Air France to gradually resume flights

Paris-based Air France will progressively increase its flights following flight cancellations in a response to low demand and travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 outbreak. It estimates that it is only operating at a capacity of 3 – 5 % of its usual flight schedule.

An Air France Airbus A319 at Athens International Airport. Photo by Ernest Leung | AeroNewsX

The airline announced on Monday that it has plans to resume some of the inbound and outbound flights, subject to easing of the current travel restrictions in effect, from now until the end of June. Air France expects a gradual increase in the number of frequencies and key destinations within Europe.

The revised flight schedule will be 15% of the capacity usually deployed during this time period, with only 75 out of the 224 (33%) aircraft in Air France’s fleet expected to be in operation.

The flight schedule until the 30th of June reflected on Air France’s website is as follows -

Inbound/Outbound Paris-Charles de Gaulle:

France: Ajaccio, Bastia, Biarritz, Bordeaux, Brest, Calvi, Clermont-Ferrand, Figari, Marseille, Montpellier, Nice, Pau, Perpignan, Toulon, Toulouse

French Overseas Departments and Caribbean: Cayenne, Fort-de-France, Pointe-à-Pitre, Saint-Denis de La Réunion, Saint-Martin (cargo only)

Europe: Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Bari, Bergen, Berlin, Birmingham, Bologna, Bucharest, Budapest, Copenhagen, Dublin, Düsseldorf, Edinburgh, Florence, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hamburg, Hanover, Heraklion, Ibiza, Lisbon, Ljubljana, London, Madrid, Manchester, Milan, Munich, Naples, Newcastle, Oslo, Palma de Mallorca, Porto, Prague, Rome, Stockholm, Warsaw, Venice, Vienna, Yerevan, Zurich

Middle East: Beirut, Dubai, Cairo

Africa: Abidjan (cargo only), Bamako (cargo only), Cotonou, Douala, Yaoundé

North America: Atlanta, Boston (cargo only), Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Montreal

South America: Panama City (cargo only), Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo

Asia: Bangkok (cargo only), Ho Chi Minh City (cargo only), Hong Kong, Osaka, Seoul, Shanghai (cargo only), Singapore, Tokyo, Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi

Inbound/Outbound Lyon-St. Exupéry:

France: Biarritz, Bordeaux, Brest, Caen, Lille, Nantes, Nice, Pau, Rennes, Strasbourg, Toulouse

Air France reiterates that with the current situation remaining relatively fluid, adjustments are made to the flight schedule, accordingly, subject to government approvals which are imperative in the resumption of flights. Customers are advised to monitor the airline for updates with regards to resumptions.

The pandemic has already wreaked havoc on the aviation Industry, with it being possibly the worst ever crisis the industry is facing, resulting in many airlines opting to consider long term storage or retirement for certain fleet types to reduce the financial implications as a result of a fall in demand.