The Air France-KLM Group announced on Wednesday the immediate withdrawal of Air France’s nine remaining A380s, originally scheduled for retirement by 2022. On Monday, the carrier also published a progressively increasing flight schedule through June.
Today, the Air France-KLM Group announced the definitive end of operations for Air France’s nine remaining Airbus A380s, originally scheduled for withdrawal at the end of 2022 as part of the carrier’s fleet simplification strategy. Five of the remaining A380s are owned by Air France or under finance lease, while the other four are under operating leases. Air France estimates the depreciation impact of the A380 fleet at €500 million, which will be recognized in the second quarter in non-current income. The carrier will replace the A380s with next generation aircraft including Airbus A350s and Boeing 787 Dreamliners, currently scheduled for delivery.
In a separate announcement on Monday (May 18, 2020), Air France announced a progressive increase in their flight schedule through the end of June 2020. Since mid-March, the carrier has been operating 3-5% of their usual flight schedule, maintaining links to 43 key destinations in Europe and worldwide. As travel restrictions are lifted, Air France will increase destinations and frequencies domestically, to the French Overseas Departments, and Europe. Between May 18th and June 30th Air France will operate approximately 15% of their typical schedule utilizing 75 of the carrier’s fleet of 224 aircraft.
Source(s): Air France-KLM Group, Air France