Air France used the A380 for less than 11 years. In this time, it had regularly scheduled service to 15 destinations from Paris CDG, with JFK, Los Angeles, and Johannesburg the nearly important. Yet Air France was non a big A380 operator, with just a 5% share of all seats.

Air France took delivery of its get-go A380 on Oct 30th, 2009, perhaps more partly from political obligation and not just the shipping's size and relevance at bustling and slot-constrained airports. Its first revenue-generating service came less than a month later. On Nov 23rd, information technology took off from Paris CDG to New York JFK, a road that remained primal to its A380 story.

CDG to Heathrow

The following summer, Air French republic deployed the 'superjumbo' on particular flights from CDG to Heathrow. This road is 216 miles and has a typical flying time of effectually 40 minutes. The author of this article remembers flight the shipping on this route. While booked in economy, the author was upgraded to first-class. Despite the short elapsing, information technology was a remarkable feel.

Ane of Air France'south A380s has been scrapped in Ireland. Photo: Vincenzo Footstep | Simple Flying.

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Air French republic wasn't a large A380 user

Air France was never a large user of the A380, as shown in the effigy below. It had no more than (well-nigh) two.vii million seats in one year, OAG data shows. This top was achieved in 2019 – the year earlier everything changed. Everything was then on the tabular array, and decisions could be speeded up, including bringing forward the retirement of the A380 to 2020 rather than the planned 2022.

In that peak year, Air France had simply a 4.3% share of all A380 seats. It was the world'south seventh-largest user of the type, behind Etihad Airways, which has said the aircraft is no longer commercially viable. Air French republic was one place alee of British Airways, which remains committed to the shipping.

If the 2011-2019 period is added up, Air France had xx.3 million seats by the superjumbo – confronting 409.4 million for all aircraft operators. It had a 5% share of A380 seats in this flow.

All of Air France'due south A380s operated Paris CDG. Notation: the occasional one-off destination is included in the in a higher place figure. Source: OAG Schedules Analyzer

Air France'due south A380 routes

Air France merely used the A380 from Paris CDG, and it had vii routes in 2011: Dubai; Johannesburg; Montreal; New York JFK; San Francisco; Tokyo Narita; and Washington Dulles.

The airline used the A380 on 15 routes on a regularly scheduled basis, summarized below. Note: 'until the terminate' ways planned to operate in 2020.

  1. Abidjan: 2014 and until the end
  2. Atlanta: i-off in 2017, and so regular service in 2019
  3. Dubai: 2011-2012, then in 2019
  4. Hong Kong: 2014-2017
  5. Johannesburg: 2010 until the finish
  6. Los Angeles: 2012 until the end
  7. Mexico City: 2016 until the end
  8. Miami: 2014 until the end
  9. Montreal: 2011-2012
  10. New York JFK: 2009 until the end
  11. San Francisco: 2011, and and then 2014-2019
  12. Shanghai: 2013 until the end
  13. Singapore: 2012-2013
  14. Tokyo Narita: 2010-2014
  15. Washington: 2011 until the end

It as well used the shipping on iii one-offs: Atlanta on December 12th, 2017; Cancun on November 27th, 2013; and Rio de Janeiro on August 22nd, 2016. Cancun's one-off was to gloat both the airline'southward 80th ceremony and 15 years at Cancun for Mexican drome operator Grupo ASUR.

Air French republic'southward A380s were an early on casualty of the pandemic. Photo: Vincenzo Step | Uncomplicated Flying

JFK was #ane

Of Air France'due south xv routes, just three had more than one million seats: JFK; Los Angeles; and Johannesburg. Dubai, meanwhile, was least-served.

  1. JFK: 1,925,166 seats between 2011-2019
  2. Los Angeles: 1,465,250
  3. Johannesburg: 1,459,743
  4. Washington: 870,170
  5. Shanghai: 824,019
  6. Mexico City: 717,756
  7. San Francisco: 662,951
  8. Tokyo: 493,080
  9. Miami: 434,583
  10. Abidjan: 422,296
  11. Hong Kong: 356,172
  12. Montreal: 211,440
  13. Singapore: 124,577
  14. Atlanta: 108,360
  15. Dubai: 77,778
Air France began Paris CDG to United mexican states in 2014. Photo: Getty Images.

Abidjan is interesting. On its face, it is not an obvious A380 destination. But that'south not the instance. It's a high-yielding 1, analyzing booking data obtained from OAG shows, with one of the highest fares from Paris to Africa. This is from strong premium demand.

Did y'all wing Air French republic'south A380s? Comment beneath!

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About The Author

James Pearson (750 Articles Published)

Route Development Analyst - James lives and breathes route development. Educated in Air Transport Management at Loughborough and Cranfield, James was Market Opportunity Analyst at London Luton Airport and Chief Annotator at anna.aero. Now writing data-driven assay for Simple Flying. Based near London, UK.

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