Tag Archives: Air France-KLM

Air France-KLM has appointed Jean-Noel Rault as the new General Manager of the Indian Sub-Continent. Noel, who will assume his office on August 1, 2018, will be responsible for accelerating the growth and strengthening the presence of Air France-KLM in the Indian Sub- Continent. He will also drive the consolidation and extension of the company’s partnerships in the same geography. Prior to being appointed the GM – Indian Sub-Continent, Jean-Noel was heading Air France-KLM’s business in Canada as the Vice President and General Manager. During his assignment he opened two routes, Amsterdam to Edmonton for KLM and Paris to Vancouver for Air France. He also reinforced the company’s joint venture with Delta Airlines and partnership with West Jet. Jean-Noel started his career with KLM in 1987 and joined Air France in 1989. Over three decades of his career, he has held decisive positions as Station Manager, Commercial Director, Country Manager and General manager in Constantine, Bucharest, Prague, Riyadh, Noumea, Abidjan and Montreal. While he was stationed in France, he was assigned the role of Route Manager for the Middle East and Africa, Head of Direct Sales and Services Policy, as well as the Director of Customer Contact Centres and Social Media Servicing. Succeeding Max Smits, who was at the helm of Air France-KLM’s business in the region since 2015, Jean-Noel will be a part of a strong and successful India team that has provided seamless service to its customers and partners.

To promote the flights to Amsterdam, together with CSIA Mumbai, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has installed an experiential activity at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport targeting the international flyers. The installation is made so thematically that the flyers can have a taste of ‘Mini Amsterdam’ during their transit time and before they board the flight from Mumbai. As Holland is known to be the biking capital of the world, KLM India has installed a cycling activity, which is a nice way for passengers to spend time while waiting to board their flights. The activity also gives a chance to the flyers to win goodies, airline discount vouchers, food coupons and much more. It is communicated via social media and will be live until end of June. From Mumbai, passengers fly on KLM’s latest Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, which has 30 World Business Class seats, 45 Economy Comfort seats and 219 Economy Class seats. Speaking about this activity, Max Smits, General Manager, Air France – KLM, Indian Sub-Continent said, “We are happy to collaborate with MIAL (Mumbai International Airport Limited) regarding this activity to boost the KLM presence out of Mumbai and inspire flyers to choose KLM for travel to Amsterdam and beyond. KLM started its direct service from Mumbai to Amsterdam last year during winter 2017 with three weekly flights. For the winter schedule of 2018, we will be adding another flight making it as four weekly flights from Mumbai.”

Travelport and Air France-KLM have signed an agreement for the distribution of content through Travelport’s platform. Air France-KLM and HOP! content on Travelport’s platform will include Travelport’s rich content, branded fares, fare families and multiple ancillaries. Travelport customers will continue to benefit from Travelport’s tools beyond booking capability that enable workflow automation, change management processes, multiple content integration, robotics for fulfilment and other vital services. This agreement also enables customers selected by Air France HOP! and KLM to access a private channel via Travelport through which they will receive content without the additional distribution surcharge levied by Air France-KLM starting April 1, 2018. Derek Sharp, Senior Vice President and Managing Director – Air Commerce, Travelport, says, “This agreement is an extension of a long-term relationship which has delivered greater choice to Air France KLM’s customers. We look forward to a continuing productive partnership as we deploy new technology with the airline.” Emmanuelle Gailland, Vice President – Distribution, Air France-KLM, says, “Travelport has been a great partner throughout our private channel engagement as a transition towards NDC. Both Air France KLM and Travelport will work together to bring NDC content of new fares, products, services and rich media in the marketplace.”

