Air France has announced its first Airbus A350 flights. As a matter of fact, passengers can now make reservations for Airbus A350 flights on Air France's website.

Air France Airbus A350
Air France's first Airbus A350 will enter service in a few months. Photo: Airbus.

Which routes will the Airbus A350 serve?

As reported by Routes Online, the airline will initially use its Airbus A350 on the route between Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG), Bamako-Senou International Airport (BKO) in Mali, and Abidjan's Felix Houphouet Boigny International Airport (ABJ). This service will start on September 23rd.

Flight AF520 is scheduled to leave CDG at 10:10 am and arrive at BKO 1:50 pm. The flight from BKO to ABJ departs at 3:00 pm and arrives at 4:35 pm.

The return flight, Flight AF521, will leave ABJ at 6:50 pm arriving at BKO at 8:35 pm. It will then depart BKO at 10:50 pm arriving in Paris at 6:10 am the next day.

This Airbus A350 service is scheduled through December 8th. Additionally, Air France will fly its A350 from Seoul's Incheon International Airport (ICN) to Paris on March 29th, 2020.

Air France's Airbus A350

Air France has placed orders for a total of 21 Airbus A350-900 aircraft. The airline will take delivery of its first Airbus A350-900 in September. At this time, the aircraft is still at the assembly plant in Toulouse, France, although according to Airlinerwatch it is getting close to completion. The aircraft was seen outside the Airbus facility the other day, and appears to be fully assembled; however, it is still missing its engines. Additionally, the fuselage needs to be painted in Air France's colors, and the interior needs to be installed.

The aircraft's business class

All business class seats on Air France's Airbus A350 will have direct aisle access. This is what the seating configuration looks like:

Air France A350 Business Class Configuration
Air France's Airbus A350 aircraft will offer 34 business class seats. Photo: Air France.

Even though the interior still needs to be installed, we can already catch a glimpse of it. Air France has chosen Zodiac Aerospace's Optima seat for its business class. Here is a video introducing the seat:

According to the manufacturer, Optima is "the most highly optimized business class solution." It combines "passenger comfort and airlines' operational efficiency."

Optima Business Class Seat Bed View
This is what the Optima Business Class seat looks like when it is folded into a bed. Photo: Safran.

In addition to the 34 seats in Business Class, the aircraft will feature 24 seats in Premium Economy and 266 seats in Economy Class. The seats in Premium Economy will be configured in a 2-4-2 layout. There are rumors that Recaro will provide the seats for Premium Economy, although these rumors have not been confirmed. As well as awesome seats, Air France's A350-900s will feature Zodiac's RAVE inflight entertainment system.

Are you looking forward to Air France's Airbus A350 flights?