Air France steps up regional offensive
Published: 07/12/2011 - Filed under: News »
Unlike our British Airways, which has axed international service from every UK city bar London, Air France is taking a different tack.
France’s national airline already flies overseas from the (French) regions. But in a bid to outflank its rivals the number and range of destinations is being stepped up under what Air France calls an “offensive”.
The extra routes came on stream starting with Marseilles last October. Next year the offensive will continue in Nice, Toulouse and Bordeaux.
It means business and leisure travellers in these four important cities will have a far greater range of international short and medium-range destinations from which to choose and all served by the national airline. In turn that will translate into greater opportunities for business, trade and tourism.
It is a development which will make the citizens of our Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh green with envy.
Air France’s new international routes from Marseilles see the famous port city linked to Copenhagen and Prague. March 25 sees the addition of Barcelona, Hamburg and Venice.
Next April will see the addition of 22 new routes from Nice and Toulouse. Most are international services with the citizens of Toulouse now being able to fly direct to business cities such as Athens, Berlin, Brussels, Geneva, Hamburg, Istanbul, Prague, Venice and Vienna.
Nice sees six new routes including the addition of Barcelona, Istanbul and Tel Aviv. A similar expansion will take place in Bordeaux later next year with the details yet to be announced.
According to a statement, “Air France has been carrying out an offensive strategy with departures from the regions in order to regain market share in the short to medium-haul market. In a highly competitive environment, the company has reorganised its network to increase use of aircraft and improve productivity.”
It is believed Air France’s initiative is aimed at countering the growth of budget airlines in France. In particular, Easyjet has grown so much in France it’s now the country’s second largest airline (in terms of market share). If that wasn’t enough, now comes news that Easyjet plans to open two new bases in, surprise surprise, Toulouse and Nice by summer 2012.
Easyjet currently operates 16 routes from Nice and 11 from Toulouse. From next summer it will add five additional routes from each of these cities.
All in all, it’s good news for travellers. Not only will they have more choice but more seats spell keener fares. However in this uncertain economic climate, only time will tell whether the airlines can find enough passengers to fill all this extra capacity.
For more information visit airfrance.com.
Report by Alex McWhirter
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