Yesterday, Air France executives hosted a breakfast in downtown Toronto. This took place after flying in on the airline's new Airbus A350 the day before. Air France’s first A350 will now carry passengers on daily flights into Paris-CDG from Toronto Pearson International.

The big event

According to Travel Week, during the Monday morning publicity event Air France CEO Anne Rigail spoke to trade and consumer media. The key points Rigail wanted to emphasize included the A350's efficiency: consuming 25% less fuel due to the incorporation of materials that are up to 67% lighter. It also uses material including 53% composites and 14% titanium. Furthermore, the aircraft's noise footprint is reduced by 40%.

According to Travel Pulse, Rigail said the following:

“Canada is a very important market for us...We’re very happy to be in Toronto to celebrate the A350, [which is] proof that we want to offer our Ontario customers the best of our inflight service.”

An investment in the flight experience- and the environment

Vincent Etchebehere, the General Manager of Air France-KLM Canada, was also in attendance at the event. He had more to say about this new move:

“Our investment is not only in terms of seat quantity but also cabin quality as all aircraft on this route are equipped with the latest Air France cabins to deliver the highest standards of comfort to our customers...Air France has been investing on the Toronto-Paris routes providing new opportunities to our Canadian customers. This investment was done through an increase of our seat offer by +20% over the past three years."

According to sources, bookings made at AirFrance.ca for trips departing from Canada will see Air France make a small donation towards tree planting (one tree per booking) in Ontario. This will be done through a reforestation project operated by Pur Projet in Manitowaning, Ontario. Furthermore, Air France is also working to eliminate single-use plastics on its flights - just one of the many initiatives it is taking to reduce its environmental impact.

Air France A350 at Toulouse
What does the future hold for the Air France fleet? Photo: Airbus

Flight details

Travel Pulse reports that this flight will operate daily through the 2019/20 winter season as flight AF356 departing from Paris CDG at 2:15pm. This flight will arrive in Toronto at 5:45pm. Then, on the return journey to Paris, flight AF351 will leave Toronto at 7:45pm. It will then arrive at Paris CDG at 8:15am the next day.

This winter schedule will change at the end of March. Following this, the Toronto-Paris service will switch to twice daily, on a Boeing 777.

"For 2020, we plan on adding four more flights compared to last season which means that for the first time since we opened this route in 1976, we will be operating two daily flights between June and August.” -Vincent Etchebehere, General Manager, Air France KLM Canada

Air France A350
Photo: Air France

Conclusion

The A350 between Paris and Toronto comes on the heels of British Airways using their new A350 on their London-Toronto service. Interestingly, Ethiopian took its A350 off its Toronto service in the summer.

Since the aircraft are the same, which airline would you choose to fly with to Europe? Let us know in the comments!