Paris, France | March 18, 2019– The French startup SKYdeals reinvents travel retail thanks to its solution of Inflight Shoppertainment. SKYdeals strengthens its ties with the group by partnering with Air France to launch a pilot of its technology on several lines of the medium and long-haul networks of the airline.

SKYdeals is now on AIR

Since January 2019, the e-commerce platform SKYdeals is available on long, medium and short-haul flights equipped with an Internet connection to travelers from all countries: North America, South America, Europe, North Africa, Middle East, Asia and Oceania.

Julien Sivan, CEO of SKYdeals, says: “We are pleased that Air France is giving SKYdeals the opportunity to deploy our new inflight shoppertainment services. From now on, we can experience a large number of preferred offers to passengers. It will be interesting to measure the evolution of buying behaviors on board, which is a world premiere. We would like to thank Air France for their trust and support. With the arrival of Wi-Fi on the majority of the fleets worldwide, we hope to be able to reach an audience of more than 200 million passengers a year within five years.”

A major innovation for inflight entertainment 

Freely accessible from any device, SKYdeals is available to passengers from Air France Connect, the connectivity portal of Air France.

Considered as the future of travel retail, SKYdeals relies on two major innovations.

The first marketplace dedicated to travelers currently flying which allows brands to promote preferred offers to passengers available during the time of their flight.

The unique targeting capacity of SKYdeals allows to offer a unique shopping experience on board. SKYdeals has the ability to target offers based on the travelers’ profiles and destination. Premium brands or confidential brands, already present or not duty free, will have the opportunity to offer passengers a series of exclusive offers on the platform, up to 50% off. 

Inflight Shoppertainment features, consisting of a set of dynamic commercial offers, allow passengers to be entertain while enjoying advantageous offers:

• Flyover offers: preferred offers triggered according to the area and the country overflown and are only available during the flyover time.
• Group Buying offers: passengers on the same flight may grouped together to obtain more advantageous offers.
• Flash sales:  these offers are valid for 15 minutes at specific times during the flight.
• Flying Auctions: Real auctions lasting the time of the flight.

With these features available, each connection to SKYdeals promises to be both entertaining and advantageous.

The ambition of this first deployment is a live trial of all these new offers with travelers from all nationalities and on a large number of routes.

Paris, France | June 22, 2017– Last Thursday, SkyLights was delighted to have been awarded ‘Les As De L’Innovation’ at the Paris Air Forum. The award was presented by Air France CEO, Franck Terner, in recognition of SkyLights’ entrepreneurial journey, innovative solution and market potential.

The news of this achievement came just hours after Air France-KLM CEO, Jean-Marc Janaillac, took the stage at Vivatech, Paris, to reveal the airline’s plans to nurture new innovation. Through its brand new ‘T3 Fundraiser’ programme, Air France will invest in innovative companies, with SkyLights being named the first to benefit.

In other news, AccorHotels Group also announced at VivaTech that it would partner with SkyLights to launch a pilot of its immersive entertainment solution in the executive rooms of Novotel, La Defense. The programme will start this Autumn, and will give guests the opportunity to enjoy 2D and 3D films and series in their own personal movie theatre.

France | Wednesday May 24, 2017– Air France (AF) and SITAONAIR today announce a new deal to deliver seamless aircraft data to AF’s top-flight operations and maintenance optimization programs.

Under the partnership, SITAONAIR’s new e-Aircraft® DataCapture solution will capture, dissect and deliver high-quality, immediate aircraft data, significantly bolstering performance monitoring across Air France Airbus aircraft. SITAONAIR’s deployment of DataCapture across AF’s Airbus fleet began in January 2017.

The e-Aircraft® DataCapture system works by collecting, compressing and encrypting an aircraft’s Quick Access Recorder (QAR) or Digital ACMS Recorder (DAR) data, and ensures it is automatically and immediately transmitted after landing, using 3G, to a ground server provided by SITAONAIR. The complete data is then sent to Air France’s data analysis system for instant analysis and response.

Many airlines manually collect aircraft post-flight and health data as part of an overnight maintenance regime, meaning a delay of hours after a flight has landed before data is retrieved.

