Air France focuses on Canadian customers
TORONTO Air France is vying for more Canadian customers — especially those who fancy lying flat in business class on overnight flights to Paris — with investments to increase the number of flights to and from Toronto on its newest Airbus aircraft.
The airline owned by Air France KLM Group plans to increase capacity on the Toronto-paris route by 15 per cent by summer 2020 on top of a 20-per-cent increase over the past three years, executives said in Toronto on Monday after arriving on Air France’s first Airbus A350-900’s inaugural transatlantic flight.
Much like Calgary-based Westjet Airlines Ltd., which is ramping up transatlantic flights with its new Boeing 787 Dreamliners, Air France is moving upmarket to try to attract business class passengers with its brand new planes. It doubled the number of business seats available in summer 2019 and by next summer will operate two flights daily for the first time since it started flying in and out of Toronto’s international airport in 1976.
“Canada is our third market after the U.S. and China,” CEO Anne Rigail said.
“It’s really very important for us to offer the best of our products to Ontario customers.”
Canada is our third market. (It’s) important for us to offer the best ... to Ontario customers.
Despite challenges Air France faces in its domestic market — it plans to reduce short- and mid-haul capacity by 2.5 per cent this winter amid increased competition from high-speed trains and low-cost carriers — it expects its long-haul capacity to rise four per cent this season.
Air France has not been majorly affected by the Boeing 737 Max groundings, as it had none of the jets in its predominantly Airbus fleet. Rigail said it’s difficult to see the exact impact from the groundings.
“The economy context is a bit concerning,” Rigail said. “We have this trade war that is affecting the customer demand. We see it on the yield.”
Still, capacity between Canada and Europe rose five per cent last year, and Air France expects that steady growth to continue this year, said Vincent Etchebehere, general manager of Air France KLM Canada.
Many long-haul airlines have taken a low-cost approach on transatlantic flights, causing Air France to tweak its communication strategy in the North America to pitch its fares as competitive once all the “hidden fees” from rivals are added, Etchebehere said. But he sees a bit of a reversal in Canada, where airlines such as Westjet are upgrading to full service. “That is why our business strategy in terms of quality of the offering improvement is so consistent for Canada,” he said.
The new A350s have larger windows, wider screens, are 40-per-cent quieter and the business class seats recline flat. The executives said these features make a difference even though the flight schedule is the No. 1 selling factor for business travellers.