Could the United Kingdom be Air France KLM's fourth largest market after France, the Netherlands and the United States? In any case, it is on the other side of the Channel that we should look to see the strongest growth in the French airline's medium-haul network, with an increase in supply from 5 to 6%. And so it was in the land of whisky, the Highlands and the clans that Air France executives celebrated the inauguration of this new daily flight between Paris and Glasgow on 30 March. The local authorities - representing Glasgow airport as well as the tourist industry - were keen to give a special flavour to what must be considered a small event, almost twenty years after Air France's last landing on the banks of the Clyde.
Flexibility and combinability
This A318 in the colours of the French carrier is not in unknown territory, since the group can count on the complementary nature of Air France and KLM. Their 'combinability' even, to use the expression of the Air France management, which intends to promote the flexibility of an offer enabling travellers to transit on the outward journey via Schiphol and on the return via CDG, or vice versa. However, KLM provides no less than 4 daily flights long-haul connections on this Glasgow-Amsterdam route now account for almost 40% of passengers, with the remainder divided equally between point-to-point traffic and the European network. In Paris, and despite the head-on competition from easyJet, Air France's management is counting on greater point-to-point traffic while banking on the new range of long-haul destinations thus offered to Scottish travellers.
From a strategic point of view, Air France's return to Glasgow illustrates the airline's credo, which has placed responsiveness high on its roadmap, alongside capacity control. " We are opportunists "Henri de Peyrelongue rightly summed up the Scottish festivities, adding: ". Glasgow was at the top of the list of medium-haul destinations with the greatest potential that we did not yet serve from Paris. ". Scheduled to run until the end of October, this new flight could well be ramped up if the 40,000 annual passengers expected are well up to the challenge. The reduced capacity of the A318, equipped with 131 seatsThis could make way for a more ambitious aircraft, or even new frequencies. The flexibility of the Air France offer is also reflected in the configuration of the business class, whose capacity can be increased on request simply by moving the mobile curtain separating the two cabins.
Air France's acceleration to Glasgow seems credible, not to say probable, in the light of the French market's third place in terms of international visitors to the Highlands. Travellers attracted, of course, by the many local tourist resources - golf, lakes, culture, with the city's status as a UNESCO City of Music - but also by its economic appeal. For example, 85% of Scotch whisky is bottled in the Glasgow region, which is quite an achievement... Glasgow airport, which is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year, also hosts 30% business travellers.
