Air France will reinstate its entire network of destinations in the former Yugoslavia by mid-July, albeit with significantly fewer frequencies. As previously reported, flights between Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and Ljubljana are set to resume on June 24, twice per week, before increasing to four weekly in early July and eventually turning daily. Operations to Zagreb will restart on July 1 with three weekly rotations, while two weekly services to Belgrade will commence on July 13. Frequencies to both the Croatian and Serbian capitals will gradually increase. Air France has a codeshare agreement in place with both Croatia Airlines and Air Serbia on both routes. The Serbian carrier is currently flying to Paris, while its Croatian counterpart is expected to do so in July.
Air France will also be returning to the Croatian coast with its seasonal operations to Dubrovnik and Split. Flights to Dubrovnik will commence on July 4 and run twice per week, increasing to three weekly from the middle of the month. Services to Split will run four times per week starting July 13. Prior to the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic, Air France planned to maintain operations this summer to Ljubljana and Zagreb twice per day, to Belgrade and Split daily and to Dubrovnik six times per week. On the other hand, Croatia Airlines planned to run daily rotations from Zagreb to Paris, five weekly from Dubrovnik and three weekly to Split. Air Serbia scheduled sixteen weekly flights from Belgrade to the French capital.
By the end of June, Air France will serve around 20% of its pre-corona network. Subject to the lifting of travel restrictions, the gradual increase in the number of frequencies and destinations will continue, reaching 35% of the flight schedule initially planned in July and 40% in August. Air France plans to serve close to 150 destinations, some 80% of its usual network, with priority given to strengthening its domestic services. The flight schedule will be operated by 106 of the 224 aircraft in the Air France fleet. "We can see that people need to travel again and will gradually be resuming services to 150 destinations in France, Europe and the rest of the world this summer. After this difficult period, we are delighted to be welcoming our customers back on board, so that they can travel this summer and be reunited with their loved ones. All Air France staff, both on the ground and on board, are committed to guaranteeing our passengers the highest levels of health and safety", Air France’s CEO, Anne Rigail, said.
Finally.
ReplyDeleteHow many flights will JU have by mid July?
ReplyDeleteThey still haven't finished their July schedule. Now in June every week is different. One week they have 6 flights, the other 2.
DeleteFrom tomorrow many regional destinations will be resumed (Athens, Bucharest, Istanbul...) so there will be more passengers thanks to transfers. I am sure soon enough they will boost their frequencies like they did with FRA and TXL.
DeleteCDG still hasnt returned to its previous frequenies, where as FRA and TXL are actual increases.
DeleteJU was supposed to have a 3rd flight to CDG (ex BEG at 16,05) twice a week in april and may for a total of 16 weekly flights. This would be a proper boost in frequencies.
Starting July 6th, system is showing a double daily rotation on Mondays and Fridays (that is 9 pw). The next week, another 2 flights a day on Thursdays and Fridays (11 pw).
Makes sense especially since they are building their regional network.
DeleteConsidering they will only be flying 35% of their network in July, it's good to see all the ex-Yu routes back.
ReplyDeleteAt least they are returning....and not like Lufthansa from Frankfurt.
ReplyDeleteLufthansa is busy extorting the German government for €9 billion after which they will fire 22.000 employees. They are too busy with their bully lifestyle.
DeleteI should fly FRA-BEG-FRA at the end of July, return middle of August.
DeleteThese flights are no longer on their flight schedule but they are not cancelling my booking.
When I call them they all they can say is "we don't know why our colleagues don't cancel the booking, we are only working on call center"!
It looks like to me they are not cancelling my booking as tgey wait very last moment to do it so they could pay me refund the latest possible.
5 star airline? Yeah, right.
Maybe they are still finalizing their schedule.
DeleteIt seems that LJU is of great importance to AF being the first served destination and also almost immediately increased.
ReplyDeleteMakes sense. No competition.
DeleteYes, LH is also returning to LJU with the most frequnecies.
