But why is Air France launching Orly-Geneva?

As a press organization, TravelGuys is certainly no longer invited to events organized by Air France, especially after a few hard-hitting (but true) articles on the national airline.

However, we continue to receive press releases and one of them caught our attention: Air France decides to open an Orly-Geneva route with a weekly frequency.

Yes, only one flight per week… We might as well say that with such a route (which makes sense because Orly is much closer to Paris) but such a low frequency, the national airline is not likely to create a clientele, even with the hypothetical connections to the mainland (possible from CDG) or to the DOM-TOM.

Aigle Azur, in great financial difficulty, has long based its strategy on a plethora of infrequent routes. It’s hard to build customer loyalty in such a case.

But why such a low frequency, when these connections are daily?

The answer is simple: with the reduction of frequencies on its domestic routes, Air France risks not using all its take-off/landing slots at Orly, and prefers to fill the holes, even if it means making a lossto prevent Paris Airport from assigning them to its competitors, notably EasyJet and the airlines of the IAG group.

Vueling is a powerful competitor of the national airline at Orly. With Level, the IAG group’s long-haul low-cost carrier, it occupies a prime position at Orly 1 and 2.

How to do otherwise?

It would have been possible to do better. As I said earlier, the line makes sense, especially for business customers who can reach La Défense or other business districts south of Paris from Orly much more easily!

I am sure that some lines have important frequencies from Orly, and for which a slight reduction of frequency would have a rather positive impact. In particular, certain La Navette lines such as Bordeaux and Marseille are facing stiff competition from rail.

A twice-daily route, with a morning and an evening flight, would make much more sense… Let’s see if the airline changes its mind!