Message of Anne Rigail – Executive Director of Air France
Dear customers,
I would first like to thank you for the many expressions of support that you have sent us since the start of this crisis. For the Air France teams, these encouragements are precious and fuel our desire to gradually redeploy our wings, at your service.
We obtained the support of the French State through the guarantee of a loan of 7 billion euros, which allows Air France to envisage its future with more serenity. Let me tell you about the commitments we made regarding this loan:
- a reconstruction plan which aligns Air France’s competitiveness with the best performance in the world.
2. an acceleration of our commitments in the energy transition of air transport, with in particular:
– a global resizing of our domestic network from Orly and the French regions, taking into account the rail alternatives when they are less than 2.5 hours journey.
– the priority allocation of our investments to the renewal of the fleet, in favor of new generation devices which reduce CO2 emissions at the source by around 20 to 25%.
– Confirmation of the halving by 2030 of CO2 emissions per passenger-kilometer across our network, compared to the reference year of 2005. On the domestic network, we are accelerating this trajectory by committing to a reduction in CO2 emissions of 50% in absolute value, between 2019 and 2024.
– The use of 2% sustainable alternative fuel by 2025, supported by the emergence of a French biofuel production sector.
Thanks to the improvement in the health situation, we are planning to depart from Paris Charles de Gaulle a gradual resumption of our flight offer to accompany your trips. To date, Air France serves just over 50 destinations. We plan to offer you more than a hundred by mid-June: twenty destinations in France, more than 40 between Paris and Europe, and more than 30 intercontinental connections. This represents around 15% of our usual flight program and we hope to increase our offer as soon as the sanitary and regulatory conditions allow the complete reopening of the borders, first intra-European, then intercontinental.
So that you can plan your next trip with peace of mind, we have adjusted our commercial policy by making all of our prices flexible, changeable at no cost in the same fare class.
Finally, I would like to share with you all of our health commitments, in order to offer you a safe trip. We have grouped them under the “Air France Protect” label, and regularly adapt them according to the evolution of the health situation and medical knowledge.
– You must wear a surgical mask as soon as you arrive at the airport, as well as on board our aircraft for the duration of the flight.
– All our staff are also equipped with surgical masks.
– Respect for physical distance at each stage of your journey through the airport is materialized by ground marking and specific signage, and reinforced by the installation of plexiglass protections on all our counters.
– Self-service hydroalcoholic gel is available to you at all airport contact points (self-service kiosks, baggage drop-offs, boarding, etc.).
– A body temperature control is implemented before boarding each of our flights (except when local regulations prohibit it).
– Boarding has been reorganized to limit crossings on board our aircraft. We start by taking the passengers seated in the back of the plane and then go up to the front.
– On board, we have simplified the catering offer to limit contact. We no longer offer a drink and catering service on flights of less than 2:30 hours.
For longer flights, we favor on your tray, individually wrapped, filmed or sealed products.
– Our cabins are thoroughly cleaned daily and are regularly disinfected with an approved long-lasting virucide.
– Our cabins are equipped with an air filtering system of the same type as that of operating theaters (HEPA filter). The cabin air is thus completely filtered and renewed every 3 minutes.
I also advise you to take note of the regulations in force at your destination, which may vary depending on each country.
I am well aware that these measures require familiarization with new travel habits, but it is by applying them collectively that the health of each of us can be preserved, and that we can gradually reopen the sky.
For all of us, this is essential.
Warmly