Air France is gradually increasing its flights from the UK this summer, after operating only a skeleton service through April and May from London Heathrow, Manchester and Edinburgh for essential travel and repatriation.
This month Air France has resumed scheduled operations from Birmingham, Edinburgh, Newcastle, as well as London Heathrow and Manchester, and now operates a daily service from both London Heathrow and Manchester to its hub at Paris CDG, with onward connections to 150 European and intercontinental destinations.
The airline says frequency will increase further from July, 13, 2020 with the Heathrow service rising to three times daily, and Manchester rising to twice-daily.
July will also see a resumption of services from Birmingham, Edinburgh and Newcastle. Gradual frequency increases throughout the summer period will result in the carrier reaching 35 per cent of the capacity initially planned for July and 40 per cent for August, with a total of 80 per cent of its pre-Covid global network having flights, with reduced frequencies, in summer 2020.
Benedicte Duval, General Manager for UK and Ireland said, “After this challenging period, we are delighted to be in a position to resume flights from almost all of our UK stations this summer and we look forward to once again connecting UK business and leisure passengers with our worldwide network via Paris CDG.”
Safety
In line with UK government guidelines, Air France requires customers to wear a surgical mask throughout their journey. Customers are notified of these requirements via all communication channels (e-mail, sms, websites) prior to departure and will be asked to ensure they possess one or more masks for their trip.
This is in addition to a range of health and safety measures implemented by Air France in response to the COVID-19 health crisis, which include:
- The compulsory wearing of surgical masks for all airline crew members and airport handling agents in contact with customers
- The modification of customer channels on the ground with the implementation of physical distancing along the customer journey at the airport and the installation of Plexiglas protection screens at airports each time it is possible.
- The introduction of temperature checks for passengers on departure. These systematic checks will be carried out with contactless infrared thermometers. Customers whose temperature is higher than 38°C may be denied boarding and their reservation will be changed at no extra charge to a flight at a later date.
- The implementation of physical distancing in the airport and on board where this is possible. Current low load factors make it possible to separate customers in most circumstances. In cases where this is not possible, compulsory face masks ensure adequate health protection
- The reinforcement of daily aircraft cleaning procedures, with the disinfection of all surfaces in contact with customers such as armrests, tables and screens
- The introduction of a specific procedure for the periodic disinfecting aircraft by spraying an approved virucidal product effective for 10 days
- Adapting in-flight service to limit interaction between customers and crew members. On domestic flights and short flights in Europe, meal and beverage services have been suspended. On long-haul flights, cabin service is limited and preference is given to individually wrapped products.
In addition, the air in the cabin is renewed every three minutes. The air recycling system on board Air France aircraft is equipped with “High Efficiency Particulate Air” or HEPA filters, identical to those used in hospital operating theatres. These filters extract more than 99.99 per cent of the smallest viruses, including those no larger than 0.01 micrometres, thus ensuring that cabin air complies with quality standards. Coronavirus type viruses, ranging in size from 0.08 to 0.16 micrometres, are filtered through the HEPA filters.
Air France is offering free changes to date and destinations for all bookings made until June 30, 2021.