DeleteIt's no surprise. Other than flights to BEG and TGD there are no others from LJU.
DeleteI mean at the moment not in general.
DeleteWow that would have been an impressive expansion (frequency wise) for them this summer if things were normal :(
ReplyDeleteEveryone was planning growth. It would have been a great and exciting year :(
DeleteAnyone know which airport it is behind the plane in the image?
ReplyDeleteCharles de Gaulle - Paris
DeleteTerminal 2E
DeleteI was so many times sitting on those lie-chairs and enjoy in view.
What aircraft types are they operating?
ReplyDelete* on these routes
DeleteBelgrade - A320 family
DeleteZagreb, Dubrovnik - A320 family
Split - E190 HOP!
Ljubljana - E190 HOP!
Thank you!
DeleteI'm wondering, is there any service difference between Hop and Air France?
DeleteNot really. Service concept is the same.
DeleteActually BEG was operated by the A318 midweek.
DeleteNot much service difference, just HOP operates with smaller type of aircrafts ( usually older than AF fleet)
DeleteBEG saw the A318 only a few times during the whole winter season, it was 80% A320 ad the rest A319.
DeleteI was afraid they might discontinue some routes in this region. So this is a very good sign.
ReplyDeleteMe too because during the financial crisis 2008/2009 they culled a lot of destinations. This a relief.
DeleteI wasn't. In the last couple of months they have considerably expanded their presence in the region. Seems like they want to attack and defeat LH Group over here. Look at how aggressive they were with LJU and ZAG. I'm sure they would be as well in BEG but JU is no easy prey.
DeleteIts good for them is that JU is their quite important partner in terms in codeshares so they are on the higher level than LH in BEG.
DeleteLH still has significantly more transfer pax.
DeleteWe do not know that last Anon, we can only guess, hope and predict.
DeleteAnd they are retiring their entire A380 fleet unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteMany are/will
DeleteWhat about EK?
Delete^ they said they are keeping the A380s. Etihad too. AF planned to retire the A380s next year anyway and they announced that way before corona.
Delete@ 10,47
DeleteThe first EK A380 is being prepared to leave the fleet (A6-EDB). The EK logo has already been removed.
I think those were to be retired anyway
DeleteActually its great news that AF is retireing their A380s when you think about what kind of interiors they have on A380s.
DeleteNice to have them back
ReplyDeleteWow so they were supposed to add another daily flight to LJU and ZAG? Shame that didn't happen. Hopefully next year.
ReplyDeleteYes
DeleteImagine 2x weekly af from cdg to ini. Showtime!!
ReplyDeleteHaha if LGW can work then why can't CDG
DeleteRoutes that INI has more potential compared to the other airports in the country:
Delete1. VKO
2. CDG
3. PMI
4. LGW
5. IEV
6. LIN
As previously mentioned, Ljubljana seems to be the city most benefiting from the AF resumption. There is clearly a huge competition with LH as we saw they quickly rushed to launch flights and putting the rest as a second plate. Paris is seeking more EU capitals to resume business and recover the economy.
ReplyDeleteDuring the whole period, Ljubljana has proven to be the route with less competition and less gasto demand and this is nothing but good news for AF.
That said, we can expect more flights to CDG, ORY or even HV flights to RTM or EIN.
AF also currently offers excellent connections to Amerika and South America which is considered as an emerging market for the ex Yugo region. It's a matter of time when we will see more AF flights, more legacy carriers, more connections after January 2021 when Ljubljana receives it's new terminal..
AF knows that the moment is now to focus on EU capitals which are showing no signs of slowing.
AF has great route network but it will be nice also to see KLM in LJU. I dont know why, but exyu has great potential for flights to AMS with KL and still there are only flights to SPU and ZAG.
DeleteWhen will you fly to Ghana,Africa
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know when Moscow will open for international flights again? I have paid flights with KLM and AF in September.
ReplyDeleteWhen are you planning to resume traveling to Freetown Sierra Leone West Africa please?
ReplyDelete