Air France-KLM and Jet Airways have signed a landmark ‘Enhanced Cooperation Agreement’ for the development of their operations between Europe and India. A first in the history of Indian aviation, this agreement strengthens the partnership built between the three airlines since 2014. This cooperation was expanded in 2016 with an extensive code-share agreement for connections between Europe and North America and Jet Airways’ hubs at Mumbai and Delhi in India via Air France-KLM’ hubs at Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam-Schiphol. Jean-Marc Janaillac, Chairman and CEO, Air France-KLM, says, “Air France-KLM and Jet Airways are launching the first cooperation agreement of its kind on the India – Europe market, one of the markets at the heart of the group’s strategy for the coming years. We are innovating within the airline industry by offering connections between two partnerships for the first time: our enhanced cooperation agreement for India – Europe with Jet Airways and the Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines’ Europe – North American joint venture. Jet Airways, Air France, KLM, and, Delta Air Lines will thus connect India to a vast transatlantic network via the Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam-Schiphol hubs. With over 1,200,000 customers carried between India and Europe by the Group and our Indian partner, half of whom are travelling onward to North America, we are confirming our ambition to offer customers an enhanced network, and a unique, seamless product tailored to their needs with the best products and services.” Naresh Goyal, Chairman, Jet Airways, adds, “The enhanced cooperation agreement between Jet Airways, Air France and KLM being signed during Jet Airways’ 25th Year and Air France’s 70 Years in India, represents the next stage in our journey …

Air France celebrates 50 years of its operations on the Paris-Mumbai route ever since it added Mumbai to its historic Far East network by launching flights from Mumbai to Paris on September 7, 1967. The airline now operates a daily service between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and India’s economic capital by Boeing 777-200 equipped with the latest long-haul travel cabins. On this occasion of completing half a century, Max Smits, General Manager, Air France-KLM, Indian Sub-Continent said,  “We are proud to celebrate 50 years of service between Mumbai and Paris. Air France has been present in Mumbai since 1967 and has been investing continuously with the aim to provide a great product and excellent connection opportunities to the Indian passengers from its hub at Paris, Charles de Gaulle. We take this opportunity to thank our loyal customers and partners in reaching this great milestone and are absolutely thrilled to celebrate this occasion with our passengers taking the flight 07 Sep from Mumbai to Paris with a small surprise celebration at the Mumbai airport”.    

Singapore Airlines (SIA) and its regional subsidiary SilkAir have signed a codeshare agreement with Air France-KLM, which would come into effect from April 27, 2017. According to an official statement, under the agreement, Singapore Airlines will add its ‘SQ’ designator code to Air France-operated flights beyond Paris to 10 destinations – Aberdeen, Bordeaux, Edinburgh, Lisbon, Lyon, Madrid, Marseille, Newcastle, Nice and Toulouse. On the other hand, Air France will add its ‘AF’ designator code to Singapore Airlines-operated flights beyond Singapore to Melbourne and Sydney in Australia, as well as on SilkAir-operated flights to Kuala Lumpur and Penang in Malaysia, and Phuket in Thailand. Both the airlines would later discuss opportunities to expand the code-share to other airlines within their respective groups. The agreement is intended to provide customers more options and seamless connectivity when travelling between Australia, Southeast Asia and Europe. The airlines will also explore the possibility for Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer and Air France-KLM’s Flying Blue members to earn and redeem miles when travelling on the code-share flight segments

Following the success of the code-share agreement launched in March 2016, Delta Air Lines and joint venture partner Air France-KLM will enhance their existing cooperation with Jet Airways. The expanded agreement adds new convenient travel options for customers flying from North America via Paris-Charles de Gaulle to India, complementing the current service offered through Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. Effective October 30, and subject to government approvals, Delta customers flying from the United States and Europe will be able to connect onto Jet Airways’ flights to Mumbai from Paris; and to New Delhi and Mumbai from Amsterdam. From here customers can then fly to 20 destinations within India. Subject to government approvals, Delta’s customers connecting through Paris and Amsterdam to Mumbai and New Delhi will have codeshare access to 20 onward destinations in India served by Jet Airways.  After government approvals, new Delta codeshare destinations will include Calicut, Coimbatore, Goa, Indore, Jaipur, Lucknow, Mangalore, Pune, Trivandrum and Vadodara.