Air France Will Introduce Airbus The A350 Its On Paris – Cape Town Route In April: What To Expect Onboard

Air France is set to make an aircraft change on its seasonal route from its main hub at Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) to Cape Town International (CPT) in South Africa. The French flag carrier operates the corridor over the northern hemisphere winter / southern hemisphere summer season, and its aircraft of choice for these flights is generally the Boeing 787. However, next April will see the Airbus A350 used.

The route in a nutshell

According to AeroRoutes, Air France
serves the corridor between Paris CDG and Cape Town International Airport on a thrice-weekly basis. The French flag carrier has a complete monopoly on this route, although other European hubs such as Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Istanbul, London (both Gatwick and Heathrow), Munich and Zürich are also served from Cape Town by various carriers from the continent.

The route operates on a seasonal basis, giving passengers from France (and indeed elsewhere in Europe via connecting feeder flights) the chance to escape the northern hemisphere winter for summery conditions south of the equator. According to SA People, the route operated from October 17th, 2023, to March 24th, 2024, last time around, but Air France has plans to serve it for one more month this time.

Indeed, AeroRoutes notes that, in 2025, the flights will continue until the end of April, before being temporarily suspended as planned on a seasonal basis until their resumption in late October. For the last four weeks of the route’s operations next year, Air France has an aircraft change in store, which will see it swap its Boeing 787-9 ‘Dreamliner’ aircraft out for another widebody twinjet: the Airbus
A350-900.

Between April 1st and 27th next year, the flights will continue to operate on a thrice-weekly basis, departing on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Flying out to South Africa, Air France flight AF882 will be a daytime affair, departing Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport
at 10:10. With a planned block time of some 11 hours and 20 minutes, these flights are scheduled to land in Cape Town at 21:30 local time.

As for the return flights, these will operate overnight, also departing on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. Numbered as flight AF871, they will take off just over two hours after their arrival into Cape Town, at 23:35 local time. With a near-identical block time of 11 hours and 25 minutes, their arrival back into the French capital is timed for 11:00 the next day, allowing access to daytime connecting flights.

How do the two aircraft compare?

According to current fleet data made available by ch-aviation, the Boeing
787-9 Dreamliners that Air France currently uses to operate its Cape Town flights (of which it has 10) are relatively young, at 6.6 years old on average. While this puts it well below the fleet-wide mean figure of 15.9 years, this does render them comparatively vintage when compared to its 35 A350-900s at just 2.5 years old on average.

In terms of onboard capacity, Air France’s Boeing 787-9s can seat 279 passengers, with data from aeroLOPA showing that this figure comprises 30 business class flatbeds, 21 premium economy recliners, and 228 economy seats. When it comes to the A350-900, the French flag carrier actually has two different configurations for this widebody, with the one planned for Cape Town having 324 seats:

34 business class flatbeds.

24 premium economy recliners.

266 economy class seats.

As such, the use of the Airbus A350-900 will allow for the accommodation of more passengers in all classes of travel, with economy class seeing the biggest uptick at 16.7%. Meanwhile, the A350-900’s business class and premium economy cabins are 13.3% and 14.4% larger than those of the 787-9 respectively, with the aircraft’s total capacity of 324 seats being 16.1% higher than that of the Dreamliner.

Aesthetically, both aircraft types are visually stunning from the outside, with the sleek curves of their designs suiting Air France’s simple but effective tricolor livery very well indeed. In this regard, guests can be happy with either aircraft, but, when it comes to the onboard passenger experience, the A350 is perhaps the more tantalizing prospect, as it features some of Air France’s newest cabins.

Business class luxury

In the three-class 324-seat configuration used onboard its upcoming flights between Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and Cape Town International next April, Air France lays out the 34 business class flatbeds in a four-abreast configuration. This comprises eight-and-a-half rows of seats in a staggered 1-2-1 layout, with the front row only featuring the two outer seats. Every space has direct aisle access.

As part of the staggered configuration, passengers picking outer seats should be aware that only those in even-numbered rows are true window seats (A and L), with those in odd-numbered rows being angled away from the window (C and J). The business class cabin on these aircraft occupies the entirety of the real estate between the plane’s first and second doors, heightening the sense of exclusivity.

As for the pairs of middle seats, those situated in even-numbered rows (E and G) are better for couples traveling together, as they are situated directly next to each other in a forward-facing configuration. Meanwhile, the central pairs in odd-numbered rows (D and H) are angled towards the aisle and face away from each other, making them better for solo travelers who don’t want to be next to a window.

The seats in question are examples of the Safran Optima model, and they clock in at 20 inches wide. When converted for use as a fully flatbed, their length stretches to between six and seven feet, making a proper lie down possible for even the tallest of passengers. Entertainment comes in the form of an 18.5-inch HD touchscreen display, while charging can be done via AC and USB-A outlets.

Premium economy

As previously mentioned, premium economy passengers onboard Air France’s flights between Paris and Cape Town with the Airbus A350-900 next year will have 24 reclining seats to choose from. These are laid out eight-abreast in three staggered rows that have a 2-4-2 seating configuration. They are situated between the business and economy class cabins by the leading edge of the plane’s wings.

The seats used in this premium economy cabin are examples of the Recaro PL3530, and, as well as featuring the ability to recline by eight inches to an angle of 124 degrees, they also feature footrests and lumbar support. With a seat pitch of 38 inches and a width of 19 inches, these seats offer seven inches more legroom and one more inch of width than the standard offering up the back in economy class.

Much like the business class flatbeds situated in front of them, premium economy passengers have access to charging outlets thanks to the presence of universal AC and USB-A sockets. However, as would typically be expected, they have less to play with in terms of the size of their HD touchscreens for inflight entertainment. Indeed, these measure 13.3 inches, some 5.2 inches smaller than in business class.

As the premium economy cabin on these aircraft, which is known by Air France simply as Premium, only consists of three rows (from 10 through to 12), it does not exclusively occupy the space between the Airbus A350-900’s second and third doors. However, the French flag carrier’s website does note that “for your tranquility, the Premium cabin is separated from the other cabins with a divider.”

Economy class

The 266 economy seats that make up the remainder of the 324 spaces onboard the Airbus A350-900s being used by Air France on next April’s Cape Town flights are largely laid out nine-abreast in the standard 3-3-3 configuration. However, couples looking for that extra bit of onboard exclusivity should aim for rows 30 and 45, where the layout narrows to 2-4-2, making the outer seats highly sought after.

Couples selecting the pair of seats at the rear of the aircraft (45 J and 45 L) should be aware that the locker space above these is reserved for crew use. However, with extra space on account of the missing third seat, storage remains ample. As is consistent throughout the cabin of these aircraft, economy passengers can also charge their devices inflight by making use of the universal AC and USB-A outlets.

Much like the business class flatbeds that are situated at the front of the aircraft, the economy seats also come from Safran, with the model in question being the Z300. While the recline isn’t quite as generous as those in the premium cabin in front, passengers in these seats can still lean back a fair way, to a maximum angle of 118 degrees. Entertainment comes in the form of an 11.7-inch HD touchscreen.

Even in economy class, Air France makes sure that passengers will never run out of fresh content when it comes to the onboard use of these screens. Indeed, the French flag carrier’s website states that its IFE systems feature “a selection of programs available in 12 languages [that is] updated every month,” with content such as “films, TV shows, documentaries or cartoons freely available.”