Replacing manual collection with SITAONAIR’s automatic e-Aircraft® DataCapture equips airlines with instant detailed insight into their fleets, from how aircraft are operating, to investigating incidents and performing maintenance diagnostics.

This cost- and time-efficient solution also helps airlines optimize staffing resources and supports seamless transitions, which help reduce the time aircraft spend on the ground.

David Lavorel, CEO of SITAONAIR, says: “SITAONAIR has an excellent working relationship with Air France, with whom we have collaborated closely since 2014 on e-Aircraft® DataCapture. This is yet another example of how SITAONAIR’s 100%-aviation communications expertise is resolving the challenges faced by the modern airline industry head-on. With our intelligent new-generation data solutions, airlines have the tools to advance their critical flight operations and maintenance operation programs, and really deliver.”

Pierre-Yves Benain, Head of Portfolio and Strategy, e-Aircraft at SITAONAIR, says: “Our intelligent e-Aircraft® DataCapture solution is already making aircraft data easier for airlines to access; reducing data retrieval time from days to minutes, without mobilizing maintenance resources. Thanks to DataCapture, airlines can get an immediate detailed picture of all parameters recorded inflight by a QAR or DAR recorder. With our Cloud-based solution, our intention is to provide an end-to-end, expert data management service at business continuity level, freeing up airlines to focus on their core operations and engineering priorities.”

Air France’s e-Aircraft® DataCapture project leader added: “We are really pleased to be taking SITAONAIR’s e-Aircraft® DataCapture system onboard. It will enable us to complete the deployment of automated QAR/DAR data collection across our Airbus fleet for our Flight and Maintenance Operational Quality Assurance programs. SITAONAIR has been instrumental in the integration of the solution into our existing on-board hardware and ground systems.”

To find out more about e-Aircraft® DataCapture and our other aircraft data management solutions, speak to your local SITAONAIR contact, or visit www.sitaonair.aero/products/on-board-device-applications-and-services/e-aircraft-datacapture/

Ontario, Canada | August 31, 2016– The SESAR JU RISE project continues to prove the benefits of performance based navigation (PBN) throughout Europe. In the latest set of flight trials, DSNA, the civil aviation authority of France, and Air France, Air Corsica and easyJet have assessed the PBN procedures designed for Ajaccio and Nice through a series of demonstration flight trials. The RISE Project, which seeks to improve airport accessibility, enhance safety and reduce environmental impact at airports throughout Europe, is co-financed by SESAR Joint Undertaking and its partners.

DSNA stated, “The trials in Nice and Ajaccio prove that PBN holds the key to improving airport accessibility and enhancing safety in our airspace. In Nice, not only were we able to lower the approach minima nearly 900 feet, we were also able to restrict the flight path in order to provide a fully repeatable path.”

SESAR JU has been working with NAVBLUE, formerly Airbus ProSky, part of “Services by Airbus”, DSNA and Air France, Emirates, EasyJet, Air Corsica to design and test PBN procedures. In Nice and Ajaccio, the procedures designed by DSNA enhance safety by providing a fully managed approach down to the runway threshold. Previously there were only visual prescribed track (VPT) procedures in place at Ajaccio RWY20 and at Nice RWY22. The new approaches will improve airport accessibility by lowering the minima. It could also reduce the noise impact on the city of Ajaccio, compared to the current procedure.

The Nice and Ajaccio flight trials are part of the more than 330 flight trials conducted so far in collaboration with the partner airlines and ANSPs since September 2015 in France, Greece, Cyprus and Portugal. These trials allowed capturing feedback from flight crew and air traffic controllers on the procedures in terms of fly-ability, safety, crew and ATC workload, as well as assess savings in CO2 emissions and fuel consumption reduction.

• French flag carrier was launch customer for 777-300ER, 777 Freighter

Paris, France | April 26, 2016– Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Air France marked a milestone today with the delivery of the airline’s 70th 777.

The French flag carrier has played a pivotal role is the success of the 777 program and was the launch customer for both the 777-300ER in 2004 and the 777 Freighter in 2009. Air France took delivery of its first 777-200ER in March 1998.

