doulasc From United States of America, joined Dec 2011, 348 posts, RR: 0 Posted (7 months 2 weeks 4 days 1 hour ago) and read 9591 times:
Looking through photos of Air France for 2012 I have noticed they have more types than other around the globe,especially wide body jets. For narrow body they have Airbus A318,A319,A320,A321,some regional jets and for wide body jets they have Airbus A380,A340,A330 and Boeing 747-428,Boeing 777-228ER and 328ER,didn't see any Boeing 767-328ERs,Did Air France retire their 767s. It amazes me that they operate every wide body jet around today except for the IL-96.
They're all part of the same family and should be considered as one aircraft type. Crews fly them interchangeably. It's useful to be able to allocate aircraft to routes according to demand.
A330 and A340 are also basically the same aircraft except for the number of engines. And the 777-200ER and -300ER also permit capacity to match demand on various routes, as for the A320 family.
mozart From Luxembourg, joined Aug 2003, 2007 posts, RR: 14 Reply 4, posted (7 months 2 weeks 3 days 16 hours ago) and read 8839 times:
Air France has a very homogeneous fleet. The criteria is not how many seats an airplane has but commonality in maintenance and cockpit crewing. So you basically have:
- ALL shorthaul flying on A32S
- 50% of longhaul flying on B777s
- 40% of longhaul flying on A330/A340/A380
- 10% on some leftover B747s
So it's one type for shorthaul, and 3 types for longhaul, where two fleets (the Airbus and the B777 fleets) are sufficiently large for economies of scale. Only the B747 fleet is a "problem". I find that a very homogeneous fleet. Other fleets are far less balanced.
columba From Germany, joined Dec 2004, 6798 posts, RR: 5 Reply 5, posted (7 months 2 weeks 3 days 15 hours ago) and read 8653 times:
As far as I know the 747s will leave the fleet soon. Having a fleet of A330/A340, 777s and A380s does not seem too many types for an airline such as Air France.
It will forever be a McDonnell Douglas MD 80 , Boeing MD 80 sounds so wrong
LY777 From France, joined Nov 2005, 2446 posts, RR: 2 Reply 8, posted (7 months 2 weeks 3 days 15 hours ago) and read 8487 times:
Quoting na (Reply 6): I dont think the fleet has too many types. The 744s are on the way out.
Not before 2017 though
Quoting columba (Reply 5): As far as I know the 747s will leave the fleet soon. Having a fleet of A330/A340, 777s and A380s does not seem too many types for an airline such as Air France.
They will have 787s and A350s at this time.
In a few years, AF fleet will consist of: A32S, 787s, 77W, A350s, A380s.
JHCRJ700 From United States of America, joined Oct 2009, 377 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (7 months 2 weeks 3 days 11 hours ago) and read 7872 times:
I always thought of BA has having one of the most diverse fleets (maybe not currently, but in terms of A/C they have operated over the years). Pretty interesting to note how many types some of the larger airlines have though.
YULWinterSkies From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 2107 posts, RR: 6 Reply 14, posted (7 months 2 weeks 3 days 3 hours ago) and read 3538 times:
Quoting columba (Reply 5): As far as I know the 747s will leave the fleet soon. Having a fleet of A330/A340, 777s and A380s does not seem too many types for an airline such as Air France.
Well, the 747s have been supposed to leave for several years now. Yes they have become the oddball of AF fleet, why they are still around is a bit of a mystery to me, considering that AF -supposedly- have over-capacity and are trying to save costs wherever they can.
Quoting na (Reply 6):
I dont think the fleet has too many types. The 744s are on the way out.
Well, someday, they will leave, that is much certain. Who knows, they might outlast NW DC9s in longevity, however...
Quoting LY777 (Reply 8): In a few years, AF fleet will consist of: A32S, 787s, 77W, A350s, A380s.
FlySSC From France, joined Aug 2003, 7312 posts, RR: 61 Reply 15, posted (7 months 2 weeks 2 days 6 hours ago) and read 2439 times:
Quoting YULWinterSkies (Reply 14): why they are still around is a bit of a mystery to me
Air France fully owns the 7 B744 that will be kept in service.
Operating them is much less costly than buying/renting brand new B77W.
Those B744 are now fully refurbished, they are not that old (in age and in number cycles) so keeping them in such a troubled period makes sense ...
skipness1E From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2007, 2371 posts, RR: 0 Reply 20, posted (7 months 2 weeks 1 day 3 hours ago) and read 1387 times:
Quoting na (Reply 9): I expect 748Fs in the longer term. Isnt Martinair doing all the AF/KLM freight now?
Air France Cargo is not profitable and is a fraction of it's former size. KLM gave away cargo flying to Martinair, the idea was that they would do all group flying. However the French unions are preventing this in the short term.
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