Air France-KLM is offering minimal capacity growth and moving upmarket in a bid to win back passengers
Following the strike last month by Air France pilots, the group is focusing on the quality of product while its capacity will grow 0.7% for the forthcoming winter season.
A growth of 3.1% will be seen in short and medium-haul capacity at the Charles de Gaulle and Schipol hubs.
However, following the summer’s trend point-to-point short and medium-haul capacity will decrease by 11.3%.
Budget airline Transavia’s capacity will increase by 13.3% with growth of 56% concentrated on the French market.
Meanwhile the focus on better quality product means on the long-haul network 22 Boeing 747s have been equipped with KLM’s new world business class while the 777-200s will be finished before the summer of 2015.
The new class will then be implemented in the airline’s 777-300s and by the end of 2016 about 80% of the KLM fleet is expected to be finished.
Air France is continuing to roll out its new best cabins with five Boeing 777s equipped by the end of 2014.
Flights to New York, Singapore and Jakarta have already benefitted from the upgrade while services to a number of cities including Shanghai and Dubai will be added to the list over the forthcoming winter.
Air France has also added two new destinations, Miami and Abidjan, to the list of places it will be flying to with an A380 this winter.
Alexandre de Juniac, chairman and chief executive of the Air France-KLM Group, said: “Our ambition is clear: to develop, as part of the deployment of our growth and competitiveness plan Perform 2020, an airline group that is among the industry leaders.
“To win back all of our markets, we need to take action on two major, complementary areas.
“Firstly, we must continue the move upmarket of all our products and services, to return as soon as possible to the highest international level.
“Secondly, we must accelerate the development of our ‘low-cost leisure’ activity, with the strong growth of Transavia in France.”