Air France-KLM recently revealed plans to retire its older widebody fleet, to replace it with more modern, fuel-efficient aircraft. The airline has already withdrawn A380 and Boeing 747 from service following the pandemic, and is now planning to retire its aging Airbus A330s and Boeing 777s, Group Chief Executive, Ben Smith spoke of the airline’s plans at the International Air Transport Association AGM in Istanbul.
Speaking about the extended flight routings, Smith said: “A plane that is optimized at 15 hours and one that’s optimized at 12 is not necessarily the same. So, this, of course, now plays into the evaluation, where a year and a half ago, that would not have been the case.”
Air France's fleet contains 15 Airbus A330-200s and 18 Boeing 777-200ERs, while KLM operates six Airbus A330-200s, five Airbus A330-300s, and 15 Boeing 777-200ERs.
Air France's youngest long-haul aircraft are its Airbus A350-900s and as for KLM, it is the Boeing 787-10. When it comes to replacing the aging aircraft, the airline might opt either for the types already familiar to them or might go in for a different choice altogether.
In addition to revealing Air France-KLM's future fleet plans, Smith reaffirmed the group's interest in acquiring TAP Air Portugal.