Air France strives to tap growing Asian traffic

PARIS (JP): To meet the growing needs of the Asian travel market, Air France has been increasing the capacity and the frequency of its services and has introduced more nonstop flights to its Asian routes.

Since April 1997, more flights have been added to routes from Singapore and Indonesia, and capacity has also been increased on flights from Thailand and Vietnam.

Now, Air France also flies daily to India (Delhi and Bombay). Its weekly flights to Tokyo have increased to 12, and to Singapore six (including five nonstop). Overall, there are now 53 weekly flights in this regional network.

The airline, which has just celebrated its 64th anniversary, currently operates 15 routes from Asia to Paris. This includes a nonstop service to/from 10 Asian cities: Bangkok, Bombay, New Delhi, Hong Kong, Beijing, Seoul, Singapore and Tokyo, and Osaka and Nagoya in cooperation with Japan Airlines. There are also one-stop flights to/from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta and Noumea.

Air France's move to tap the growing Asian air passenger market seems to be very strategic.

The International Air Transport Association recently predicted that passenger traffic in Asia will increase more than two-fold, from 135 million trips in 1995 to about 400 million in 2010.

Like airlines from outside Asia, the region's airlines are also striving to get their share. Regional airlines are expected to spend US$340 billion to double their fleets in the next 20 years.

Indonesia, which is among the fast-growing markets in the region, also gets special attention from Air France. With its 200 million population and impressive economic growth over the past decade, it is understandable that the airline has assigned a regional general manager to manage its office in Jakarta.

Christian Herpin, Air France regional general manager Indonesia, told The Jakarta Post that the airline's target for Indonesia is a daily service for the Jakarta-Paris-Jakarta route and two weekly freighter services in cooperation with Garuda Indonesia.

"We expect to increase the frequency of passenger flights to six per week from mid-1998, and our target is a daily flight in 1999."

"We shall use either the latest A340 or B777 planes, all fitted with the best services and technologies, for the flights," he added.

Indonesia's economic growth for the years ahead will be accompanied obviously by a bigger number of air links, he said.

"On a yearly basis, the Indonesian market provides Air France with 50 percent Indonesian passengers and 50 percent European passengers. I expect a development in the number of Indonesian citizens traveling on Air France to Europe destinations."

Long haul

Air France is committed to rejuvenating its long-haul fleet. The benefits will be seen in Asia throughout 1997, with new planes being added to certain routes as well as increased frequency of many flights.

Air France's long-term requirements are now focused on larger- capacity long-haul aircraft. This is due to the success and efficiency of the Charles de Gaulle hub and the growth the company is enjoying. Air France and Boeing have reached an agreement whereby Air France has placed a firm offer for 10 B 777-200 IGW's.

The Boeing 777-200's three-class configuration for 288 seats increases Air France's total seating capacity by more than 14 percent. This means the premium business passenger sector capacity will increase by 33 percent. This aircraft is particularly well adapted to long-haul routes and will be introduced later on the Jakarta and Osaka routes.

In the long term, Air France plans to have its long-haul fleet focused on four types of planes: A310 (170 seats), A340 (252 seats), B777-200 (288 seats) and B747-400 (390 seats).

Air France now has 205 airplanes, of which 104 are Airbus.

L'Espace

In the development of l'Espace (business and first class), Air France has taken business travel into a new dimension. The essence of l'Espace is to make travel a more convivial experience, offering comfort, ease and an entirely stress-free experience.

The most innovative aspect of l'Espace is the "flying seat- bed", Air France being the first airline in the world to introduce this revolutionary concept.

Besides having the comfortable facilities offered by business and first class in general, Air France's l'Espace 180 and 127 also provides in-seat telephone facilities which are payable by credit card. This is in response to IATA's 1996 corporate Air Travel Survey, which found that business travelers are increasingly demanding in-flight phones.

The l'Espace 180, which has six seats, also provides a compartment for personal belongings and a sliding partition for privacy. During the day, this exclusive space becomes an "office in the skies" or relaxation area, with the bedside lamp and extended table.

Air France classifies its service classes into Tempo (Economy), L'Espace 127 (Business) and L'Espace 180 (First). The figures 127 and 180 refer to the maximum recline of the seat, which could be stretched into beds for optimum relaxation.

Clean-air cabin

In November 1996, Air France introduced the first ever Clean Air Cabin concept, having been the first airline to initiate nonsmoking flights in Europe, in 1993. The idea behind this innovative concept is that all seats on Air France flights are nonsmoking, but isolated smoking areas are available for passengers at certain times during the flight in both l'Espace and Tempo.

The designated smoking areas are equipped with powerful extractors which suck cigarette smoke out of the aircraft and at the same time pumps 200 liters of clean air per second into the cabin. To eliminate the smell of tobacco and maintain clean air in the cabin, the powerful smoke extractors are supplemented by fixed and movable ashtrays which automatically extinguish cigarettes and are filled with odor-absorbing crystals.

This is particularly pertinent for passengers making long-haul flights from Asia to Europe or vise versa.

Within l'Espace, the smoking area is the second bar area, equipped with refreshments and magazines. The other bar is a buffet bar, which is nonsmoking. Passengers can have a drink and snack at any time during the flight. The smoking bar area can accommodate up to seven people in l'Espace and up to 12 people in the area provided in the Tempo cabin.

Concorde

Christian also confirmed Air France/Charles de Gaulle Public Relations Manager Mrs. Luce Marc's statement, that like previous years, Concorde will fly to Denpasar, Bali, at the end of this year or early next year.

"This would not be regular flights," he said, adding that Air France regularly operates Concorde only for the Paris-New York Kennedy Airport route.

"Some wealthy clients or travel agencies charter our Concordes from time to time to fly around the world. Denpasar is one of their favorite stops four or five times a year," he added.

This around-the-world trip costs $25,000 per passenger for a two- or three-week trip.

It takes some three hours 40 minutes for the 100-seat supersonic aircraft to fly the Paris-New York route. Air France has five Concordes.

History

Formed by the merger of four of the largest French airline companies, Air France's official birthday is Aug. 30, 1933. In those early days, its priority was technical renovation and the modernization of its fleet. By 1935, it could already boast long- distance flights to Hanoi and some North African countries.

Like other airlines, the 1940s proved to be a difficult decade for Air France, marred by World War II. Left with 22 planes in 1945, it took 12 years for it to rebuild its fleet, with 131 planes carrying the Air France logo by 1957.

Facing fierce competition from other airlines, Air France introduced in-flight films on long-haul flights.

The year 1960 marked the expansion of Air France's network and fleet of aircraft, with the launch of flights to Asia and Eastern Europe. It was also Air France (along with British Airways) that has operated the supersonic Concorde planes since 1976.

Air France, which has 205 planes and employs 55,269 people, serves 190 destinations in 96 countries. (akm)