AIR France has planned a series of adjustments to its services in Asia for the summer 2012 season.
Starting March 26, 2012, its daily services between Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport and Bangkok will be reduced to just three flights per week, which will initially be operated with a B747-400, but replaced with a B777-300ER from May 7.
A previously planned tag-on to Phnom Penh has also been cancelled. Air France will instead serve Phnom Penh as an extension of its Paris-Ho Chi Minh City service, when the latter is reduced from five times to thrice weekly at the start of the summer schedule. The equipment used on this route will be upsized from the B777-200ER to the B777-300ER.
Starting April 11, Air France will launch non-stop services between Paris and Wuhan, capital of Hubei province. This will be Air France’s fifth destination in greater China after Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.
This route will be operated thrice-weekly using a three-class 307-seater B777-200ER with 33, 24 and 250 seats in Affaires, Premium Voyageur and Voyageur classes respectively.
From May 28, Air France will add three weekly services to its current daily non-stop flights between Paris and Singapore. The additional services will be operated by a 251-seater B777-200ER with four classes (49 in Affaires, four in La Premiere, 24 in Premium Voyageur and 174 in Voyageur classes).
Air France has also strengthened its presence in China with a code-share arrangement with China Southern Airlines between Guangzhou and 12 Chinese cities. Two Australian cities – Sydney and Melbourne – have also been included in this agreement. Reciprocally, China Southern Airlines will also add its flight code on 14 European services operated by Air France.
