Air France KLM details winter capacity cut

Posted 22/09/2009

Air France KLM Group will trim winter ASKs by 2% year-over-year, comprising a 1.8% reduction in its long-haul network and a 2.9% cut in medium-haul flying.

Air France and its subsidiaries will lower winter capacity by 1.7%, while KLM will cut by a more comprehensive 4%. The carriers insisted that connectivity at their Paris Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam hubs will be maintained.

AF said it will rationalize its Latin American and Asian flights, implement transatlantic efficiencies thanks to its joint venture with Delta Air Lines and reduce frequencies to New York JFK, Dubai and Johannesburg. It will serve those three destinations daily with its first three A380s, which are scheduled to enter service on Nov. 23 to JFK, Jan. 18 to DXB and in early March to JNB. Capacity will increase to Havana and Punta Cana and will remain unchanged on Indian Ocean routes.

ASKs on AF's medium-haul network will be down 1.1%, and it said the "first effects of capacity reorganization planned for summer 2010 can already be seen on European routes." Frequencies from CDG to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Geneva, Madrid, Munich, Moscow Sheremetyevo and Rome Fiumicino will be cut "without impairing the quality of connections with long-haul flights, so as to use larger capacity aircraft which are more efficient." Flights also will be reduced to Verona, Dublin, Birmingham and Edinburgh. Service from London City to CDG, Strasbourg, Nice and Geneva will be discontinued, but there will be a new twice-daily flight to Nantes.

Domestic capacity will be reduced by 3.2%, with "major" capacity adjustments at Paris Orly, closure of services from Clermont-Ferrand to Biarritz, Lille, Marseille, Strasbourg and Toulouse and fewer frequencies on Bordeaux-Nantes, Lyon-Nice and Lyon-Bordeaux routes.

by Cathy Buyck

Originally published 22 Sep 2009 at: http://feeds.atwonline.com/~r/AtwDailyNews/~3/fLZcsfglwPE/story.html