Air France 2011 Annual Report Download - page 28

26 _ AIR FRANCE-KLM 2010-11 Annual Report
I N T E R V I E W
Won’t the development of these new growth areas
be to the detriment of the medium-haul network?
On the contrary! Our aim is to reinforce the feeding
of our hubs and our presence in Europe, while reducing
our operating costs.
Faced with the crisis which particularly affected the medium-
haul network, in 2009-10 the Group decided to respond
by launching a new European offer. One year after its launch,
this offensive clearly responds to customer needs.
This satisfaction has been reflected, in particular, in a very
significant increase in Premium Economy traffic amounting
to more than 60%. The main objective, which was to
encourage the return of the best customers, has thus been
achieved. Having restructured its
medium-haul network in 2010, in April
2011 KLM launched the redefinition of its
offer for Business customers. Business
class was thus reviewed to respond,
as at Air France, to the customer need
for flexibility and comfort. To reinforce
the feeding of our hub, we also signed
a number of major partnership
agreements including the one with
FlyBe in July 2010, offering Air France
customers 45 new routes between
France and the United Kingdom and
17 domestic flights on the FlyBe network,
connecting at Birmingham, Manchester or Southhampton.
Lastly, to return to profitable growth on departure from
the French regions, Air France is preparing to launch
a veritable commercial offensive out of the French provincial
capitals. Our aim is to significantly increase our domestic
offer while offering new non-stop flights to Europe and
the Mediterranean basin. This project opens the way to
recapturing a significant portion of the activity on departure
from these cities and marks a modest revolution in which
everyone could be a winner.
Will the Group’s growth involve partnerships
or the launch of new routes?
We want to reinforce our leadership in Europe by developing
our network and introducing new destinations. But we also
plan to rely on our partnerships and particularly SkyTeam.
The recovery in global growth, which the Group is
accompanying with increased capacity, opens up new
development prospects for our network. We have increased
our capacity on existing destinations by operating larger
aircraft and adding frequencies. We have also launched new
destinations and increased the number
of destinations served out of both
Paris-CDG and Amsterdam-Schiphol.
The Group thus plans to operate
no fewer than seven additional long-haul
destinations relative to the Summer
2010 season including Kigali in Rwanda,
Freetown in Sierra Leone, Monrovia
in Liberia, Phnom Penh in Cambodia
and Xiamen in China. Our powerful
trans-Atlantic joint-venture also facilitates
the opening of new destinations such
as Orlando and Cancun.
Partnerships and joint-venture agreements effectively feed
the flights with passenger flows and reinforce the Group’s
competiveness on the routes covered by these agreements.
This is why the strong development of SkyTeam is a major
strength for the Group. Seven new members, all located in
rapidly-growing markets, should join the current 14 alliance
members by 2012. The alliance’s positioning in China will
be exceptional since it will, in time, number four Chinese
airlines representing 40% of the domestic market, with
a presence in the largest Chinese cities together with other
rapidly-growing regions.
“Air France
is launching
a veritable
offensive
on departure
from the
French
regions.”