“The 777 range has been one of the pillars of Air France’s fleet growth,” said Frédéric Gagey, CEO of Air France. “The Boeing 777 has gained a reputation for its reliability, economic performance and comfort, offering our passengers the highest standards.”

Since the late 1950s when it took delivery of its first 707, Air France has operated nearly every commercial airplane Boeing has produced. Today, the 777 is the workhorse of the Paris-based carrier’s long-haul fleet, with the airline serving more than 179 destinations in 80 countries last year.

“Air France has successfully utilized 777 variants across both its passenger and cargo operations for two decades to remain at the forefront of commercial aviation in terms of performance, economics and passenger comfort,” said John Wojick, senior vice president Global Sales and Marketing, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “We are honored that a carrier as prestigious as Air France has chosen the 777 to form the backbone of its long-haul fleet and are proud of our historic partnership that stretches back more than 60 years.”

Air France is part of the Air France-KLM Group, which is the second largest 777 operator in the world. The Group also has unfilled orders for 25 787 Dreamliners as well as lease agreements for an additional 12 787s.

• World leading airline chooses RAVE for retrofit

AIX Hamburg, Germany | April 5, 2016– Zodiac Aerospace has announced at the Aircraft Interiors Expo that Air France has selected Zodiac Inflight Innovations to install its ground-breaking inflight entertainment solution as well as Zodiac Seat France seat for all classes. Air France has selected RAVE(TM) Centric IFE and Zodiac Seats for the upcoming retrofit of their Airbus A330 fleet – 15 aircraft in total.

“The world’s leading airlines are selecting Zodiac Inflight Innovations solutions, which shows how much momentum we now have,” said Larry Girard, Executive Vice President at Zodiac Inflight Innovations. “Airlines love RAVE™ Centric IFE because it is reliable, with a significant cost savings over traditional and is highly easy to maintain. RAVE Centric is very easy both to install and for the cabin crew and passengers alike to use.”

The RAVE™ Centric IFE interface mirrors the usability everyone is used to on their smartphones and tablets, from capacitive touch, high resolution screens to app-based functionality. Content includes on-demand movies, TV shows, music, radio and a moving map just to name a few. It includes an integrated USB charger, so there is no need to fear dead phones as well as traditional “PC Power” for passengers to be able to charge their laptops. On top of that, passengers’ personal electronic devices can be paired with the seat-back screen, so passengers can use their PEDs for interaction with the seatback display.

“RAVE™ Centric is an embedded modular inflight entertainment system”, continued Girard. “It provides airlines with a wide range of choices for different cabins including screen size, passenger control units and we are constantly staying on top if not ahead of the latest trends. Uniquely, each seat is independent, so a failure – and they are very rare – in one seat will not impact another. More importantly, our dockable seat display means the crew can quickly replace the seat display during the flight.”

Mr. Pierre-Olivier Kerbec from Air France stated, “Air France has watched RAVE and Zodiac Inflight Innovations grow over these past years and have noticed RAVE has caught up with its competition. RAVE Centric provides all of the expected features that a premium carrier expects from an IFE system and is backed by the creative and responsive team at Zodiac Inflight Innovations. We can hardly wait to experience RAVE on our A330s.”

• Upgrade significantly reduces aircraft weight, works independently or with variety of passenger entertainment solutions

Cedar Rapids, Iowa | January 5, 2016– Air France Industries will soon upgrade four Airbus A330 aircraft for one of its customers with Rockwell Collins’ PAVES™ Passenger Services System (PSS). The standalone, cost-effective reading light and cabin crew call system with USB charging port brings several benefits, including a significant reduction in aircraft weight.

Depending on the system it replaces, PAVES PSS can bring weight savings that exceed 1,000 pounds, producing millions of dollars saved annually from a significant reduction in fuel cost. Other benefits of upgrading to PAVES PSS include:

• Flexibility to operate as an independent system or with a variety of passenger entertainment solutions, including wireless, connectivity or overhead IFE such as PAVES Broadcast
• Greater efficiency as it requires much less power to operate than legacy systems
• Improved reliability resulting in a noticeable reduction in recurring maintenance costs.

