French Travel news -2011. | Air France grows regional services

Air France has upped the ante in its fight to claim more of the lucrative French regional flight market.
The flag carrier airline has announced plans to fly to 16 new destinations from Toulouse from April 2012, including Berlin, Prague and Vienna, as it creates a new hub to combat the dominance of airlines including EasyJet in its home market.

Clearly thinking that its future success depends on low-cost hubs, the company’s new routes will more than double to 28 the number of cities served from the second French regional base that the carrier has set up this year. It has already established a hub in Marseille and plans to add six routes in Nice in April.

“The idea is to add the best practices of low-cost carriers, with the full services of Air France and attractive fares,” new Chief Executive Alexandre Juniac said at a press briefing in Toulouse.

This restructuring of the company’s operations is intended to see them break-even on the regional hubs by the end of 2013.

Tuesday, 20th, December by Katharine Barrau