The Air France KLM Group's schedule for summer
2010 remains practically unchanged compared with 2009, showing
slight growth for the long-haul network and a reduction of the
medium-haul network. New destinations will be enhancing the
group's network include: Denpasar (Bali) and once again Aruba for for KLM,
Abu Dhabi and Bata for Air France as well as Bari in code-share
with Alitalia.
Zooming in on KLM's summer schedule 2010, which
starts on 28 March 2010, continued greater flexibility and selective
growth in key strategic areas catch the eye. KLM strives to
maintain its adjusted capacity on the majority of its routes,
while growing capacity in emerging markets. Compared to summer
2009, overall production will be increased by 1%, which breaks
down into a 2% increase for long-haul destinations and a 4.5%
reduction for medium-haul destinations.
In Europe, flight frequency to certain
stations will be increased in summer to improve connectivity.
Specifically, operations to Munich, Stuttgart, Stockholm,
Gothenburg and Edinburgh will increase to five times per day.
During summer, the services to Liverpool and Toulouse will be
increased from three to four frequencies per day.
In its St
Petersburg service, KLM will increase to daily operations from the
start of summer 2010. Together with partner airline Rossiya, KLM
will then offer twelve weekly flights. KLM's close cooperation
with Alitalia will continue to improve the product for its
customers between the Netherlands and Italy. Alitalia recently
started five weekly flights between Amsterdam and Turin, which
will continue into the summer season.
Asia
KLM will continue to serve the Amsterdam-Beijing
route 14 times weekly together with its strategic partner airline
China Southern. KLM will schedule twelve weekly flights to
Shanghai, which is one additional flight compared to the end of
this winter. Starting from June, services to Chengdu will be
increased to four weekly. The seven weekly flights to Hong Kong
will be maintained.
The start-up of the tail-end operation from Singapore to Denpasar,
a popular destination for KLM passengers, will be continued,
operating four weekly flights during summer season. In Tokyo, the
uniform Boeing 747 product introduced in the current winter season
will be continued in the summer season, while capacity to Seoul
will be increased from five to six weekly flights in Boeing 747
combined passenger and freight aircraft.
Middle East
Flight frequency to Teheran will increase by
one to six weekly flights. On its service to Dubai, KLM will make
its product for business travellers more attractive by increasing
frequency to 13 weekly flights: six weekly in Airbus 330-200
aircraft and seven weekly in Boeing 747 combined passenger and
freight aircraft.
America
The successful
transatlantic joint venture with Northwest Airlines has been
migrated into a new three-party joint venture with Air France, KLM
and Delta Air Lines. As a result, the capacity will be increased
to Atlanta and New York (JFK), which are major hubs for Delta. Both Atlanta and New York will be served three times daily.
The services to the former hubs of Northwest Airlines will remain
on the same frequency as last summer, meaning four flights a day
to Detroit, three a day to Minneapolis and a daily service to
Memphis. Another result of KLM's cooperation with Delta Air Lines
is that both networks have been further connected with fully
reciprocal codeshares, further increasing the number of
destinations offered in their joint networks.
San Francisco
will be served in a combination of Boeing 777-200/300 aircraft,
KLM's newest aircraft. The service to Seattle will be extended by
Delta Air Lines in the peak of the summer through an additional
afternoon departure three times per week, creating a total of ten
services per week. The capacity to Boston will be increased to a
twice-daily service with a mixture of Airbus 330-300 and Boeing
767-300 aircraft. Flights to Portland will grow from six times
per week to a daily service.
Africa / South America
KLM aims to reinforce its
position in Africa by maintaining flight frequency to a number of
destinations, including Cairo, Lagos, Accra, Cape Town and
Johannesburg. To accommodate additional demand during the peak
period in June through August, one flight will be added to the
Cairo service, increasing operations to seven weekly flights. In
the same period, a flight will be added to the Entebbe service,
increasing it to five weekly flights during the summer. The
operation to Dar Es Salam will be increased to seven weekly
flights, starting in June and continuing for the rest of the
summer. During this summer, KLM will continue its twice-daily
service to Nairobi in cooperation with its partner Kenya Airways;
with that partner, it offers multiple connections to destinations
in Eastern Africa.
Due to specific business demand on
Aruba, KLM will also operate two weekly flights to this popular
destination during the summer season. The flights will be operated
in addition to the services operated by Martinair. The flight
between Sint Maarten and Bonaire which was introduced last year
will operate throughout the complete summer season. On Paramaribo,
KLM will increase capacity and operate five flights every week as
of the start of the season, while an extra weekly flight is
planned in the peak season to accommodate additional traffic.
During the summer, KLM will offer five weekly flights to
Panama, with onward connections to numerous destinations in Latin
America with its codeshare partner Copa Airlines. The codeshare
cooperation between KLM and Copa has recently been expanded with
the addition of the KLM code on Copa flights to San Jose in
Ecuador and San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa in Honduras.
The
Sao Paulo operation will be increased to a daily service from six
weekly flights during the current winter season. At the same time,
codeshare cooperation has started with Brazilian airline Gol
Transportes Aereos, increasing the number of South American
destinations offered to KLM's customers.
Fleet Renewal
By the start of summer 2010, KLM
will have finalized the phaseout of the Fokker 50 from its
regional fleet. At the end of the coming summer season, KLM will
have introduced an additional ten new Embraer 190 aircraft
compared to the end of the previous summer season. The present
generation of Boeing 737 aircraft will continue to be phased out
from the medium-haul fleet and the next generation of Boeing 737
aircraft will be introduced.
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