These Are Air France’s Leading Asian Routes By Seats Scheduled

As the French flag carrier, Air France plays an important role in keeping the country connected to the rest of the world through the means of scheduled passenger-carrying flights. This function has seen it develop an extensive route network over the years that stretches far beyond the confines of its French homeland and, indeed, the frontiers of Europe, with Asia being one key long-haul market.

As it happens, Air France has been in the news recently on this front, following the relaunch of its flights to Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International (MNL) in the Philippines. These resumed on December 7th following a 20-year operational hiatus, and account for 22 of the airline’s 879 flights between Asia and its main hub at Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport
(CDG) this December. Let’s examine the top routes!

1

Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International, Thailand

18,750 outbound seats

Of the 879 flights that, according to scheduling data made available by Cirium, an aviation analytics company, Air France is operating between Paris CDG and Asia this month, 105 serve Thailand’s Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International (BKK). This figure is split between 53 outbound and 52 inbound flights, which offer 18,750 and 18,426 seats and 110,193,750 and 108,289,602 available seat miles (ASMs).

Throughout the month, frequencies on this route are either daily or twice daily, with Air France deploying three different aircraft types on this route. The Boeing
777-300ER is the most-used of these twin-engine widebody airliners, operating 34 flights in each direction between Paris CDG and Bangkok this December. The configuration used has 369 seats onboard, with aeroLOPA showing that this has:

48 business class flatbeds in a 1-2-1 configuration.

48 premium economy recliners in a 2-4-2 configuration.

273 economy class sets in a 3-4-3 configuration.

Meanwhile, 12 flights in each direction on this route in December 2024 will see the use of smaller Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, which offer a lower capacity of 328 seats. This layout also has a three-class split of 28 business class flatbeds, 32 premium economy recliners, and 268 economy class seats. The remaining flights (seven outbound and six inbound) will be operated by 324-seat Airbus
A350-900s.

Air France faces intense competition on the route from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to Bangkok, with its high frequencies on this corridor showing that it is clearly a busy one. Indeed, other operators on the route include Aircalin and Thai Airways, with the former serving the Thai capital as an intermediate stopover as part of a longer one-stop route between Paris and Nouméa (NOU) in New Caledonia.

2

Tokyo Haneda Airport, Hapan

16,652 inbound seats

Air France’s second-busiest Asian route by seat availability this December serves Haneda Airport (HND) in the Japanese capital city of Tokyo. While the frequencies are almost identical to the Bangkok route, with 51 outbound and 52 inbound flights making for a total of 103 sectors compared to the Thai capital’s 105, the average number of seats per flight is somewhat lower, at around 321 compared to 354.

This means that there is a relatively clear gap between Bangkok and Tokyo Haneda when it comes to seat availability, with Air France having scheduled 16,401 seats and 99,160,446 ASMs to the Japanese capital city this month. Meanwhile, the inbound services offer 16,652 seats and 100,677,992 ASMs. There is more variety in terms of daily frequencies, with some days seeing three flights.

Just one of the 103 flights scheduled between Paris and Tokyo by Air France this December is operated by a 324-seat Airbus A350, with the 328-seat Boeing 777-200ER accounting for just two flights in each direction. Meanwhile, the remaining 49 flights each way will be served by the 777-300ER, with Air France using both the aforementioned three-class layout with 369 seats and a lower-density setup with:

4 La Première first class suites.

58 business class flatbeds.

28 premium economy recliners

206 economy class seats.

While Air France is the only French airline serving the route between Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and Tokyo Haneda, it does have direct competition from two of Japan’s leading carriers. Indeed, both All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airlines (JAL) are present on the route, meaning that, along with Air France, all three of the world’s major airline alliances have representation between Paris and Tokyo Haneda.

3

Delhi Indira Gandhi International, India

14,883 inbound seats

Third on the list is a slightly less distant destination, with the Indian subcontinent being located closer to France than the more eastern reaches of Japan and Thailand. Specifically, Air France has scheduled 44 flights in each direction between Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and Delhi Indira Gandhi International (DEL) this month, offering 14,842 outbound seats and 14,883 in the return direction.

Much like the somewhat busier route to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Thailand, these flights are also operated on either a daily or twice-daily basis this December. However, where this corridor differs from the routes covered thus far is the fact that it is served exclusively by aircraft from Air France’s sub-fleet of Boeing 777 widebody twinjets, with not a single Airbus A350-900 rotation in sight.

For the outbound flights from Paris to Delhi, Air France splits the 44 sectors between 34 flights that use the 777-200ER and 10 that deploy the 777-300ER. As for the inbound direction, the divide is slightly different, with one flight fewer using the 777-200ER in favor of one more with the 777-300ER. The result of this is that the average number of seats is slightly higher inbound (338.3 than outbound (337.3)

Air France has just one direct competitor on the route from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to Delhi Indira Gandhi International, namely Star Alliance member Air India. As it happens, the Indian flag carrier has a rather larger presence on this corridor, with two return flights scheduled in each direction this December. Of these, one will use the Boeing 787-8 ‘Dreamliner,’ while the other will use the 787-9.

4

Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International, India

13,324 seats each way

Air France’s fourth-busiest Asian route by seat availability this December also serves an Indian destination. Specifically, the corridor in question links Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International (BOM) in Mumbai, with the French flag carrier and SkyTeam founding member having scheduled 41 flights in each direction on this Europe-Asia corridor this month.

Unlike the other routes covered thus far, these services will offer the same number of seats in each direction, namely 13,324 at an average of 324.98 per flight. Due to this, the figure for available seat miles is also identical in both directions, with Air France offering 57,959,400 each way on the 4,350-mile corridor this December. For this route, Air France deploys two different aircraft types on its scheduled flights.

The numerically dominant jet from the pair is the Airbus A350-900, which accounts for 31 flights in each direction and serves the corridor on a daily basis. However, these services are also supplemented by the deployment of 10 sectors each way throughout the month using the Boeing 777-200ER. According to ch-aviation, Air France presently has 35 A350-900s and 18 777-200ER aircraft in its fleet.

As with the route to Delhi, Air France’s sole direct competition when flying from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Mumbai comes from Air India. However, the French flag carrier is currently uncontested on this route, as Cirium’s data shows that the Indian national airline won’t serve the corridor until January 1st, 2025. Fellow Indian carrier Vistara used to serve this route prior to being merged into Air India last month.

5

Changi Airport, Singapore

13,180 inbound seats

Fifth on the list of Air France’s top Asian routes for December 2024 by seat availability is the French flag carrier’s corridor from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to Singapore Changi (SIN). The airline plans to serve this 6,666-mile (10,727.89 km) route with 44 outbound and 45 inbound flights this December, offering respective totals of 13,180 and 12,901 seats and 87,857,880 and 85,998,066 ASMs.

This route is also the last of Air France’s Asian routes that will have an average of more than one flight a day this December, with frequencies varying between daily and twice daily. The carrier will operate 31 round trips using the Boeing 777-300ER, with the 777-200ER accounting for just two flights in each direction. The remaining 11 outbound and 12 inbound flights will have Boeing 787-9s with:

30 business class flatbeds in a 1-2-1 configuration.

21 premium economy recliners in a 2-3-2 configuration.

228 economy class seats in a 3-3-3 configuration.

Air France’s sole direct competition on this corridor in December 2024 comes from, perhaps unsurprisingly, national carrier Singapore Airlines. Much like Air France, Singapore Airlines will operate a daily round trip on the route with the Boeing 777-300ER, as well as supplementing this capacity with 16 Airubs A350-900 flights in each direction. Either way, onboard luxury can be expected!