On November 29, Air France held a presentation to mark the 70th anniversary of its service to Japan. Seventy years ago, in November 1952, the airline launched its first scheduled flight between Haneda and Paris as the first flight between Japan and France. On the day of the event, there were announcements of the flight plan for the 2023 summer timetable, the introduction of a new business class, and the reopening of first class service.
At the beginning of the meeting, Henri de Peyrelongue, Air France-KLM Group Director and Executive Vice President Commercial Sales, reported on the company’s current situation.
Mr. Peyrelong said, “The airline industry was severely impacted by the Corona disaster, but international demand has been active in summer 2022 and has recovered to 70% of 2019 levels. Domestic demand has recovered to 90% of 2019,” he reported. Regarding the current situation in the Asian region, he said, “Although it exceeded the level in 2021, it has not returned to the pre-Corona level,” but expressed hope that “it is on a gradual recovery path.
He also stated that they will continue to invest in aircraft and lounges, and introduced a new lounge that will open in 2021 at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. The new two-story lounge, with a floor space of 3,000 m2 and 570 seats, has been highly acclaimed by passengers, and the company hopes to expand the lounge to other regions.
He concluded, “Paris has major sporting events coming up, with the Rugby World Cup in 2023 and the Olympics in 2024, so we expect demand from Japan to increase.”
© Source travel watch