Air France woos Indian traveller, plans flights to Pune, Kolkata

Paris: Air France has got its sights on India. The French carrier, which has had an Indian connection for more than sixty years, is now focused on becoming the India’s “preferred European airline”.
And it is going all out to do so, introducing vegetarian food to menus in Hindi and Tamil to Indian films as part of the in-flight entertainment.
It is not that the Indian traveller has suddenly discovered Europe or France, but Air France is seeking to cash in on the transAtlantic passenger. Why don’t take transit at Charles de Gaulle, instead of Heathrow or Frankfurt, for a flight to the US? ”CDG has the best schedules for connection flights to all parts of the world, particularly US, Africa and Latin America,” explain Air France officials.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Nearly 80% of Indian customers are transit passengers at Charles de Gaulle airport. According to Jean-Louis Pinson, senior vice-president, international and The Netherlands division, 97% of them succeed in catching the connection flight, of course, without any baggage disruption.
For Air France, India is a “strategic destination”, with big potential for traffic. Since 2005, the airline has been ramping up its presence in India. Air France launched its Bangalore service in 2005 and Chennai service in 2006. Along with its Delhi and Mumbai service, Air France offers 24 weekly flights to India. All this has helped the airline treble its passenger traffic in the last five years.
20/10/08 Economic Times

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Categories: Foreign Oct 2008