Air France to refine products, services

BANGKOK – Air France is to spend US$130 million to update products and services for its aircraft.

The upgrade will include a new cabin interior design in all classes, comfort enhancements in the l'Espace cabins (First and Business class), a simplified brand range and enhanced in-flight catering. Air France will also increase private lounges in airports around the world.

"Customer satisfaction is always the driving force of all our actions including these new initiatives," said Marie-Joseph Male, executive vice president and managing director, Air France Asia Pacific.

In business class, l'Espace Affaires, there will be an improved seat recline angle of up to 145 degrees.

Air France is also simplifying its brand range. Its three brands are now l'Espace Premiere, or "First"; l'Espace Affaires, or "Business" and Tempo, or "Economy".

New menu options and tableware are being introduced for Tempo passengers Air France is investing FF100m (US$13 million) in a four-year program aimed at doubling the number of 'private' lounges to 50 by the end of 2001.

Recent openings include Barcelona, Geneva, Rome, Stuttgart, Dubai and Montreal. In the year ahead, lounges will be opened in Amsterdam, Douala, San Francisco, Reunion, and Bangkok.

Benefiting from the SkyTeam alliance, Air France customers can access up to 80 lounges operated by partners Delta, AeroMexico and Korean Air, and 146 other lounges operated by airports or other airlines with which Air France has partnership agreements.

The benefits of the Skyteam alliance are already showing up in Air France passengers numbers, which increased from from 33 million in 1997/98 to 39.8 million in 1999/2000.