the window, there is a dressing table opposite two built-in shelves containing top-of-the-range Clarins beauty products, ensuring optimum well-being both during and after the flight.

Opposite this area there is a wardrobe offering La Première passengers a complementary exclusive service: cabin crew give each passenger a clothes bag in which to put all their personal belongings.

• A new improved seat

New improvements have been made to the La Première seat, with easier movement enabling passengers to find their ideal position and a new innovative handset.

The seat covers, made from "Climatex" fabric, provide optimum comfort thanks to the special fabric, superior to all conventional fabrics with the capacity to absorb and release water vapour. Its manufacturing process is environmentally friendly, using renewable materials such as wool and beech tree cellulose.

• An exclusive bar for La Première passengers

A bar with magazines and a buffet enables passengers to enjoy a drink and a bite to eat, relax and talk, out of earshot of the other passengers in the cabin.

La Première passengers will be the only passengers allowed to use the wide staircase with 14 steps during the flight to access the gallery on the upper deck.




The Affaires cabin: calm and relaxation

http://corporate.airfrance.com/uploads/pics/A380_8EN.jpg

Air France’s Affaires cabin is situated on the upper deck of the A380, providing a calm atmosphere for passengers, ideal for working or relaxing.

• Well-being and comfort in a quiet atmosphere

On the upper deck, the Affaires cabin is fitted with 6 seats across – two on each side of the cabin and two in the centre – providing optimum space and comfort.

In this way, each passenger has either an aisle seat or a window seat, where there are additional side storage compartments for passengers’ personal belongings.

The A380’s spacious cabin enables Air France to offer an improved seat the Affaires cabin. Two metres long, the seat has a more comfortable seat recline for take-off and landing.

Each seat has a socket for recharging laptops and a 15-inch video screen (38 centimetres), the biggest in the Air France fleet.

• The gallery, the Air France touch dedicated to learning and culture

Air France is the first airline to offer the gallery concept, thanks to its partnerships with major museums worldwide and other artistic institutions. This type of open-plan area is the most spacious offered by any airline.

On the upper deck, La Première and Affaires passengers can enjoy an exhibition specially created for Air France, exclusively presented in an area dedicated to learning and culture - the gallery - on three 38-cm screens integrated into the area.

A new exhibition theme will be introduced regularly by a different museum.

In November 2009, the Louvre museum, the first to partner Air France in this project, is offering the theme of "Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese…Rivals in Renaissance Venice", an exhibition which the museum is hosting in its Napoléon Hall up to 4 January 2010.

The Voyageur cabin: additional comfort on both decks

http://corporate.airfrance.com/uploads/pics/A380_9EN.jpg

On the A380, the Voyageur cabin is situated on both the main and upper decks and boasts exclusive new features. Of all Air France’s Voyageur cabins, the A380 has the most comfortable.

• Additional space and comfort

The seat is the widest in the Air France fleet, with armrests which are 30% wider, providing each passenger with more independence.

They also enjoy more space, as Air France is the first airline to integrate the video controls into the seat, instead of having them in front of passengers’ legs.

Each seat has a large 8.4-inch individual video screen, providing unrivalled quality of viewing and a conveniently situated headphone socket. Passengers can also recharge their laptop batteries in sockets located around the cabin.

• New exclusive features: bars on both the main and upper deck

Three modern, spacious bars, two on the main deck and one on the upper deck, offer refreshments throughout the flight and the opportunity for passengers to meet and relax. This enables each passenger to take the time to really enjoy their flight.

http://corporate.airfrance.com/en/fleet/air-france-the-first-european-carrier-to-offer-flights-on-the-a380/three-cabin-classes-on-two-decks/

An aircraft that is well suited

A very large capacity aircraft seating 538 passengers, which matches the powerful hub at Paris-Charles de Gaulle

http://corporate.airfrance.com/uploads/pics/A380_2EN.jpg
http://corporate.airfrance.com/uploads/pics/A380_23N.jpg

The Air France network is organized around the Paris-Charles de Gaulle hub, and the main principle is to link a large number of short and medium-haul routes – those operated by small aircraft – to bigger, long-haul routes which are operated by larger capacity aircraft.

Consequently the capacity of the A380 is perfectly suited to the powerful hub at Paris-Charles de Gaulle, which offers passengers over 20,000 connecting opportunities a week.

The aircraft’s main deck is the equivalent size of the Boeing 777-200 and the upper deck the size of an Airbus A340-300. Air France can therefore rationalize its frequencies on busy routes by replacing two flights which leave at similar times by one flight, while offering the same number of seats.