“Our PSS provides a long-lasting solution to ensure that twin-aisle cabins are equipped for the future,” said Greg Irmen, vice president and general manager, Flight Controls and Information Systems for Rockwell Collins. “A big challenge airlines face with legacy reading light and cabin call systems is dealing with obsolescence. With PSS, airlines can rest easier knowing they can meet regulatory requirements and keep their aircraft in service.”

Rockwell Collins teamed with Air France Industries on this cabin solution—Air France Industries designed the installation and continues to develop innovative solutions generated by Rockwell Collins’ new products.

Deliveries of PAVES PSS to Air France Industries will begin this month.

PAVES PSS is part of Rockwell Collins’ complete portfolio of PAVES IFE and connectivity solutions that meet the passenger engagement needs of any airline, including seat-centric IFE, broadcast and wireless IFE, high-speed broadband connectivity, moving map and passenger services systems—all from one company.

Los Angeles, CA | December 8, 2014– Global Eagle Entertainment Inc. (Nasdaq: ENT), a worldwide leading provider of content, connectivity and digital media solutions to airlines, today announced it will provide an inflight entertainment and connectivity (IFE&C) trial on board Air France in partnership with global telecom giant Orange.

On November 27th, Air France and Orange announced that they will test Wi-Fi on board short and medium-haul flights for a period of three months, starting mid-2015.

To successfully deploy Air France’s IFE&C solution on two Airbus A320 aircraft, Global Eagle Entertainment (GEE) and Orange Business Services, the division of Orange that is dedicated to providing integrated IT and telecom solutions for multinational businesses, have reached an agreement to deliver an integrated IFE&C solution to drive new innovations. Supporting the digital transformation of Air France, the new solution will enhance the overall passenger experience.

GEE will combine its Ku-band satellite connectivity solution, its inflight wireless portal and IFE content with Orange Business Services’ expertise in end-to-end integration services.

Orange Business Services will benefit from GEE’s leadership and expertise in inflight entertainment and connectivity to make this pilot phase with Air France a success.

“This partnership and new connectivity project offers the most technically advanced and commercially pioneering IFE&C solution in the industry,” said Dave Davis, Chief Executive Officer of Global Eagle Entertainment. “Orange’s expertise in mobile solutions and end-to-end integration, combined with GEE’s connectivity solutions and content offering, will provide Air France and its passengers a cutting-edge inflight solution. Having worked with Air France for over 10 years on content, we are excited to expand the relationship by adding connectivity and partnering with Orange.”

• Air France launches Betria Interactive’s FlightPath3D Moving Map & Destination City Guide this summer on the first of their 777 fleet

Irvine, California | August 12, 2014– The Air France/KLM product innovation team selected FlightPath3D from Betria Interactive to deliver their next generation Moving Map & ‘geotainment’ service. This new service recently launched on the first of its updated fleet of Air France 777s serving dozens of international routes.

“We were very impressed with the quality, performance and experience of the product and felt that FlightPath3D delivered far above all other options,” noted Peter Verheijde, Director Product Innovation at AF KLM speaking of the recent Air France 777 service launch. “FlightPath3D is a centerpiece in our new service offering and really demonstrates the capabilities of the new Panasonic in-seat experience and new premium video handsets. It was a pleasure to work with Betria and to see this program come together so quickly. They have truly exceeded our expectations.”

The FlightPath3D service for Air France supports Panasonic’s new Android Video Handset Remote Control. Air France’s service includes 25,000 named locations across the world in up to 12 languages. The City Destination Guide initially covers 36 destination cities and will expand over time to cover many more Air France destination cities with detailed, street level city maps and rich, multi-media Point-of-Interest information.

“The FlightPath3D product suite delivers both an engaging experience and a next generation service that can ensure content remains current and relevant to the passenger’s interests,” offered Boris Veksler, President of Betria Interactive. “We are excited to have such a great partner as Air France to launch our new Video Handset Application and look forward to amazing and entertaining their audience for many years to come.”

