Jetcraft Commercial nabs 14 Bombardier CRJ1000 jets HOP!

Jetcraft's commercial aircraft division has acquired 14 Bombardier CRJ1000 airliners from HOP!, the regional arm of Air France at bargain prices. Deliveries will happen throughout this year and be completed by December

Raphaël Haddad, President of Jetcraft Commercial, says: “This is a significant acquisition for Jetcraft Commercial and I’m proud that three of these aircraft are ready to be placed. There is high demand for the remaining jets, emphasising the need within commercial aviation for aircraft capable of regional missions.”

Jetcraft Commercial launched in 2015, capitalizing on Jetcraft’s existing international presence and experience to offer clients an agile partner within the commercial aircraft sales and leasing community. With a diverse inventory, featuring aircraft from Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, De Havilland Canada, Embraer and others, Jetcraft Commercial has a proven record of procuring and placing commercial aircraft worldwide.

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The Air France group plans shed 7,580 jobs

The Air France Group to reduce workforce 

On Friday Air France and HOP! confirmed to unions the airline group is planning a major reduction of staff numbers as it seeks to reorganise itself in the wake of the coronavirus COVID-19 crisis. 

Air France predicts it will need to reduce staffing levels by 6,560 jobs by the end of 2022 out of a current total of 41,000. 

For HOP! the resizing and restructuring of the company will see 1,020 jobs to go over the next three years, out of the current 2,420. 

For three months, Air France's activity and revenue fell by 95%, and at the height of the crisis, the airline was losing 15 million euros per day. The airline predicts it will be a long time before any reaches a meaningful stage and doesn't expect pre-COVID 2019 levels of demand until 2024.  

Despite the French State propping up the airline with guaranteed loans of  7 billion euros, the airline group cannot continue as it is and says it has no other option than to axe jobs. 

Air France and HOP! are working together with the unions to implement plans that give priority to voluntary departures, early retirement arrangements and professional and geographical mobility. Solidarity within the Air France Group will also be implemented with proposals for internal job offers to all employees whose position will no longer exist and who do not wish to be included in the departure plan.

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Job losses to come at Air France warns boss just hours after getting the green light on £6 billion of government aid.

Photo Air France

The boss of the Air France-KLM group, Ben Smith is has been warning of job losses to come at the airline group, just hours after being given the green light on a massive €7 billion, £6.13 billion cash injection of money from the government.

The Canadian has been quoted in the French media that voluntary redundancies are going to be part of a massive cost-cutting exercise in all areas of the French airline.  It is also being reported that costs at ‘HOP’ were not viable as things stand at the moment.

It would take the airline up to two years, maybe even a bit longer to rover from the coronavirus COVID-19 crisis and for the aviation industry as a whole to recover. 

Since 14 March 2020, Air France and Transavia have operated more than 1,800 flights from 132 airports in 82 countries, enabling the repatriation of more than 270,000 passengers, including 150,000 French nationals. In a severely deteriorated economic context and at a time when most aircraft had to leave Paris empty, Air France and Transavia have introduced special capped fares for repatriation passengers.

These repatriation operations are now coming to an end in most regions, with the exception of certain areas such as North Africa where demand remains high, despite more than 200 flights already operated.

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Air France - KLM january results

Air France - KLM released its results for January recently which showed the group carried 1.5% more passengers in January 2019 that it took for a ride during 2018's January. 

Air France KLM group November results better than expected

Photo KLM

Around this time in each month, the major airlines of the world reveal how well they performed in the preceding month, the Air France KLM group has done just that and its November 2018 results make interesting reading. 

Many in the industry had expected the group to report reductions in both loads and revenues #, however, across the network, the group saw passenger numbers rise, as did the network, while load factors remained fairly constant. 

KLM performed very well, it carried 3% more passengers on board in November compared to the same month last year. With traffic up by 3.5% measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) and increased capacity of 2% measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), passenger load factor rose by 1.2% points to 87.7%.   "The favourable trend in KLM’s traffic figures continued through to the second month of the fourth quarter as well. Including the month of November, KLM has welcomed a total of 31.5 million passengers on board during the past eleven months. We are already well on our way to our goal: 34 million KLM passengers in 2018." Said Pieter Elbers - KLM President & CEO.

The same trend was visible at Transavia where increased traffic measured in RPKs exceeded additional capacity, consequently boosting passenger load factor. Cargo load factor came under pressure last month at KLM Cargo as a result of a steep decline in traffic volumes (-2.3% RFTKs) in relation to capacity (-1.3% AFTKs). Consequently, cargo load factor declined by 0.8% points to 70%.

More developments for HOP! from Air France

Air France announced some new developments for its local regional airline HOP! that will see a tie-up with a bus company as well as a new set of fares on some routes and a new lounge for Lyon airport.

From December 4th, Ouibus will link 6 cities to the HOP! air network via Lyon-Saint Exupéry airport: Grenoble, Saint-Étienne, Saint-Chamond, Chambéry, Aix-les-Bains and Vienne.

For the first time in France, two companies are connecting their routes to offer a multimodal air + bus service. As of November 21, HOP! customers will be able to book their trip from start to finish, integrating a city/airport/city bus service operated by Ouibus together with their flights. In total, more than 4,400 HOP!+Ouibus services will be offered per week.

These bus trips will be offered to coordinate with all HOP! flight schedules, with an optimised connection time between the flight and the bus to ensure a successful intermodal experience.

Customers will be able to book their tickets up to 72 hours before departure on the hop.com website, from travel agents or by calling the Air France and HOP! sales departments.

Cork - New route to Paris and beyond with Air France

Travellers in Ireland will be pleased to hear their holiday options have expanded, thanks to the launch of a new Air France route from Cork in May.

Seasonal Paris service starts 26 May and runs until 27th October

The new daily route will fly to Paris Charles de Gaulle, allowing Irish passengers to connect with the airline’s vast network of flights worldwide, reaching more than 180 destinations.

The seasonal service will run from May 26 to October 27, departing Cork at 4.30pm and landing in Paris at 7.20pm (local time). The return leg departs Paris at 3.55pm (local time) and arrives at Cork at 3.50pm. All flights will be operated by Air France Hop! using Embraer 170 aircraft, with fares starting from €129 return in economy including all taxes.

The airline has also launched several other exciting new destinations from its Paris hub. Here are a few options Irish travellers might want to consider for a holiday…