Air France has announced it will deploy its new business class cabin on long-haul flights to Rio de Janeiro Galeão International Airport (GIG). The French flag carrier operates its Boeing 777-300ER fleet equipped with the newest class cabins on long-haul flights from Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG).

Get ready to experience the new business class

As of today, Air France is offering the newest business class cabins on long-haul flights to Rio de Janeiro Galeão International and New York John F. Kennedy (JFK), the airline announced in a statement. Initially, there will be an average of five weekly flights in February to Rio de Janeiro operated with the new cabins. In April, the airline will increase this to daily flights.

The new business cabin has 48 seats. Air France completely redesigned the seat, which is now based on the three Fs, full flat, full access, and full privacy. Each seat has a new sliding door that allows passengers to create a private space. Manuel Flahault, Air France-KLM Group General Manager in South America, said,

“We know that this was a significant demand from our customers in Rio de Janeiro, who now not only have seats that turn into beds but are one of the first worldwide to have access to our brand-new cabin. We are very happy to bring this news to Cariocas firsthand. This reinforces our commitment to Rio, and Brazil, one of the company's main markets globally.”

The airline recently published a video on YouTube showing the process of retrofitting one Boeing 777-300ER. Air France removed all the interior and had to install 369 seats (273 economy, 48 premium economy, and 48 business seats) and 350 square meters of carpet. The retrofitting process involved 150 people and 15,000 hours of work.

Air France’s Boeing 777-300ER fleet

The airline currently has a fleet of 43 Boeing 777-300(ER)s, according to data from ch-aviation. Nonetheless, the airline said it would only progressively equip 12 of its 777-300ER aircraft with the new business seat throughout 2023.

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Air France’s 777-300ER fleet has an average age of 14.4 years old. The airline operates around 408 weekly flights with this fleet. In comparison, Air France employs the Boeing 777-200 on 159 weekly flights and the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on 113 flights.

The 777-300ER can mostly be found in Air France’s flight between New York and Paris, with 28 weekly flights, or in the route between Los Angeles and Paris, with 14 weekly flights.

To Latin America, Air France employs all its widebody fleet. On certain routes, such as the airline’s flights from Paris to Buenos Aires, Mexico City, and Lima, it operates its flagship Airbus A350-900. On other routes (Cancun, Rio de Janeiro, and Mexico), it employs its Boeing 777-300ER. Air France deploys its Dreamliners to Bogota and its 777-200 to Cayenne, Cancun, and Panama City, according to data from Cirium.

Would you like to experience Air France’s new business class cabin? What do you think of the photos and videos of the new cabin? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: ch-aviation, Cirium.