Air France is currently engaged in a major upgrading project and now offers the FlightPath3D service on brand new, high-definition touchscreen displays in all its newly unveiled passenger cabins (Economy, Premium Business and La Première). A fleet of 44 Boeing 777 long-haul aircraft is progressively being fitted out with the new cabins to ensure optimum comfort for all passengers. KLM will also be offering the FlightPath3D service on board its upgraded aircraft from November 2014.

＊ Android is a registered trademark of Google Inc.
＊ Panasonic is a registered trademark of Panasonic Corporation

Toulouse, France | July 2, 2014– Air France, Orange, SITA, Toulouse-Blagnac Airport and RESA have joined forces to provide the first seamless boarding experience in Europe with Near Field Communications (NFC) technology. Over the next six months, the Touch&Pass app will allow a panel of passengers travelling on Air France flights from Toulouse-Blagnac to Paris-Orly to use their Orange NFC-based smartphones to quickly and conveniently move through the airport—from the airport entrance until they board their plane.

The technology will enable passengers to automatically receive their NFC boarding pass on their smartphones using their usual check-in method. By simply tapping their mobile on dedicated readers in the airport, they will then be able to quickly and easily pass through the different steps of their journey, including priority lanes for security control, lounge access and boarding.

The boarding pass will be read automatically, even if the phone is locked, or the battery is dead. By leveraging the technical specification developed by SITA, the RESA reader can retrieve the correct boarding pass, even if there are multiple boarding passes present on the phone. In addition to saving time, passengers will benefit from a comfortable, stress-free journey, with no need to search for and display a barcode or a printed document.

Jean-Christophe Gaudeau, Ground Product Innovation Manager at Air France KLM, said: “Air France is committed to constantly searching for new products, innovative solutions and services that can improve the travel experience for our customers and make their trip easier before, during and after their flight. Air France’s participation in the testing of NFC technology at boarding illustrates its desire to be a pioneer in the field of innovation for the benefit of our passengers.”

Jim Peters, Chief Technology Officer, SITA, said: “This is a perfect example of how SITA and our strategic research arm, SITA Lab, collaborate with our partners to test a variety of new technologies and lead innovation in the air transport industry. This trial with Air France and Orange marks the first NFC boarding pass that provides a truly interoperable and scalable solution for the industry.”

Thierry Millet, Vice President of Mobile Payments and Contactless Program at Orange, said, “NFC technology allows Air France passengers to test this new way to embark. It’s simpler and faster. The new solution relies on two industry standards: an IATA standard from the air transport industry and an NFC standard from GSMA for the mobile industry. This opens the door to a large-scale industrial roll-out.”

Renaud Willard, Sales & Marketing Director, RESA, said, “Making passenger facilitation its top priority, RESA has seamlessly integrated NFC technology into the daily operations of Toulouse-Blagnac Airport. NFC brings speed, easiness and a paperless experience to the airport environment. Passengers don’t have to think any longer about their boarding pass, the battery life of their smartphone or the rotation of their screen. They just walk through the airport, simply tapping their phone on the RESA readers.”

Air France and Orange will invite a few hundred Air France Gold and Platinum Flying Blue members to participate in the trial. Orange will provide the NFC infrastructure and SIM cards for the trial. SITA has developed the NFC specifications that enable this technology to work in an airport environment, a toolkit for mobile integration and the boarding pass delivery infrastructure between Air France and Orange. Air France will provide the Touch&Pass NFC apps for the smartphones, and RESA will provide the check-in, boarding, and fast-lane processing systems for Toulouse-Blagnac Airport, including e-Gates for security checks and self-boarding.

The trial will run until 31 Dec, 2014 on the popular flight from Toulouse-Blagnac Airport to Paris-Orly Airport.

Toulouse-Blagnac Airport is the fifth-largest airport in France based on passenger traffic and a leading business airport. In 2013, the airport served more than 7.5 million passengers, up 0.1% from the year before. The airport provides services to 32 airlines with regularly scheduled flights to 16 domestic locations and 43 international connections.

London, UK | June 11, 2013– IFP, the Passenger Experience Provider™, today announced it will be managing Air France’s entire catalogue of world inflight movies on board the airline’s international flights.

