Video: TheAviation2009 Channel
Type: A380-861 Delivery 30/10/2009 F-HPJA / Servair Catering 27/06/2010
Air France: Airbus A380, the world's largest airliner, which can carry 538 passengers over 13,000 km. Three of the twelve pla- nes on order will be delivered to Air France between now and spring 2010, to be closely followed by a fourth. Starting on 23 November 2009, the Air France A380 will be operated on daily flights between Paris - Charles de Gaulle and New York - JFK, followed by Paris-Johannesburg during winter 2009-2010.
Air France is therefore the first European carrier to operate this Superjumbo, and the first airline worldwide to offer transatlantic flights between Europe and the USA with this aircraft.
The A380 is particularly well-suited to the strategy of Air France, and its size is an ideal match for the airline's powerful hub at Paris - Charles de Gaulle. Its four state-of-the-art GP 7200 engines, its aerodynamic shape and its fuselage integrating the latest technologies make the A380 the most environmentally-friendly aircraft of its category.
«In 1996, Air France based its decision to acquire the A380 on objective criteria which proved that the performance of this aircraft was ideally suited to the Com- pany's requirements», declared Jean-Cyril Spinetta, Chairman of the Board of Di- rectors of Air France-KLM.
The A380 boasts equivalent capacity to that of a Boeing 777-200 and an Airbus A340-300 combined, while offering a 20% reduction in operating costs.
Air France signed as a launch customer for the Airbus A380-800 "superjumbo" in 2001.Air France had ordered 12 Airbus A380-800 aircraft, with options on a further two. The first A380 was delivered on 30 October 2009, and is used on the Paris to New York route. Following delivery of the second A380, Air France started using it on the Paris to Johannesburg route from the 17 February 2010. With delivery of the third A380 in April 2010, they increased the frequency of the Johannesburg route to daily. Additionally, for the duration of the summer of 2010, until 30 August, the carrier has scheduled daily flights between Paris and London using the A380 to avoid an 18-hour layover in Paris for the aircraft used on the Johannesburg route.The fourth A380 will be delivered in August 2010, which will be used to begin A380 flights toTokyo (starting on 1 September 2010) and as more are delivered, to Beijing. Air France was the first airline in Europe to be operating the A380 with Lufthansa following in June 2010.
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