Air France continues its strategy of reducing the number of medium-haul flights

As we wrote recently, we believe that Air France, without saying so, has a strategy of reducing its medium-haul network.

Before the fleet, the network

This decline is reflected in the replacement of part of its A320 fleet, which constituted the backbone of the medium-haul network, by Airbus A220-100s and 300s, with 20 to 40% less capacity than the current A320 family.

Please note: this is not a reproach – it is just a statement of fact, and even a source of satisfaction: Air France is finally focusingg on what it does best: long-haul flights.

Also, the latest press release on the Winter 2019-2020 offer explicitly confirms this point: the offer on the short and medium-haul network will be reduced by 2% this winter.

A medium-haul network under attack even in Business

To justify a 2% reduction in its offer, Air France invokes a very competitive market, no doubt in reference to low-cost offers…

In reality, Air France is challenged on all segments of the medium-haul market, especially in Business, with the LH Group making a massive offensive on departure from CDG, with many “4 segments” below €400:

The number of European capitals accessible in “4 segments” on the LH Group from Paris around 400€ in Business is impressive. Source : Google Flights

The same research with SkyTeam is strikingly different. Source : Google Flights

The price positioning is therefore totally out of line with the market, especially with the French clientele, which is highly price-sensitive and has a much lower purchasing power than the German or English upper-middle class.

Bottom line

With such a pricing strategy, it is not surprising that Air France continues to decrease its medium-haul network… While it is possible to increase its profitability by using the enormous potential of the powerful CDG-AMS double hub. It is not too late to react!