Air France to tap India market, use bigger planes, forge alliances

New Delhi: Air France-KLM group, Europe’s largest carrier, plans to expand India operations over the next two years by flying bigger aircraft and forging alliances with local airlines to tap growing demand.
The carrier, which scrapped flights from Chennai and Hyderabad during the 2008-09 economic slowdown, now wants to upgrade its aircraft on high-traffic routes linking Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore with hubs in Paris and Amsterdam, said Pieter de Man, general manager, Indian subcontinent.
These routes are currently served by Airbus A330 or A340 aircraft; Air France-KLM plans to introduce the larger Boeing 777 on them before starting talks with the government to ply the biggest passenger jet, Airbus A380, to India.
“I think we have two airlines that are ahead of us in discussions with the government for A380, Emirates and Lufthansa. They will probably operate an A380 earlier than we will,” Man said. “I foresee that the A380 discussion will not take place in the year 2011, maybe in 2012.”
The airline will ask for permission to operate the A380 to connect airports ready for the plane. “If we were to operate, it would have to be a toss between Paris to Delhi or it could be Mumbai,” Man said.
08/02/11 Tarun Shukla/Live Mint

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Categories: Foreign Feb 2011