Air France is looking at expanding its Dedicate service to oil-producing countries and growing its fleet of Airbus A319 Extended Range twinjets from four to six. The service currently operates on thin routes to five points in the Gulf, central Asia and west Africa, writes Justin Wastnage in Paris.
Air France has four 82-seat A319ERs (28 business/54 economy) for its Dedicate routes, which are equipped with two additional fuel tanks giving a range of 6,500km (3,600nm). The airline also wet leases a single A319 Long Range on a three-year contract from business aviation ad hoc charter operator A...ro Services. This aircraft, originally an A319 Corporate Jetliner, was re-configured as an A319LR in airline layout, says Jacques Vareilles, Dedicate project manager. Air France is now exploring additional routes, which it plans to serve with an additional A319ER from existing Air France A320 family orders, available for delivery in July.
Cath...rine Jude, route management director for central Asia, says the Caspian oil city of Atyrau in Kazahzstan is set to be added to the network of five destinations. Air France says talks with the Kazahz authorities have taken three years already due to an insistence on flying to new capital city Astana on every flight. Jude says: "The traffic flows to Astana are very low so forcing people to go there is very ambitious." She adds that Baku, Azerbaijan and points in Asian Russia are also being explored.
Air France loyalty scheme director Michel Gorog says it is also exploring other destinations in central Africa and the Middle East that are now unprofitable with widebody aircraft. The airline has its own oil and gas industry-specific loyalty programme, The Petroleum Club, and is studying destination data to find new routes.
Source: Flight International
