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  Air France

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  AF/AFR

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport

  Year Founded:

  1933

  Alliance:

  SkyTeam

  Airline Group:

  Air France-KLM

  CEO:

  Anne Rigail

  Country:

  France

  Region:

  Europe

By September, Air France will increase by nearly 15% its weekly capacity in long-haul flights to Latin America. The French carrier will add weekly services to key destinations across the region, such as São Paulo, Lima, Panama, and Santiago de Chile. Let’s investigate further.

Increasing connectivity

Air France is currently resuming its pre-pandemic capacity levels between Europe and Latin America. As of June 2022, Air France offers 82 weekly flights from Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG), Paris-Orly (ORY), and Fort-de-France (FDF) to 12 destinations across the region.

Currently, Cayenne and Mexico City are Air France’s leading destinations across the region, with 15 and 12 weekly flights, respectively. Cayenne is served from Charles de Gaulle, Paris-Orly, and Fort-de-France.

Compared to 2019 levels, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Air France’s capacity is still impacted by the crisis. The airline is operating 8.9% fewer flights per week and has 14.3% fewer seats available. In terms of routes, there’s only two destinations that have not been resumed, between Quito International Airport in Ecuador and Caracas International Airport in Venezuela.

Nonetheless, Air France is already looking at resuming its pre-pandemic connectivity levels. The airline will increase from 82 to 94 weekly flights by September 2022. Once this happens, Air France would have completely restored its pre-pandemic flight levels, although capacity will remain below 2019 levels (27,729 seats versus 29,697 three years ago).

Where will Air France add more flights?

By September, Air France will increase by 40% the number of weekly operations and seats available on five routes from Paris to Latin America. The airline will add flights to Buenos Aires (EZE), Lima (LIM), Panama City (PTY), Santiago de Chile (SCL), and São Paulo (GRU).

Air France’s routes to Buenos Aires, Lima, Panama City, and Santiago de Chile will be increased from five weekly services to seven, one flight daily. Meanwhile, the airline’s route to São Paulo will increase from ten flights per week to 14, flying twice daily to Guarulhos International Airport.

The other nine routes will remain unchanged.

Regarding the increase in operations to São Paulo, Steven van Wijk, Commercial Director of the Air France-KLM Group in South America, said,

"These new features reinforce our commitment to the continuous resumption of operations in Brazil, one of Air France's main markets, following the trends of this new moment and to serve even more passengers traveling for leisure or business. Air France has seen strong numbers in Brazil in terms of bookings and aircraft occupancy, which naturally leads us to expand the supply of seats.”

Air France will primarily employ its Boeing 787-9, Airbus A350-900, and Boeing 777 fleets to serve these markets.

The recovery of the Europe-Latin America market

Latin America has had an excellent recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic so far. Domestic and regional travel (particularly to the United States) has rebounded strongly, and some markets, such as Colombia, are already above 2019 levels.

Nonetheless, long-haul travel is still below pre-pandemic capacity levels, as Cirium’s latest data shows.

As of June 2022, there are 706 weekly flights between Europe and Latin America, operated by 30 airlines and led by Iberia, which serves 95 weekly flights between both regions.

Nonetheless, these numbers are still 16.7% below pre-pandemic levels. In June 2019, there were 848 weekly flights between both regions. Iberia also led the way with 115 flights per week.

By September (when Air France will increase its services to Latin America), the capacity disparity will be reduced slightly. There are scheduled 749 weekly flights versus 891 in 2019, a 15.9% decrease.

Have you flown with Air France to Latin America in recent times? How was the experience? Let us know in the comments below.