Between economic patriotism and strategic pragmatism, Air France-KLM has finally chosen... not to choose. On Friday 16 September, the Group announced the long-awaited order for the renewal of its long-haul fleet: purchases divided equally between Airbus and Boeing. The two manufacturers have been allocated 25 aircraft each - 25 A350-900s and the same number of Boeing 787s - for delivery in 2018 and 2016 respectively. In addition to this firm order, Air France KLM has placed an option on 60 aircraft: 35 for the European manufacturer and 25 for its American rival. The airline group has therefore opted for a balance, in a difficult context, since many politicians had called on Air France to buy French, or at least European. The group's management did not back down on this pressure, simply stating through the voice of its CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon: "For its first joint order, the Air France KLM group made its choice following a detailed evaluation showing all the advantages of each of the aircraft, in particular their energy and environmental performance".