Air France, which operates 1,500 daily flights worldwide, has an impressive array of regional and localized content including Arabic, Hindi, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Latin Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese in-flight programming, among many other languages.

IFP’s extended content agreement comes as Air France continues to expand its global footprint with new flights to Montevideo and Kuala Lumpur.

London, UK | May 29, 2013–From today (Wednesday 29 May), customers on selected Air France-KLM flights will be able to send text messages, check emails and browse the internet, thanks to Panasonic Avionics’ eXPhone service and AeroMobile, the leading inflight mobile phone operator.

The Dutch-French airline will launch the service on two flights today; a KLM flight from Amsterdam to Panama and an Air France flight from Paris Charles de Gaulle to New York JFK. The service will initially be available on two Boeing B777-300 aircraft.

A registered GSM service provider for the aviation industry, AeroMobile provides the mobile network for airline passengers to roam inflight.

Passengers on Air France-KLM flights will initially be able to use SMS and data services from the aircraft, as long as their mobile operator has a roaming agreement with AeroMobile.

AeroMobile has agreements with over 220 mobile phone operators across 100 countries, including Orange and Bouygues in France and Telfort, KPN and Vodafone in the Netherlands. UK-based roaming partners include O2, Three and Vodafone.

Passengers who use the service are billed by their mobile phone operator, and prices vary depending on individual contracts. Prices are typically similar to ‘rest of world’ rates, or in some cases, lower.

“We’re delighted to add Air France-KLM to the list of high-profile airlines already offering the AeroMobile service to their passengers,” said Kevin Rogers, CEO of AeroMobile.

“Since we launched in 2008, over 17 million passengers have connected to AeroMobile inflight and we’re seeing huge demand from consumers who want to stay connected in the air. We expect the number of aircraft offering our service to double over the next 12 months, as more and more airlines see the benefit of offering inflight connectivity,” continues Rogers.

Flight CO2 Emissions Halved

October 13, 2011 — Air France and Airbus have completed the world’s greenest commercial flight by combining the latest fuel and air traffic management technologies. The flight from Toulouse-Blagnac to Paris-Orly using an Airbus A321 has been able to demonstrate the cutting in half of CO2 emitted compared to a regular flight.

The (AF6129) commercial flight combined for the first time the use of bio-fuels (50 per cent in each engine), optimised air traffic management (ATM) and efficient Continuous Descent Approach (CDA) to minimise CO2 emissions.

Combining these technologies helped half the overall CO2 emissions to 54 grams per passenger and kilometre. This is equivalent to a fuel efficiency of 2.2 litres of fuel per passenger and 100 Kilometres.

“We are proud of the success achieved by this innovative project, which is a synthesis of our many initiatives in the area of sustainable development. This fully-optimised green flight is another proof of Air France’s commitment to combine air transport growth with controlled CO2 emissions.” said Bertrand Lebel, Air France Executive Vice President Organisation and Corporate Social Responsability.

“This flight is the perfect example of Airbus global approach towards continuously reducing aviation’s CO2 footprint” said Andrea Debbane, Airbus Head Environmental Affairs. “This is not just a bio-fuel flight but the first flight that really puts into practice elements in the Airbus roadmap: bio-fuels, optimised ATM, green navigation.”

Bio-fuel is one solution for reducing overall CO2 emissions. Airbus’ alternative fuel strategy is to speed up its commercialisation through sustainable bio-fuel value chains. Thanks to several test flights and collaboration with the fuels standards bodies (ASTM and DefStan), today the use of 50 per cent bio-fuel blends are authorised in commercial flights.

A more efficient ATM system could also help reduce the amount of fuel burned by aircraft and therefore the CO2 emitted. Airbus strongly supports the streamlining of ATM and has launched a new subsidiary company, called “Airbus ProSky”, dedicated to the development and support of modern air traffic management (ATM) systems to achieve the highest operational efficiencies with more direct routings resulting in around 10 percent less aircraft fuel consumption, as well as significant reductions in CO2 and noise emissions.

CDA is becoming more widespread as a way to reduce fuel burn. During a CDA procedure, the aircraft descends continuously, avoiding level flight prior to the final approach and requires significantly less engine thrust and therefore less fuel burn.

