Image: Copyright – Air France

Air France plans to deploy the aircraft this fall on the daily Paris Charles de Gaulle-New York City JFK route.  The aircraft can accommodate 538 passengers with the following mix of layouts: 80 business class seats  and 106 economy class seats on the upper deck and 343 economy seats on the lower deck.

Air France a 12 Airbus A380′s on order with aircraft scheduled for delivery in 2009 and in to 2010.

November 2007

So, why Air France? Well, I found my in-flight experience on Air Frances B777-200ER really good.  On all my flights with Air France, I have flown in the Economy section, which they refer to as Tempo.  The seats I found to be spacious for standard economy and they offered a versatile in-flight entertainment system on the back of every seat.  Leg room, at least for me, was pretty good, granted I only stand 5′ 6″ and I would guess that someone standing taller than 6′ 0″ may find the leg room tight.

As for the food served on the flight, I found Air Frances to be better than any other airline that I have flown on internatoinally, to date (this would include United Airlines and British Airways).  I found the cabin crew very polite and helpful.

Air France’s Domestic services in Europe, to me, where on par with what I have experienced on any domstic airline in the United States.  One thing you will notice very quickly, when compared to Air France’s domestic services versus international services is the amount of leg room available in Tempo class decreases on domestic flights.  I utilized Air France’s domestic services from Charles de Gaules to travel to Prague and to Pisa.  My service to Prague was on A320′s and service to Pisa was on BAe 146-200 operated by CityJet.

One convience that is not in-flight related but certainly is part of one’s travel experience with Air France is the ease with which one can connect flight at Charles de Gaule Airport.  It is after all Air France’s main hub and you are able to get from one terminal to an other, while remaining on the secure side of the aiport, via bus.  Air France has all of thier flights out of Terminal 2, which has six sub terminals lettered A through F.  Most Air France US international flights arriving and departing at Charles de Gaule Airport utlize Terminal 2F.  You can easily connect to other Air France and Sky Miles Patner airlines using the bus.  But I would allow at least 2 hours between flights.  This is in case of delays with in the system.