Air France aims at CSeries jets

Air France has plans to bring in new CSeries jets and mid-haul airplanes for their local and middle-range lines. The airline is thinking to buy these models from Bombardier Inc., Airbus, and Boeing Inc.

Recently, Air France’s corporate and new aircraft planning senior vice president shared that the airline has successfully slashed the operating cost by 1 % per annum for its long-tow sector. However, the airline is not able to achieve similar success for their medium-tow segment where they are using A320 series aircrafts. That is why Air France is eager to update some of the old A320 family planes.

Jean-Cyril Spinetta, CEO of Air France has disclosed that they have been asking Boeing and Airbus to fasten their rekindling program for A320 and B737 series. Nevertheless, the two manufacturers are engrossed in their bigger aircrafts and overlooking these mid-haul planes. Both the aircraft manufacturers say that they would update these planes once they get assurance that the new technical improvements are actually effective.

According to an analyst, the CSeries that has 110-130 seats can reduce operating costs by 20%. This can prove to be a very good choice for Air France. Brit Air, a local subsidiary of Air France has become the launch customer for new CRJ1000 from Bombardier.

In one of the interviews, Air France spokesperson, Brigitte Barrand said that they are directly following progress of CSeries by Bombardier and other similar programs from different player in the market.

Whereas, Sylvie Gauthier, a spokesperson from Bombardier commented that they are conducting discussions with many airlines all over the world. She has not specifically mentioned anything about Air France.

Please visit www.airfrance.com for more details