Air France is gearing up to switch to its winter schedule, which will feature eight new routes and five new destinations. SAS’ switch to the SkyTeam Alliance will drive this winter expansion.
Here comes winter
The International Air Transport Association ( IATA
) summer is coming to a close, and airlines are getting ready to switch gears to winter schedules. For Air France
, this means adding eight new routes and five destinations. Additionally, the airline plans to roll out a new La Premiere Cabin at the end of the year.
Earlier today, the airline announced that its network will reach 169 destinations in 73 countries this winter. The five new destinations will be split into four new long-haul services and one medium-haul. Its new routes will reach Tanzania, Brazil, Philippines, Maldives, and Sweden.
Photo: Freddy Florent | Shutterstock
From October 28, Air France will fly thrice weekly to Salvador, the capital of the state of Bahia. This will become the airline’s fifth destination in Brazil, bringing the airline’s operations to up to 32 weekly flights to the South American country. The Airbus A350-900 will be the aircraft deployed to Salvador.
“Inaugurating a new route for the company is a very special moment. It is a milestone that reinforces our commitment to bringing more people from around the world to Bahia and the Northeast and to fostering tourism in Brazil, one of the countries that received the most investment from Air France last year, and also to taking Bahians to Paris and dozens of other places around the world.” – Manuel Flahault, General Director of South America, Air France-KLM Group
On November 18, Air France will launch the second new route for the winter, to Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Like Salvador, the flights will be operated thrice weekly on Airbus A350-900s. With the addition of Kilimanjaro, Air France will serve 26 African destinations this winter (excluding North Africa).
December 7 will mark the launch of a new route to Asia. Starting that day, Air France will fly to Manila thrice weekly, complementing KLM’s four weekly flights. By joining forces, the Air France-KLM Group will operate service from Europe to Manila daily.
Manila flights will also be operated on the Airbus A350-900. With the new route, Air France will serve ten Asian routes. Flights to the Maldives run twice weekly from December 20 to January 5, 2025, on the Boeing 777-300ER.
Photo: Jake Hardiman | Simple Flying
On December 21, Air France will add service to its fifth route in Lapland. Flights to Kiruna will operate once weekly on the airline’s Airbus A319s from the 21st to March 8. This winter, Air France’s short and medium-haul networks will have more than 630 daily flights.
Increasing services
The United States (US) has not been left out of Air France’s winter expansion. In upcoming months, the airline will continue service on one previously summer-only route and another recently launched one. Flights to Denver International Airport (DEN) will continue to operate thrice weekly.
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), which only began to see Air France service in May, will also have three weekly flights. In North America alone, Air France will have 235 weekly flights to 23 destinations.