For example, between Paris and New York, an A380 leaving at 1:35pm can replace two flights operated by an A340 and a 777-200, leaving at 10:30am and at 1:35pm.

20% reduction in unit operating costs

• 20% less fuel burned compared with an A330

For such a huge aircraft, the A380 burns less than three litres per 100 km per passenger, thanks to the performance of its four GP 7200 engines and to the technological innovations in its design, which contribute to reducing weight and improving aerodynamic efficiency. This represents a 20% saving on fuel per passenger compared with the A330.

The GP 7200 engine, specially developed by Engine Alliance – a 50/50 joint-venture between General Electric and Pratt & Whitney – to power the A380 incorporates cutting-edge technology with the recognized and proven techniques of the high-thrust engines such as the GE90 which powers the Boeing 777.

Many tons of composite materials have been used in the aircraft structure – such as GLARE (Glass-Reinforced fibre metal laminate), all of which have reduced the aircraft’s weight by 25%, thereby cutting down on fuel consumption.

• Maintenance costs down by 20 to 25%

The advanced materials making up the aircraft’s fuselage have also cut maintenance and repair costs by 20 to 25%, which account for a total of 15 to 20% of the aircraft’s direct operating costs.

• Characteristics shared with other Airbus aircraft

The A380 shares the same cockpit design, fly-by-wire controls and piloting characteristics with the other new generation Airbus aircraft.

For example, Airbus pilots who shift to the A380 plane need very little training.

The common features of the different Airbus aircraft therefore save Air France considerable amounts in terms of crew training and maintenance.
An environmentally-friendly aircraft

• Reduced gas emissions

Thanks to lower fuel burn, the A380 also produces less Carbon dioxide per passenger than any other plane. With less than 75 g of Carbon dioxide produced per passenger kilometre, the A380 is one of the most environmentally-friendly aircraft.

In addition, thanks to its new-generation Engine Alliance GP 7200 engines, the A380 easily meets the latest international requirements. Compared with the most recent standards of the Environmental Protection Committee of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), this Superjumbo emits 40% less nitrogen oxide (NOx), and 80% less hydrocarbons (HC) and carbon monoxides (CO).

• The quietest aircraft in its category

The A380 incorporates cutting-edge technology in terms of noise reduction.

Thanks to its aerodynamic shape and engine performance, the A380 generates half as much noise as a 747-400 when it takes off.

The A380 complies with the strictest of current noise level standards, with a noise margin of 17.5 Decibel compared with ICAO’s Chapter IV noise standards, the most demanding set of standards in terms of acoustic quality for new aircraft.

This high margin means that the A380 will, as of today, meet the noise reduction targets stipulated by ICAO and the European Commission (ACARE project) for 2020.

http://corporate.airfrance.com/en/fleet/air-france-the-first-european-carrier-to-offer-flights-on-the-a380/an-aircraft-that-is-well-suited/

Edit : Double post

The Gallery:

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/4462/airfrancemsn0330182bisg.jpg

^^What is the purpose of this Gallery? And what can you watch on the monitors? :? :)
BTW: Beautiful woman...:drool:




More pictures from Hamburg (http://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/airbus292.html)


Thomas Enders (CEO of Airbus) during his speech
http://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/airbus290_v-grossgalerie16x9.jpg


http://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/airbus288_v-grossgalerie16x9.jpg


http://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/bilder/airbus280_v-grossgalerie16x9.jpg


http://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/bilder/airbus294_v-grossgalerie16x9.jpg


http://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/bilder/airbus296_v-grossgalerie16x9.jpg


First Air France A380 leaves Hamburg for Paris
http://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/bilder/airbus300_v-grossgalerie16x9.jpg


http://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/bilder/airbus276_v-grossgalerie16x9.jpg


http://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/bilder/airbus298_v-grossgalerie16x9.jpg


http://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/bilder/airbus282_v-grossgalerie16x9.jpg

^^What is the purpose of this Gallery? And what can you watch on the monitors? :? :)
BTW: Beautiful woman...:drool:



The screens will show pieces of art from partner museums. A new exhibition theme will be introduced regularly by a different museum. In November the theme will be "Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese…Rivals in Renaissance Venice", an exhibition from the Louvre museum.

^^Cool idea, thx!. :)

http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/1830/hg04.jpg

Première cabin :

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/7096/airfrancemsn0330789031e.jpg

Affaires cabin :

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/7766/afa380business00503.jpg

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/294/afa380business00403.jpg