Air France Paris-New York A380 superjumbo flights soon

Air France is all set to start operations between Paris and New York come November 2009. The airlines will use its new high density airbus A380 for the purpose. The A380 is currently world’s biggest passenger jet. The A380, that is capable of carrying over 500 passengers, contains 80 business class seats and 160 economy seats on the upper deck. The airbus has a huge capacity of 343 economy seats and 9 first class seats on the main deck too.

CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon also said that the A380 will not have luxurious facilities like spas or suites.  “It’s an aircraft, an aircraft offering high-density seating and thus offering lower unit costs,” he said. “We will use it as such.”

“The A380, particularly well-suited to the current economic context, will enable Air France to offer its customers an even better quality of service whilst at the same time limiting costs,” he further went on to explain.

The airbus will operate on a daily basis on the Paris Charles de Gaulle – New York JFK route. The A380 was earlier used for nonstop services from New York to Dubai.

However the Emirates A380 was replaced with a smaller aircraft and was used for operations between Dubai and Toronto.

Air France decided to start Paris-New York flights after statistics showed that the traffic on the Paris-NewYork route was heavy.

The arrival and departure time has not been decided as yet, nor is it clear if the aircraft will be operated on which JFK-CDG flight.

However, the Air France AF6/7 and AF 10/11 operated with the higher capacity 777-300 and 747-400 hence either AF6/7 or AF 10/11 may be used for the purpose.

Currently, Air France Classe Premiere operates on AF6/7. The airline might replace the 747-400 and the offered Premiere on all JFK departures.

Air France will become the first airline in Europe to employ the A380 airbus and has ordered 12 more such aircrafts. Four of the A380s will start operating before the spring of 2010.