The revolution is underway at Air France, which intends to give itself the means to achieve its ambitions, namely to compete with the world's best airlines in terms of quality of service. On 25 June, the French carrier presented its new "Best and beyond" plan to the press, which involves upgrading its long-haul offer through a global and multi-faceted approach. "Bruno Matheu, Executive Vice President in charge of Air France's long-haul passenger business, stated his ambition as follows: "To be at the level of the best in terms of 'hard', in-flight comfort services, and to make a difference in terms of 'soft', in terms of customer relations". Naturally, in-flight comfort will be the focus of attention, as will the new seats which are eagerly awaited. The Top Resa trade fair, to be held in September, will provide a clearer picture of the Best plan, a "subset of Best and Beyond", which involves the refurbishment of a total of 44 Boeing 777 aircraft, and will also affect all classes of travel.
But Air France intends to go beyond of comfort, since two other pillars articulate its Best and beyond plan: attention and pleasure. Aware, like Bruno Matheu, that "the product is no longer enough", Air France's senior management embarked several weeks ago on a team training plan aimed at "establishing the right distance and the right connection". In all, 19,000 employees will be trained by the end of the year in the new service design inspired by the best establishments around the world. The aim is to personalise, enhance, pay attention to and insist on a sense of detail, and above all to be daring, an argument that should make all the difference to the quality of service that Asian airlines are renowned for, but which is sometimes judged to be too "mechanical". And to contribute to this personalisation of service and sense of detail, Air France will be following the lead of other airlines - notably British Airways - by equipping its ground staff and cabin crew with iPads compiling various customer information, with a view to being proactive about the specific requirements and travel experience of each passenger. Total cost of the Best and Beyond plan: 500 million euros. An ambitious project, which should contribute to the success of the Transform 2015 plan and offer business travellers an enhanced travel experience.