SEATTLE, April 10, 2009 — Boeing [NYSE: BA] and longtime partner Air France celebrated significant milestones today with the delivery of the 777th Boeing 777 airplane. The new Boeing 777-300ER also will be the first to bear a new Air France livery and company brand identity.

The 777 family is the world’s most successful twin-engine, twin-aisle airplane. Fifty-six customers around the world have ordered just over 1,100 777s. The 777’s combination of unmatched payload and range, as well as the lowest fuel consumption and operating costs in its class, make it one of the most popular airplanes with passengers and airlines. Air France operates one of the largest fleets of 777s in the world and was the launch customer for both the 777-300ER and the 777 Freighter. “The 777 has been a valuable asset to the long-haul fleet of Air France and it is the right aircraft to allow us to maximize our revenues in the most economic and efficient manner,” said Pierre Vellay, senior vice president, New Aircraft & Corporate Fleet Planning, Air France.

“It is a fitting tribute to the success of the program that an industry leader such as Air France is taking delivery of our 777th 777,” said Aldo Basile vice president, Sales Europe, Russia and Central Asia for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “The 777 continues to offer an unbeatable combination of efficiency, economics and passenger comfort that places it at the forefront of modern commercial aviation.”

The relationship between Air France and Boeing goes back to the early days of the airline, which celebrated its 75th anniversary last year. Air France’s early fleet of DC-3s sported the distinctive silver and royal blue livery that was used to launch the airline.

Three generations of Boeing airplanes have carried three Air France liveries. The first was with the arrival of the jet age and the Boeing 707. The second opened up long-haul international travel, epitomized by the Boeing 747 and finally, today with the unveiling of the Boeing 777-300ER. The latest incarnation of the distinctive Air France livery continues the all-white theme but is intended to position the company in the 21st century as a truly international carrier that has more than half of its passengers based outside France.

Most efficient aircraft in its class

Airbus has delivered the 500th A321 ever produced. The aircraft was handed over to Air France at Airbus’ Delivery Centre in Hamburg. The A321 is the largest member of the best selling A320 Family. It is the most efficient single-aisle aircraft in its segment.

Air France’s A321 is equipped with Airbus’ enhanced single-aisle cabin and can accommodate 174 passengers in a comfortable two-class layout. The aircraft is powered by CFM 56-5B/3 engines.

“Air France was the first airline to operate the A320 and in our 75th anniversary year we are pleased to be receiving the 500th A321, the largest member of the family. Air France was also the first major airline to operate all four members of the A320 Family in 2003 and they have served us on our medium haul network and will continue to do so”, said Pierre Vellay, Senior VP New Aircraft and Corporate Fleet Planning Air France.

“We are delighted that Air France continues to renew its medium haul fleet with A321s; the preferred aircraft on medium range high-density routes,” said John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer, Customers. “Airbus invests around 100 million Euros every year to keep the A320 the most eco-efficient single aisle aircraft in the world. Reaching the milestone of 500 deliveries proves the sustainability of these investments and underlines the leading position of the A321 in its market segment in terms of operational efficiency, passenger comfort and environmental friendliness.”

The first A321 was delivered in 1994, as well as the first one to the Air France Group. Today Airbus has sold more than 750 A321s to about 65 customers all around the world.

While passengers are benefiting from a state of the art cabin design, wider seats, wider aisles and bigger overhead stowage, airlines profit from the unique operational flexibility of Airbus single-aisle aircraft.

Only Airbus-single aisle aircraft, like the A321, are able to accommodate containerised cargo thus adding profitability to airline operations. Airlines using the cargo system are minimizing turn around times and are able to easily exchange containers from its single-aisle operations into wide body aircraft operations. This increases efficiency in connecting international air-cargo transport and reducing the risk of damaging goods.

Commonality within the Airbus fly-by-wire product line also contributes to the A320 Family’s economics. The ability to use a single pool of pilots, cabin crew and maintenance personnel for the A318, A319, A320 and A321 saves money and gives airlines maximum flexibility in scheduling and planning.