On Friday, December 2, 2016, Air France received its latest baby at Paris Charles-de-Gaulle, the Boeing 787-9 known as the Dreamliner, which arrived that very morning from the manufacturer’s Seattle plants.
In a hyper-competitive context, Air France will deploy this medium-capacity aircraft to replace its aging A330s and A340s, in addition to the 777, deployed on major destinations. But what about the passenger experience?
Why choose the 787?
Although the Boeing 787 had a few teething troubles, notably due to problems with the lithium-ion batteries (United and ANA were among the victims), this aircraft is now a tried-and-tested model, and the operating airlines are delighted. An ideal complement to the 777-300, the aircraft’s low kerosene consumption means it can offer more frequencies or open up destinations with less traffic thanks to its lower fuel consumption.
It is therefore anideal aircraftfor Air France, whose extensive network is teeming with this type of destination, which others would describe as secondary.
An optimal travel experience
Although none of these devices will be equipped with the In addition to the new La Première suite, the entire cabin will be equipped with BEST seats in Business and Economy classes, and a new Premium Economy seat not yet offered by Air France, but already presented at the IFTM Top Résa lounge last September.
In the end, it’s a fairly premium cabin, with 30 seats in Business ClassFull-Flat and Full-Access in a 1-2-1 configuration, 21 seats in Premium Economy with hull seats in a 2-3-2 configuration, and finally 225 seats in Economy Class with leather seats in a 3-3-3 configuration.
Of course, this cabin configuration complements the B787’s standard offering of electronically controlled window shadesand improved cabin humidity, providing greater comfort for all passengers who will no longer experience a “dry mouth” sensation.
Finally, Air France has chosen toequip its entire fleet with Wi-Fi, a feature much in demand among leisure travelers.
To discover the complete album of the inaugural ceremony, click here.
The future “jeep” of the Air France network?
Air France’s reputation has been built around its extensivelong-haul network. Air France dominates the European majors, particularly in Africa and South America, where it is still very present with its sister company KLM.
With its long range and medium capacity, the Boeing 787-9 will enable Air France to continue supporting this important network by reducing fuel consumption by 20%, anticipating the inevitable rise in costs linked to the purchase of kerosene in the coming years.
But for the moment, and as Bertrand rightly said a few days ago, the deployment of the Air France Boeing 787-9 will be very gradual.
- Inlong-haul,the aircraft will be deployed on :
- Cairo, as of January 2017,
- Montreal, as of May 2017 (Editor’s note: Incredible, knowing that this destination is considered as Leisure by Air France which deploys its most mediocre products there, such as the Boeing 777-300ER in Caribbean-Indian Ocean configuration) ;
- In medium-haul, the aircraft will be deployed on :
- London, as of January 2017,
- Lyon, as of May 2017.
A good opportunity to discover the aircraftfor enthusiasts who can not afford vacations in Egypt or Canada.
The 350 issue
Nevertheless, one question remains: what to do with the A350s ordered almost simultaneously with the B787s? The Air France-KLM group, which has placed a group order for both types of aircraft, has decided to assign them to the Boost project, the group’s future long-haul low-costsubsidiary.
Our opinion at TravelGuys is that this is astrategic mistake. The group had the possibility ofrationalizing its fleetby choosing one or the other of the aircraft, knowing that both are “series”, with several aircraft sizes.
It would have been possibleto assign the B787s to KLM and the A350s to Air France, for example, to harmonize documentation and pilot training. Or better: to pool the two fleets to finally offer a common product and experience, while keeping the soft product markers of the two airlines.
However, it is not too late. Finally, apart from the Premium Economy product, which is not present in this form at KLM,the Business and Economy products fitted on Air France’s B787s remain very similar to those of its sister airline.
In any case, the A350s that will be delivered in the next few years should improve the customer experience rather than fuel low-cost flights.
Bottom line
A beautiful product, that we will not miss to test at the beginning of January… So stay tuned on TravelGuys!
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