Airlines always say that the most profitable class is the Business class: its load factor is rather good and its yield (price level) is generally excellent.
The First class is generally an airline’s showcase of prestige. The major European airlines still offer it on all or part of their long-haul network.
With the withdrawal of the A380 from its fleet, Air France is losing a large part of its First Class capacity.
Air France plans to remove the Airbus A380 from its fleet within two years. Today, it is the aircraft with the most First Class seats in the airline’s fleet, with 9 seats on the lower deck.
These 9 seats are now equipped with the old version of the La Première seat, with beige tones and red carpeting.
On certain destinations, and even with this rather mediocre product, Air France manages to fill this cabin to 100%, in particular thanks to its unequalled ground service at CDG.
With the retirement of the A380, the First Class would only be present on part of the airline’s fleet of B777-300ERs,with 4 seats per aircraft, a capacity that seems insufficient for certain destinations such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and marginally Miami.
Take advantage of the end of the retrofit of long-haul cabins
Who would have believed it? The retrofit of the NEV cabins to BEST cabins took longer than the NEV cabins!
Today, a significant part of the B777-300ER fleet remains in the so-called “Leisure” or COI configuration, i.e. with non-flat seats.
Air France is therefore considering completing the retrofit of its leisure aircraft by adding a larger First cabin than on the 777s currently equipped.
The cabin would be equipped with 8 seats, as before, with a type of seat to be determined but probably close to the current new product.
Bottom line
The First Class has still beautiful days ahead on certain destinations. The prestige of the airline depends on it, and it can even make a small profit!
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