Air France to stop Heathrow-Los Angeles flights from November 6

Air France, the biggest airline of Europe, will discontinue from November 6, 2008, its flights between Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), the United States, and London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR).

The airline had added the Los Angeles-London route in March 2008.

Air France, one of the largest airlines in the world, is based in Paris, France, and is a subsidiary of Air France-KLM Group. It operates worldwide scheduled passenger and cargo services to 185 destinations in over 80 countries. Air France’s global hub is at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport; its secondary hubs are at Paris Orly Airport, Lyon Saint-Exupéry Airport and Nice Côte d’Azur Airport. Before the merger with KLM, Air France was France’s primary national flag carrier. The airline is a member of the SkyTeam, the global airline alliance.

Air France said in a news release issued in Paris: “The present economic and financial crisis prompted the airline’s decision to end the Los Angeles International Airport-London’s Heathrow Airport service from November 6, 2008. Air France will re-assign the aircraft to the Heathrow route from New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK), increasing the frequency from 2 to 3 flights a day next summer. Two flights will be operated by Delta Air Lines and one flight by Air France.”

However, the news release did not say what Air France would do for the Los Angeles-Heathrow customers holding tickets for flights after November 6, 2008.

Some media reports speculated that the airline would offer refunds.

According to aviation analysts, Air France’s Los Angeles International Airport-London’s Heathrow Airport service, which took off on March 30, 2008, were a part of the airline’s ambitious expansion in the midst of fierce competition on the trans-Atlantic sector, which had led to lowering of fares by over 20% in the spring. But summer flights were still costly.

Air France had added the Los Angeles-Heathrow route taking advantage of the liberalisation of the aviation market between the European Union and the United States, which came into effect in March 2008. By starting the new service, Air France was entering into direct competition with British Airways, the flag carrier of the United Kingdom, at London’s Heathrow Airport, which is British Airways’ global hub.

There is severe competition on the Heathrow-Los Angeles route, where Air France is fighting for market share against five other major carriers – British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, United Airlines, American Airlines, and Air New Zealand.

Meanwhile, British Airways said in a statement that it was “further consolidating its long-haul services at Heathrow with the transfer of its Atlanta service to Heathrow from Gatwick at the end of March 2009.”

American Airlines and Continental Airlines, both United States-based carriers, have already announced the transfer of all their Gatwick services to Heathrow and the closure of their Gatwick bases as a result of the liberalisation of the Heathrow market.